Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of The Dragon and her rook. Enjoy the 1200-word chapter. I don't own RWBY, Monty Oum, and Rooster Teeth do.

(Atlas Academy.)

Skyler stood alone in his office, looking down on Mantle from the center of the kingdom.

His uncle was keeping him in the dark, Mantle was undergoing riots and civil disobedience which his uncle wanted to solve by smashing the problem with a hammer.

Deploying troops to subjugate an ATLESIAN city wasn't an action they could take. He trusted his uncle, the man who had proven to not only be a competent military commander but a good man.

"Yang, I'm so sorry about this," he stated, looking at his ring before humming as someone knocked on the door.

(In merlot's lab)

Merlot looked over the massive tubes of Grimm while typing on the computer, he hummed and looked over his assets.

He had sent Cinder and Emerald to travel to Vacuo, already having placed a virus which Cinder wouldn't detect within her new arm… it would cause her to kill Emerald before dying in the desert. Her thirst for power was something Merlot didn't need.

That left Mercury, Tyrian, Watts, and Hazel. All of whom were sent to Atlas along with Junior.

He had what he needed from the Leviathan, it would be time to strike soon… when the peak of panic arose, Atlas would fall under the might of his army.

Without the world's best army, he could continue his research into Grimm and benefit humanity. Others had written him as a lunatic, a madman.

He was a scientist, the greatest in all of Remnant, and Atlas. The world would soon know him and tremble for it.

(With Yang)

Yang passed another group of patrolling AK-200s along with a squad of Atlesian soldiers moving people past them.

Yang was bothered by the fact that Skyler didn't tell anything to her… yes, he was kept in the dark, but she didn't know how to trust Skyler with that considering how things were at the moment.

"Yeesh, things are bad," Qrow stated as Yang crossed her arms. Skyler had let them leave, she would at the very least, allow her fiancée to speak when she got back.

Before she had gone with the others, Skyler explained Mantle was the more downtrodden part of the city. It was a shantytown for the people who couldn't live in the bigger city of Atlas.

She'd check things out and find out some answers first of all.

(With Skyler)

Skyler looked at Maria, having assumed the woman had gone to Mantle with the others. He should have known it would have been her and not Winter.

He had blown the specialist off when she arrived, refusing to deal with her orders. They were supposed to be friends, friends trusted each other.

"I thought you'd go with the others," Skyler stated, crossing his arms behind his back. he sighed and looked out the window as a Manta passed by the window.

"And I thought Atlas would be all it's cracked up to be." Skyler cracked a small smirk; he wasn't so patriotic as to just bash anyone who didn't worship Atlas.

"Well, it's usually pretty nice when there aren't riots and massive protests taking place," Skyler stated before he sighed.

"You think you don't have all the pieces of the puzzle," Skyler grunted and rubbed at his eyes in annoyance.

"I don't. I'm starting to question what I do have." Skyler muttered as he looked at the fleet of military aircraft below.

All those cruisers and all of them were pointed at anything willing to harm Atlas. He guessed it was supposed to be a strength.

What Vale had seen was nothing but fear, cultivated, pure fear.

"You have a loving fiancée and yet you're huddled up here… in an office." Skyler turned to look at the woman and frowned.

"Yang probably doesn't trust me. I'm watching riots break out which is probably being handled by sending in Soldiers, the thing meant to keep people safe. Maria, I wanted to come home to a private salute and get back to work on how to strike down Merlot." He stopped for a moment to clear his throat.

"I trust my uncle, but I didn't expect for him to contact Winter behind my back. I'm not just one of his soldiers, I'm family, James wouldn't just contact Winter without telling me, it isn't his style to keep the group out of the loop." Skyler stated as Maria tapped her cane on the ground.

"You're staying up here to keep an eye on things while letting Yang explore and form her own opinion, aren't you?" Skyler said nothing, but his silence was enough for Maria to conclude she had touched upon the right cord.

"Merlot is going to come and all my uncle seems to have done is corralled people into a cage without any safety net… this is Vale all over again," Skyler muttered with annoyance as he sighed.

He wanted to give the relic to his uncle believing the man would come and bring the guns of Atlas to bear on Merlot. He was shocked by the fact that he believed in his uncle only for the man to show he was trying to deal with the issue by smashing it.

A hammer wouldn't save Atlas, things were an issue that had to be solved gently… if the people were rioting? It was due to a large number of issues, not just a failed application of force from his uncle.

It seemed on top of stopping Merlot, he had to make sure his home wasn't consumed within the flames.

"I have to go, I'll leave the office to you, I'll be back sooner or later," Skyler stated, finally snapping out of his thoughts to try and form a plan.

If his uncle was planning to go around his back? he'd do the same, Black Ops were among the finest soldiers in Remnant, and Skyler was one of the best out of the entire group.

"Your uncle might be an ally today, down the road…" Skyler hummed and looked at Maria, knowing the woman was wise enough to tell when she thought something was a stupid and unthought plan that was sure to fail.

It still helped knowing he had someone to put his head back into the right place if he lost it.

He still had a high position within the military and planned on using that.

Little did he know that an old problem was about to sprout anew.

Still, he didn't know, nobody knew about Merlot's plans or who was coming.

And he also didn't know that person would rip a rift between Skyler and Yang, one that would part when Atlas needed them.

Author notes

Phew, another chapter is done! I want to point out that Skyler and Yang are going to have issues in their relationship soon. The next chapter is also going to introduce the Ace Ops and the rally along with showing Skyler trying to dig up information. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

Ps: Tock is next week and will hopefully be on Friday.