REFUGE
The Dim lights of the Command Center's prison hold reflected off of Clover's bloodied pin that Qrow stared at in his hand.
"I'm surprised that wasn't confiscated off of him yet." Watts chuckled as he leaned back inside of his cell.
"Arthur." Jacques spoke up. "You set me up and ruined my family's image! I should bring you to court for that!"
The man could only laugh audibly. "Oh, Jacques, you're such an easy buffoon to manipulate. Do you really think a man like me cares about things like legal repercussions?"
Jacques grit his teeth. "I'll ensure that your name is dragged through the mud even more than it already was! I'll-"
"Would you can it already?!" Robyn stood up. "You're still complicit in the act of terrorism he committed." she pointed at both of them now.
"You're acting like I'm the one who pulled the trigger on those supporters of your's. I can assure you their blood is directly on my comrades's hands." Watts stated dismissively. "Besides, it's not like I'm the actual murderer sitting among us all in this room." he glanced toward Qrow, who remained silent.
"He's not guilty of what happened there. I know he isn't." Robyn defended. "If I was given a chance to use my semblance, I could prove his innocence!"
"Or you could condemn his guilt." Watts sat himself back up. "You see Miss Hill, I've studied you during my return to Atlas, I've seen your campaign debates and other public events. There's a major flaw in your semblance that you don't realize, or are deliberately ignorant of. You assume that because something comes off as a truth, that it's true without fault. That's hilariously naive of you."
"I don't follow." Robyn crossed her arms.
"Why don't you ask Jacques? He would know given how he pulled that trick on you." Watts chuckled.
"I-I will not tolerate such slander!" Jacques defended himself.
Although, just from looking at his face, Robyn could tell he was lying and scoffed. "So what, people just have to believe their lies to trick it? You don't think I try to trip them up in other ways? The really slick ones do deceive me, but that's often why I don't have it as my only go-to method to earn support from people. It's why I acted."
"And so you did!" Watts mockingly clapped for her. "You earned the support of countless followers and would have won that election had I not been doing my job. Are you still bitter about that?" he asked.
"You're lucky that this barrier is between us." Robyn slammed her fist against it.
"Look, the point I was getting at is that your semblance cannot be used to prove the innocence of a man who believes himself to be guilty of something." Watts crossed his legs from where he was seated.
"While we're here, I did have some questions for you." Robyn stated now as she sat down, facing him in his cell.
"Always searching for answers Miss Hill, that is one of your admirable traits, you often try so hard to grasp at the truth from those who would withhold it from you-"
Their conversation was cut short as a pair of guards entered the room and walked towards the cells. "What's going on?" Robyn asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Jacques laughed now. "My legal team was able to get through to them about this horrible misunderstanding! It took me 3 tries, but I finally raised a child that's respectable-"
His whole tirade was cut off when Watts's cell was opened and he was promptly knocked out by the butt end of a rifle and dragged out of the room by the guards who remained silent throughout the whole operation.
"You were saying?" Robyn crossed her arms, unimpressed.
Oscar sat among the people gathered up in Mantle's slums, most of them faunus related to the mine workers as one man with a pair of mole hands offered him a bowl of soup. "Thank you." he smiled before taking a sip.
Just behind the trailer he was sitting outside of, Yang, Ren, and Jaune made their arrival to the camp, seeing how overcrowded things were starting to seem down there.
"So, you don't want to talk about it at all?" Jaune asked.
"What's there to talk about? You went with us, didn't you? You're gonna help? Or would you rather go with Ruby's idea and get yourself caught?" Yang asked.
"I'm… Staying because I'm a good friend." Jaune affirmed, looking at Ren who took a deep breath.
"Thank you, Jaune. Your support is appreciated." Ren smiled at his team's leader.
"Besides, we're not divided if we're still working in a group, right?" Jaune reminded them as they entered the main tent that the Happy Huntresses set up shop in.
Fiona used her semblance and plopped a map down onto the table when the group stepped in. "So, you're going to help us out?" she smiled.
"You know it." Yang confidently patted her chest. "Well, first we gotta pick up something that Doctor Polendina wanted us to get at his pharmacy."
"Okay, if that's the case then perhaps you can start around that sector." Fiona pointed to it on her map.
Oscar smiled and nodded his head as Alix Celeste of Team FCSA walked away from him after a brief exchange they had shared. "He's a good kid, I can see why the others are friends with him." Oscar spoke up.
"Hopeful people like him are rare, especially in times such as this." Ozpin's voice added.
"You and I aren't done speaking, you know." Oscar mentally responded to him. "So you don't have any kind of plan?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Then was the point of you coming back?" Oscar scoffed. "If you have nothing useful to add, then maybe you should have just stayed gone."
"Oscar, I'm not going to run, not anymore, and not when she's this close to us. We're going to stand with the others." Ozpin assured as Oscar glanced over to a mother reading her child a story, the front cover of the book depicted a girl falling into a mysterious new world.
"That's an old favorite of mine." Oscar admitted.
"Ah, The Girl Who Fell Through the World, a classic." Ozpin commented as Oscar stood himself up upon noticing Yang's group exiting the tent.
"Guys!" Oscar ran up to them.
"Oscar?" Yang responded in surprise as he came to a halt in front of them.
"You're okay!" Jaune pulled the shorter boy into a hug that made him awkwardly chuckle.
"How'd you end up in the slums?" Ren asked as Oscar looked up toward Atlas before taking a deep breath.
"I still can't believe he did that." Yang grunted in annoyance as she shook her hand off after killing a beowolf with a punch.
"Yeah, he really shot me. James- T-The General isn't someone we can trust anymore." Oscar confirmed as he slung Long Memory over his shoulder while they approached the pharmacy, a faint shadow was looming in the distance. "So why are we going here again?"
"Dr. Polendina said he had something prepared for us." Jaune reminded him as Yang unlocked the door with the key she was given, only to be greeted by a pair of Atlesian Knights aiming their weapons at them.
Ren rushed in ahead and decapitated both robots with Stormflower's blades. "So it seems they were expecting us to be here."
"That's no surprise. Definitely one of the first places I would look." Yang scratched the back of her head and walked over toward the backroom, opening the door to it. Her eyes went wide with surprise. "Oh hello! I think I found what Doc wanted us to find!" she grinned and almost immediately put her shades on.
The 3 HVB Rhinos sped through the streets of Mantle, with several Sabyr Grimm following behind them from the ground and a pair of Teryxes following them from above.
"Ready for this?!" Yang smirked confidently as Oscar just held on for dear life when he saw her shoot at the ground from below to boost them both into the air toward a Teryx that was lunging downward at them, flying cleanly over it, which caused the beast to look back, distracting it from the approaching Jaune, who held his sword up, cleaving a nasty gash in the center of its body, killing it.
Ren fired off shots from behind him, killing a few of the pursuing Sabyrs before Yang and Oscar spun around, facing the approaching Grimm.
"Yang, I'd like to get off-' Oscar pleaded as she smirked, revving up the engine of her hoverbike.
"Come get some!" she taunted as Jaune and Ren sped past her now, with the airborne Grimm staying on their trail.
She sped right towards them, running them over before quickly stopping the bike with her leg, letting it slide backwards to a halt when she noticed something.
Just to the side of the road, Alix and Ember were fighting off a few Grimm themselves.
With Ember slamming Penance's chain right through the body of a frosted over beowolf, and Alix stabbing one of his daggers through the body of a Centinel that attempted to spit at him, but threw him backwards, and right toward the street. It lunged for him, but was cut short by a blast from Ember Celica destroying it.
"You two look like you could use a bit of help here." Yang chuckled as she sat up on her bike.
"Yang, are we glad to see you!" Alix forced himself to his feet as Ember walked over and whistled.
"Nice Ride."
"Thanks, Dr. Polendina made these for us." Yang explained as Ren and Jaune returned in their bikes.
"We've cleared out the majority of the Grimm in the area." Ren assured. "At least if the reports we've received are anything to go off of."
"We can start evacuation procedures." Jaune explained. "I'll go start just down the road from here, I think I saw a light in one of those windows."
"Sorry I can't stick around to chat much." Yang sighed as Alix and Oscar shared a glance.
"You two know each other?" he asked.
"Oh? Yeah, we met Oscar back in Mistral and he's kinda stuck with our group ever since."
"Heh, I was about to ask the same of you." Oscar chuckled. "Stay safe out here." he nodded before Yang and Ren sped off as well to start getting the evacuation efforts moving.
A shadowy figure loomed in the darkness of a nearby alley that Alix only caught a glimpse of before it vanished. "Huh?"
A smile formed on Ember's face as she watched them go. "Oh I know that look, and I know what you're thinking." Alix glared at his team leader. "No."
He then saw her eyes turn their focus towards a shop that had a motorcycle on display in a window. "Ember no!-"
The door into a currently cold apartment building opened up. "The Grimm have been cleared out of this area." Oscar explained from the other side of the door. "If you'd follow me, we're starting to move people to the crater where it's safer."
Ren, Yang, and Jaune were knocking on other people's doors, giving them similar orders
"Are you seriously telling me I have to shack up with those animals in the crater?! I'd rather wait for Atlas to get us like they said they would!" one crabby woman argued.
"Well General Ironwood just decided you're not worth his time anymore." Yang argued back, now with red eyes. "You can either go with us to the crater where there's warmth, food, and supplies, or you can take your chances out here."
A slightly younger woman stepped out in front of her. "Don't mind my Mom, she's just… Stressed."
"It's understandable." Jaune admitted with a sigh.
"Let's get going." Ren insisted while hopping onto his HVB. "I'm going to need you to amp me, Jaune."
"R-Right." the team leader got on behind him while Oscar and Yang rode on their own HVBs.
"So, Yang… How are Ruby and the others doing?" Oscar asked, but got no response from her as she kept going. " Did something happen?"
"We'll at least get results from what we're doing." Yang reasoned.
"Doesn't sound good." Oscar remarked to Ozpin.
"It's something we'll have to address later." Ozpin stated. "I guess then you'll continue to hold off on telling them…"
"Unless you have something constructive to add, I'd prefer it if you stayed silent." Oscar coldly told him before focusing back on the road.
Perched atop a water tower in the distance, was the very Hound Salem had sent to retrieve her target.
The screens at Ironwood's desk were lit up with drone footage of the approaching whale that quickly cut off. "Scouting team, Sting, provide me with an update." he asked, but got no response.
"Sir, all four ships dropped out of radar a few hours ago." a technician explained to him.
"Dammit… We have to keep track of this thing before she makes her move! Send out more drones to monitor the whale from outside the storm, it's clear that going in for a closer look will only result in those Tempests destroying them." the footage from another drone showed a crashed ship that a pilot crawled out of.
The pilot was surprised by a Winged Beringal, that slammed down onto the ship. They started firing on the beast with their standard issue handgun, but it was hardly phasing it. Ironwood then made another call. "Is the Kingdom Wide broadcast system ready for my message now?"
"It is, sir." the technician on that end responded before Ironwood's face was broadcast around Atlas.
"Citizens of Atlas, our enemy has made her approach on the Kingdom, and with this comes danger on a scale we've never encountered before. This is why I must ask that you all evacuate into your nearest designated bunker immediately. This is a declaration of Martial Law on my part, and I can assure you, this declaration is for the protection of all of you." The broadcast abruptly ended as the Atlesian Military started filling the streets to start escorting people to bunkers.
Another call rang out from Ironwood's scroll. "Sir, what should we do with the Mantle Refugees we've gathered?"
The General's eyes narrowed before he looked at a map of the city. "I'd like for you to gather them at the Atlas Art Gallery. That building's already got a built in security system we can use to keep them monitored."
"Monitoring them? Why sir?"
"I suspect a spy from the enemy among their ranks. You are to use lethal force on any Mantle citizen that attempts to escape." he commanded, much to the sounds of the soldier's shock. "Am I clear on my orders, Officer?"
"Y-Yes Sir." he hesitantly responded before the call ended.
As quickly as they had returned, Yang's group was sent back out to clear out more Grimm that were starting to get too close to the gathered refugees in the crater.
They again pulled the same tactic as before by letting the Grimm chase after them, only this time they had a plan as Oscar held a Tornado grenade in his hand.
"Ready?!" Ren asked him as the Grimm were starting to group up now, a single large Teryx and a pack of Sabyrs.
"Ready!" Oscar pressed a button on the grenade and threw it over at an underpass that the Hound quickly ran around. It created a powerful upward gust of wind that caused the bridge to collapse on the monsters.
The pair sped to a halt and looked relieved to have taken care of it. "Good teamwork, Ren." Oscar smiled.
Yang was just down the street, she had gotten off of her HVB and was blasting Ember Celica rounds at a few Sabyrs that were charging her.
Jaune on the other hand, was letting the Grimm chase him before using a different grenade, this one dropped a shield that the Grimm crashed into, effectively killing them with the impact.
Ren received another call on his scroll from Fiona. "Great job with those Grimm! Our huntsman in Sector 2 needs your help now." she instructed Ren and the others who were part of this group call.
Ren took a deep breath before responding. "We'll be there."
Another group of Sabyr Grimm were now starting to approach his and Oscar's position as Ren readied his Stormflower guns for this fight before they suddenly stopped and turned tail, running away, seemingly out of fear.
"They ran? Grimm don't normally do that…" Ren was suspicious now.
"What were they running from-" before he even had a chance to fully ask, Oscar was lunged on by the Hound that bit into his arm hard, the only thing keeping him from losing that arm was his aura as he now attempted to punch and kick the creature off of him.
It began to ragdoll him, slamming him hard into the ground, knocking him out, before tossing him across the street, his aura shattering from the impact of hitting the pavement.
"Oscar!" Ren got up and rushed at the Hound, firing shots from Stormflower off at it, doing little more than irritate it before he used Stormflower's grapple wire to lasso a bench and throw it at the beast.
It was knocked to the side and growled as Ren launched his other Stormflower blade at it now, the blade stabbing into its back before he pulled himself in, still firing a shot off. The Hound quickly spun itself around, tossing Ren right back onto his HVB as it began to transform, taking on a more bipedal form now while Yang and Jaune sped over from down the street at the creature.
"REN!" Jaune screamed aloud when he charged for the Hound, but it merely stepped to the side of him, Crocea Mors's blade merely grazing it's arm, while he was forced to try and turn himself around. Yang rushed in next, hopping off of her HVB and flying up into the air with the intent of crashing down into it.
The Hound quickly shot it's arm forward, it's reach extending to grasp onto Yang's face right before she even hit the ground. It held the struggling Yang, tightening its grip on her as she started punching at it's arm, leaving a couple of explosives on it's arm that it noticed a bit too late as she detonated them, seemingly blowing off it's arm. It stumbled backward and swatted her into a stop sign while it's arm regrew.
"Jaune, now!" Yang called out as he sped over to the Hound as quickly as he could on his HVB, it oddly didn't seem focused on the downed Yang or Ren, who were busy trying to pick themselves up… Instead it was going straight for…
"OSCAR!" Jaune called out to the boy, but he didn't respond when the Hound picked him up as he charged with Crocea Mors pointed forward, but came to a sudden halt when his blade was now a mere inch from Oscar's chest.
The Hound attempted to use him as a shield.
"W-WHAT?!" Jaune was confused.
The Hound snarled and waved a finger in front of it. "H-How does it know?!" Yang was confused as Ren stood up when the Hound began to walk past him.
"Give him back!" Ren threatened with both of his guns trailed on the creature who held a sharpened nail to Oscar's throat.
The Hound's neck began to crack and its mouth opened. "No…"
Ren froze in shock, as did the others when the Hound started down the road, placing Oscar into its mouth before starting to scale a building.
"Did it just-" Yang wasn't sure how to respond.
"We have to get Oscar back!" Ren insisted now, hopping onto his HVB in pursuit while the others followed in suit.
"Kids, what's going on?" Fiona asked Yang.
"It's a Grimm… It's got one of our friends. We're pursuing it now!" Yang explained before hanging up as she watched the Hound jump between rooftops while chasing after it.
Commentary: Here we are with Chapter 2, where we get to see Salem's Hound in action! The setup with what's happening around this fight I feel is definitely less clunky, given how in the original everyone was really close together and it was a bit jarring to see them not acting against this thing while it ragdolled Oscar around. Also you're probably a bit surprised to see the Hound not in it's winged form yet... Yet being the key word here.
The prison scenes are honestly a missed opportunity in my opinion for some character interactions. My version of Robyn is an active truth seeker, so I think it does make sense that she'd want to interrogate Watts for answers while stuck in a cell next to him.
And here's strike 2 with Ironwood, pretty much gathering all his rescued Mantle citizens in a single building with orders to execute any that try and escape, continuing off his fears for them from Volume 7, not to mention making his Martial Law declaration official...
On a final note, I really don't get why in canon Yang said "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." to Fiona when asked why she's not continuing her missions. Just say "Hey, this Grimm grabbed our friend and we're trying to save him." Not that unbelievable.
Anyways, next chapter we check in with Ruby's group.