A/N: Just a note to those who write; don't be too hard on yourself if your writing comes slowly to you. Some people are steady writers who can churn out consistent content while others, like me, go through dry spells of writers block and then mad rushes of creativity. One is not superior to the other, and its not fair to compare yourself to other writers. I will admit, I recently read a story and noticed the chapter history: this writer was putting out 3000 word chapters at least once a week, many times twice a week and was able to churn out a complete 18 chapter long story in three months. That's feasible for some, but its not for everyone. Besides, if you have an audience who wants to hear the story you have to tell, they'll be patient. I waited seven years for Thick as Thieves, the internet waits patiently for TFS or SWE to put out a single abridged episode a year, sometimes the wait is longer. What I'm trying to say is:

1. Don't get discouraged writing. Blocks happen.

2. Don't measure your success against others, you're not being fair to yourself and popularity is not always a mark of quality (#stephaniemeyer #HermanMellville)

3. Your audience would rather you put out a piece of quality work that you love and are proud of than just churning out content because of the pressure of time.

Sincerely,

Me

With the buzz going on at the Goldenrod Palace, the rest of the city was quiet, especially the SDC office buildings. Anybody who was somebody had been invited to the gala, leaving their underlings behind to slack off and go home early with no fear of repercussions. Siria Hummell was waiting just inside the glass doors as Adam emerged from the shadows undetected by both security guards and the cameras.

"I only have an hour," Adam said to her.

"If you know exactly what you want, we'll have plenty of time," the matronly woman assured him. "There's maybe fifteen people in the entire building including the janitor and night guard."

She led him silently to the HR department and past the sea of cubicles to a storage room filled with both computers and boxes of papers.

"Now, you want information on the mistreatment of the faunus, but you're going to have to narrow it down," she said, logging into the database with her credentials.

"I'm looking specifically for hard proof that the faunus are being abused systemically and that Jacques Schnee is privy to it."

Siria sighed, "I can't download the entire employee database."

Adam leaned over her shoulder to look at the screen. "Why don't we start with medical records. There's bound to be proof of faunus not receiving proper medical care, especially at the minings sites"

"Oh, we've got incident records for years." Siria selected a file folder that was broken down by year, each folder yielding hundreds of results.

"Download all of it..." Adam ordered, then realizing who he was talking to, he added a polite, "...please."

In preparation for such corporate espionage, Adam had purchased two high-capacity external hard drives. Plugging one in to the unit, Siria gave it permission and started the download. The estimated time jumped first from eight hours, then two hours, then twenty minutes, then four minutes.

"Are you sure you can trust her?" Siria said, with motherly concern in her eyes. "I've worked for the Schnees for years…they don't care about people like us."

"Weiss is different," Adam assured her, without giving any additional information. After a few moments of silence, he finally asked the uncomfortable question. "When did you remarry?"

"Ten years ago," she said. "We worked together on site and one thing led to another…"

Adam had always wondered why his mother was never fired/questioned by police in connecting with her son's terrorism, but with her moving to Argus, and with a last name change, she would have been considerably harder to find. "Does he make you happy?"

"He does." She replied.

"Do you…do I have any siblings?" He was unsure how to ask.

"Technically you have two stepsisters but no halves," Siria responded just as the download was finishing up. "What next?"

"Personnel files. We need to prove that there's a pay and promotion disparity."

"Payroll might be harder to get into," she admitted, attempting to access the information. The system denied her access request. "We'll have to try something else."

"Do they have any records about pensions? Money offered to retirees or widows/beneficiaries in the wake of someone dying on the job?"

"That would be under insurance claims," Siria pulled up the claims by year, dating back to when Jacques formally took over as CEO, twenty one years ago. "There's thousands of claims each year. This will take time."

"I have time," Adam replied. "We are so close to turning the tables on the SDC, we will make time to get all the evidence we need."

"You do realize this is going to paint a target on your back," she warned as she initiated the download. "Jacques Schnee doesn't take too kindly to people that oppose him. Whatever you're going to try to do to take him down, even with his daughter backing you, he'll use his money to try and ruin you."

"Our goal is to shut him down without having to go to the media. If we hold this much damning evidence, he knows all we have to do to retaliate is leak it to the press."

"He might want to take you down with him."

Adam remained emotionless. "I'm already a wanted criminal on three continents and the high leader of an organization that wants to kill me, and that's not even the most dangerous people I've associated with. Jacques Schnee can't scare me anymore."

Her eyes went wide with apprehension, "You aren't in the White Fang anymore?" Even before his ascension to high leader, Adam Taurus was the name associated with the White Fang to inspire the faunus and strike fear in the hearts of humans. "Why?"

Adam let out a prolonged exhale before speaking. "Because this is the best way to help the faunus. It would take too long to explain, but there are forces at work other than the abuse of the SDC and the terrorism of the White Fang. The brotherhood is in a precarious position right now, and the only way we're going to survive is if we temporarily align ourselves with huntsmen until our common enemy is taken out."

"Faunus never win when we ally ourselves with humans." his mother warned.

"This isn't about winning, this is about surviving…for now. Once we deal with this…current threat, we can resume our interpersonal conflict, but by then, we'll be in a much better position."

The computer dinged, having finished the second download. "Anything else?"

"Exit interviews?"

"The SDC doesn't do exit interviews."

"What about hiring records? You have to keep records of hiring and interviews to be equal opportunity hiring compliant."

"That I can also get you."

Hiring laws had only been instituted for the past five years, a piece of legislation passed in an effort to appease the more radical efforts of the White Fang under Sienna Khan, particularly on Anima. With ease, Siria accessed the monthly reports that broke down the ratio of candidates interviewed, hired and the positions to which they were hired: information that included their base pay.

As the files were downloading, Adam got a text on his scroll.

They're calling everyone into the main room for some kind of presentation. Need you back soon.

He took a moment to text her back, confirming he'd read it. Then he turned to his mother. "My time is up, I have to go back."

She nodded. Careful to delete the search history, she shut the computer down, careful to leave everything at the computer station exactly as she'd left it, removing the memory stick only after the computer was powered off. "This should be enough."

"It's plenty," he replied, feeling a sense of urgency. They said nothing as they calmly weaved their back through the wing and back into the main hallway. Using her keycard, Siria opened the side entrance to let her son out.

"If you ever need to bring this to trial or have a need for people willing to tell their story, you can contact me. I know plenty of faunus who are willing to speak against the Schnees and the company in general," she said as one last final offer of assistance.

He leaned forward and kissed his mother on the cheek as he passed through the doorway. "Thank you," he said sincerely, "I know how much of a risk it is to do this…"

She shook her head and gripped his hand. "No," she cut him off, "It's nothing. I would do anything to make up…" she caught herself on a sob, "Anything I can do to make up for all the horrible things I left you to go through by yourself." Her face contorted as she tried to hold back tears until shame overcame her and she covered her face with her hands.

He had to step back inside to place his arms around her. "You did what you thought would keep me taken care of." He squeezed her tight, "I don't fault you for that. I don't even fault you for moving on. You didn't put me through those horrible things. They did." He pulled away from her and lowered himself to his eye level, his voice shifting to his typical, cold and calculating And it made me strong, and now I'm going to take back everything they took from us. I promise."

"Adam…I love you."

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I have to go. I don't know when I'll see you again, but stay safe."

She nodded, reluctant to let go of him again. He pulled his arms free, giving her a resolute nod before pushing out the door and disappearing into the night.

It had been thirteen years since Siria had seen her boy, the tears came back with full force as a myriad of mixed emotions overpowered her. She was proud of him, concerned for him, and even a little afraid of him. Whatever he was planning, she knew it was going to be big.

"Attention, Schnee Dust Company guests: if you would please make your way to the main floor ballroom, CEO Jacques Schnee has a special video message he would like to share with you in his absence. The presentation will begin in ten minutes. Thank you."

Hearing the announcement, Weiss knew the night must be winding down. She sent Adam a quick text to let him know she needed him back. He responded with a short.

On my way. Mission success.

She let out a quiet sigh of relief as she made her way downstairs, keeping up her facade to all of the other party guests: talking fashion, business, the social climate of Atlas and all the niceties she hated to talk about. Internally, she wanted to just scream at them for their shortsightedness and shallow lives, as if it would have any effect. Her outburst a year and a half ago had no bearing on anyone except herself. Here, she had to play their game long enough to get what she wanted, which she knew after tonight wouldn't be much longer.

In the time she'd spent socializing across the upper two floors, the staff had cleared the food and drink tables from the ground floor, leaving only the cabaret tables for socializing, and an overhead projector had been lowered at the east side of the room, drawing the attention of all. For now, it only displayed a generic SDC splash screen with a countdown to the main video. The room quickly became crowded, leaving standing room only for the presentation, which hopefully wouldn't be long; her feet were killing her in these heels and she wanted to retreat as soon as Adam returned for her to see what information he'd managed to pilfer from the HR databases.

An Atlesean trumpet voluntary began playing through the speakers to let the audience know it was time to be quiet and focus on the screen. The room hushed as the screen flicked to a new image: The owner and CEO of the company sitting comfortably in his office for what was undoubtedly a pre-recorded message and not a live-stream. Dressed to the nines as always, he was seated comfortably behind his desk, a family portrait hanging in the background on a mantle; in the hearth, a cozy fire burned as he sat with his posture relaxed: right ankle resting on his left knee.

This wasn't a corporate end of year speech to employees, this was a political candidate speech to his employees.

"Good evening to our most esteemed guests from Atlas, Argus and Mantle," he began, his voice measured and smooth. "I sincerely hope you've enjoyed the accommodations and entertainment of the evening. Despite my absence, I've taken every measure to ensure your evening would be to the highest standards of what the SDC has to offer." He looked directly at the camera as he spoke. "This past year…well, two years really, have been tough on everyone, but none tougher than industries such as ours. Manufacturing, distribution and sales have all taken a hit due to General Ironwood's policies, making it difficult to keep above the red line. Despite the setbacks, we are still going strong and have every intention of continuing that trend into the new fiscal year."

There was a smattering of applause.

Weiss heard a voice in her ear.

"What did I miss?" Adam asked.

"Just my dad throwing Ironwood under the bus," Weiss replied without turning around. "Everything go ok?"

"I believe so," he replied.

On screen, Weiss' father made promises to the investors, assuring them that his political campaign would not interfere with his company duties and with the support of the voters his seat on the council would reopen the borders and keep revenue flowing, making an attempt at winning over the Atleseans. Next he appealed to the Mantle residents: blue collar workers and faunus, most of whom weren't even invited to the event, assuring them that the reason for the hiring freeze and the loss of sales was due to the evil and paranoid general, but that even if he didn't win the council seat, he'd still ensure the current employees would be financially supported, even if there was no work.

"...Which is why this year's new initiative will protect jobs and steady income due to the work shortages caused by General Ironwood's embargo. We will be providing 70% compensation to any full time employee that has been laid off or underemployed with not enough hours…"

"Buying votes," Adam said under his breath.

"Typical dad tactic. Just throw money at it until the problem goes away. Either that or take money away from it until the problem goes away."

"Well, there are some things money can't hide forever," Adam said.

"I don't want to listen to this anymore," Weiss turned around and slipped her hand into his. "I want to go back to the hotel."

He nodded, gripping her hand and turning to exit through the press of people. Squaring his shoulders and walking deliberately were enough to make others move out of his way. He looked and walked like a bodyguard and no one there had any attempt to test him. He fetched Weiss' fur stole from the coat check as she called for the limousine to be brought around. In the lobby, tabloid reporters and cameramen were gearing up to catch footage of the end of the event, most of them not fully prepared for an early departure like Weiss.

"Leaving so soon?" Lisa Lavender's voice called out as Adam was almost out the front door. Weiss squeezed his hand and turned around.

"I think we've caused enough commotion for one night, don't you?" Weiss quipped back while the reporters frantically tried to get in place and accost her with their microphones.

"Fair enough," Lisa replied.

The two disappeared out the front door before any of the reporters could catch a shot of them lighting down the steps and into the waiting limo.

Once inside the back seat, she pried off her shoes. "How did you get them to ask me to sing?" She'd been waiting to ask him all night.

"You were busy dancing and I thought it would serve a purpose to draw more attention to you. I simply informed the band leader of your presence and how much Jacques would enjoy the surprise of his daughter performing for the event since he was unable to attend himself. I knew if he asked you, you'd say yes. Songbirds like to sing."

Her mouth spread into a smile of genuine amusement, rather than the plastered smile of fake interest she'd been maintaining all evening. "What about your end? Tell me what you got," she said with an expectant twinkle in her eye. She was at that happy balance between being exhausted from having to perform all evening and the adrenaline high of having pulled it off.

Adam sat back in his seat, a satisfied half smile on his face. "Insurance claims, EEO data, injury and incident reports for each facility going back over twenty years." He held up the memory stick. "It's almost full of data, meaning we have thousands of pages of evidence."

She leaned on his shoulder, "I can't believe it. We did it. I just hope Winter will see me on TV."

Adam cupped her face in his hands. "You planned this down to the last detail, and you left no room for error. She'll see, and she'll come." He kissed her deeply, and from there they found themselves unable to stop. High on adrenaline and success, he pulled her by her hips until she was straddling his lap. The limousine was spacious and the streets were full of traffic. They had plenty of time.

Everyone had so many questions. Ten people had squeezed into Winter Schnee's quarters, and there was barely enough room for everyone to squish. Teams R_BY, all managed to squeeze on the loveseat, Blake's booted foot propped up on the coffee table while TEAM JNOR was seated on the floor. Penny, Qrow and Winter herself had decided to stand. She was trying to maintain her composure, but the news came as a shock, a relief, and a mass amount of confusion. She began pacing in the tiny space.

"Do the articles say anything? Did she say anything?"

"Just that she was there to 'represent the family'," Jaune replied. "She's in all the articles and even did a few brief spots with cameras rolling."

"How did she escape?" Winter asked, half to herself, half to the horde gathered in her apartment.

No one had an answer.

"Regardless of how, we need to get her here. She needs to be reunited with her team." Qrow said, looking at Winter, and knowing what they'd be up against. Ironwood again, and Cordovin, again, exactly like when Winter came to get them out of Argus. But that was two weeks ago. Since then, they'd discovered Arthur Watt's security breach and Jacques Schnee was looking more favorably in the polls. Ironwood might try to completely shut the rescue mission down.

"I'll make the call tonight," Winter replied, "It's all over the tabloids, I'm sure General Ironwood already knows. If I am able to retrieve her, I'll have to be carrying a skeleton crew to leave quickly and fly fask. Only her team could come with me."

"Blake shook her head and pointed to the boot. "I can't. Travel restrictions."

"And I don't want to leave her here alone," Yang said. She looked at Ruby. "It looks like you'll be picking her up alone. Is that ok?"

Ruby nodded. "Just let me know when we're leaving, I'll be ready in half an hour.

Winter stopped her pacing and picked up her scroll. She looked up at the crowd watching her expectantly.

"Alright, out with all of you," Qrow said, opening the front door and pointing. The kids filed out one by one. "Why are you even here?" he asked Oscar, who had never met Weiss and had nothing to contribute. He shrugged and followed Ren. "Why are you here?" he asked as Penny passed.

"None of them knew where Winter's quarters were, so they had to find me to lead them here," she beamed, happy to be of assistance.

Qrow shook his head.

"I tried to ask you, but you weren't in your room," Jaune said as he passed out the door.

"You were already here," Penny said, "You must have already known and came to tell Winter yourself."

As Yang passed by, she opened her mouth to crack a dirty joke but before she could even try, Qrow grabbed a tiny lock of her hair and tugged on it, eliciting her silence.

Ruby was the last to leave, and Winter grabbed her hand. "I'm getting my ship ready tonight. Be at Bay 5 and ready to leave at 0500."

"I'll be there."

Qrow shut the door behind her.

Winter took a few deep breaths before breaking down into tears, slumping to the floor, overwhelmed by the flood of emotions she was feeling, gasping for air between sobs of relief and apprehension. Qrow knelt beside her, putting his arm around her shoulder until she leaned on him.

"You're going to go get her. You're going to get a good night's sleep and then in the morning, you're going to Argus and bring her back." he said, over and over, to reassure her that this was all real and it was happening. Weiss was ok and she was coming home.

Once they were back in their room, Ruby finally felt comfortable enough to permit herself a little cry. Her team would be whole again, her partner was coming back, and she'd be reunited with her best friend. Blake and Yang gave her reassuring hugs, shedding their own tears of joy, but left Ruby mostly to herself to process her emotions.

Wound up from the night's activities, Ren and Nora decided to whip up a snack. Oscar offered to help while Jaune declined. He made his way to the bunk room and holed himself up on his top bunk, continuing to scroll through the articles of the events in Argus, looking through countless pictures to find more of Weiss. He quietly cried to himself, not wanting the others to perceive him as weak or as imposing. He wasn't her sister, or his team mate, but all the same, he was overcome with emotion to know she was alive and well and they'd be seeing each other again soon.

Only one pilot was commissioned for the flight, meaning the ship would only have three occupants. Once bringing him up to speed, he promised to "fly it like he stole it" to ensure they'd be in Argus in record time. The ship was fueled and ready to leave at 0430 and Ruby had arrived by 0450. They'd be given clearance for take off and were in queue to leave the hangar. All they needed was Ironwood's permission.

"I can send an escort detail for her, but I need you here," Ironwood insisted. Sitting behind the mahogany desk in his office he looked at the tablet in front of him, not even caring to take the stylus in her outstretched hand.

"You let me go to get Qrow and the kids," Winter said, inwardly fuming.

"I didn't let you, you just went," he corrected her. "Revealing a glaring flaw in our protocols for departure clearances. One I corrected immediately." His voice softened, though his gaze remained stealy.. "I know she's your sister and I know that this is a matter that has been weighing on you heavily, but you can't just abandon your post because a family matter came up. You swore an oath to serve, and I'm holding you to that oath."

In a maneuver she hadn't planned on pulling, she dropped the stylus and reached her hand across the desk to place on his: his flesh hand, rather than his iron one. Though they were both wearing gloves, she hoped he could feel the warmth of her touch and find some spark of altruism within himself.

"General…sir…you know how much I believe in you," she looked into his eyes and held his gaze, "I'm your most avid supporter, your right hand, your maiden presumptive. I know what we're really up against and I chose you over my own family because I believed I could make a difference in the lives of the people of Atlas. I've followed your orders, I've made choices that have permanently alienated me from my family fortune. I've been the face of the military imposed restrictions: curfews, martial law, travel bans, anything you wanted me to enforce. I've even agreed to give up my autonomy to become the Winter Maiden, and help you fuel your fight against an evil we may never be able to defeat. But never once have I asked for anything in return." She squeezed his hand. "I'm asking now for this one thing: let me get my sister. After that, I will be your sword, I'll assume the maiden power, and I will follow your every order to the letter, and I won't offer one iota of resistance. Please…please just let me do this."

Ironwood was moved. This was not a request of want, but of a need.

"Go." he said.

She didn't ask him to repeat himself. She merely offered her sincerest thanks as she bolted out the door, leaving the tablet and stylus behind for him to send and submit electronically."

"We're clear," she said, rushing past Ruby in the hangar, "Load up, we're behind schedule." She clambered into the ship, tapping the pilot on the shoulder, affirming that she had the go ahead, looking through the windshield to see the lights turn green.

The ship pulled out at 0507 hours, pulling into the sky before Ruby could even get her seatbelt buckled. The ship raced, as her heart and thoughts were racing to keep up.

Everything was happening so fast.