"Mom!" Ruby darted inside in a flurry of red petals. "Oh my gosh, are you okay!? What happened!?"

"Ruby," Summer croaked, her voice hoarse. Yang saw her lips and teeth were stained with blood. Her eyes, strangely cloudy, looked sightlessly at a point a few inches below and to the left of Ruby's face. In spite of all that, she smiled warmly. "Hey, Little Rose. Hey, Little Dragon."

"Mom," Yang choked out, staring between her mother and the woman who shared half her genes. "What the—what happened?"

"Trap," said Summer, her smile fading. "Got blown up, then overused my—" she stopped suddenly, as if she'd been about to say something she hadn't meant to. "I'm blind, right now, but it's… probably temporary." She glanced in Raven's direction. "If this isn't Beacon, where are we?"

"Mountain Glen," said Professor Oobleck from just a pace behind Yang, startling her. She hadn't even heard him wake up. "A cleanup operation for local Grimm." He spoke more slowly than Yang was used to, pitching his voice down slightly. With a sinking feeling, she realized he was speaking to her mom exactly the way Dad and her teachers spoke with her after a concussion. "You clearly need medical attention. The mission can wait."

Suddenly, from the overlook where Ruby had been keeping watch until Summer arrived, Zwei barked. Uncle Qrow—who, Yang suddenly noticed, looked like he had aged ten sad years in the past few months—looked over. The lost, wounded look on his face suddenly hardened. "What's up, Zwei?" he asked.

Zwei barked again.

Qrow glanced back, met his sister's eyes. "I'm gonna go check that out," he said.

"He probably just wants a walk," said Ruby.

"That's a Huntsman's dog," said Raven Branwen, giving Qrow a nod before looking at Ruby. "He's better trained than that."

Her voice was… somehow, exactly what Yang had expected. Harsh, clipped, and to-the-point, even cold. She was nothing like Mom's warmth, or Dad's cheer, or even the gentle roughness Qrow's voice took on when he was speaking to them. She sounded a bit like Qrow did when he was telling someone off, but… Yang got the feeling she sounded like that all the time.

Qrow stepped outside, and scanned the streets below. Then he turned back. "Dog definitely saw someone," he said. "Barty—any other Huntsman teams around here?"

"Not that I am aware of," said Professor Oobleck, suddenly tense. "You're certain?"

"Nearly," Qrow said. "I'm gonna do some recon. Kids—he looked at Yang, then at her teammates in turn. "Get ready to move," he ordered. "Summer's not exactly in stable condition."

"I'll call for medevac," Oobleck said.

"Do that," said Qrow, then turned and jumped off the side of the overlook. A moment later, barely visible in the gloom beyond the ring of r firelight, Yang saw a tiny black bird flutter away.

"And he's the one who wanted to keep Ozpin's secrets," muttered Raven. Then she looked back at Yang's mom. "Summer—how do you feel?"

"Better, honestly," Summer said, grinning wryly. "Would love to sit down though."

"Oh, over here," said Yang, taking her mom's other arm and—without looking at Raven—helping Summer to a large piece of fallen concrete at a decent height to serve as a bench. Summer settled into it with a relieved sigh. Then, as if the exhalation had tickled something, she coughed into her hand. It came away with a thick glob of congealed phlegm and blood.

"Ech," she said, grimacing at her hand, then looking vaguely in Raven's direction. "That look as bad as it feels?"

"Honestly, better than it was," Raven said. "Your ridiculously fast Aura recovery is coming in handy."

"How much worse was it?" Ruby asked in a small voice.

Raven's jaw clenched momentarily as she glanced, not at Ruby, but at Yang. "Bad," she said darkly. "I wasn't… I wouldn't have been surprised if something serious had broken."

"Think I did fracture a vertebra," Summer said, grimacing. "Trying to be careful."

"What happened?" Yang asked again, finally looking Raven in the eye. "Who the hell tried to blow up Mom?"

Raven bared her teeth in a vicious scowl, but Yang could tell her anger wasn't directed at her. "A traitorous rat," she spat, "and the bastards he was working for." She glanced at Summer. "They don't know anything, right?"

"Not even sure—" Summer coughed again, wincing. "Not even sure Barty's been read in. The kids definitely haven't. You know how Oz feels about child soldiers."

"Yeah." Raven scowled. "Reprehensible until he can find a good enough excuse."

"Oh, Rae," Summer sighed. "Do you really want to go down that road with me right now?"

Raven grimaced and turned away, looking out the gap through which her brother had escaped into the night.

"I have, in fact, been 'read in' as you put it," said Oobleck into the silence. "I don't feel it necessary to be involved in the day-to-day running of Ozpin's affairs, but that doesn't mean I'm unaware of them."

"Bastard's gotten more trusting than I remember, then," Raven muttered.

"Which is why," Oobleck continued as if he hadn't heard her, stepping up beside Yang in a sudden and surprising gesture of solidarity, "I am currently wondering why you're still here, Miss Branwen."

Raven shot him a red-eyed glare that could have curdled milk. It did not curdle Oobleck. "I don't owe you any explanations," she growled.

"No," Yang agreed, trying to keep her voice level. "I get the feeling you don't think you owe anyone anything at all—least of all an explanation."

Raven's eyes snapped to her, blazing red and furious. "You have no right—"

"She," Summer said, suddenly sharp, "has every fucking right, Raven Branwen." Then she doubled over in a coughing fit.

Yang turned to help her mom, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the full-body flinch that went through her biological mother—though whether it was at Summer's words, her tone, or the hacking coughs that succeeded them, she had no idea.

Geralt let out a heavy breath as he fell into the seat on the Bullhead. Beside him, Regis was slumped in another seat, head bowed over his lap. His hands, clasped together in his lap, were shaking.

Beneath their feet, in the ship's hold, Geralt could hear the snarling of Fenrisulfr as it tried to break free of the holding cell. Ozpin had assured him that the cages could hold even a Beowolf Alpha, but Geralt had no idea if a recently transferred Titan was within those specifications.

Across from him sat Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora. Jaune sat on Regis' other side. All of Geralt's students looked exhausted to various degrees. The cabin was silent save for the sound of the thrusters as the Bullhead took off.

"We will likely need to explain my circumstances to the pilot," murmured Regis without looking up.

"We'll save it for when we can get Ozpin to swear him to secrecy," said Geralt. He looked over at his friend. "You all right?"

"I will be." Regis sat up, exhaling through his mouth. Geralt saw him running his tongue along his teeth. "I have not…I have not attempted a full transformation since Touissant. It makes the… cravings worse."

"Can I—" Geralt began, but Regis cut him off.

"Do not offer, my friend," he said, shooting the Witcher a sidelong look. "It will only make it more tempting to accept."

Geralt nodded, then looked past Regis. "Okay," he said. "You ready for a debrief, Jaune?"

Jaune, who had been leaning back against his seat, opened his eyes and looked over at Geralt. "Sure," he said. "Um. What was that?"

"Ren?" Geralt asked.

"Fenrisulfr is a figure from mythology," said Ren quietly, looking out the narrow window of the Bullhead cabin. "Originally Mantellian myth, I believe. It is one of the fabled Grimm Titans—massive, ancient Grimm, more intelligent than any others, capable of destroying whole Kingdoms. I never imagined they actually existed."

Geralt had assumed they had, given the nature of the research he'd been doing at Ozpin's recommendation. That didn't mean he'd expected to encounter Fenrisulfr less than three hours' flight from Beacon itself.

Had it been placed here deliberately? And, if so, what else might Salem have placed in a position to attack Vale, and the other Kingdoms? He didn't know, but Ozpin might have some idea.

"Most fairy tales have at least some basis in truth," was all Geralt said aloud. Then he looked around at his students in turn. "Regardless, today was a complete success. Better than a success—we were assigned to identify the cause of the Grimm swarm, and to capture some live Grimm for my experiments. Instead, we dispersed the swarm, I finished my Grimm oil, and we captured Fenrisulfr. Unqualified success."

"Wait," Ren asked, his eyes darting from Nora to Geralt. "What do you mean, we captured Fenrisulfr? It died. I saw it die."

Geralt nodded grimly. "It did," he confirmed. "And using my Semblance, I saw its… essence, I guess, enter the Beowolf we captured. That's how the Grimm Titans are still around, even though most of them were killed in the legends they appear in."

Ren paled. So did his teammates. "But then," he murmured, "that would mean that—that any of the Titans could be real. All of them. And they'd still be around today."

"That doesn't make sense, though," Pyrrha said, with an air of someone grasping at straws. "Someone would have seen them, surely? We have the CCT network now. Surely word would have gotten around of Grimm the size of mountains wandering Remnant?"

"They're not wandering." Jaune's voice was hollow. He stared at Geralt. "Fenrisulfr was hiding. Biding its time—just a few dozen miles from Vale itself. The Grimm that were swarming weren't just attracted to it, were they? It was calling them. Getting ready for… for an attack."

Geralt nodded darkly. "That'd be my guess," he said quietly. "Although I'd bet it'd have been months or even years before that swarm was big enough to pose a threat to the Kingdom. And that's assuming a Huntsman team wasn't dispatched to clear them out before then."

"How many Grimm swarms are gathering at any one time, though?" Jaune asked darkly. "Around all four Kingdoms? All it takes is for one to slip through, if every single one of those is hiding a Titan."

"They can't all be though, right?" asked Nora, sounding manic, like she was trying to smile while teetering over the edge of a chasm. "I mean, come on—how many Titans can there possibly be? Five? Six?"

"There are five in Mantellian myth alone," said Ren hoarsely. "Fenrisulfr, Jormungandr, Nidhoggr, Ratatoskr, and Hela." He gave Nora a meaningful look. "Hela was said to be the most powerful Geist on Remnant, able to bind herself even to people—or to other Grimm."

Nora's face went ashen. "You don't think…" she whispered.

"I didn't," Ren said, "until I saw Fenrisulfr. The Titans exist. At least some of them."

"What is it, guys?" Jaune asked, looking between his two teammates.

Ren swallowed. "I think—I think we may have seen Hela once before," he said in a small voice, seeming to shrink on himself as his back hunched. "I think she—it destroyed the village where we grew up."

Geralt grimaced. "Shit."

Pyrrha took Ren's hand, squeezing comfortingly. Nora took the other. Her free hand was clenched in her lap, shaking. "How many of them are there, then?" she asked. For the first time since she had been Geralt's student, there was no bubbly cheer in her voice. It was low, and hard, and angry. "Total."

"My research turned up at least a dozen," said Geralt. "And that's assuming some of the references are just different names for the same monster. Nidhoggr and Tiamat are probably the same Grimm, as are Jormungandr and Loong."

"A dozen monsters like that could do immense damage if they were gathered together," said Regis softly. He looked up, glancing out the window before turning to Geralt. "Why, then, do they not?"

Geralt grimaced. "Don't know," he admitted. "We'll see if Ozpin has any ideas."

Qrow dropped onto the overlook from the roof above, black feathers fluttering down around him. "Bad news," he said grimly. "There's definitely a White Fang operation underway here."

He saw Blake grimace. Yang looked worriedly between her partner and Summer. Qrow glanced over at Oobleck, who was hunched over a radio, receiver in hand. "Any word on that medevac?" he asked.

"No," said Oobleck grimly, looking up and meeting his eyes. "The radio is being jammed. By the White Fang, I assume."

"Shit." Qrow rubbed at the back of his head, scratching at his scalp. He still wasn't sober—he could tell by the way the straight lines of the apartment walls seemed to waver in his vision. He was having to channel his Aura pretty much constantly to keep his brain running as well as it was. "I don't think I'm going to be much for a fight, right now," he admitted. "Should we split up?"

"Might have to," said Raven grimly. She looked him up and down. "Can you take Summer on your own?"

Qrow grimaced. "Probably not. I don't think I can carry her past the Grimm, and that's assuming we don't get spotted by the Fang."

"We can take her back," Yang said, taking Summer's bloody hand and squeezing it. "You guys can—"

"No," said Ruby quietly.

"What?" Yang exclaimed, rounding on her sister. "What do you mean, no? Why not? We have to get Mom back to Vale as fast as we can!"

"We'd need an escort," said Ruby quietly. "Right, Professor?"

"I would never forgive myself," said Oobleck, "if something were to happen to you girls while you were in my care, and I wasn't even there to help." He rubbed his chin. "Qrow, do you think the White Fang operation will keep until we can send another team back in?"

"Not sure," Qrow said. "They're underground, in the old rail station. They're loading some heavy equipment onto a train. I think they're going to try and bust open the sealed Grimm caverns."

"Why?" Summer asked hoarsely. "What the hell does that do for the White Fang?"

"The White Fang hasn't exactly been…" Blake hesitated. "They've been doing things that don't make sense. Working with Roman Torchwick, for one."

"Torchwick?" Raven frowned. "I… think I know that name."

"Former Spider," Qrow told her. "Lately been running a Dust theft operation here in Vale."

Raven narrowed her eyes. "This would be the massive number of Dust thefts I've heard about all the way in Anima?"

"Yeah," Qrow said. "Bet you money some of that Dust is on that train, in the form of blast charges."

"No bet," muttered Summer. She leaned back against the wall, blind eyes staring at the ceiling. "Professor," she said, "would you say you or Raven is a more effective combatant against humanoid opponents?"

"Miss Branwen," said Oobleck immediately. "No contest."

"Okay," said Summer. "Rae—can I trust you with my daughters?"

Raven's face twisted. She glanced at Yang, then at Ruby, then back at Summer. "Yes," she said.

"And their teammates?"

Raven hesitated again. "…Yes."

"Okay," said Summer. "Professor, Qrow—you two can get me out of the interference zone and call for medevac. Rae can take Team RWBY to stop the train."

"Wait!" Weiss waved her hands frantically. "Wouldn't it make more sense to send, um, Mrs. Branwen—"

"Miss," Raven corrected sharply.

"—Miss Branwen with Professor Oobleck? Surely two trained Huntsmen are better than—"

"I'm afraid not," said Oobleck evenly. "Even as trainees, the four of you are more effective than me alone, especially against humanoid combatants like the White Fang. You're more likely to be able to outnumber and surround them." He turned to Raven. "Since Mrs. Rose is willing to trust you with her own children, I will defer to her judgment," he said, and there was a hard edge to his voice. "Do not do anything the both of us will regret."

Raven sneered at him.

"Take Zwei, too," Qrow said, looking down at the corgi, who barked happily, wagging his stubby tail.

Raven narrowed her eyes at the dog, who narrowed his eyes right back at her. "I never got along with that dog," she growled. "Fine. We'll shut down the damn train. Where's this station anyway?"

Yang was finding it more than a little difficult to focus.

"I hate fighting underground," Raven muttered, looking down the stairs that led to the old rail station. She looked over at Ruby. "Follow my instructions and don't get in my way," she ordered.

Ruby nodded wordlessly, so Raven turned, affixed her mask back over her face, and started down the stairs.

Yang stepped up to her sister and lowered her head. "You don't have to let her walk all over you," she whispered.

"I'm not," Ruby whispered back. "But there's no sense arguing with her about it. You guys will follow my lead if we need to split from her. She doesn't need to know that as long as we do."

Yang grinned at her sister. Ruby gave her a small smile back, then started down the stairs after Raven.

The staircase was too narrow for them to walk more than single-file, so it wasn't until they reached the base that Blake caught up with Yang. "Hey," she said softly, golden eyes watching Raven look this way and that, like a hound looking for prey. "You okay?"

Yang gave her a smile. It wasn't quite able to reach her eyes. "I'm fine."

Blake just gave her a look.

Yang sighed. "Really," she said. "I'm… well, I will be fine."

"It's okay to feel… conflicted," Blake said quietly. "Family can be complicated. Believe me, I know."

"This way," barked Raven, starting down a corridor towards one of the station platforms. Cracks ran like cobwebs through the ceiling above them, and many of the tiles beneath their feet were shattered into fragments strewn across the floor. "And I can hear you, back there," the woman said, shooting them a look over her shoulder. Whatever expression was on her face, it was obscured by her mask.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Blake caustically. "Are we making you uncomfortable, Miss Branwen?"

Raven shot her a look. "Careful, girl," she warned. "I promised Summer I'd look after you today, but that doesn't mean I can't take any insults out on your hide tomorrow."

Rage, hot and crackling, surged through Yang like molten gold. "Leave Blake alone," she growled, feeling the anger bleed into her hair, setting it alight. "Let's just do the job so you can fuck off back to Anima."

Raven's turned away without responding.

They emerged onto a balcony overlooking a massive underground cavern, complete with half a dozen platforms overlooking half a dozen rail lines. Most of these were empty. The furthest from the entrance was not.

A train was there—not a scavenged relic from the ruins, but a modern Atlesian grav-freighter. It was full to the brim with cargo; Yang couldn't say for sure what it was, at this distance, but the steel barrels with Dust volatility indicators could easily be components to a bomb.

"Qrow was right," Raven said as she scanned the masked White Fang members bustling around the train. "They're nearly done loading it up. They'd probably have sent it off tomorrow or the next day. Not long enough to organize a strike team."

"Well," said Ruby, "it's a good thing we're here, then, isn't it?"

Raven gave her a look before turning to the rest of the team. "Priority one," she said, "is disabling that train. We don't need to fight every Fang soldier, we don't need to retrieve the Dust—another team can come back for that. All we need to do is disable that train." She turned back to the cavern and pointed at the at the front of the chain of linked cars. "We're going to make directly for the engine, sabotage it, then get out. I'll portal us to Summer for a quick escape. Make sense?"

"Makes sense!" said Ruby. "How do we disable the engine?"

"Can't be sure until I see how it runs," said Raven. The unfriendly edge to her voice had softened slightly. She sounded thoughtful. "Probably a Combustion-Dust engine—if so, we can blow it up. If it's something else, though, like Gravity Dust repulsors, that may not work."

"Why wouldn't it?" Blake asked. "Gravity Dust is still volatile."

"An Atlesian Gravity repulsor system isn't centralized," Weiss said before Raven could answer. "Dust is inlaid throughout the whole train. The engine car is just where the control hub is."

"We could just take out the control hub in that case," said Raven, "but if they have a halfway competent Mantellian technician, they can jury-rig another one in just a few hours. And they will have a lot of Mantellians. It's the best recruiting ground on Remnant for the Fang, including Menagerie."

"You know a lot about the White Fang," said Blake slowly. "Have you… dealt with them, in the past?"

"Not directly," Raven said. "Had Fangers join the tribe, in the past." She shook her head. "Not the point right now." She looked the team over. "You all ready?"

Ruby looked each of her teammates in the eye, then nodded to Raven. "We're good to go."

"Then let's move," said Raven. "You four go ahead. I'll watch your backs."

Ruby nodded, then turned to Yang. "You and I will take point," she said, all business. "Blake, Weiss, watch our flanks. Speartip formation—me in front, Yang in the middle, Blake and Weiss on left and right sides."

"You got it, boss," said Yang, grinning at her sister, feeling pride well up from somewhere deep inside her.

Ruby gave her a quick smile, then turned and lowered herself into a runner's starting position. "On my mark." A pause as they all got into position. Then—"Mark!" and Ruby was off in a flurry of red petals, Yang hot on her heels.

Ruby emerged from her Semblance a few dozen feet ahead of Yang, already bringing Crescent Rose around to attack a White Fang member carrying a heavy barrel of Dust. He let out a strangled cry as the scythe's blade slammed against his Aura. It flickered, but did not break, and the impact sent him flying. The barrel fell sideways and started to roll. Ruby moved on, twisting back into her Semblance and charging past.

"Blake!" Yang shouted as she caught up to the slowly rolling barrel. She struck it once with a concussive Gravity Dust burst from Ember Celica, sending it bouncing towards a group of White Fang members in the process of turning towards the commotion.

"On it!" Blake called back. A moment later, the sharp retort of Gambol Shroud rang out as Blake fired a Fire Dust round. Yang heard it ping off the barrel. The second shot, however, successfully penetrated, and the barrel of volatile Fire Dust detonated, scattering the Fang members like debris.

Ruby had reached the engine by this point and was leaping in through the window. A moment later, the door slammed open and Ruby sailed backwards back out of the train car. She caught herself with Crescent Rose, leaving a trough in the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Roman Torchwick's partner, the mute girl with the multicolored hair, emerged with a wide smile on her face and a manic light in her eyes, twirling her parasol. Torchwick had called her Neo, Yang thought.

Ruby glanced over as Yang fell into position beside her. "It's a Gravity Dust engine," she said grimly. "Just our luck."

"So what now?" Yang asked.

"Now we sabotage the Dust lines all the way down the train," said Ruby. "It's the only way to be sure."

Yang looked around as Blake and Weiss caught up with them. The White Fang was rallying. She could see squads organizing for combat. Guns were starting to come out, barrels pointed in their direction. Weiss said what they were all thinking—"That means fighting every single one of them, doesn't it?"

"Probably," said Ruby, pulling the bolt of Crescent Rose into place with the click of ammunition loading into the chamber.

"You focus on disabling the train," said Raven, suddenly dropping among them from above. Yang heard a whirring, clicking sound as she spun the mechanism of her weapon's sheath, and when she drew the sword its blade was iridescent blue—pure Ice Dust. "We'll keep their attention off you."

"Got it," said Ruby. "Weiss—do you have a spare Lightning Dust canister?"

"Of course," said Weiss haughtily, tossing the small vial of yellow powder to her partner. "Going to try and overload the circuits?"

"It's disjointed, so I'll have to do it on every car," said Ruby, "but yes." She gave Raven a nod, then another to her teammates. "I'll be quick!" she promised, and was gone.

"How long you guys think that'll take her?" Yang asked as the four of them took a formation, back to back, facing outward to the gathering circle of White Fang.

"Half an hour?" Raven guessed. "Train's long."

"Bet it's less than twenty," Yang said. "Rubes is fast."

If Raven responded, Yang didn't hear her, because at that point the Fang started shooting.

Cinder was woken suddenly by the sound of her scroll ringing. Not the scroll she used for ordinary, day-to-day operations, such as watching her Aura levels while sparring or to fill out assignments and paperwork for Beacon—that one had a cheerful, upbeat ringtone.

This one was much simpler—a single, low bell, chiming like a slow heartbeat.

Cinder scrambled into a sitting position, bedsheets in disarray, and tugged up the corner of her mattress to grab the black scroll which was hidden beneath it. She answered immediately. "Ma'am?"

"Cinder." Salem's deep voice was normally languid, patient. Even when she was angry, she sounded almost bored, as if the worst part of whatever had happened was simply that it was taking up her time to deal with. She did not sound like that now. Her voice was edged in diamond. "There has been a change of plans."

"How so?" Cinder noticed Emerald and Mercury waking up in the beds beside hers. She shooed them out of the room with a gesture, and Emerald scrambled to pull Mercury out of bed and obey.

"Watts and Tyrian have missed their rendezvous," Salem said. "I can only assume they are dead, which means Lionheart has most likely been exposed. I will continue to monitor the situation—if it looks like Ozpin is moving to capture him, you will need to get out of Beacon before Lionheart can be interrogated."

Cinder gritted her teeth. "Understood. Is the plan called off, then?"

"That depends," said Salem. "Do you have everything you need to control Watts' virus, even without his direct involvement?"

"Yes," Cinder said.

"Hm." Salem hummed thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, if Watts is dead, they will know he was working for me—and will likely make the connection with your infiltration of the CCT tower last week. You mentioned the Silver-Eyed girl had seen you?"

"Not my face, or what I was doing." Cinder was quick to reassure Salem of those silver linings. "But she did see that I infiltrated the CCT tower, yes."

"And, we can assume, reported the incident to Ozpin, who—if he knows Watts was one of mine—will immediately guess we deployed some sort of software to the CCT systems." Salem sounded displeased, but at least she didn't seem to be directing it at Cinder. Yet. "The plan is… not called off. Not quite yet. Something will have to change—I don't have the manpower I need to make the precision strikes I was hoping for against all four Kingdoms. Hm." She hummed again. When she next spoke, it was with instructions. "You will remain in place, and follow the plan to the letter until and unless I tell you otherwise. If we're very lucky, the Beacon operation can still run as intended."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Cinder. "If you don't mind me asking—what if we aren't lucky?"

"Then," said Salem darkly, "I will have to either call you back and fall back for now—try again in a decade or two—or I will have to throw subtlety to the wind entirely."

"Ma'am?"

"There are… measures in place," said Salem. "For instance, if Mr. Torchwick fails to uphold his part of the operation and the Dust bombs do not deploy to the CCT tower… I have another way to shut it down. I would rather not expose my hand so early, but…" She sighed. "I am closer now than I have ever been," she said, and her voice was uncharacteristically soft. "Ozpin found all the relics for me. All I have to do is get past the defenses he's set for them. The longer I let him build up those defenses, the harder it gets to penetrate them."

"Ma'am… can I offer some advice?" Cinder asked.

Salem chuckled, a sudden, surprised sound. "Bold of you," she said, but she sounded amused. "I suppose I have been bouncing ideas off you. Very well—what is your input?"

"I don't know what these measures of yours are," said Cinder, "but I think the time for subtlety is over. Remnant is already collapsing in on itself, breaking under the weight of its own hubristic peace. Atlas is a Dust keg waiting to explode, and Vale and Mistral are hardly better—especially with Lionheart's… contributions, to your cause. Vacuo is more stable, but it's also the smallest of the Kingdoms. And Menagerie is smaller even than that. I don't think you need to tiptoe around humanity anymore. I think a little push is all they need to do most of our job for us."

Salem was silent for a moment. Then she let out a slow, derisive laugh. "You know," she said softly, "I do believe you're right. After all—I may have been exposed already. Fenrisulfr was just killed, and its new host has been captured. Ozpin is clever enough to realize why it was so close to his Kingdom—and the implications of where my other Titans might be. Maybe the time for subtlety is past entirely."

Cinder's eyes widened. "You're talking about the Grimm Titans," she realized.

"Yes," said Salem with relish. "Nidhoggr is buried in a mountain just a few miles outside Vale. Leviathan is currently patrolling the sea route between Argus and Atlas. It has been occasionally attacking ships—never enough to seem suspicious. Perhaps I should step it up?" She chucked to herself. "In any case, yes. Stick to the plan, for now. I will consider where to go once the Beacon CCT is disabled and the Crown is in my hands."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Cinder, a grin spreading across her lips. "Looking forward to it."