An eclectic bunch stood at Beacon's east gate, staring into the darkness as the freshly-rescued Sakura and Nicholas related their story; Glynda Goodwitch, Cinzia Vespa, Indigo and Schwarze, as well as Ruby and Pyrrha – and Yang, who refused to leave her sister's side. Their teams, still technically on patrol, stood quietly some meters distant in case any Grimm became interested.

The pink-haired girl addressed her tale, not to any of the many girls and women behind her, however, but to the guy currently running the show. "We were right about here," she said to Opher. "Lookin' out into the woods while we smoked. Never heard a sound, but I felt this really sharp pain in the back of my head and I was gone. Out like a light."

"At the base of your skull?" Glynda asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Our kidnappers know pressure-based take-down moves, then," Vespa remarked. "That doesn't really narrow it down much. Pretty sure everyone here has that level of combat training."

Opher turned, looked at the campus wall, then back at the forest while he mused how to skip to the end of the page on the investigation. "But they evaded the sensors by ambushing someone out here. Who would have that kinda knowledge?" His eyes narrowed; he could guess one way that information would have gotten out, possibly two. "We need to tell the students to stay on campus. It might not stop these people, but it will make it harder."

"I'll do it," Glynda confirmed. "Wait… Mister Riese, do you have possible suspects in mind?"

He didn't immediately reply. Ruby walked over to look up at him without his hat getting in the way. "We have to tell them what we heard," she muttered. "You said it. It's the only way."

"I'm getting there." He looked into the woods. "I'm basically certain that your kidnappers are the same ones who tried to take me the second time." A glance went toward Indigo.

"Hold on, there were two attempts?" Glynda asked.

"Since it didn't happen here, we didn't bring it up," Indigo explained. "I'm gonna assume you know a lot more than we do?"

"Yeah. Had ourselves an interesting little chat with Penny, Ilia, and Ciel earlier. They know who attacked them. It was Emerald Sustrai." He expected Glynda's gasp and paused just long enough for her jaw to drop. "Yeah. Surprise. They said you thought Emerald was another victim."

"Well, yes, I had no reason to think she—are they sure it was her?"

"Yes they are. I've got three eyewitnesses, including a Faunus who can see better in the dark than either of us, telling me so. Now, the bigger issue: Emerald was also the person who lured me into the south warehouse the first time."

"That's impossible!" Glynda snapped. "Why would you-"

"'Cause we know what her Semblance is and he knows what she sounds like," Yang interjected. "She can change what you see. And speaking of making people see things…" She pointed at her sister.

"She was listed as not having a Semblance!" Glynda said.

"So she lied," Pyrrha remarked quietly. "Or someone lied for her."

Schwarze looked back and forth between Ruby and Yang. "Wait, what are you-"

Opher clarified. "The first time Ruby hallucinated, Emerald was there. The first time I hallucinated, Emerald was there. No Emerald, no hallucinations. My excuse is not being on campus, so… Ruby? How are you lately?"

"Totally fine. I haven't seen a single weird thing at all," she confirmed. "Er, I know it's only been a day or so since she vanished, but still…"

"How did Penny get a recording of her voice?!" Glynda blurted out, going for the easiest thing to process first.

"She must have run into her in the woods while we were searching, but… that means Penny lied to us," Pyrrha mused quietly. "She said she couldn't find anyone."

"Oh, they're definitely hiding something," Opher said. "I don't care, though, because they're not the threat. Ilia would have told Blake by now if they were up to anything untoward."

"The fuck are you doing using words like untoward," Indigo grumbled. She blinked when Blake walked over. "Did you see something?"

"No, ma'am. I heard you talking about Ilia." Blake expelled a long, foggy breath into the bitter air. "I've known her since I was five – and you're absolutely right. She isn't very good at lying. If Penny or Ciel were doing something wrong, we'd already know."

"Okay, fine, they aren't the enemy," Vespa stated. "Then who is? How did Emerald Sustrai get in here? Where did she come from?"

"And why was she messing with Ruby's mind?" Yang locked eyes with Glynda in the silence that followed. "Yeah. We don't think she was ever sick."

Indigo finally reached her limit. "Okay, okay, stop. I'm hearing about a whole bunch of stuff that feels like loose puzzle pieces. Can someone please put them together?"

Opher crossed his arms. "I can, but it requires going extremely deep into the weeds. Are you ready for that?"

"You see me running away?" she replied. Schwarze stood at her side and smiled – Glynda, however, looked halfway ready to faint as her mind drowned in a dozen unanswerable questions. "Are you all right over there?"

"Tell us," she demanded. "The students have to think I know what's happening… and that means I have to know what's happening. I've already heard enough revelations on your audio record-" She suddenly clammed up and turned away.

"What audio recordings?" Opher asked. In his periphery, he noticed Yang deflate in her boots. "Huh?"

For once, she matched Ruby in sheepishness. "I, um… I was recording our patrols and giving the audio to Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch." Silence drew her wide-eyed terror. "I'm not right now! I swear!"

"Why?" Ruby asked, grabbing her by the arm. "Did they make you?"

"Ozpin was using it as leverage," Glynda said. Nerves unsteady, the tall blonde moved over and rested against Beacon's stone wall. "Baiting her with the chance of a medical examination for Ruby which he never intended to give."

Opher, scowling faintly, looked back at the shivering Sakura and her equally-cold friend; both of them stared back, baffled by the conversation so far. "There's no point in keeping you two out here. Someone should take them back to their dorms."

"I'll handle it." Pyrrha whistled for her her team.

"What's up?" Jaune asked as they returned. Pyrrha said nothing – she motioned toward Nicholas and Sakura, then nodded subtly toward the campus wall. "Oh, yeah, you're probably cold, huh."

"We can go get some coffee!" Nora said. "They're still open."

"I would like something warm," she admitted. She handed Pyrrha back her coat and nudged Nicholas to return Jaune's. "Let's go."

"If you say so."

The redhead gently grabbed Jaune on his way by. "I'll let you know what happens," she whispered.

"Yeah."

"Hold on." Opher snapped his fingers up at the gate, covering it in rocky earth. Their quizzical looks caused a little smirk. "I'm defeating the sensors. I don't want the whole campus to know you're back, not yet. Don't dawdle, either."

"Dawdle?! You've been hanging around Schwarze too long."

"We'll be right back!" Nora affirmed, with a thumbs up for emphasis.

Opher waited until all five of them were gone before clasping his hands behind his back and shuffling toward the woods. By now, Weiss – the last person at standoff range to provide warning for approaching Grimm – was on her way back to the group. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Lieutenant, you asked who the enemy is?" he said over his shoulder. "Look up at Beacon Tower."

"What?" She did – so did Glynda, Indigo, and Schwarze. "I don't get it."

Oh, but the tall blonde understood. She doffed her glasses, folded them up, and tucked them into a blouse pocket. "That sort of accusation gets you killed, Mister Riese," she said quietly.

"Amber sure tried."

"Amber?!" Eyes bulged, Glynda turned to stare at his back. "Did you kill her? Is that why I haven't seen her in weeks?"

"I should have." Opher finally faced them again, eyes hidden by his hat. "Amber has the same power I do. Nora said she works for the Academy as a Huntress. Is that right?" Glynda's horrified silence was all the reply he needed. "And she's never used her magic once to save a student. Or a teacher. She lets them die just like Ozpin does."

"Miss Grace was here before I was hired, I can't assume she-"

"Sure you can, because you were just as surprised as we were about what hat boy can do!" Coco yelled from just inside the east gate. Gianduja's case rested by her foot. Their surprise drew a smirk. "Sorry. Saw Jaune and the others and holy hell, you got them back! Nice work." She locked eyes with Opher next. "Before you ask, Goodwitch has us doing internal patrols now."

"Has Ozpin ever been surprised?" Ruby suddenly blurted out.

That caught Glynda completely off guard. "W-what?"

"About this. All of it. Has he ever acted surprised or does he always come across like 'hm hm, yes, I am definitely in charge of all the things and know what to do, yes, indeed'," she said, mimicking his voice poorly.

"Of course he acts like that, he has decades of experience!"

"Don't you?" Schwarze countered cheerfully.

"I…"

"He already knew. If Amber works for or with him, he already knew." Opher's eyes landed on the sisters, then on Indigo and Schwarze. "Which means he also knows what Ruby can do."

"Wait, what can Ruby do?" Coco asked, still perched behind the gate. It was only then that she realized the structure looked odd. "...why is this covered in rocks?"

"Long story short, she has powers that can permanently kill the Grimm."

Indigo cocked her head. "More magic?"

"Yeah."

Vespa stalked through them to face Opher. "Magic? Permanently killing Grimm? We do that all the time-"

Opher's raised hand waved her into silence. "No, you don't, but that will have to wait, I'm afraid. Ozpin is associated at least one of Carmine's sisters, and if he was willing to do this shit to us when he thought we knew virtually nothing, what do you think he's gonna do when he finds out how far back the curtain is getting pulled?"

"You really believe he'd try to hurt us, just… openly?" Pyrrha asked.

"Is it really that big of a jump? Look at how much he made everyone fight in the first few weeks we were here without any fucking training at all," Yang said. "And why did we end up in sector four if so many people already died there?"

"That was pilot error," Glynda interjected.

"Who told you that? Ozpin or the pilot?"

Yang's bitter words left her silent, save for a breathed, "Gods help us…"

Opher crossed his arms. "So, Glynda, tell me – is it incompetence, gentle maliciousness, or can you even figure out the difference?" She had no reply.

"We have to warn someone!" Blake hissed quietly. "If any of this is true, it-"

"The Army?" Ruby gasped. "I know it's not much, but they have more power over the Academy than anyone else, right?"

"Unless they're in on it," Weiss stated. "General Zhen lied to us too." They looked toward the pallid Vespa for clarity. "Ma'am? What do you think?"

Her reply was almost annoyed. "How do I talk to the CCT staff to get a message out without raising even more suspicion? They have no reason to keep quiet if Ozpin starts prying. I can't use the same excuse forever."

"The worst part is that we're all stuck here being watched by someone who apparently has it out for us."

Schwarze, up until then idly twirling one of her glossy firearms, suddenly went still. "Weiss has a point, cutie. It won't be safe for them when everyone finds out. It might not be safe for us. What do we do?"

Indigo's eyes lit up with an idea. "You know, we do have three unoccupied apartments between us in the city…"

"How would we ever get into-" Pyrrha suddenly fell quiet and looked at Opher's deadpan expression. "Never mind."

"Uh, Indy dear, we can't do that. If all of them vanish and suddenly end up in our apartments, don't you think certain individuals would be rather upset with us?"

She looked up at Schwarze. "I know that, but..."

"Wait, what about Mountain Glenn?" Ruby said. Yang stared at her. "Don't look at me like that, they already know him. More importantly, I think they're scared of him, We could just lay low there for a little bit."

"'Stop." Glynda put her glasses back on – not easy, given how badly her hands shook – and walked over. Coco eventually joined the huddle. "First, we would need some kind of waiver for them to enter the city and Ozpin will never give them one. Second, Mountain Glenn is far too dangerous for anyone, you'd be killed-"

"It's safer than you think," Opher corrected, "but not for them, no. The person you all saw me talking to a couple of hours ago is another Maiden. She runs the group currently living there."

"Which means you'd be handing us right to them," Pyrrha concluded. She glanced up as Jaune, Ren, and Nora came through the gate.

Nora got there first. "What did we miss? And hi Coco."

"Yo."

"We're trying to figure out whether or not it's safe to stay at Beacon," Blake said, rubbing her tired eyes. "This is unbelievable…"

"Uh… what?" Coco asked.

"I'll explain later," Glynda said.

"We were talking about that on the way back. Where else could we..." Jaune trailed off when he noted the curious expression on Vespa's face. "Huh?"

"I don't think there's anything I can really do for you. I already broke security to get that message out for you guys, but all of this is way over my head," she stated. "I've got a family too, you know."

"Thanks for the support," Yang mumbled.

"I'm sorry, Miss Xiao Long, but our options are limited – especially if… he's part of the problem."

"Oh, gods damn it, I'm tired of hearing about what we can't do!" Indigo finally hissed. "Someone is trying to kill these kids and we're just gonna stand here and grumble about waivers?" Schwarze's unhappy glower failed to stifle her fervor. "Don't look at me like that, it's not right. Besides, Weiss is family, ain't she?"

"And I'd do anything to help her, but-"

"But not the others?"

Her chilly blue eyes became lidded with displeasure. "Ah, I see I'm talking to the woman who jumped into a shuttle to fight the Grimm and not the sensible Indigo-"

"Oh my gods, be quiet." Opher didn't yell those words – his volume barely eclipsed a whisper – but they delivered enough force to silence everyone huddled nearby. He glared out from underneath his hat. "You're all right. I'm moving them somewhere else, but none of you are going to know where," he added, motioning for emphasis. "Let him be angry at me."

"You'll be putting yourself in tremendous danger," Glynda warned.

Indigo's lips pursed briefly. "That doesn't mean the same thing to him that it does to us. Does it, Opher?"

"No, it doesn't." He glanced around. "All right. Lieutenant, Glynda, Coco, you go back to campus. Ruby, Pyrrha, you and your teams are going back on patrol. We've got some time before anyone figures things out – unless someone talks."

"Fine," Vespa said, "I still owe you for saving my butt. I'll keep my mouth closed."

"Professor Ozpin thinks I went out to look for them again," Glynda added. "He won't be surprised if I come back empty-handed."

"Do we at least get a chance to pack our things?" Weiss crossed her arms when her team turned to look. "I'm kidding. Well… mostly."

"Don't think we can swing a cargo airship in time to haul all of your stuff."

"Very funny, Yang."

"I know. Hey, um…" She abruptly lost her snarky grin. "What about dad and Uncle Qrow? If Ruby and I turn up missing, they're… they're gonna exile him."

"And if my parents hear I've gone missing, they might start a war," Blake added. "So will Ilia."

Indigo waved a hand. "Also, what about us?"

"I'll work out the details in a minute. I need to think first." Opher went still, then glanced back into the woods. One waved hand and some wind Dust delivered a message for their ears only: "We're being watched. Indigo, Schwarze, you go with the kids for now."

"Again?!" Nora gasped. Another stiff breeze got everyone moving in his desired directions. "Sheesh, what the heck… okay, okay, we're going."

It took a couple of minutes, but finally Opher stood alone at the east gate. Another snap detached the structure's rocky coat, which crumbled to the ground in a pile and raised a cloud of dust wherever there was no snow. "I know you're back there," he called lowly to the magical ping.

The ping vanished; in its place arose quiet footsteps that crunched through the snow. Qrow, hands raised, arrived from his left side. "Before you even ask, yeah. I heard a lot." The two men stared at each other for ages.

"What do you plan to do with it?" Opher asked at length.

"I won't stop you from saving them, but you better understand that he'll never let them leave." He drank from his silver flask. "I don't know everything, but I'm not stupid. They weren't prepared for the possibility that Amber and my sister couldn't kill you. It's been chaos."

"I tend to ruin a lot of plans. So, is my hunch right? Did he send Amber and Raven after me?"

"It is. You know, you've done more for those girls in four months than the old man has since they were born. I think I've been on the wrong side." Qrow took another swig. "I'd say Patch… Taiyang's cabin might be a tight fit for that many people, but I know he'll look after them. You might be able to get some help from the other Branwens too."

"Because of their attachment to the Crown?"

"Yeah."

"Even if that was the case, this kind of power stands above the thro-" Opher suddenly fell silent and looked away.

Qrow tilted his head. "What?"

"What do you know about Ozpin?"

"Well, he's been Headmaster since before I graduated from here. Apparently he was a Huntsman before that for a long time. That's about it. No idea who his family is, hell, I don't even know his first name."

"He doesn't have a first name." Opher crossed his arms and stared at the Moon. "I should have listened to myself. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on him. I knew who he was – who he really is."

"I don't think I get it…"

"Sorry. Suffice it to say, Ozpin is not the man he once was. No wonder the Maidens have fallen so far. They're just following his example."

Upon realizing his flask was empty, Qrow grumbled and put the container away. "That reminds me, what the hell? Why would they take orders from him? Raven by herself is way stronger."

"They take orders from him because that's what they've always done."

"...always done?"

"Forget it. Right now, worry about helping me get all of you out of here. We'll talk again before sunrise." Opher tossed up a wave and departed, headed in the same direction as the patrols.

The weary Qrow watched him leave in silence before allowing a quiet "What a mess," to slip out. He turned away. "All right then, big sis, time for some advi-"

He never got to finish his sentence. Something large and metal crashed into the back of his head, attracting his Aura-propelled defenses and producing a tremendous clank on impact. The blow stunned him completely; he dropped to his knees, unable to reach for his sword. Another strike put him on his stomach, then a third to the torso flipped him onto his back. His eyes were glassy as he stared up toward the attacker – Olivine Duprix, sneering, her bronze orbs agleam with hate.

"We should have done this a long time ago," she whispered, driving the sole of her black boot into Qrow's face and knocking him unconscious. Once certain he was out cold, she produced her Scroll and looked up at Beacon Tower. "Old man," she said to the device, "we're out of time. Empty Castle has to happen by sunrise or it ain't gonna work at all."

Vernal, free of her crutches at last – but not free of a persistent limp, nor several new scars – had her arms folded for what felt like the first time in years as she watched Raven stew quietly in the crimson big top. In front of the Maiden sat a tremendous pile of fresh fruit and vegetables, ready for sorting and distribution to the hungry exiles and her own tribe outside. They finally made eye contact over the pile.

"Where did you find all this?" she asked her boss.

"I have ways."

Her gaze became a glower, subtle, but still annoyed. "Was it him?"

Raven matched her glare. "No, Vernal, it wasn't him."

"You know, it's really weird. The Malachites must not like him very much. Did you see how many guns they brought?" She began to prowl around the tent unevenly. "And I know you don't care for him, you literally tried to kill him. But after everything he did to us – to me – now, what? We're just friends?"

Her red eyes narrowed further. "We are not friends. We have a convenient arrangement."

"That is a hell of a way to summarize 'we tried to kill him and couldn't, so now he bosses us around'."

Raven slammed a fist on the table and stood up. "So, what? You want another shot at him so you can die?" she snapped angrily. "He's not mad at us right now. That keeps us alive."

Vernal stewed quietly in her words for a moment before firing back with, "Where is Cinder, really?"

She turned her back. "Cinder is getting some training from Lapis. I know you've heard her name."

"Training she can't get from you?"

"Vernal…" Raven pawed firmly at her tired eyes. "Listen, I'm sorry it went sideways like it did. I thought I could handle him. I didn't realize… what he was. But for some reason he's given me a second chance and I'm trying to use it to steer all of us away from… from them." At some point during her words, she'd lost control to the Maiden within – though her voice remained the same. "I'm sorry it has to be a secret for now. Once Cinder and Emerald come back, we'll be in a better position. Right now, I have to be careful."

This elegy softened Vernal's emotions enough for the glaring to cease. "Some openness would be nice."

"I know. I can't give you much. You just have to trust me for a while."

"A while?" Vernal suddenly grinned. "Eh, what's a few more years."

The tent flap opened slowly, revealing the head and face of a curious, pale-skinned girl – and a short one, too, given how low her smiling visage sat above the floor. Like Valencia, she had heterochromia – one brown eye, one pink eye – but her wavy hair also followed the same color scheme. Right of the part, it was brown; left of the part, it was pink. Raven's nod encouraged her to enter fully – most of her outfit was hidden under a beaten-up white coat, but visible beneath were tight black pants and white knee boots with stiletto heels and decorative black buttons lined vertically along the outside. Despite her shoes, she looked diminutive even next to the average-height Vernal. She stood contrapposto before the leader of the tribe, hand on her weight-bearing hip and a smile on her face.

"Nice to see you back so fast," Raven greeted. "I thought the sweep would take longer. All clear?" A nod in reply. "Fine. Give me a quick summary."

Neo didn't say a word. Instead, she produced a silver-framed Scroll and began typing furiously with her left hand – the speed at which her fingers moved betrayed a lot of practice. She then tossed the device to Raven, who skimmed the text.

"Anything?" Vernal asked.

"A lot of things. Someone put a hole in the east wall." Raven copied the file to her own Scroll and threw Neo's back to her. "I'll have some of the Malachite boys check it out later. Go round up some help to distribute this food, would you? They're going to be hungry after that attack and it'll be too cold to stay out here soon."

Neo issued a salute and departed the tent. Vernal turned her gaze back to Raven. "Told you they were worth picking up."

"So far."

Her face softened with thought. "I hope he didn't hurt Mercury too bad."

"My pride, maybe." The young man himself, peeking through the flap like Neo before him, entered with a flourish. "Sorry about that, boss, I needed a minute."

"Needed a minute for what?" Raven asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"To, uh… figure out how to put this without making you too mad. Sooooo, those two kids you picked up from Beacon," he began, shuffling exaggeratedly across the wooden floor, "they, uh, they're… probably not here anymore."

Some gravity magic brought Mercury – by the shirt collar – to Raven's outstretched hand. "What," she growled. "Why wouldn't they be here?"

"Yeah, so, the five people you saw with him? Argent and whatever the hot redhead's name is and the rest? There weren't just five people. There were nine."

"Nine?!" Vernal spat at him. "Where were the other four?! And why the hell didn't you tell us right away?"

"And risk pissing him off while he was standing right next to me?" Mercury gently grabbed Raven's wrist, but he knew better than to squeeze. "Then we had Grimm to drive back. I couldn't figure out when-"

"Vernal… call the post."

She plucked her Scroll from a hip pocket to obey. "Sarah. Sarah? It's Vernal. Confirm the packages." No answer. "Sarah?"

A few moments crawled past before someone replied. "Uh, ma'am," said a female voice, "Ambush. We got knocked out. We lost them."

Raven released her shaking associate and took a few steps away. "That Argent girl was a distraction and the whole crew fell for it."

"How could he know they were here?" Vernal suddenly looked at Mercury. "Oh gods. Did you-"

"...yes."

Raven's fists clenched. "Leave my sight before I kill you."

"Yep!" Mercury clumsily departed the tent at top speed.

"Are we in trouble?"

"I am for damn sure," Raven mumbled. Neo suddenly burst in again, flailing her arms and jumping adorably. Panic was all over her face – and for some reason, her eyes were both white instead of their usual colors. "What? What's happening? More Grimm?"

Three heavy footsteps brought stillness as they looked toward the tent flap – someone else climbing the front steps, someone big. Olivine entered, unfurling to her full height the moment she was inside. The wide-eyed Neo backed as far away as she could – little wonder, since she wasn't even tall enough for the top of her head to stand equal with the Winter Maiden's armpits. Olivine glared down at the tiny young woman until she completely lost her nerve and fled the tent.

When Vernal wouldn't go, she boomed a mighty "Get out!" to make her leave. It took a minute to work. Olivine stared at Raven's back once the two Maidens were finally alone. "Missing something there, little sister?"

"I guess so," she replied snidely. "If you already knew, they must be at Beacon again by now."

"Correct." Olivine crossed her powerful arms. "There sure are a lot of people around that aren't yours or Amber's."

"Exiles from Vale. The refinery accident or whatever."

"Oh, right, the ones they kicked out into a blizzard." She stalked around the tent to face her counterpart. "Pretty miraculous that they lived, isn't it? A snow storm, the Grimm, the Frontier Corps blasting them from the wall… and they just happen to stumble onto the one settlement in this part of the continent big enough to hold them all. How lucky." She continued to get the cold shoulder. "Did you pick them up?"

"No, I did not pick them up."

"Then why are you letting them stay here?" She glanced down at the pile of food and took an orange from near the top – fruit so colorful and fresh it looked like it had just been picked from the branch. "And who did you steal this from?"

"Say what you came here to say," Raven stated evenly.

"Riese didn't show up here last night, did he? Seems like he left campus but the sensors didn't detect it. Must have flown out." Her silence was enough of an answer for Olivine to add lowly, "This is a very bad time to be quiet."

Quiet she remained, however; the reason her lips were sealed was an internal conversation with her Maiden.

A Maiden who lacked solutions. I don't know what to do either. Stall her.

Raven's brow furrowed. "And if he had?"

"You should have said something," Olivine growled. "You haven't been pulling a Qrow, have you? Talking to him behind our backs?" When Raven looked away, she clamped onto her skull with one armored hand and slammed the back of her head into one of the heavy wooden supports. That Raven didn't try to defend herself with the true art – or anything else – drew a confused grunt.

"Don't you think it might be a good idea to have him on our side?" Raven asked around the giant metal glove over her face. One of her red eyes peered out between Olivine's fingers. "He's a Maiden in a man's body. So what if he doesn't have our lifespan, five is still better than four. Especially with what happened to my predecessor – and what's currently happening to Lapis."

Raven's voice, yes, but not exactly her diction. The baffled Olivine released her and stepped back.

After a cursory swipe of her cheeks to check for blood, Raven looked over as another person entered the tent – Melanie Malachite, protected from the cold by a full-length, white fur coat, with a glassy lantern in her hand. This device used not fuel, but a burning red Dust crystal to provide light. "What was that noise-?" Her eyes adjusted enough to reveal Olivine's looming hulk in the dim glow. "A-ah, Miss Duprix, y-you're back? I d-didn't know." She issued a stiff, unbalanced curtsy, nearly falling over in the process.

Olivine's attention was fixed on the gently expiring crystal in her lantern. Even with a few meters between them, her honed senses could detect fine Ash wafting into the air. Melanie had already realized her mistake – and was in the act of turning to flee – when gravity magic locked up her limbs and left her suspended in the opening stages of a fall to the floor. "Burning crystals, are we?" she asked the trembling girl on her way over. "And where did you learn that?"

"From him," Raven said. She also moved toward Melanie, bouncing her own magic off of Olivine's to give the girl a chance to stand. It worked, but Raven took the lantern from her. "What?" she asked her sister.

Melanie saw her chance to leave and did so, almost falling out of the tent on her way. "When did this happen?" Olivine asked.

"I don't know. I also didn't think it was right to kill Amber's people."

"But it is right to kill your people if they know too." No answer. "Find your tongue before you lose it forever, Raven."

"I think we have bigger problems right now than some exiles who nobody is gonna pay attention to knowing remote priming," she replied. "Opher Riese has always been the biggest problem. Agreed?"

"You have a point, and speaking of which..." She adjusted the fit of her gloves while explaining. "It's happening tonight. The old man wants you to go to Impulsum Umbra and retrieve Her icon. We're putting it in Beacon's coffin."

"Oh, so we're just going to kill them ourselves instead of letting the Grimm do it."

"A little of both. Anyway, Riese is planning to extract Ruby Rose, along with her team and some other people. Given how far he can fly, there's literally no telling where they could end up. Old man's clamping down before they can escape."

Raven's lip twisted with resignation. "Fine, but I can't fit that statue in a portal. Damn thing has to weigh a hundred tons, anyway, how are we gonna move it?"

"Mom will help us," Olivine said. "And you better figure out how to cram it through, because if you don't, your brother and everyone in this city are going to die." Continued silent reluctance from her little sister finally detonated the anger in her chest. "He's blinded us?" she hissed, repeating Raven's words from their meeting with Salem, "No, you've blinded us. You and Qrow. That ends tonight. Get ready. I'll be waiting outside. And if you try to run, I will turn Mountain Glenn into a crater."

Olivine left the tent – and left Raven in a startled, frozen quandary. Well, this isn't the outcome I wanted, her Maiden admitted. I thought we had more time.

"No shit," she mumbled. "Now I gotta pick who dies."

Winter buttoned up the overcoat of her white Regular Army uniform as best she could with one hand – her Scroll occupied the other. On the call was Caroline Cordovin. "The Embassy in Vale has readied a shuttle to carry written messages for Beacon since their CCT access is offline," she explained. "We've secured you a seat on that shuttle."

"Yes, ma'am. What are my instructions?"

"The campus is declared compromised. You will find the assets and extract them. We're pulling the op."

Her heart started to quicken. "Very well. All three members?"

"No. Ilia isn't necessary. We can debrief the other two."

Winter's motions came to a halt. "Ma'am…"

"The shuttle's too small and all the seats are already filled, Captain. Penny, Ciel, and Belladonna. That's all we can carry on notice this short."

Her pounding heart dropped like a stone. "Just those three?"

Caroline understood her tone immediately. "I'm sorry. I asked for your sister, but he said no. I don't know why. You have your orders."

Chest tight, she had to suck air briefly before ejecting a resigned "Yes, ma'am," in response. Commands dispensed, Caroline hung up, leaving Winter to wrestle with her disgust. "You're telling me she's going to be right there and I can't do-" Eyes closed and teeth clenched, she shoved her Scroll into a pocket and tried to steady her nerves. "Why would he say no?!" Wondering if her father had anything to do with it tugged her scowl into a snarl. "Damn you..."

Pacing – helpless, rapid pacing – came next as Winter tried to chase down the composure that so often came effortlessly; the abrupt way the whole charade was being terminated left her bitterly worried. Before she could perform too many circuits of her living room, a few knocks rang out at her apartment's front door. Upon answering, she found a dark-skinned lady in a heavy black overcoat, with graying black hair.

It was Nila Ward. She produced an ID, with a shining gold badge, for Winter's inspection, "Ma'am. Detective Ward, Vale Police. The Inspector wanted someone to give you a ride to the Embassy and I was in the area."

"Ah. Thank you. Saves me the trouble of calling a taxi," she remarked, faking her polite smile.

"They're not even running. Too much ice on the streets. Clearing crews won't be back out until morning. We're using a truck to get you there." Nila motioned for her to come out. "If you're ready."

"Just a moment." Winter moved over to the blue couch and picked up a large black bag. "All right. Lead the way."

Nila eyed her companion once they reached the elevator and the descent began. "Uniform… Atlas?" she asked, making small talk.

"Correct." She motioned to a shoulder board, adorned with three black diamond pips in a vertical column. "Captain. I'm attached to the Embassy."

"Oh. Huh. And you deliver the mail?"

Winter's smile became just a little more genuine. "No, I guard the mail. Occasionally, we have classified materials on board. Inter-Academy communications, government correspondence, that sort of thing."

"Ohhhhhhh. Wow. I guess there's more physical messages with the CCT, um… thing."

She squinted a little. "You have no idea."

The elevator doors slid away after they reached the ground floor. Sure enough, waiting outside for them was a dark blue truck sitting on huge tires – on its side behind the cab was the same Vale Police crest which made up the bulk of Nila's badge design. Instead of getting into the cab, however, the detective waved Winter to the back. She opened the rear doors to reveal that their chariot was, in fact, a prisoner transport with benches along the side walls. A metal grate stood at the front to protect the driver and the cab occupant from any unruly inmates.

"Sorry," she said while helping Winter get in. "These are the best we've got for winter travel. Big fat tires and all-wheel drive."

"Whatever gets me there in one piece." They closed the doors together.

"Javier, we're good to go!" Nila called up. "So, do I just address you by rank, or…?"

"That'll be fine."

"Okay. You wouldn't know what's happening up there, would you? At Beacon. I heard the Queen is buying new transmission equipment on the news. Is the tower broken?"

Winter shrugged lightly. "I'm just as clueless as you, I'm afraid." And that was the truth. "Intercontinental traffic is still going through."

"Yeah, for now." Nila shivered against the stale chill. "Turn the heat up, would you? We can't bring an icicle to the Embassy."

Winter's visible disinterest in any further small talk kept Nila quiet for the remainder of the trip – she had to glance up through the grate and the windshield beyond to figure out where they were. The stately buildings of the Government District soon dominated their view, and before long the truck came to a halt.

"Ward, dispatch," she said into her lapel mic, "personnel delivered." She opened both doors for her guest. "There you go."

"Yes, thank you. Good evening." Winter grabbed her bag and hopped down onto the icy road. As the truck drove away, she found herself staring at the building which housed His Atlesian Majesty's Diplomatic Mission to the Kingdom of Vale – the wall-mounted bronze plaque's verbose way of saying hello, this is the Atlesian Embassy. Between her and the sail-shaped, silvery edifice stood a wall and guarded steel gate.

The guard was ready to crack jokes when she stepped up. "Well, you must have made someone mad to end up out here on… this kind of night…" he remarked, losing steam once he noticed her three rank pips outnumbered the two on his on shoulder boards. "Captain. Ma'am. Sorry."

Silently, she displayed her military ID and another document which she produced from the bag on her shoulder.

A document laden with clearances. "Right! Yes, sorry for the delay!" he blurted out after reading it. He slammed a nearby button to open the gate.

Winter squinted at him before departing into the compound. Instead of bothering with a trip through the actual building to reach the plainly-visible airship waiting on its pad halfway up, she left the slippery stone path and walked into the snow, eyes on the airship the entire way. After a few steps backward, she dropped into a loose crouch and unleashed her Semblance. Unlike the fuzzy discs Weiss generated, Winter's Glyphs were fully-realized circular fractals that resembled an impossible snowflake in glowing silver light. After redirecting her Aura toward her shins, the opposing charges bounced her into the night air with ease. She landed on the airship pad a moment later, knees bent slightly to absorb the gentle impact.

"Whoa!" yelped the pilot, a young man with round glasses waiting next to his tiny, boxy airship. "Did you just jump-"

"Yes. Are you ready to take off?"

He motioned toward the open door just aft of the cockpit. "Yes, ma'am."

Winter made her way in, ducking as she went – sure enough, the cabin to her left had exactly four seats, one of which was hers. A look in the cockpit revealed a single chair for the pilot coming in behind her. "Was this really the best we could do?" she mumbled lowly.

"Uh, Captain? I don't really understand our flight plan for this," he admitted on the way by. "Direct to Beacon, okay, sure, but then, like-"

"Don't question it. Execute it, or I'll fly-"

"Or… huh?" he asked, baffled by the revelatory expression now on Winter's face. "Ma'am?"

She snapped her blue eyes over. "Get out." He didn't. "Now!"

Once he scrambled out of the airship, she shut the door behind him, dropped her bag on the nearest seat, and placed her butt in the pilot's chair. "You never said I couldn't be the pilot," she mumbled, staring at the dark avionics panels. After powering them up, she found herself staring at standardized Atlesian Air Force flight-assistant software and a familiar set of physical controls. "Perfect."

She put on the headset just in time to hear a confused, "Whoever is in the seat right now, state intentions? Your pilot is in here and that kinda means I have to call this a hijacking-"

"I'm taking command of this vessel," Winter replied, flicking a few switches to wake up the engines. "Authcode forthcoming. Are the engines preheated?"

"I didn't have time to do that before you kicked me—"

She reached up to flick a few switches, bringing those powerplants to life. "Then I'll do it."

"Hey! Lady! Why are you spinning up my airship?!"

"I'm taking off." One deep breath. "Authorization code Juniper. I'll bring it back when I'm done."

The tiny box struggled to leave the pad, cold engines barely able to provide the thrust to lift it at first. She pivoted on the spot, put Beacon Tower on her nose, and went… with all the pomp and circumstance of an airborne iceberg. "I can walk faster than this!" she snapped at the little airship. "Go! Go!"

She didn't even make it out of Vale proper before two much faster Bullheads wandered over to take a look, falling into formation with one on each side. The distances were so close that she could look into their cockpits at the curious pilots. When neither one moved to shoot her down after a while, Winter assumed they were an escort. Some of her fresh tension departed only to be replaced by previous worries.

"Someone knows something," she mumbled to herself. Something bad, surely, bad enough to yank the operation so fast that all they had time to procure was a tiny shuttle. As the campus began to swallow up more and more of her view, Winter halfway expected it to be on fire.

When it wasn't, she began to second-guess herself.

"Oh…" Her lips pursed. "Oh. Am I overreacting?"

Winter began to prepare an explanation for her eventual, inevitable, extremely awkward conversation with the Colonel after all of this was done. There would probably be a demotion involved after a stern talking-to from the man upstairs. "Better to ask forgiveness than seek permission," she whispered. The panels began to flicker. "Huh?" Then they went entirely dark. "What?!"

Things suddenly got quiet – not only had her airship lost engine power, but her escorts were dead in the air too. Now little more than gliders, they nosed down toward Beacon Lake. Being the least aerodynamic of them all, her shuttle plummeted the fastest. "Wait! No!" she screamed, fighting uselessly with the control stick. Only the emergency lights were functional. "Air-start, where's the air-start switch, where, where…" she gasped, groping desperately across the switches on the ceiling. Rattling caught her attention; crystalline, high-pitched, the sound of Dust tapping glass, which told her something important: "The tubes are loaded!" she gasped. "The-"

Remnant answered her question before she could even ask it, detonating the gravity Dust in those containers. Winter felt her stomach lurch as the fall ceased roughly, leaving her steel balloon suspended above Beacon Lake as the Bullheads continued to lose altitude. "No! Them too!" she snapped. Nothing happened, however; the sleek fighters plummeted like stones, although both of their pilots successfully ejected. "Oh, thank the gods…"

Some more frantic searching revealed the manual air-start switch. Winter flicked it back and forth a few times before registering the numbness in her fingertips. Discarding it as adrenaline, she continued manipulating the lever. "Damn you, damn you, damn you, start!" she yelled. The fuselage shook gently as the engines came back to life. Soon, the avionics lit up as well. "Yes! Yes… yes…" Yet she continued to struggle with the stick.

Her problems were no longer mechanical.

"What's… why…" she wheezed, arms leaden and devoid of feeling. They fell limply into her lap. Ringing drowned out all other noise. Her vision became so blurry that she could no longer confirm where the airship was pointed. Her last words were, "Have to… land…" before she slumped forward onto the yoke and lost consciousness.

Something jolted her awake – seconds later, hours later, she couldn't determine. Her eyes fluttered open. Two things were apparent right away: first, she'd made it to one of Beacon's airship pads, even if the vessel was slightly askew and resting on its belly, and second, there were a thousand flaming knives being rammed into her consciousness. This feeling was so pervasive, so overriding, that it locked up memories, instincts, reflexes. She couldn't figure out how to stand. Breathing was a manual affair.

Eyes bulged, she argued with her own limbs. "Get… up!" she demanded, one breath per word. "Get up! Get up!"

Weakness bowed her head, forcing her to look toward campus. People were moving toward the airship pads. Some of them ran, panicked, desperate to get away from an invisible assailant, clutching their heads. Blood poured from their noses. Others shuffled weakly, legs barely functioning, before they simply dropped mid-stride and did not get up again. Winter gazed blankly at those who got the closest, watching some of them run right off the edge of the cliff at full speed.

None of them were Weiss, but that didn't matter. She was in this mess somewhere.

Find her.

Everything boiled away into those two words as Winter screwed up every ounce of willpower in her body to stand. For the first couple of steps, it was like she had never walked before, but once she got her feet back, she grabbed her back and nearly fell out of the airship's missing port-side fuselage door. Now she could properly hear the screams. The sharp pops of electrical equipment shorting out. The shattering of glass. Winter couldn't call out to the two young girls who bolted past and tumbled freely into the abyss – the sounds were lost in her lungs. The splashes made by their bodies joined the cacophony of noise a few seconds later.

Find her!

She walked on, moving around the fallen, passing through the gate. The ringing in her ears retreated. Each step was more confident than the last. Her Aura squirmed so viciously that it dragged limbs with it, causing her arms and legs to twitch. "Weiss!" she finally shouted into the darkness. She passed the main courtyard. "Weiss!"

They threw themselves from the windows as she entered the dorm complex. It didn't matter which floor they were on. Students fell to the ground with grunts of pain or cracks of shattered bone depending on their starting point. She saw Coco, sprawled on the walkway, but still struggling. One word came repeatedly from her bloody lips: "Velvet…"

Something in Beacon Tower was broken enough to start a fire; Winter looked up at the grayish smoke leaking from the middle of the structure into the frigid air. Her legs became wobbly again. Where in the hell could she even start looking for Weiss in this catastrophe, much less any of the people she was meant to retrieve?

New noise reached her ears, bellicose and bassy, from a long, long way away – Grimm, whose alert howls carried through the dense winter night like tolling bells. Glynda stumbled past, hand on her head, nose leaking blood, before she dropped to one knee and almost fell over, losing her glasses in the process. Winter also lost her energy; she fell into a bench, slumped over it, and tried fruitlessly to push herself back up again. "What in the hell is happening?" she gasped between breaths.

Someone offered her a hand. She grabbed it, looked back to see to whom it belonged, and found the gently smiling, completely unmoved Professor Ozpin. Her face went blank with confusion.

"Terribly sorry," he remarked, smiling even as Glynda toppled onto her face behind him. "But you've come at a bad time."