Some of you have expressed aggravation over how often Adam is 'losing' (quotes because it's not necessarily a literal sense of the word) in this fic. My curiosity concerns whether that frustration stems from his 'losses' being poorly written or from wanting to see him be a badass.

Chapter 7: Good Intentions

No matter how much Blake told herself that she belonged here as much as anyone else, she couldn't help the discomfort riding high on her shoulders while she walked the halls of Atlas Academy. The school had provided them uniforms to replace their battered clothing while they waited to get the upgraded equipment that Winter had promised. She didn't even have Gambol Shroud anymore; everyone's weapons, regardless of wear and tear, had been taken for improvements. The uniform's gray and white scheme wasn't awful, but it didn't sit right. Nothing about being in Atlas did.

For so long, Atlas had been a kind of…fairy tale, almost, for her. Stories about the kingdom floating in the sky, imagining the Vytal Tournament stadium expanded to a whole city, the wonders of technology broadcast on the CCT at yearly expos. As a child, she'd been fascinated by it.

And then adults stopped censoring themselves around her, she saw herself as separate from humans for the first time, and the floating city was not a star but a stain. Now here she was, welcomed by its leader and wearing its uniform. She wasn't sure how she felt about this whole situation, but she knew it wasn't exactly positive.

She awkwardly nodded at the next student who offered a polite greeting and kept walking. Yang should have been easy to find—she stood out in any crowd—but this place was just too big. Blake had been hoping to talk to her when they woke up, but Yang had been gone when Blake checked her bed. Last night probably would've been the better option, but they'd all been so tired. It just hadn't felt right.

Blake stopped and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was making excuses; she just didn't want to have this conversation. She couldn't even spend time with Weiss or Ruby to put this off since both of them had gone to secure the lamp in the vault.

"Okay," she breathed. If she were Yang…"Where would I go?"

Yang wasn't in the dining room. Awkwardly waving to a confused Jaune, Blake excused herself and kept searching. She wasn't in the training hall either, which left Blake at a loss. Had she gone into the city? No, she would've told someone, right?

An idea struck her, and she asked the first faunus student she saw if there were other training rooms in the academy besides the main hall. With that student's directions as a guide, she found herself in a room far different and far smaller than the one Penny had showed them last night. It was in an older wing of the academy and sported hardwood floors, mats, and training dummies of a variety of forms. There were ones that were just wooden poles with more wooden rods sticking out of them, punching bags, ones modelled after small Grimm, and even humanoid ones.

One of those humanoid ones had been dragged away from its storage spot by the wall. Yang, hair pulled back into a high ponytail, squared up to it and threw several jabs before finishing with a roundhouse kick. She reset immediately and performed the combo again, even though her eyes flicked to Blake and she clearly knew she was no longer alone. She had rolled up her uniform's sleeves, ditched the tie, and left the top several buttons of her shirt undone. The loose lapels hung over the neck of the dress.

Softly shutting the door, Blake took a few steps closer. The floor creaked. She opened her mouth to speak once Yang finished her next round, but Yang launched into a new one before she could get a word out.

Blake pursed her lips and got even closer

"Are you mad?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Yang scoffed and hit the dummy with a brutal uppercut. It rocked on its stand and she set up for her next series of attacks. "Yang, please."

"What do you think?" Each word was punctuated with a blow that could shatter stone.

"I think you are."

Yang's final punch carried all of her weight and rage behind it. "No shit I'm mad!" The dented dummy tipped over and hit the floor with a loud bang undercut by the resettling of the sand in its base. She whirled on Blake, and though her eyes were lilac, that spoke more to her training than any sense of calm. "First there's treating me like I'm made of glass, saying you'll protect me and all that crap, and then you go and do that? What's wrong with you?"

"Crap? I—I'm sorry. You know we couldn't just leave him there. The damage he could cause—"

"No. Just no." Yang dragged a hand through her hair, only to scowl when the strands caught in the joints of her metal fingers. Though clearly tempted to just yank it out, she spent a second freeing it, then seemed to realize exactly what hand she now had raised. Her eyes shifted back to meet Blake's. "You asked for the man who did this to me, who did that to you—" she gestured at Blake's stomach and the scar it bore—"to come with us when I made it clear that was a bad idea. You can't just apologize that away."

It would be so easy to cave. To admit that she'd been wrong to ignore Yang's discomfort and wrong to bring Adam. Even as she considered it, considered running away from her own convictions, a surge of anger on her own behalf shoved that back. She'd made her choice for a reason, made it knowing that it was putting Yang in an awful position, knowing that it was putting herself in an awful spot too.

So she drew herself up and spoke unflinchingly in the face of Yang's anger. "You're right. It wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry I put you through that." She let that rest for a second. "There were only bad options, Yang, and I chose the one I thought was best." And then the final nail: "I'd do it again."

Yang's eyes went wide, flickered red, and then her shoulders fell. Bitterness and betrayal soured her voice. "Yeah, I guess I should've expected that, too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ignoring her, Yang righted the dummy, collected her water bottle, and shoved past her. Right as she reached the door, it burst open with Ruby and a flutter of petals on the other side. Though panting from presumably having searched the entire academy for Yang, she brightened instantly upon seeing her sister. "Yang, aren't you checking your scroll? Uncle Qrow just messaged and I think it's serious so…" she trailed off upon seeing the storm on her sister's face. Yang stalked past her too, leaving Ruby to stand alone with the door swinging shut behind her.

Her wide silver eyes found Blake's, but Blake could only shake her head, all of her words lodged in her throat and her own eyes burning with tears.

After a beat, Ruby set her jaw, spun on her heel, and went after her sister.

Her attempted reconciliation with Yang left her with a bigger pit in her stomach than before. She'd made things worse, because of course she had. Chasing Yang down was a non-option; clearly, Yang didn't want to talk to her anymore and Ruby was already on it anyway. That left her awkwardly wandering the halls again, only now, she didn't even have a goal in mind.

"Blake? Please tell me that's you, I can't seem to find anyone here."

She stopped and turned around. Weiss, also in an Atlas Academy uniform, was waving her down. She offered a small wave in return. "It's me."

"Do none of you check your scrolls?" Weiss asked with a performative huff. Unlike Yang, she was wearing the uniform perfectly. Blake had loosened the tie at least, but there wasn't a hair out of place for Weiss.

"I've been distracted. Sorry." She pulled her scroll out and winced at the messages Weiss had sent in their group chat. No one had responded. "There's…never mind. How did putting away the relic go?"

Weiss pursed her lips. "Have you eaten breakfast yet? I could use a meal."

That bad. "Yeah, okay."

They went through the cafeteria line and claimed a table in the back with a healthy separation between them and anyone else in the room. There weren't too many students eating at this hour—most were in classes—but those who were around kept up a quiet murmur of background conversation.

Blake sampled her omelet and found it thoroughly adequate. Seeing a similar underwhelmed expression on Weiss's face, she smiled. "I guess their technology doesn't really extend to the kitchen."

"It looked so good while she was making it." Weiss sighed. "Oh well. I've certainly had worse."

They ate in silence for a minute before Blake broached the topic of the relic again. Weiss took her time with her answer, chewing her toast for far longer than she really needed to. "It went pretty smoothly, I suppose. It wasn't that part that was the problem. I mean, all Ruby and I had to do was hand off the relic to Winter."

"You just gave it to her? Did you see her put it in the vault?"

Weiss shook her head. "Remember how the Winter Maiden is very old? Winter is the only one allowed to interact with her, so she had to be the one to take the relic and help her down to the vault."

It didn't take much to put two and two together. "She's already got the name for it, huh?" Her dry joke fell painfully flat; Weiss, frowning at her tray, didn't even seem to hear it.

"Don't get me wrong, I know she put it in the vault and I know it's safe, it was just a bit much. I don't even know how to explain it."

"Do you want to?"

In a very undignified move, Weiss put her elbows on the table and pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. "Most likely." With a groan, she sat back and let her hands fall to her lap. "It's just, ever since I was a child, my sister has been…constant. She always knew what she wanted to do and she didn't let anyone—not me, not Whitley, not even Father—stop her. She's always been…certain, if that makes sense."

Blake thought back to her own pillar, whom she had followed for so long partially because his confidence and charisma made it seem like his way was the best and only option. "And now she isn't?"

"That's the thing," Weiss said, frustrated. "She is. General Ironwood basically ordered her to take on such a serious burden and she's decided to do it the same as everything else even though it's not her choice, not really. I don't understand it."

Blake chewed her lip. "I mean, if she's decided that she's okay with it, then isn't it her choice?"

"That's what she told me."

"But?"

"I just can't understand her decision. She's simply rationalizing what the general ordered her to do, isn't she? And that's not like her."

Blake bought herself a second to think by taking a sip of her juice, but her reprieve lasted only until she set her glass back down. "Is it not like her," she said carefully, "or is it not like the sister you remember?"

Because the Adam in her memories and the Adam she knew now were not the same man. They may have never been.

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "What are you trying to say?"

Okay, this was a sensitive topic. Blake raised her hands placatingly. "You know her better than I do. I just meant that, to me, if she's saying she's thought about it and decided she's okay with it, then it is her decision, isn't it? She could have refused if she wanted."

"I—" Weiss deflated "—I suppose you're right." She took a drink of her own beverage but kept both hands around the glass when she set it on the table. "I think my sister may have put more thought into becoming the maiden than I have about risking my life in a global war against darkness, and I'm not supposed to be the rash one. None of us are."

That hit a little too close to home, and after a beat of internal debate, Blake opted for honesty. "I feel the same. I mean, I came to Haven to stop Adam; I had no idea you guys would be there, and I stayed with you because it felt like the right thing to do. My parents could handle the new White Fang, and you were clearly dealing with the bigger picture. It felt like I had to help."

"Duty."

"Basically. Don't get me wrong," she added quickly, "I was also incredibly happy to be with you guys again. But...it's probably not a great thing that I joined up with you guys in part because I felt like I should, is it?"

Weiss's expression softened. "You're still here, aren't you?"

Those simple words brought warmth to Blake's chest and she reached out to rest her hand on Weiss's. "So are you."

Whatever Weiss had been about to say was interrupted by three soft beeps from the intercom speakers near the room's ceiling. The other conversations in the cafeteria fell to silence while a woman's voice came through the speakers: "Would team RWBY, team JNPR, and Oscar Pine please see General Ironwood in his office. I repeat, would teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as Oscar Pine, please go to General Ironwood's office."

At the same time, both of their scrolls buzzed. Blake took her hand back and glanced at the message, which was just a repetition of the speaker's notice. Though there was nothing inherently ominous about the summons, the look she exchanged with Weiss showed that she shared Blake's bad feeling.

They joined up with the rest of their group as they all converged on Ironwood's office. In the round room outside, Blake tried to make eye contact with Yang, who had showed up with Ruby. Yang just looked at her, drew her mouth into a thin line, and looked away.

"Does anyone know what this is about?" asked Weiss, only to get a round of negatives.

"Maybe he has a mission for us," Ruby tried.

"For a bunch of unlicensed huntsmen who don't have their weapons?" Ren asked. "I don't think it's likely."

"Oh. Right." Ruby awkwardly chuckled. "It's kinda weird to think that we never even graduated, huh?"

Her words hung in the air unanswered.

Jaune, skin still a bit flushed—apparently, he and his team had been practicing unarmed combat with Oscar after breakfast—headed for the stairs with a pained expression. "Let's just go see the general."

Ironwood was standing behind his desk with his back to the room when they walked in. They arranged themselves in a line with Yang intentionally standing as far from Blake as possible. That stung, but when Ironwood turned around, her anxieties about Yang fell away. She'd seen that kind of look before, that kind of reserved, almost pitying disappointment, and she knew what conversations tended to follow. Next to her, Weiss drew in a sharp breath. Blake glanced at her, and they shared a look of worried understanding.

"General?" Ruby asked, stepping forward. "What's this about?"

Blake's eyes were drawn to a dark shape poking up from his desk. It was leaning against the desk at too shallow of an angle for her to really understand what she was looking at, but her bad feeling got worse.

"I wanted to believe the explanation you gave me yesterday," Ironwood began, his gaze sweeping down their line. "But recent—"

There was muffled shouting from beyond the door. Ironwood paused, eyes narrowed, and then the door swung open to reveal Qrow on the other side with two soldiers still trying to drag him down. "James, what the hell are you doing?"

A simple gesture from the general called off the soldiers and let Qrow into the office. "I thought you were still in Mantle, Qrow."

"Yeah, well, here I am. You wanna explain to me why you called all the kids up here instead of me?"

"Uncle Qrow, what's going on?" asked Yang. "Your message—"

"Is exactly why none of you should be here," Qrow finished, anger only for Ironwood. "You ignored my calls, James."

"Time was of the essence," Ironwood said coolly. "Though it would make things simpler to believe this was only your effort, you all arrived in a single manta."

Qrow froze. Ironwood sighed, shook his head, and gestured for Qrow to stand with the rest of them. He waited until Qrow had done so to continue. "As I was saying, I wanted to believe what you told me before, but Beacon taught me to be careful. I didn't want to suspect any of you—especially you, Qrow—but the evidence cannot be denied."

"Evidence?" Yang repeated. "What evidence?"

"A few members of my military responsible for monitoring Mantle's cameras alerted me to your supposed informant's potential identity, though they were unable to confirm it. Given the risk a man like that could pose and the role he played in Beacon's fall, I couldn't leave the threat unaddressed. I had to be sure."

Ironwood drew the object out from behind his desk and the blood drained from Blake's face. She felt her ears folding but couldn't do anything to stop them. Wilt and Blush; she'd recognize the weapons anywhere—and Adam never went anywhere without them.

"Trust is something I've given out too easily in the past," Ironwood said, setting the sheathed sword down lengthwise on his desk and once more clasping his hands behind his back. "It has to be earned. And though I know all of you chose to fight to defend Beacon, that was years ago. Evidently, things have changed since then."

"It's not what you think," Weiss said.

"I haven't said what I'm thinking." His eyes settled on Ruby, but he spoke to all of them. "Care to explain yourselves?"

Blake dug her nails into her palms. She should step forward; it had been her call. Her responsibility. As she drew breath to speak, though, someone else took charge.

"It was my decision," Ruby said firmly. "They followed my lead when I didn't tell you about Adam yesterday; I...was being paranoid."

Ironwood narrowed his eyes. "Why did you bring him here?"

"I thought he could be an ally against Salem." She swallowed. "I let that blind me to the horrible things he's done and how dangerous he is to everyone in this kingdom. I'm sorry."

"A potential ally against Salem," Ironwood repeated slowly. He looked among all of them, gaze lingering on Weiss and Yang. "This was your entire group's decision?"

Yang looked away, Weiss said nothing. Blake shrank under his gaze but then set her jaw and weathered it.

"I'm the leader," Ruby said, taking another half-step forward to draw Ironwood's eyes back to her. "It was my call."

"Ruby—" Qrow started, but a look from Ironwood silenced him.

"You brought him here as an ally against Salem."

"Yes."

"He knows?"

Ruby glanced at Blake, who nodded. "Not everything, but most of it."

Ironwood pinched the bridge of his nose. "And I presume this all happened after Ozpin disappeared."

"Hey," Qrow said. "Like I said, I was there too. Don't pin this all on them."

"So you agreed with them? That you could view this terrorist as an ally?"

"At the time? Yeah, I did."

After a terse pause, Ironwood pressed a button on his desk. Instantly, the windows dimmed, tinting to block prying eyes. "Then we should hear what he has to say."

He stood there, waiting. Ruby stepped back into their line, getting a reassuring shoulder squeeze from Yang and a nod from Qrow. Blake did her best to thank her with a look but she couldn't hide the anxiety buzzing like static behind her every thought.

Muffled footsteps sounded from beyond the doorway. Two uniformed Atlesians—two of the Ace-Ops, the large woman and the faunus man, their names escaping her—came into the room.

Between them, they carried Adam.

Blood running cold, Blake couldn't help her stare. Adam was barely moving and there was dried blood on his temple, his new coat scuffed and stained with dirt. His hands were bound behind his back. His ankles, too, were tied, and his head was bowed. His arrival sent ripples through the room.

The Ace-Ops deposited him at the foot of the stairs leading to Ironwood's desk and then remained on either side of him, facing the rest of them with stoic professionalism. The entrance swung closed, but not before Blake caught a glimpse of the remaining Ace-Ops now stationed outside. She swallowed and faced forward.

Why wasn't Adam moving? He was conscious enough to stay on his knees, but this wasn't like him. There were no sardonic comments, no attempts at testing his bonds, not even a look her way. The only mercy he'd seemed to have been granted was that his blindfold remained over his eyes.

"Marrow," Ironwood said into the silence. The man on Adam's left nodded and Adam abruptly slumped down, mouth screwing into a thunderous scowl while rage rippled across his shoulders. He'd been under some kind of hold…Marrow's semblance?

Now he did look at Blake and now he did have a comment, his rage poorly masked behind a smirk. "How nice to be reunited, isn't it, Blake?"

"Enough," Ironwood said. "You somehow managed to get a group of former huntsmen- and huntresses-in training, never mind a full-fledged huntsman, to vouch for you. I want an explanation."

Adam didn't even bother pretending that he'd listened. Instead, he looked up at Marrow.

"Are you proud of that uniform?"

Irritation flashed across Ironwood's face and Blake stepped forward without thinking. "I was the one who asked for him to be brought with us. It's my fault, not Ruby's."

For a terrifying second, no one moved—and then Qrow stepped up in front of her. "Hold it, all of you. I was the adult in the room and I let it happen even after I recognized him, and I was the one who let him get away from me this morning. If you want to blame anyone, James, blame me."

He stared Ironwood down in a silent contest of wills. Between them, Adam started laughing.

"Something funny to you?" asked Qrow.

"You're all pathetic, trying to take the blame like it matters. I'll put an end to it: I threatened to kill all of them unless they brought me here and stayed silent about it. I don't care about your war against darkness, only the death of Cinder Fall. Does that satisfy your opinion of me, General?"

A slight narrowing of Ironwood's eyes was the only reaction he gave. "You threatened all of them."

"They let their guards down."

Another contest. Whatever Ironwood saw, it was enough for him to shake his head and gesture to the Ace-Ops. "Take him down to the holding cells. The Council will want a say in what happens to him."

They hauled him up. On their way out, Marrow said, "Look, if you cooperate this time, I won't have to do what I did before."

The door remained open after they left. Ironwood shut off the tinted windows, bringing light back into the room. He then sat heavily in his chair and massaged his temples with one hand.

"Is that it?" he asked. Ruby glanced at the rest of them; Blake could only offer a shrug.

"General…?"

He heaved a sigh and looked down at them with clear weariness in the lines of his face. "Do you have any other surprises for me?"

Blake swallowed. If they said nothing now and Salem's immortality came to light later, he'd lose faith in them completely. But if they did tell him now, how would he take it? Would he even believe them? Maybe with Qrow here, but without Ozpin—or maybe because of Ozpin it would go wrong. Qrow's reaction to learning the truth had been extreme and he wasn't the one shouldering the stress of an entire kingdom rocked by unrest.

And now, Qrow was looking at Ruby. Blake, too, realized she was looking at—to—Ruby. Who suddenly looked very, very young.

Was this unfair? This seemed unfair.

"There is…something," Ruby said slowly. "About Salem." Ironwood gradually straightened in his seat and Ruby pressed onward. "It's something the lamp…hinted at, but never said outright." More half-truths and lies. Blake hoped that Ruby had a plan. "We've been investigating as best we can ever since we heard, but we need Ozpin to confirm it."

"And Ozpin is gone," Ironwood said. "Was this something he was hiding? What is 'it'?"

Ruby drew in a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "With all due respect, General Ironwood, I think hearing it when we're not even sure if it's true might do more harm than good. You're already dealing with so much; please, let us handle this. We'll find a way to bring Ozpin back and find out for certain, and when we do, we'll tell you."

Ironwood stared at her, processing, evaluating. Blake could almost see the walls shifting into place and her heart sank. He had given them unconditional trust at first, but they had lost that privilege. He looked the longest at Qrow, who apparently offered some kind of reassurance that the rest of them could not.

"Very well," he said. "Regardless of what you attempt on your own, however—Oscar."

The boy straightened. "Sir?"

"You and I will have daily training sessions. We will bring Ozpin back."

Oscar swallowed, looking torn between happiness at getting one-on-one training with Ironwood and trepidation at the prospect of everything going on behind the scenes of that training. "Right."

"The rest of you, you may continue staying here and using our facilities. Should you wish to leave the Academy, I'll request that you do so with an escort."

"James—" Qrow started, only to be silenced with a look once again.

"You brought a known terrorist into my kingdom." His expression softened a hair. "I'm being as lenient as I can, Qrow."

"We understand," said Ren, closing the matter for all of them. From the set of his shoulders, he knew it, too.

Ironwood nodded and sat straight in his chair. "Dismissed."

Ruby's suggestion that they all have a meeting in their team's room to get things sorted out was met with instant agreement, which was how Blake ended up awkwardly hunched on a bed with Weiss, one ear brushing the low bottom of the bunk above her. All of her team was on the bottom two beds while JNOR took up the handful of chairs. Nora was sitting cross-legged on the table. Only Qrow wasn't in attendance; he had stayed behind to talk to Ironwood and then apparently gone to talk to Adam. Should she have done the same? Her heart began to pound at the mere thought.

No. She wasn't ready for that.

"Well, there's really only one thing to talk about," Yang said.

"I mean, none of us were surprised that that terrorist got caught, right?" asked Weiss. "It was going to happen eventually and I, for one, am relieved that he's no longer at large."

Weiss's words both validated Blake's own feelings and grated on her. Shoving all of that conflict to the side, she looked to Ruby. "Why didn't you tell Ironwood about Salem's immortality? Do you have some kind of plan?"

Her hopes were dashed when Ruby's shoulders slumped. "I don't know yet, but—" she sat up "—just give me a little time. I'll figure it out."

Jaune exchanged a worried look with Ren and Nora that only Ruby didn't see. He reached out from his chair and set a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Hey," he said softly, "you're not in this alone. You've got all of us, remember?"

Ruby shook her head. "I know you're here to help, but I'm the silver-eyed warrior, right? It's my whole thing that I go against the Grimm. Against Salem. So I…I have to do this. I have to find a way."

"Uh, yeah, no," said Yang. "Sure, you've got those fancy eye-beams, but you're still my kid sister. More importantly, you're our leader—and good leaders know when to ask for help."

"She's right," Jaune said. "Let us help, Ruby."

"We'll come up with a plan to kick Salem's butt together," Nora declared. "Like that nevermore in initiation!"

"That was more improvisation than planning," Blake pointed out.

"And I'm not sure if Salem will let you drag her up the side of a cliff by the neck," Weiss mused with a sly smile, "but my glyphs will be there if you still want to try."

Poor Oscar was looking pretty lost.

"Are we sure we want to do this?"

Ren's question had the lighthearted mood draining away almost immediately. Blake's own slight smile faded as she remembered the reality of their situation. Salem was no nevermore, and—

"General Ironwood has an entire army," Ren continued. "He has the Ace-Ops and all of the licensed huntsmen and huntresses in this kingdom. We're a bunch of kids that never even graduated. Telling him the truth and letting him adapt his plans to it would likely be the safer play. He's the one with experience."

It was like he'd read Blake's mind.

"Ren, we can't just back out now," Nora chastised.

"Maybe we didn't graduate," added Jaune, "but we've learned a lot on our own."

Ren stared at him. "Some of us more than others." Jaune withdrew, hurt, causing Ren to sigh and shake his head. "I just think we might be overestimating our own abilities when doing that could put a lot of people at risk."

Ruby, looking smaller than before, said, "You're right, but…I can't just back out of this. I can't speak for everyone, but what I've lost to this—I have to keep fighting. I want to keep fighting so no one else has to go through it too."

"And you don't think that putting an entire kingdom in danger just so you can prove yourself is childish?"

Blake's breath caught in her throat. Yang stood with a snarl on her face. Jaune was halfway out of his seat trying to get between them. Nora's eyes were wide in surprise.

Oscar cleared his throat. "Um, maybe we should all take a break. It's been a long morning."

Ren stood up and left without another word but Nora chased after him. Blake caught snippets of their conversation in the hallway, but not enough to understand what was being said. Nora came back in a few seconds later. Seeing that everyone was staring at her, she laughed a little. "He's fine, you know how he can get."

She wasn't convincing anyone with that act. Out of their group, though, Blake sympathized with Ren more than anyone. This would be putting the target on her back, but with Ren gone…

"He had a point, though," she said while Nora clambered back onto the desk. "Not telling Ironwood the truth is risky."

Ruby folded. "I know, you're right. Ren's right. But…we have a little time, don't we? Getting Amity Tower up and running, restoring global communications, doesn't really depend on Salem being immortal."

Jaune exchanged a look with Nora and then Blake. "And after that?" he prodded.

Ruby drew her knees up to her chest. "I just—what if this is our only chance? Like Ren said, we never graduated. We're unlicensed. If we don't have anything to give, why would he keep us anywhere near the front lines of this when he already has Winter and Penny and the Ace-Ops? I want to help and I want him to believe we can help." She paused for breath, pursing her lips. "We don't know when Salem is going to target Atlas, but if she does show up, or if anything goes wrong, then we'll tell him right away."

Uncertain glances were shared among their group. Only Yang seemed resolute in backing her sister, but that front of support was cracking under the pressure.

Jaune slowly nodded. "Right away," he emphasized.

"Does that work?" Ruby asked, looking at Blake.

"It still seems like a bad idea."

"I mean, Ruby, do we really need to give Ironwood a plan of our own?" asked Weiss. "Ren's right, the general has experience with conflicts like this. If we work with him—"

"You're all ganging up on her," Yang interrupted with a scowl. "Can you back off for a second?"

"I'm sorry, that's not what I intended."

"Yang, it's okay," muttered Ruby. Once her sister sat back down, she withdrew even further into herself. "We are a bunch of kids. I mean, besides Oscar, I'm the youngest, and I tried to step up and be a leader in Argus and that turned out so, so badly. Back when Beacon fell, Ironwood took charge like he was born for it. It was so natural for him. I just want to do something right."

"You want to impress him," Blake realized. How had Ren seen that so quickly? Yang and Weiss both looked to her, and she shrugged. "That's what it sounded like. He's an experienced leader and we didn't exactly make a good impression earlier, so you're trying to make it up to him."

If anything, her words made Ruby look even more miserable. "Now I really sound like a kid."

Yang slung an arm around her shoulders and tugged her close. "Hey, come on, we'll figure it out."

"How about this?" Jaune suggested. "Two weeks. That's our hard deadline; even if we don't have a plan and even if we've seen no sign of Salem, we'll tell Ironwood everything. I think we can get Ren to agree to that."

Blake let a wry smile twist her lips. "It's almost like one of Professor Goodwitch's projects."

"Ugh," Yang groaned, releasing Ruby. "Don't remind me about the battle tactics unit. That sucked."

"I seem to recall someone enjoying a certain board game that requires battle tactics," Weiss said airily. Blake snickered and Yang flushed, only to let go of her retort when Ruby giggled.

"Thanks, guys," she said.

He'd expected…more, he supposed, from Atlas's prisons. Then again, this quaint setup was a far cry from the rumored isolation pods on their flagships or the prison labor camps they had partnered with the SDC to create. Though the humming of the hard light walls was annoying, it was easy enough to push aside after the first ten minutes. What was more annoying was the lack of anything to focus on. Save for the other empty cells marked by inactive pylons and benches like the uncomfortable one in his own dwelling, there was nothing else in the room.

The only guards were stationed outside the locked entranceway, their conversation too muted for him to understand. He was left to pace, and though the walls were translucent, he couldn't shake the feeling of them closing in every time he put his back to any one of them. He had tried using his coat as a pillow on the bench but he was far too keyed up for sleep no matter how much the pounding in his head made him long for it. There was buzzing between his every thought and every thought he did manage just started anew the spiral towards the pit of rage bubbling in his core. He couldn't fall into it; he had to keep a clear head. But his self-control was waning faster than exhaustion could take its place.

Mid-stride, the door opened. He paused in his pacing, then gave it up entirely when none other than the huntsman Qrow strode through, much to the chagrin of the guards outside.

"Take it up with Ironwood if it's got you so bothered," Qrow threw over his shoulder. "You already looked at my license, what more do you want from me?"

"But this is a restricted—"

"Again, talk to James. I'm not walking you through every facet of my security clearance, got it? Watch the footage back if you're so worried."

Cowed, the guards backed off. "Knock when you want to be let out."

Qrow rolled his eyes and faced Adam while the guards retreated. "Only the best of the best, really."

Adam merely stood and waited. Clearly, Qrow wanted something.

"The silent treatment? Fair enough." He crossed his arms. "Look, what you said up in the office—you didn't have to paint yourself as the straightforward villain. I know what went down in Argus was more complicated than that."

In truth, Adam wasn't wholly sure why he had done it either. Perhaps some kind of repayment for Blake and her group attempting to cover for him at all. Qrow's effort to grant him a limited kind of freedom in Mantle had been genuine, after all, and Blake had looked nothing short of sick to see him shackled before Ironwood's desk.

If he was being honest with himself, that particular observation had been that whole encounter's only silver lining.

"Right, well." Qrow spared a glance at the camera over the door. "You don't need to answer this, but it's going to bother me if I don't ask about it. What you said, the slave thing. What did you mean by that?"

Adam's lips thinned alongside his patience.

Qrow sighed. "Yeah, don't know what I was expecting. You should know that James doesn't support anything like that." His eyes skipped over the bare-bones accommodations of the cell block and pinched at the corners, but he just shook his head. "Unfortunately, the Council's going to get involved with this, and with how on edge this whole place is…I'd use what time you've got left to figure out what you are and aren't taking to your grave."

A kingdom in lockdown wouldn't want to waste resources on a high-risk prisoner like himself. He could understand, but that didn't change the sensation of a hole in the floor yawning open beneath him. Resolute, he kept his chin up and refused to acknowledge the new gravity trying pull him off-balance. Qrow regarded him for a moment longer before he took his leave.

Only when the door closed behind him did Adam give into the buzzing in his skull and slam a fist down on the bench hard enough to dent the metal.

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