I usually don't start chapters with ANs, but I just want to warn that there are RWBY Volume 6 spoilers in this chapter. They're after the third line break in the actual story. Unfortunately they're necessary for the plot and will be referenced going forward. Maybe catch up with the series before you read beyond this point, eh?

"..."

"Yeah, I know, but considering what they did, I think I made the right choice."

"..."

"Are you saying you would rather have been scooped up like the kids that followed Cinder did and serve a couple centuries in prison? They know your semblance now, somehow. They could have kept you, even if it wouldn't have been easy."

"..."

"Hey, they gave me back my hat. I'm feeling better about this new job opportunity already!"

The guards in charge of watching Roman Torchwick glanced at each other. Ever since the short girl with bicolored hair had been brought in, the two had been having what seemed like a very one sided conversation.

The Atlesian soldiers supposed it made an odd sort of sense. Roman really liked to talk, as they'd both had ample opportunity to learn. It only made sense that his partner in crime was the type that would let him endlessly run his mouth.

Neo, for her part, just looked a bit annoyed. The day before, right before she was supposed to implement her part of Cinder's plan, Roman had showed up at the location she was hiding in with a group of Atlesian troops. She'd felt more than a bit shocked, not to mention betrayed, when the redhead had told her of the deal he'd made for them, but once they both had a front row seat to Cinder's plan going down the drain she agreed that it was the best option of a dozen crappy ones.

Didn't mean she was happy, though.

Now they were having lunch together in a cell, which was surprisingly spacious. The food wasn't anything to write home about, but then, what could they expect out of the military?

Neo cocked her head and shrugged a shoulder slightly in a question which Roman, well practiced in her non-verbal signals, shrugged back to. "Meh, basic stuff. Use our skills to plug gaps in security systems, gain information on the movers and shakers of the underworld… Honestly, it's basically what you'd expect of our situation from a crime movie. Still, it's easy work, and the money isn't bad."

Another turn of the head and the raising of an eyebrow conveyed another question. "I dunno, actually." Roman turned to the guards. "Hey, either of you two know where this ship is heading?"

The guards glanced at each other again before one of them shrugged. "We're heading to Mistral. Since Cinder Fall pretended to be a student of Haven, General Ironwood wants to have any possible connections and associates investigated. That will be your first assignment. Specialist Schnee is already on her way there to speak with Headmaster Lionheart."

Roman hummed as Neo chewed on some slightly wilted salad. "Alright. I do have some contacts in Mistral. I don't suppose it'll be too difficult a job." He brightened as he turned back to his compatriot. "And hey, no more annoying little huntresses in training! I call that a win."

Neo smirked before shrugging, turning to the jello cup she was given.

The citizens of the settlement of Kuo Kuana in Menagerie watched as a shuttle flew to their port from the Atlesian ship floating above with suspicion. Atlas did not have the best track record with faunus. It had the worst, actually, and many people resented them. So when General Ironwood stepped out of the shuttle he was met by a large amount of glares.

Ironwood's guards held their rifles a bit tighter at the hostility being aimed their way, but the general had expected it and thus didn't let it bother him. Instead he began to walk towards the home of the Chieftain of the city. No one impeded his way, though more than a few looked like they wanted to do so.

When he reached the large house he found the enormous, intimidating form of Ghira Belladonna standing in front of the door, his smaller wife, Kali, at his side, both of them watching him approach. Once he'd reached them, Ironwood gave a small, respectful bow. "Chieftain, I am General James Ironwood of Atlas. I come to discuss important matters that will affect the faunus people as a whole, along with some news on your daughter, Blake." He knew that mentioning Blake would get their attention, and he was gratified to see he was right, Kali immediately taking a step forward.

"Blake? Is she alright?" The desperation in her voice was almost painful to hear, and Ironwood turned his gaze to her with a small smile as her husband placed a large hand on her slim shoulder.

"Blake is doing well. She's currently a training to be a Huntress at Beacon. May I come in so we can discuss things further?"

Kali sagged with relief, a tearful smile on her face. Ghira led his wife into the house, motioning for Ironwood to follow. The General had his guards remain outside before following the Belladonnas in. He took a seat at the table in the main room, Ghira lowering himself down on the other side as Kali prepared tea.

When the tea had been served and Ironwood had taken a sip the Chieftain finally spoke. "You say Blake is enrolled in Beacon?"

Ironwood nodded and drew his scroll out of his pocket. He pulled up the photos before passing the device to the couple, showing them a picture Cortana had given him of Team RWBY's team photo. Ruby and Yang were smiling widely, the blonde with her fists on her hips and the reaper with her hands behind her back and leaning forward slightly. Weiss stood on the right, poised and composed, yet with a small smile on her face. And on the left was Blake, hidden slightly by her partner yet also smiling softly, arms crossed across her chest.

The two feline faunus stared at the picture with laser like intensity, their eyes fixated on the daughter they hadn't seen in years. "Oh, look at her, Ghira. She's grown up so much." Kali said, her voice equal parts proud and mournful.

Ghira looked up at Ironwood. "She's happy?"

"So Ozpin tells me. Her teammates know of her previous association with the White Fang, and they have accepted her and are quite protective of her. That includes Weiss Schnee., who is on the right." Ironwood explained calmly.

The couple's eyes turned to the rest of Team RWBY, having not even seen them before, they were so focused on their daughter. Ghira's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Our Blake, friends with a Schnee? There's something I never thought would happen…" Then he looked up at Ironwood, eyes narrowed. "So, you know she was in the White Fang. She's left them?"

Ironwood nodded. "Yes. Ozpin has known since she enrolled. We have reliable information that she participated in many theft and sabotage operations as part of Adam Taurus' faction of the organization." The two Belladonna's suddenly got nervous. Ironwood smiled and proceeded to reassure them. "Both Ozpin and I have decided to ignore that as she left the Fang shortly before enrolling in Beacon. Their methods were becoming too extreme for her, and she no longer wanted part in a group that would hurt innocents. She has since helped stop several of their operations, and was one of the principal defenders of Vale during the Breach incident that recently occured. Far be it for me to dissuade a young woman who earnestly wants to change her path for a better one."

Ghira and Kali both sighed with relief at his words. Kali smiled at the General. "Thank you. That reassures us immensely. Blake always had a strong sense of justice. I'm sure she won't disappoint you."

"So am I." James said with a nod. Then his face turned serious. "Unfortunately, that brings us to the recent events that have prompted my visit. I doubt you've heard of it yet due to the fact you don't have a CCT tower of your own, but a faction of the White Fang has done something… foolish."

Ghira's eyes narrowed. "Oh?"

As Ironwood proceeded to explain the attempted attack on Vale and the role the White Fang had in it, Kali's hand rose to cover her mouth in shock while Ghira got up and began to pace agitatedly. When he reached the point where Adam personally hunted Blake down, leaving his subordinates to be captured, in order to injure or even kill her, Ghira suddenly roared and slammed a fist against a wooden pillar, denting it deeply as he breathed heavily, trying to keep himself under control.

"When I get my hands on that little…" Ghira snarled, trailing off into incoherent growls.

"He's in an Atlas cell, Mr. Belladonna, and will be for some time. He lost an arm in the incident, so his combat capabilities have been lowered significantly. He no longer poses a serious threat." Ironwood said calmly before focusing on his tea as Kali got up to soothe her husband, giving them time to come to grips with what they heard.

Once they had both calmed down and were once again seated Ghira rubbed his forehead with his fingers. "This is a disaster. Adam's foolishness has practically guaranteed the rise of greater anti-faunus sentiment. The bigots and extremists will be emboldened, and even the moderates and some sympathizers will pull away."

Ironwood set his teacup down. "That's why I'm here. Whatever the faults with Atlas in regards to the faunus people, I personally am sympathetic. We need to get ahead of this as much as possible and minimize the blowback. If you need a cynical, self involved reason for me to do this to make you feel better about my motives, the rise in racial conflict and resentment will make guarding against the Grimm more difficult."

Ghira grunted and nodded. "I see your point. What are you hoping I can do? I'm no longer the leader of the White Fang."

"I'm hoping you can convince Sienna Khan to join you in issuing a statement condemning the actions of Taurus' branch of the Fang. It will have weight if you, the more moderate, pacifistic leader, and her, the more aggressive, radical leader, both state that this was unacceptable. It wouldn't do much to curb the extremists, but it should help with the moderates." Ironwood explained. "I'm willing to give you a ride to the White Fang headquarters whenever you're ready to leave, though I would suggest giving a statement to the citizens of Kuo Kuana to assure them that I'm not taking you into custody to be shot or something before we do so."

Ghira thought about the request seriously. "I'm not sure I have the influence you think I do in order to make your idea viable."

Ironwood shook his head with a small smile. "You underestimate your importance to the faunus people. Trust me, they will listen to your words. Especially if Sienna agrees with you." Then he looked at them both and impulsively decided to sweeten the pot. "Nothing says we can't stop by Beacon before returning to Menagerie, either…"

Kali's eyes snapped to Ironwood's hopefully before she turned a pleading gaze to Ghira. The large man folded like a house of cards. "Alright. Let me come up with a speech I can give to the citizens to explain what happened and why I'm leaving temporarily."

Ironwood nodded agreeably. "I would say to take your time, but the sooner you can speak with Sienna the better." Ghira grunted in agreement and Ironwood thought for a moment before speaking again. "I also have some items to offer you. I'm hoping they'll be seen as a gesture of good faith between the Kingdom of Atlas and Menagerie, and perhaps some form of reparations."

Kali raised an eyebrow. "What would those be?"

The general leaned forward, elbows on the table and fingers interlaced. "We've recently had a few advances in technology thanks to a very gifted individual I won't be naming for security reasons." He said. "One of the things we're prototyping is a cheaper yet more effective CCT system. Once it completes testing by Atlas R&D, I'm willing to provide one to Menagerie, free of cost."

Ghira's eyes lit up. "That would be very useful. News reaches us slowly here, mostly from word of mouth of the the traders that come. If we had our own CCT connection we could become more involved in the world."

"Not to mention there are many people here who have families in the kingdoms that don't get to speak to them except via letters." Kali added with a smile. "Just for that the faunus people would be very grateful." Then she frowned. "Won't the Atlas Council argue against it, though? They always have before, using cost as an excuse, and this latest incident will just give them more motivation to stop it."

James smiled softly, his eyes hard. "I hold two seats on the council, and after the events in Vale public support is behind me, not to mention the military. They won't fight me on this. It'd be stupid. And if necessary I can add in the idea that being able to keep better tabs on the public of Menagerie through social media will help us keep a lookout for more extremists." He took a sip of the tea Kali had refilled. "You will be getting your CCT, most likely within half a year."

Ghira's eyebrows were raised. "You know, there are those that say you have too much power in Atlas. They may be right, but…" He shrugged. "As long as that power is used to help and not hurt, I have no true reason to complain."

"Trust me, if I go too far, I have no doubt there are many people who would be happy to bring me down if necessary." Ironwood said sardonically, Glynda and Qrow at the top of that list. "In any case, there are other things I have to offer." He leaned forward, eyes dancing almost maliciously. "How would you like to break Jacques Schnee's stranglehold on energy, at least in Menagerie?"

Kali and Ghira glanced at each other before the Belladonna matriarch gave the general a smile that displayed far too many teeth. "Go on…"

Harry silently sat back, eyes closed as he tried to keep his developing headache under control.

Beast Boy, who was seated in Ozpin's office along with the rest of the team, wasn't quite as restrained. "Well great. Just fucking perfect." He growled. "Salem is freaking immortal because she pissed of some gods and they're punishing her. Screw the rest of the world who are getting their butts handed to them because of their stupidity, they have to teach that bitch a lesson she's never going to learn." He proceeded to get up, walk to a wall, and bang his head against it.

Lara sighed, looking just as pained as Harry felt. "Such is the way of most gods. Impulsive, childish and uncaring of the consequences of their actions."

Harry thought back on the story they'd forced Ozpin, who now sat looking miserable and drawn behind his desk, to tell them.

Essentially, Ozpin had been reincarnating into the bodies of various people throughout history in order to stop his old lover, Salem, who was immortal because, back during his first life, when magic was common, she angered the gods of Remnant by trying to trick them into bringing her love back from the dead when he died of an illness. They wanted to teach her a lesson about hubris, and in retaliation she tricked the humans of the time into thinking they could defeat the gods and take their powers for themselves. When the humans attacked the gods, the God of Darkness wiped out every single person in the world except for Salem as his elder brother, the God of Light, looked on.

Honestly, just thinking further about the sheer stupidity of the deities and the situation itself made Harry's headache that much worse. Unfortunately, as Lara had just said, the situation was pretty par for the course when it came to the divine. Especially as, since then, Salem took control of the Grimm the God of Darkness created and began to be a gigantic pain in the ass to everyone to live in the time since in what amounted to the mother of all tantrums.

There was more to the story, some of it quite tragic in regards to Ozpin himself, but those were the salient points and the ones Harry was focusing on.

"So, we can't kill her unless we have some sort of divine magic?" Alice asked before shaking her head despairingly. "Honestly, things can never be simple, can they?"

"Salem is after these relics the gods left behind that you've hidden in the academies and can only be accessed by the maidens, correct?" The Chief asked Ozpin, his face as serious as ever. At the man's tired nod he became pensive. "What is her end goal with them, then?"

"I think it's an elaborate suicide attempt." Cortana said from Ozpin's desk computer. "The gods said that if the relics were brought together when humanity has learned acceptance and harmony with each other, they'll grant them the ability to use magic again. But if they haven't, the gods will destroy humanity again, along with Remnant itself." She reminded them. "The people obviously aren't united and working together, what with the issues with the faunus and other such things. So Salem probably hopes she can finally die along with the rest of the world if she brings the relics together now. The attack on Vale might have even been intended to divide the kingdoms further, making it more unlikely they'll join together before she can kill herself." She shook her virtual head. "All she wants to do is die. It's pretty sad, when you think about it."

Beast Boy stopped bonking his head against the wall. "What do we do, then? I mean, we obviously have to clean up the gods' mess, because it's kind of our jam, but do we have any actual way of doing it?"

Harry finally spoke, opening his eyes. "If we can't kill Salem, we can at least try to incapacitate her and buy humanity some breathing room so Oz can work on bringing them together. It doesn't matter if she's immortal, she won't be able to act if I bury her a mile or two underground. Sure, her Grimm might eventually get her out, but it'll take a long time." He looked at Ozpin. "If we buy you time you should be able to make some progress, at least."

Ozpin closed his eyes thoughtfully. "Yes, incapacitating Salem will take some of the pressure off…"

Alice was the first to catch onto Ozpin's hesitance. "You still love her, so the thought of her being trapped the way Harry is suggesting doesn't sit well with you." She said softly.

Ozpin sighed. "It is foolish, I know, after what she's done, what she's become." His gaze hardened. "However, I cannot put her life above those of every other person on Remnant. It is what began our feud to begin with." He looked at Harry. "Do what you must."

Harry nodded, however Chief cut in. "We're going to need a plan to reach Salem in her stronghold." He said. "The amount of enemies will be too much for the five of us alone."

The leader of the team showed his teeth, eyes hard. "Oh, I have an idea…"

"And that would be?" Lara asked, arms crossed.

Harry told them, and his amusement at their shock eased his headache.

"You're insane, dude…" Beast Boy said, staring at him with a frightened sort of awe.

Harry chuckled darkly. "Yep."

And done!

A bit shorter than usual, but I got the main points dealt with.

We're nearing the end of the RWBY arc, and just today I had a brainwave on how to get the characters in position to act. I just need to hammer a few things out and I'll be ready to move on to the next universe.

Of course, there's more happening on Remnant I could go into, and I have some ideas for more short pieces to set things up. They aren't exactly necessary, but they give a sense of completeness to things. Don't want to seem like I'm rushing things and leaving plot threads hanging. I'll probably do one more chapter like this before we head off to confront Salem. ...Maybe two. Depends on how many ideas I have.

I know some people won't be happy that I'm focusing that much on RWBY when Tomb Raider, Alice and Halo were dealt with relatively quickly, however there wasn't actually much to do in those universes. Trust me, this isn't the only universe that's going to get a lot of screen time. There are going to be universes that are going to have a lot of focus and time spent on them simply because there's so much happening and to do.

For example, do you think a certain space opera is going to to be done in five chapters? Oh no, it's going to be loooong.

And the last universe I have planned… Whew, that's going to be a freaking doozy, I tell ya.

Point is, I'm going to be doing deep dives into more than a few universes, some of which you might not care for or be interested in. I apologize if those universes aren't to your liking, but they are to mine, and that's why they're being included. This is, in the end, about what I enjoy writing about. You all are along for the ride, and as much as I appreciate your support, in the end it's my way or the highway.

Anyway, didn't want to seem confrontational, but I felt the need to put my foot down since I've gotten a few PMs telling me RWBY is boring and to get on with it.

I can't think of anything else that needs to be said. Don't forget my Pat A Ron, where you can support my writing. It's dotcom /athanmortis. You get a vote on what I update with each dollar donated.

Till next time.