Alright, another chapter of this, even though I said I wouldn't be posting another chapter this week. I actually ended up being able to transfer some of the documents off of my hard-drive and onto a family members computer, so I could edit the chapters I had written and still release them.
So, here's that!
Start Chapter 14
Glynda Goodwitch has gone through a rather interesting set of events in the last few weeks. Her Kingdom has become the victim of a terrorist attack more devastating than any in the century. Her school has been laid to siege, with White Fang attacking her students. And now, she has been made Headmistress of Beacon Academy, expected to have answers to impossible questions from the council, expected to have answers for parents desperately hoping some new sign of their missing children will show up.
And now, while she'd been busy trying to help stem the bleeding, and rebuild the rapidly cracking foundations of both Beacon and Vale, the Atlas military is supplanting her authority, coming into her school, holding one of her students for ransom, arresting three others, and not to mention the way that Qrow, who she'd sent as her intermediary in these matters, had been imprisoned as well.
So, really, Glynda Goodwitch feels she can be forgiven for the next few words she speaks.
"Just what the fuck do you think you're doing, James!?"
The man who is currently taking the brunt of her anger flinches back somewhat, which is perhaps testament to how infuriated she currently is, because she doesn't think that in their decade or so of experience with one another she's ever made the man before her flinch.
"Glynda–"
"Headmistress to you." Glynda hisses between her teeth. "A headmistress who, may I remind you, is currently waiting for four of her students to be released from unlawful confinement!"
James lets out a low sigh, which only serves to anger Glynda further, as he rubs his remaining hand down his face.
"I understand that you would rather I not have acted as I have, but you are mistaken if you believe that their confinement is unlawful. They have, each of them, all aided and abetted a known terrorists escape from confinement."
"Ah, yes, because there were absolutely no extenuating factors there!" Glynda seethes out.
"Glynda we have voice recordings of Mr. Arc's conversations with both his team and Ms. Fall. If he'd been threatened into this, believe me when I say I would not have taken such drastic measures. He assisted in her escape of his own will."
"That woman is Mr. Arc's soulmate!"
"And should we not act to remove one of Salem's agents from the field of play just because one boy will be made upset by it?"
Glynda finds herself growling, before she shakes her head, and a question is conjured up from within her breast.
"Why did you even allow that woman to escape in the first place!?" She asks. "Why not simply stop the attempt before it could begin? Surely you do not mean to convince me that the oh so powerful Atlas Military couldn't have stopped four first year Hunter trainees?"
Ironwood doesn't deny that. "We could've stopped it."
"Then why allow it!?"
"For one, I wished to elucidate exactly how far Mr. Arc would go, and if his teammates would assist him. But that was more of a passing interest for myself, personally. The real reason was that we know for a fact Cinder Fall did not orchestrate this attack on her lonesome."
"What do you…"
"She could not have orchestrated an attack like this on her own. Not something of this scale. That she works for Salem, and that she worked alongside the White Fang, is obvious, but even in this immediate area, there are bound to be more who serve her specifically. By doing this, we aim to draw them out as well. To catch the entire cell, as it were, of their Vale organization in one fell swoop. If we'd simply executed Fall, we'd have gained nothing more than the information she alone possessed, which, might I remind you, was staggeringly little. This way, we can perhaps gain other pieces to interrogate, to gather information from. And maybe they will offer the information we truly seek. That which will allow us to take down Salem once and for all."
"…And you're prepared to use my students as bait?"
Ironwood does not so much as hesitate. "I am. If it is for the sake of the world, for the sake of stopping Salem, there is little I would not do, Glynda."
Glynda bites down on her lower lip more than hard enough to draw blood, and only her aura keeps such ichor from flowing down her face.
"I am aware that you do not condone my actions, but unfortunately, you are one among the many. The council of Vale supports me on this. They see the necessity of what I'm doing. As does the council of Atlas, which is why I am allowed to be here in the first place."
"The council upon which you hold two seats?" Glynda snipes vainly.
"You hold one on Vale's, and yet they have sided with me." James responds, forcing Glynda to take a step back. "I am sorry, Glynda. Truly, had I any other option, I would take it."
She's heard such a thing from the man's lips so often that she she's beginning to grow quite tired of it.
"This is not the end of this, James. I will never support this course of action." She swears with all that she is. "I will do everything in my power to stop you."
Ironwood hums without much vigor, a weak, fragile thing, clearly fraying.
"I understand. I only hope that when this is over, you can come to forgive me for what I must do."
Glynda makes to open her mouth, to battle back, to battle further, but she can summon nothing from within herself. There is simply no diplomatic way for her to solve this.
So she just shakes her head, and then, biting back on the rage within her breast, she turns and walks away.
And under her breath, as she rounds a corner towards Ozpin's office – no, her office, she finds herself muttering…
"Likewise…"
/
Arthur Watts isn't particularly expecting to receive a phone call on his… private scroll at roughly seven in the morning on a brisk spring day in Atlas, and thusly, he initially panics, thinking that something might be terribly wrong.
What he's expecting slightly less is seeing just who it is who's called him.
Oh, it's an unknown number, certainly, but that doesn't mean anything. After all, the scroll in his hand is unlisted from all normal networks. It physically cannot be called by someone who does not know exactly how to reach it. And he knows the numbers of the other two people who might be contacting him.
However, the last of them hasn't been in contact with any of them in weeks, and honestly, most of them had simply assumed she'd been killed. Not Watts, however, and not because he particularly likes the girl, either. No. He's simply accepted, unlike the rest of them, that the woman on the other end of the line is akin to a cockroach, virtually indestructible despite her pathetic frame and chittering personality.
And so, he takes his scroll, flares out his collar, and answers it in a bright and cheery tone that the both of them know is feigned.
"Cinder, dear, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I need a favor from Salem."
Arthur's quite glad that this private line doesn't come with video, because frankly, the way that his eyebrows had shot up in that moment might've actually constituted a reaction from him, and frankly, he makes it a point to never once do that in this woman's presence.
Even still, he can't quite help finding it adorable just how quickly she had come out and said her objective.
Silly Ms. Fall never had been one for pleasantries.
Nor intelligent enough to not lay all of her cards out on the table during the first turn of play.
"Oh, and do you think you've earned one?"
"I know I have."
Arthur sneers.
"Fine, fine. And when I contact our glorious mistress, what shall I tell her that you need, and when by?"
She runs him through what she's going to be needing, which brings a variety of reactions to his face.
"Alright… I won't ask the why of this little venture. Still, the when?"
Cinder seems to think for a moment.
"Roughly four hours from now, give or take."
His eyelid twitches.
"…You're putting me on an awfully tight schedule."
"Oh, I don't know, Arthur, perhaps make yourself useful for once for the person who just brought down the entirety of Vale!"
The girl's tone needs to be brought in line, and frankly, she shouldn't have even addressed him as she had. How dare she! Who does she think she is!?
No. This cannot stand.
"Oh? And did you acquire the Relic of Choice?"
The way Cinder goes suspiciously silent is music to his ears.
"Hm. I thought not." He says, rolling his eyes haughtily."Well, I'll contact Salem. You continue doing…" He waves his fingers as he rolls his wrist."Whatever it is you do."
Cinder sounds like she wants to complain, as is her usual state of affairs, but through some sheer miracle she manages to hold herself back, instead chiming in with something else.
"Also… let Salem know something."
"Oh? And would you like me to change your diaper as well? Is there anything else I can do for the dear princess?" He mocks.
"Watts…" Cinder growls angrily.
"Yes, yes, save your threats." He yawns. "What shall I inform our mistress of, exactly?"
"…I might be bringing someone I haven't previously discussed with me when I return."
"Oh?" Now this has him interested, crossing his right leg over his left as he sits back a bit on the sofa he's resting upon."And do you think that wise? Our mistress is already unsure of what to think of your little… add-ons. What were their names?"
"Emerald and Mercury."
"Yes, indeed. So?"
"No… I don't think it's a good idea."
"And you're doing it regardless because…?"
The woman hesitates for a moment, and just when Watts is ready to simply cut off this line of conversation, Cinder speaks.
"Because I don't think I'll be given any other choice."
/
Jaune is awoken by the sound of the lock on his door disengaging.
He peers up at the low light that's been brought into the room, squinting somewhat as he winces. Even so, he's able to make out one or two figures.
One of whom is familiar.
"Mr. Arc." General Ironwood speaks, his voice firm and unrelenting, despite the visible healing that still needs to occur all over his body. "Cinder Fall is on her way."
His veins turn to ice.
"We highly doubt she intends to simply give her life. I'd bet my own that she has some sort of plan to get the both of you out of this."
Jaune can't help but feel the tiniest hope spring up in his breast, then, even if it's dashed against the rocks in the next moment as Ironwood speaks again.
"But we will not be allowing such a thing. I am sorry, Mr. Arc, for what it's worth. But your soulmate is a villain of the highest order. For the sake of the world, she must meet her end here and now."
Jaune decides in that moment that there's quite literally no point in trying to convince Ironwood otherwise. Especially with the way that the man's eyes are deadened with Mettle's air.
No. His best bet is to try and save his strength. To wait and see if some better opportunity will arise.
Because much like Ironwood, Jaune is fairly sure that Cinder doesn't mean to come quietly.
And he has other things to worry about as well.
Namely…
Ren… Nora… Pyrrha…
He's not sure quite what has happened to the three of them, or where exactly they are. They're being held… somewhere, though exactly where is anyone's guess. But Jaune knows something crucial.
That if he manages to somehow escape with Cinder, if they're still here, then the threat of violence against them will call him back. That he'll be forced to return. And then, of course, so will Cinder.
Thusly, if they mean to escape this scenario, it has to be all at once.
He's worried about Qrow too, of course, but he can't help feeling that the older man can perhaps look after himself. Besides, he and Ironwood had seemed like… well, not friends, but colleagues. Jaune doubts he'll hold the man hostage.
And if he does? Some part of Jaune asks the rest.
…
Okay, so Qrow is added to the list as well.
This 'escape plan' continues to grow more and more complicated.
Even so, it's not like he has any real options here. There are no contingencies.
Either he saves everyone, or that's it. He's done.
Or, well, Cinder's done.
Which is complicated, given Jaune has very little idea just what it is Cinder has planned, if anything. He's just going to have to hope Cinder has something.
Which, knowing Cinder, does feel fairly likely.
Even if he's dreading just what it might be.
Because whether or not they've held his friends hostage, whether or not they've tortured him as a catalyst to contact her, whether or not they're planning on killing his soulmate, Jaune doesn't want Cinder to, say, blow all of Atlas' Military to kingdom come. No, most of the people here have no idea what's going on. They're just doing their jobs.
Jaune grimaces, even as Ironwood reaches up to his ear, and touches a small piece that is located within.
"Well, it seems like she's here."
Jaune feels his stomach begin to knot.
He'd have really preferred a few more minutes to try and come up with something.
Well, to be fair, he'd come up with the last escape plan.
It is technically Cinder's turn.
So, he'll just have to trust her.
Perhaps it speaks poorly of him, but he finds that he already does.
/
Cinder steps onto the grounds of Beacon, her footfalls echoing on the uprooted stone and concrete that had once made up the campus of the school. Now it is fractured, broken, in pieces.
And it's all because of her.
At another time, with something less important on the line, she might've allowed herself to think more on that – and the very fact that she's thinking about this at all is a testament to just how important the person she's here for truly is – but…
She looks up at the veritable army in front of her. At least fifty soldiers standing with their guns trained right on her. They know who she is, that much is clear from their scowling faces, the way some of their hands tremble in both fury and fear. Cinder is honestly impressed no one accidentally fires off a shot at her, though she supposes they're trained better than that.
"Show him to me." She calls out to them.
A few of them pause at that, looking to each other as if for guidance. She spots one she's fairly certain is the leader, and her suspicions are proven correct as he raises his voice to match her own.
"Why should we do such a thing?"
"Because if you wish for me to surrender bloodlessly, you will meet my demands."
The man's eyes harden, before he turns around and speaks a few words to a man behind him. There's perhaps another ten or so seconds of silence then, before another voice, a different one, and yet still one she recognizes, emerges.
"Cinder Fall. I think you'll find that Atlas does not negotiate with terrorists."
Ah. James Ironwood.
How droll.
He's seen better days, that much is for sure. Down an arm and wrapped in bandages. It seems to Cinder at least that the decisions he's made recently haven't been popular with everyone among his ranks.
"You will negotiate with this terrorist."She says. "Unless you wish for me to unleash the Maiden's fire amongst your ranks."
It is not at all an empty threat, and perhaps Ironwood can see that in her eyes, for within another few moments, he nods his head, and gestures to one of the other guards. The man moves back a ways, before walking back into main school building of Beacon, and drawing out a single figure.
Cinder's heart lurches at seeing him. Honestly, she hates herself for such weakness, even as she finds herself mentally checking him for wounds, for injuries, for anything they might've done to hurt him.
She finds nothing, and yet the pain she'd felt the previous day had not been nothing. No, more than likely, it had been some kind of device meant solely to communicate with her through him. She's fairly sure she's heard of such a thing. Used mainly to send messages to spies deep in enemy territory.
It seems they've found another use for it.
"He is unharmed." Ironwood's voice booms across the clearing. "If you wish for him to stay that way, you will place your hands behind your head, turn around, and submit to our judgement."
"So, the great General Ironwood is not above using people as hostages?" She mocks.
"I wish that it did not have to be so." The general responds. "But it does. And so I shall."
She hums in acceptance of the man's faulty logic, before, after another few seconds, she allows her arms to slowly rise.
She sees some shocked confusion, some tentative excitement, among the ranks of the soldiers before her. Those who genuinely seem to think that she's about to surrender, that she's about to simply give her life away.
If she'd had no other option, perhaps she'd have done it. She owes her little light her life, after all, it feels only fair to repay that favor.
But she does have another option.
"SIR! IN THE SKY!" Someone shouts.
Cinder just smirks.
And then a massive shadow covers the entirety of the courtyard. It seems to stretch on endlessly, encompassing the whole sky.
And then the ground quakes as it hits.
Cinder is moving before this happens, taking advantage of the brief distraction that the Giant Nevermore she's requested of Salem will buy her. It's not much, not enough to take fifty well-armed guards. Honestly, it'll give her thirty seconds if she's lucky.
But then, Cinder isn't exactly planning on being idle during that time.
Ironwood, at least, is smart enough to know a distraction when he sees one. Even so, Cinder has moved far faster than he's expecting. With the flames of the Maiden's power jettisoning from her body, she rockets herself towards him.
He raises his single arm to try and block her, but the force of her leg colliding with it, and thusly him, at the speed she's going is more than enough to send him flying backwards. He collides with the walls of Beacon Academy hard enough to barrel straight through them, and though Cinder knows that the man's likely alive, at the very least, she doesn't think he'll be getting up from that one for a while.
A bullet strikes her in the mid back, and she hisses as her aura tanks the blow. The pains of her injuries at Rose's hand flare in that moment, and she is reminded that she is not at all at full strength right now. No, if she plans to fight, it will need to be a quick and efficient affair.
Even still, anger floods her breast, and she fuels the Maiden's fire with it as she turns, meaning to immolate the fool who'd meant to kill her, and–
And she sees her little lights face.
It is an odd thing. How quickly the furious glee with which she'd been fighting is stripped away from her. How seeing the look on his face, not one of impressed gratitude, or perhaps awed splendor, but one of genuine, real fear, saps the wind from her sails.
"C-Cinder!?" Jaune calls to her.
The guard shoots again. Cinder dodges this one. She feels the Maiden's flames light her eye, burning brighter, hotter.
Enraged.
She blitzes into the soldiers guard, melts the weapon with which he's shot her, and then…
Then she punches him in the sternum hard enough to knock him out.
She does not wait for another moment. No, she channels fire into her limbs, wraps her arms around her little light, and takes flight.
She rockets upwards, taking some small solace in the way that the boy in her arms wraps his own around her, and clings so tightly that she can feel some of her blood flow halting.
She… doesn't mind the feeling, she finds. In fact, she–
"Cinder! They have everyone else, too! We can't leave!"
She turns to him in a hurried manner and screams loud enough to be heard over the roar of her fire. "What!?"
"They got Ren, and Nora, and P-" The boy almost slips in his hurriedness. "Pyrrha and Qrow!"
Cinder really wishes she could afford to simply ignore her little light in that moment. After all, she'd certainly not planned on rescuing an entire team of idiots – and a particularly aged, grizzled idiot who'd tried to kill her several times – when she'd come here. No. this had been a rather simple in-and-out mission. Get in, grab her idiot, get out.
And yet, she can tell looking at her little light's face that if she doesn't go along with his idea, he'll do something really stupid, like go back when Ironwood threatens their lives, and thusly make her have to go back as well. And she doesn't think Ironwood's going to be willing to put Jaune out in the open again if he manages to capture him a second time.
Which means…
"I can't believe I'm doing this," She growls as she turns them, so that instead of heading towards the Emerald Forest, they instead curve towards the roof of Beacon's dormitories, where she'd taken off from just a day ago.
"Thank you!"
"Don't thank me yet!" She shouts to be heard over her own fires raging. "This isn't going to be a cakewalk! You're going to need to use every last facet of power you've got in that measly little frame if you expect to get them out!"
Her little light laughs nervously.
"Oh, uh, yeah, totally!"
Her eyes narrow.
"…What is it?"
"It's noth–"
"Do not lie to me."
The boy in her arms swallows nervously as the two of them touch down atop the roof.
"So uh… I might… sort of… not have all that much training?"
Cinder's eyes somehow narrow further.
"…You can take one of the guards, right?"
"…Probably?"
"Define probably!"
"Well, I mean, I'm not going to go beating up General Ironwood by myself, but I could probably take one or two soldiers? Maybe? ….Probably?"
Cinder lets out a horrendous groan.
/
James Ironwood has taken some pretty serious hits in his life.
Being rocketed through not one, but two concrete walls actually ranks pretty low, all things considered.
Honestly, it's not even the worst he's been hurt this week.
He shakes off his stupor, managing to step out of the rubble and towards his guards, who're all looking to him in various states of shock. The nevermore that'd been sicked upon them is already beginning to dissolve into nothing, its massive form not enough to down a single one of his elite guard.
Well, a few of them have been taken out by Fall herself. And yet, what he thinks must be dead soldiers reveal themselves to be very-much-alive unconscious soldiers.
Honestly, that's a pretty nice surprise.
It gets better.
"Sir!" A higher ranked officer steps up to him. "We watched Fall carry Arc away towards the Emerald Forest, but then, at the last moment, she flew back towards Beacon! We think she landed atop the dormitories!"
And Ironwoods eyes – or perhaps eye, given one is still hidden behind gauze and bandages –widen, before they narrow a second later.
"It's just as you theorized, sir. They're headed towards–"
"His teammates." He finishes, before nodding, and turning towards his second in command on this little operation.
"Right, all units, make for the prison block and surround it with everything we have. And make sure our final trump card is armed and ready as well!"
"Yes sir!" A general chorus rings out.
They all begin to funnel into the building behind him, and Ironwood follows after them, albeit at a more sedated pace.
He will not be defeated here. Not and have one of the world's most dangerous criminals run rampant. No matter what he has to do… no matter what…
His heart aches, though. It pains him to think of the actions he might have to take.
For the sake of the world. Some part of him chimes in.
Ironwood just nods, before he activates Mettle.
And then everything goes quiet.
End Chapter 14
Alright, bit of a cliffhanger here. Next chapter will be the end of this little arc (and also about double the length of a normal chapter!) so I hope you all enjoy that next chapter!
Anyways, see you all then!
