Chapter 64

The great walls of Argus stretched up above them, so tall and thick that even a Goliath, the natural siege engine of the Grimm, would have a tough time breaking through. Near the gates was a garage, which took Yang's bike and the trailer to be processed and taken into the city shortly. As Yang received a card that denoted she had deposited a vehicle, team JNPR came running out of the gate to meet them.

"Guys!" Jaune cried out with a grin. Yang returned it as the two groups reunited with a series of hugs. However, despite the warm atmosphere…

"We need to talk." Adam had to ruin it by reminding them of what they had to discuss. Those who had borne witness to the vision shared a sigh.

"Do you guys have a place we can talk? About… Her?" Ruby asked.

"Oh ah… sure…" Jaune looked between them all worried.

"We were staying at my parent's house. We can go there." Pyrrha answered.

With the mood thoroughly ruined, the friends made their way into the city proper. After a mostly quiet journey through the beautifully made streets, they arrived at a mansion. Dark stone was offset by the beautiful, vibrant green gardens surrounding the entire property.

"My mother is a florist and really loves flowers. She spends a lot of her free time gardening, hence the garden." Pyrrha said with a bashful look as she motioned around them. "I was never very good at helping her…"

As Yang glanced around the flower-filled bushes and hedges she was reminded of home. Dad likes gardening too, doesn't he? He's always taking care of those flowers outside… It was a melancholic thought. I wonder how dad's doing…

She held in a sigh as they entered the mansion. It was as extravagant on the inside as it was on the outside. It was apparent just how much money the Nikos family had. She said her mom was a florist though. No florist could afford this. Guess her dad picks up the slack.

Pyrrha led them into a lavish living room, with couches and cushions in various reds and golds. Yang flopped down onto one of the couches. "Aahhh… damn Pyrrha, these are nice. Almost makes up for what we had to sleep on last night."

Ruby and Weiss quickly joined her, both letting out contented sighs. Adam instead took to brooding near the door as JNPR took the couch across from Yang. Oscar and Qrow sat down on separate seats as far from each other as possible. "Bah. Idiots." Maria scoffed to herself and sat next to Oscar.

Once they were all seated the momentary boost to the mood faded and they began to report all they had learned. It took them a while, but their friends remained quiet as they listened. When the tale finally came to a close, however…

"He lied that much?" Ren wondered aloud.

"That's… woah…" Nora squinted in confusion as she wrapped her head around all that had been said.

"We… we can't win? She's immortal? And he just… kept going like everything was normal?!" Jaune's voice steadily grew louder and more intense. "He's been giving us false hope! For years! The entire world has believed that if we just try hard enough and grow strong enough we can win! But now… now we know that was a lie. We can't win…" He deflated, all of his energy draining from his body.

"Jaune…" Pyrrha whispered as his words hit them all. She can't die. There is no victory. We can't win. Yang scowled. No. That's bull. There has to be something we can do.

"Maybe we can't win." Ruby abruptly spoke, drawing all eyes to her. "Maybe Salem can't be defeated. But so what?! I didn't sign up to be a Huntress because I thought I could wipe out the Grimm! I signed up to fight monsters for most of my life because saving lives was important! Because I had power that I could use to make this world just a little better! We can't beat her, but we can do what we signed up for. We can fight. We can kill Grimm. We can hold the line and protect the weak. We can be Huntsmen and Huntresses. Guardians. Protectors. We can save lives!" Her voice trembled with emotion, but it wasn't fear at their inability to win. It was passion, hope and determination.

For a moment it was as if all of their worries had been blown away. Torn apart by her desire to keep fighting, regardless of the fact victory would forever be out of reach. Maybe we can't win, but we can survive. Yang thought as she smiled.

"I…" Jaune sighed. "Yeah. You're right. I guess I thought that if we could just beat her all the Grimm would be gone."

"Even if that was the case," Adam, who had been silent until that point, finally spoke up. "Oz would have surely done so by now. We might be strong, but Oz has had hundreds if not thousands of years to kill her. If it could be done, it would have been done. We were too optimistic."

"I would agree with you if it wasn't for the advances made in the last few decades. A dedicated group of warriors to battle Grimm. The leaps in technology and Dust usage. Now is the strongest Humanity has ever been. Ignoring the time everyone had magic of course." Weiss countered. "It's easy to conclude that Ozpin simply wasn't strong enough or didn't have enough resources and that now he does. Or did, before Beacon."

"So then, nothings really changed?" Pyrrha asked.

"Plan wise it's the same, but I wouldn't say nothing has changed." Ruby shook her head. "Oz is gone. We know so much more too. Right now we stay the course, but later… well we might have an easier time guessing her next moves."

"True. Future plans can take this into account." Jaune agreed with another sigh. "Well, if we have to get to Atlas…"

"We need to talk to the base, right?" Yang asked.

"About that…" Jaune grimaced.

"As I said, the borders are closed. Only Ms Schnee is allowed through. Oh and him, but that'll be in chains." Caroline Cordovan smirked as she glared Adam's way.

"I've had my fill of chains thanks. I'd much prefer to have the free trip to Atlas with all my friends along for the ride."

Cordovan's smile faded, replaced by a look of contempt. "If you weren't surrounded by these foolish children…"

"You'd what? Try to arrest me? Or would you skip that and go straight to execution?"

"Adam." Yang interrupted with a tap of her foot. Adam sighed and took a step back.

"She won't give us any helpful answers." He grumbled.

"Thanks for your time." Ruby quickly said, stepping between her teammates and the short commander. Cordovan scoffed, turned and left.

"Well… that was a waste of time." Weiss griped.

"Let's head back and try to think of something else." Ruby decided, leading them back across the bridge to where JNPR was waiting for them.

Oscar sighed as he walked through the streets of Argus. The people there ignored him as they went about their day in peace. The others were busy working out passage to Atlas, but Oscar wasn't in the mood. It was hard to be in the mood for much really.

Guess that happens when the wizard in your head has been hiding the truth from you.

He let out another sigh. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Ozpin appearing in his head was supposed to be his chance to become something more. More than just a farm boy. It was meant to be his chance to become the strong hero he always wanted to be. But now he just felt terrible.

The others needed space and so did he. Space to take a breath and think. Once we get the Relic to safety, what's going to happen? To us, as a group? Will they still be my friends? Will I still be me? How long do I have anyway? Ozpin had never been clear about that. It was a mystery.

Perhaps he'd be gone by tomorrow, replaced by someone with his memories but also the memories of the dozens of lives Oz had lived. It would be someone named Oscar, but it wouldn't be Oscar. Of course, it won't be Ozpin either. Not much of a consolation prize though.

A third sigh left his lips as he rounded an arbitrary corner. However, that was when he saw it. In a nearby window was a clothing store showing off a new outfit. Oscar blinked as he looked at it. Hey… with a couple of adjustments…

A small smile came onto his face as he entered the store. Things were rough, but he was still himself so he should express that. He always wanted something to express himself as a Huntsman anyway and now was as good a time as any.

Yeah, this'll work.

Eventually, night fell, shrouding RSTY in darkness as they sat around the large dining room table trying to come up with a plan to get to Atlas.

"I… really can't think of any way to convince her." Ruby groaned and dropped her head onto the table.

"So then, what do we do?" Yang asked.

"Depends. How willing are we to break the law?" Adam questioned back.

"Is that really our only option? Steal a ship?" Weiss bemoaned. "I really don't want to try to explain that to my sister."

"Well unless Ruby's magic eyes can also teleport us, I think it is." Adam replied, causing Ruby to let out an annoyed moan.

"You spent some time with Maria earlier right? Doesn't sound like it went well." Yang said, twirling some of her hair around.

"I learned how to use this power thing, but I haven't gotten it to work at all since the farm."

"Well… if we were to go for the… less than legal route," Weiss grimaced as she spoke, "what would that look like as a plan?" She looked to Adam, who sighed.

"Argus Base isn't someplace you can just attack. Not with our numbers. We will have to be… discreet. Weiss, you have an easy in for the base and ship we need. The problem will be taking out whoever they have as pilot, and any guards in the ship with you, and then flying it around to pick up everyone else. I have a bit of training so I could fly it in an emergency. However, I'm a little… obvious." Adam shrugged. "But past that we need to make sure they don't or can't follow us and shoot us down, so taking down any form of sensors or disabling other aircraft will be important as well."

"I don't want to jeopardize Argus for us." Ruby firmly stated as she pulled her head up.

"Understood. Then we look to weaken or disable their sensors without causing permanent damage. We should do some investi-"

Adam was interrupted by the lights turning on above them, almost immediately followed by the door being kicked open. Entering with an 'ah-ha!' was a tall, muscular man with short dark brown hair and beard, golden eyes, tanned skin covered in old scars and wearing a blue and gold military outfit with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. A big grin came over his face as he gazed between them all.

"So then, you're my daughter's other friends? Team rusty, was it? Ruby, Weiss, Adam and Yang, correct?" His deep voice boomed throughout the room. They all shared a look before nodding and letting out sounds of agreement. "Perfect! I am Pyrrha's father, Chrysanthos Nikos! You can all just call me Chrys or Mr Nikos if you want to be formal."

"Dad!" Pyrrha whined, chasing after her father. The rest of her team were right behind her. Chrysanthos simply laughed and sat down at the head of the table, motioning for JNPR to take seats themselves.

"Now then." He began, resting his elbows on the table and steepling his hands together once everyone was seated. "You all want to get to Atlas, but the only available transport is in the military base and they won't budge. Seeing as you all are in a hurry for something, you might just be thinking about doing something a little rash. Am I wrong?"

"I wouldn't call it rash." Adam replied with a shrug.

"Ha! Well, I don't exactly like my daughter breaking the law, but this sounds important." He looked between everyone at the table. "Too important to not be classified, so I won't ask you to tell me. I don't think I can stop you, so instead, I'll help you to make it go smoother. Plus I can piss off Cordovan and that doesn't come up often." He let out another laugh.

"So then, let's talk plans." He said with a grin.

A/N: Hello again! Sorry for the sudden two-week break. I came down with a pretty rough cold and writing was hard. But I've recovered now, so back to writing again. Felt good to finish the chapter. Speaking of... the biggest new thing here is really meeting Chrysanthos Nikos, my take on Papa Nikos. My research shows that his name means something along the lines of "golden flower", and I got it from "Chryses" which means golden and was the name of some guy in the Trojan War which has an obvious connection to Pyrrha and her whole Achillies inspiration. Yeah. Next up: A little more time in Argus before the big theft.

I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!