TUNNELWAY

The dust had hardly settled from the blast, as the familiar figure of Neopolitan gracefully skipped out of the remains of Monstra with the lamp of Knowledge in tow.

The group of Jaune, Ren, Oscar, Yang, and Emerald were barely catching their breath as they stood now just outside of Monstra's slowly dissolving remains. "How long do you think she'll be down, Oscar?" Jaune asked him.

"Probably a few hours at best, we need to think of a way to get everyone away from the Kingdom fast." Oscar explained while pulling himself to his feet, he saw Emerald staring at what was left of Monstra with her hands over her mouth.

"H-Hazel…" she sobbed.

Yang was busy trying to get a call out on her scroll, and it successfully went through. On the other end of the call was Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. "Guys! You're alright! Where are you?!" Ruby asked, noticing Oscar there. "You found Oscar?"

"Y-Yeah. It's kind of a long story, sis." Yang sighed. "You're at Schnee manor?"

Weiss took hold of the scroll on her end. "Yeah, we can meet up here, just tell me where you guys are, Whitley and I will help you find a safe route here."

"That sounds good." Yang nodded and looked over at the others, Ren was peering over her shoulder.

"Where's Nora?" he asked.

Weiss wouldn't give a straight answer on that one. "We'll talk more when you get over here… I'll just tell you she's in stable condition. But she might need a little boost from Jaune."

Ren glanced over at Jaune, who was still in the middle of healing Oscar.

The directions were given to Yang. "Okay, thanks for the directions. We'll be there as soon as possible."

"Stay safe." Blake insisted as Yang nodded.

"When have I not?!" the blonde joked before the call ended.

"There's just one matter of business we need to concern ourselves with now." Jaune noted, unsheathing his sword now, glancing in Emerald's direction.

The woman immediately held her hands behind her head. "Look, you don't ever have to see me again, you saw what happened back there! Salem wants me dead as much as you-"

"Shut up." Yang grabbed both of Emerald's weapons, still in their holsters, giving them to Ren.

"You still have a lot to answer for." Jaune affirmed while pointing his sword at her back.

Yang started walking ahead of the group now. "C'mon, I have where we need to go on my scroll. We're gonna need to cut through the subway tunnels."

"Oh joy, from one stuffy tunnel, to another." Emerald groaned.

"Shut it." Yang turned back towards her with red eyes.

Oscar couldn't help but frown at this before walking besides Emerald. "I'll make sure the others give you a fair chance to atone for your mistakes."

She wasn't quite sure how to take that, but just silently nodded while Oscar picked up the pace, walking just behind Yang now.

Ren's eyes focused on both Oscar and Emerald, glowing with the faint hint of his semblance.

The damaged doors into Ironwood's office opened as he glanced up to see the Ace Operatives and Winter Schnee enter. "Excellent work on destroying Monstra, now that it's been destroyed we can focus on-"

"About that sir…" Winter spoke up. "That wasn't us."

Ironwood wasn't quite sure how to take that information. "It wasn't your doing? What about the bomb?"

"We brought it back with us." Harriet added, crossing her arms. "It's still in our ship that's in the hangar down below."

"I see…" the general was pondering what to do now. "Well regardless, the enemy's been crippled now, but we're still not safe yet. So long as the remains of Monstra are on Atlas, Salem's likely to regenerate where she last was. Therefore, I think our best option is to move the whole city out from under it."

"Move the whole city?" Elm was confused about how they could achieve that.

"Yes, we'll still need the staff to move the city so that Monstra's remains drop off of Atlas."

Marrow looked away and grit his teeth, but Vine spoke up.

"Sir, wouldn't that drop Monstra's remains onto Mantle?" Vine inquired.

General Ironwood nodded at that. "Yes, it would. We were planning on abandoning it anyway, so I don't see the issue with this idea. By turning Atlas into a mobile city, we'll be able to always stay on the move from Salem. She won't be able to catch us, and we'll have enough time to formulate a better plan of counter attack." he reasoned. "We might even be able to collect the other relics to always keep them just out of arm's reach of her."

Winter now seemed uneasy about that aspect of the plan. "Sir, if we do that, then we'll be entering other Kingdom territories, and they likely won't all be cooperative with us, especially after that broadcast-"

"I'm aware of that, but I'll make my demands simple to them, after all, they likely don't want to be involved in the greater conflict with Salem." Ironwood assured. "Before we can execute this plan, we'll still need Penny. I have an idea to get to her. Bring me Arc, Xiao Long, and Ren."

Harriet grit her teeth in anger now and was about to speak up when Winter did. "We can't sir…" she shook her head.

"What do you mean, you can't?"

The general's second-in-command avoided eye contact with him. "They slipped away while we were focused on the battle against Monstra. They were prattling on about going in there to rescue an ally." Winter explained as briefly as she could. "There's no guarantee they made it out of there alive."

Ironwood's eyes narrowed at this revelation as his hands balled up into fists before Vine spoke up as well.

"If they somehow survived, there's a chance they could be using the subway tunnels to flee. Perhaps it might be worth using the resources to look?" Vine asked.

"Very well." Ironwood stroked his chin now and then spoke into his main comms line. "I'd like to send some forces down into the subway tunnels to look for three fugitives."

Winter and Vine shared a knowing glance with one another, they both had just lied to the General after all.

Marrow kept his head down, Harriet wanted to speak up, but Elm put a hand on her shoulder, almost telling her that it would be a bad idea, given the General's unstable condition.

The dimly lit subway tunnels were somehow still more welcoming than the gross fleshy interior of Monstra. At least as far as Emerald was concerned, it didn't help that if she stopped she'd feel a sword pressed into her back.

"I know you guys don't like me…" Emerald spoke up. "I just have to ask, what law are you going to punish me under? Atlas sure as hell won't let you kids turn me over to them without getting yourselves arrested, so what's your idea? Trial by voting? Gotta say, a pretty unfair jury if that's the case given how many of you I've wronged-" Jaune shoved her forward.

"Tell that to Pyrrha, who you tricked."

"Pyrrha… The girl that I fooled into dismembering that puppet?"

"She's not a puppet!" Jaune threatened.

"Well, she's certainly not dead now, is she?" Emerald remarked. "Look, I've finally figured out that Cinder never gave a damn about me. I just want to do some right. I have nowhere to go or belong..."

"Shut up already, would ya?" Yang glanced back at her while coming to a halt. "Or did you forget what you did to me in the tournament?"

That managed to shut her up before Ren spoke up now. "I know she wants to change, Yang. I've been reading her emotions since we started walking, I can't sense anything truly malicious from her. If she did so much as think something malicious, I would have caught it."

"He's right you know… I mean, if it weren't for her we wouldn't have gotten out of there alive." Oscar added. "Both her and Hazel are why we're still here."

"Hazel…" Yang's hand balled up into a fist when she thought of his last words to her. Protect that sister of your's Yang, no matter what.

"There's also another thing I've been meaning to bring up to you guys." Ren spoke up again. "The fact that Ozpin's back."

"He's back? Does he actually have a plan that could help us?" Jaune glared back.

"He's part of the reason we were able to get out too." Oscar added. "Although, the idea to use Salem's own tactics against her was mainly mine." he admitted before Yang raised a hand up, halting the group as some distant lights seemed to start closing in.

"So you really mean to tell me that there's some fugitives down here?" A soldier asked in his gruff voice.

"If what the General asked us to do is anything to go off of." another, older sounding soldier spoke up.

"I hope it's not like what those people downtown are dealing with, the group they've been dealing with down there has apparently been a real pain in the ass." a young female soldier sighed before stopping. "Wait, my helmet's picking up something here."

The squad's captain went ahead of the small group, aiming the flashlights on their helmets down the corridors. "Nothing as far as I can see… Let's report back to the others." the man shook his head before turning back towards the other path they were going down.

Emerald dropped her semblance over the whole group and took a deep breath. "You're welcome for that by the way. Believe me now?"

"Could have just been saving your own skin." Yang passively shrugged, still not wanting to take Ren and Oscar's defense of her seriously.

"I'm sure she'll warm up to you eventually." Oscar assured Emerald with a smile, which put her at a little ease. She at least had 2 people vouching for her.

As they continued, a single sulphur fish emerged from some dirt behind them.

Ironwood's eyes narrowed as most of the reports he was receiving were negative.

One team's report was taking longer than usual to respond, and he radioed directly to them. "Confirm your status Squad 75."

No answer came, only static as he grit his teeth.

"It's as I suspected, The Grimm funneled into the subway tunnels" Ironwood made another call. "You need to start sealing off the tunnels immediately."

The group again came to a halt when they heard something, this time it sounded more urgent as there was accompanying gunfire.

Ren ran forward with his guns brandished and his eyes went wide in shock as he saw the same soldiers from before firing shots off at a swarm of Sulphur fish. "Dammit!" The woman's rifle clicked and she threw it down, switching to her handgun before the Sulphur fish swarm started climbing on her.

"We need assistance immediately!" One soldier demanded as he threw a grenade into the heart of the Sulphur fish's new formation, blowing it up while running away.

"OVER HERE!" Ren called out to the man as the others also sprung into action, with Yang blasting the mass of Grimm now while Ren activated his semblance to mask both himself and the soldier from the encroaching swarm.

"They're getting too close." Jaune swatted a few with his sword now.

"I-I can help! Just give me my weapons!" Emerald insisted now as Oscar stood in front of her, swatting as many as he could with Long Memory.

Ren was quick to relent, tossing both weapons to Emerald who quickly let them loose from their chains and started spinning them around herself, managing to swat most of the individual sulphur fish that were starting to swarm around them

"Dammit, we need to get to Ren!" Jaune's gravity dust launched a good few of the small Grimm away.

"I know!" Yang ripped off a few that got on her prosthetic arm off of it before slamming her fists into the ground and creating a shockwave that cleared the way just enough for Ren and the soldier to reunite with the group.

"Jaune, amp me!" Ren demanded as Jaune quickly complied, allowing Ren to mask the whole group as the swarm passed over them now, going back in the direction they came from.

Yang wasn't keen on taking chances they would come back though, and fired some shots off behind them, caving the tunnel in now, and hopefully barring the sulphur fish from pursuing them any further.

"That was too close." Oscar took a few heavy breaths. "And before you ask about my cane, I don't think a blast like that would be useful for this kind of situation, not to mention. I used almost every bit of kinetic energy Long Memory had stored up just on Salem and her creature back there." he shook his head before putting it away now.

"Are you okay?" Ren asked the exhausted looking soldier who nodded.

"The General wants me to bring you kids in…" the man coughed. "But after what you did there, I definitely owe ya one…" he stood up as the general's demands for a report came through finally. "Nothing but Grimm to report sir… Whole squad's gone." he coughed. "Understood."

The man couldn't help but laugh. "He wants me to keep searching for you kids." he threw his helmet down, revealing a disheveled head of red hair, complete with a mustache and blue eyes. "I think I'll pass."

Emerald couldn't help but scoff a bit. "Sounds like he wants his army to work until they die." she shook her head.

"You can come along with us." Yang offered. "We're going towards an exit."

"Honestly… As long as I don't have to see anymore of those things down here, I'll be fine. I can just shack up with the civvies who are stuck down here." he followed the group now.

"Dammit…" Ironwood paced around the room. "That last group came back negative for those kids. They probably were lost in the blast." he held his head before his anger finally boiled over completely and he slammed both of his arms onto his desk, shattering it into pieces. "WE HAVE NOTHING NOW!"

The Ace Operatives and Winter were avoiding eye contact with him now as he sat down in front of his destroyed desk and stared out at Monstra's dissolving remains.

A call suddenly went through to him now. "Sir, we're seeing some unusual activity from one of the SDC owned hangars."

"What's going on?" he asked while standing up.

"It's a fleet of SDC Freighters, they're headed straight for Mantle!" the operator stated.

"Weiss…" Ironwood grit his teeth as Winter felt her hands ball up into fists.

The general crossed his arms now before a smile spread across his face. "Of course, this has always been about Mantle to them… And her." he then made a call "I'd like to give the fleet a new command.…"

The exit to the subway system was finally nearing, and not a moment too soon, as the moment the group of 6 arrived, the door closed behind them.

"I guess this is where I get off…" the soldier stated. "I can serve as a last line of defense for the folks down here." he assured while brandishing his pistol. "It's not much, but it'll have to do."

"Well, good luck." Yang smiled as she climbed off the tracks first, followed by Oscar, whom she helped up. Jaune, Ren and Emerald were able to climb up on their own.

Emerald couldn't help but look at the huddled up families down here and feel a sharp tinge of regret, so she focused her attention on the direction they were going before Ren put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it'll be okay. We'll think of a way to save everyone." Ren assured her.

"I'm still part of the reason this is all happening." Emerald replied sadly, brushing his hand off and starting up the stairway with the others now.

"The path to redemption isn't an easy one to follow." Oscar admitted. "But I think she'll follow it well."

"Was that you saying that, or Oz?" Jaune asked.

"No, definitely me." Oscar shielded his eyes from the daylight as they exited the tunnels, it would be just a straight shot to Schnee manor from here.

"We shouldn't keep the others waiting." Yang smiled as she took in the fresh air.

Commentary: I'll admit, I wanted to come up with a better chapter title for this than Tunnelway, but I couldn't think of anything. But I can assure you that the next original chapter titles I got will be good ones in my opinion.

This chapter starts off the arc I'd like to call the "Bridge" to the finale, as I mean it's quite literally as I put it, the lead-up to the finale. This chapter felt important to me for pacing sake as it felt a little too perfect in the show how quickly Yang's group got to Schnee Manor, and it'd have been perfect opportunity for some character building to be done for Emerald who's currently still unsure if she wants to be considered a good guy or not.

I also do like to give Ironwood's military a little more character, as I feel like the show always kind of portrayed them as faceless robotic mooks. Boring when there could have been so much more personality given to them, that elevator scene from Volume 2 is all we really got. Defection isn't the most common thing ever, but I do like to believe that not everyone in Ironwood's military is such a blind lapdog that they'd throw their morality out the window for the guy. I'm sure there are plenty that fit into that though.

We also go a little more in depth on Ironwood's new plan. To dump Monstra onto Mantle by converting Atlas into a mobile city, then going around on said mobile city and "politely" asking for the other relics from the academies. Yeah, there's no way that plan doesn't end in a war of some kind.

But that aside, this chapter was mainly to serve as an excuse to give Emerald some needed character development. Next chapter's all about making threats...