AUTHOR'S NOTES: In this chapter, things get worse.

Building 13016 (Base Hospital)

Joint Base Beacon, Wisconsin, United States of Canada

14 May 2001

1430 Hours Local

Cinder Fall walked through the hospital. It was chaos. The staff was preparing operating rooms and triage rooms for combat casualties. Other staff were blocking some of the exits, while security police secured the entrance, expecting that the White Fang would attack the hospital as well. Medical facilities were off-limits under every convention of war ever signed, but Sienna Khan didn't much care for treaties.

No one paid her any mind. Cinder walked to Dr. Thomas' office, the chief medical officer of the base, and one of the few she knew had access to Amber Tardor. She wondered if she would have to hunt him down, but he was in his office, typing away on his computer, standing over his desk. "Dr. Thomas?" Cinder asked.

Thomas looked up. "Major Fall?" He had not heard about the arrest order on her. "I'm sorry to sound like an asshole, Major, but we're pretty busy here. The other pilots are trapped in the dorms, last I heard."

"Yes, I heard that as well." Cinder was hoping the pilots would get massacred in their dorms; it would make her job much easier. "Doctor, I need to see you, immediately."

"Major, unless you have arterial bleeding, I'm just too busy at the moment."

"I insist, Doctor." He looked up. Cinder was holding a silenced pistol. It was aimed at his chest, and hidden from the outside by her body. "Don't yell for help. I'd much rather keep you alive, Doctor."

"What are you talking about?" Thomas asked.

"Take me to Amber Tardor. Now."

"Why?"

Cinder glared at him. "Doctor, you're wasting time. Either take me to Amber, or prepare to end up on one of your own operating tables." She motioned with her head towards the door.

Thomas thought about rushing her. There was a letter opener on the desk. He glanced at it, then at the pistol. Her grip on it was steady, and her eyes were pitiless. Thomas sighed and moved past her, and she fell in behind, putting the pistol into her coat pocket. Someone who was looking would notice the weapon, but Cinder was betting no one would notice.

She was right. They began bringing in the first casualties. Thomas looked back at her, concern on his face, but she gave a minute shake of her head. The doctor gave an excuse to one of the nurses, saying he would be in the OR in a moment, and led Cinder into the deserted wing of the hospital. It was much quieter here, though the hospital shook with an explosion. Thomas once more looked at her, but Cinder just smiled. "Don't worry, Doctor. I'll let you go in a minute."

"What are you going to do with Amber?" he asked.

"Just talk to her."

Thomas opened the door to the empty room, and moved towards the robes, gloves and boots. "No need for that," Cinder said. "You won't be going to Amber."

"You need to put those on," Thomas told her. "Amber's…not well. Any infection could kill her."

Cinder grabbed the protective gear, but draped it over her arm. She pulled the pistol out and motioned towards the door. Thomas opened the next door, then crossed to the closet door and ran his hands over the fingerprint scanner. The door clicked open, and Thomas entered the closet. He reached under his smock and pulled out his badge, then swiped it through the reader. "The elevator will take you down to her. Please get covered up before you do."

"Of course, Doctor. Thank you. You should go help your patients. I imagine you'll have casualties. I'll ask you not to call security? They're going to be quite busy with the White Fang." She thumbed behind her. "Get going."

Thomas nodded, and walked towards the door. As he opened it, Cinder raised the pistol and shot him through the back of the head. She kicked the door shut, and stripped the doctor of his smock, avoiding as much of the gore as she could. Cinder then threw the protective gear over the body, entered the closet, and found the buttons to take her down.

Base Headquarters

1440 Hours Local

Ozpin looked out over the flightline. He could see people moving there, wearing the jerkins of the White Fang, and he could do nothing. He'd never felt so helpless in his life—with one exception. There was nothing he could do: the battle was in the hands of his security police, Ironwood's troops, and the pilots. Glynda was pacing, angry; he knew that some of that anger was aimed at him. Her F-22 was sitting on the transient tarmac, but with the White Fang between her and the Raptor, it might as well have been on the moon. He knew she wanted him to let her go, wanted him to have let her go ten minutes ago, though likely the White Fang would have killed her before she got close to her aircraft.

The phone rang. Ozpin instantly picked it up. "Ozpin."

"Sir, this is the tower—"

"Are you all right?"

"So far, so good, sir. They haven't come after us, at least not yet." Ozpin breathed a sigh of relief about that. The tower was isolated now, on the opposite side of the runways from base headquarters, but from his office, he could see no White Fang troops there. However, it wouldn't take much to destroy the tower, which would cripple Beacon's ability to coordinate its aircraft. "But sir, we got bigger problems than the White Fang."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, sir. Regency is tracking GRIMM, Captain—and they're tracking something huge. It's about five hundred feet long, four hundred wide, according to Crow 13." Qrow, Ozpin thought. Qrow Branwen might be prone to drinking, but he was not prone to exaggeration. "He's codenamed it a Wyvern. It's nothing like we've ever seen. Regency vectored Funky Two towards it, and Cardinal Lead has managed to lose his bandit and is headed that way as well. Besides the Wyvern, we're also tracking at least two dozen smaller GRIMM, probably Beowolves and Ursai."

Ozpin sat down in his chair, his grip tightening on the phone. "Very well," he said after a few moments. "If we can get the pilots to their aircraft, we'll get them in the air. What about the enemy aircraft?"

"So far we've identified only two, sir. Cardinal reports being engaged by a red F-22, while we've been buzzed by that forward-swept wing aircraft. No others so far, but the F-22 shot down Cardinal Two, and—"

"And Funky Lead got shot down by the other aircraft." Ozpin had seen that, though at least Flynt Coal had gotten out.

"Yes, sir. What would you like us to do, sir?" the senior controller asked. There was just the hint of panic in his voice.

"Hold your position, and block the entrance to the tower. We'll be through to you as soon as possible. Keep me in the loop. Ozpin out." He hung up the phone.

"What's going on?" Glynda asked.

"It's as we feared. This is a coordinated attack. There's GRIMM coming—the biggest one I've ever heard of."

"How did it get through—" Glynda went pale. "The Cascadia Barrier. When that destroyer was sunk, it left a gap. And without the SAM barrier…"

"I'm not sure even that can stop it, assuming we can reactivate the barrier. Especially if we can't get the pilots to their planes." Ozpin stared at the phone. He put his hand on it, hesitated, and looked at Glynda. "I think we have to use the Maiden, Glynda."

"If we can't get to the aircraft…" she began.

"This Wyvern could destroy Beacon. Or worse, bypass us and head for Chicago." He picked up the phone and stabbed the buttons. He waited a moment, then spoke into the receiver. "This is Captain Ozpin at Beacon. This is a Code Azrael. I need to speak with the President."

Base Hospital

1445 Hours Local

Cinder walked into Amber's room. Here, it was very quiet other than the beeping and whirring of machines. She got close to the plastic, and even Cinder was taken aback at the damaged body of Amber—and she had inflicted most of that damage herself when she'd shot Amber down. Then she steeled herself: she couldn't afford to show pity. Cinder reached under the smock, into her jacket, and withdrew a small case. Opening it, she pulled out a syringe. Hope I remember how to use this. Merlot only had a chance to show me once. She began hooking up the syringe to Amber's IV.

"Hey there." Cinder nearly jumped at the voice. Amber was stirring weakly in her bed. "You…must be new."

"Y-Yes," Cinder said, recovering. "I'm Doctor Autumn." It wasn't exactly the best cover name, but the first thing that came to mind.

"Doctor Autumn," Amber breathed. "Funny…my last name…means something like…something like that." She motioned with her remaining arm. "What's that?"

"It's not going to make you better," Cinder admitted, "but it is going to make you feel pretty good. It's a new kind of painkiller." In actuality, it was something called SP-117, a derivative of, and far more potent than sodium thiopental, the so-called truth serum. Cinder wasn't entirely lying: SP-117 was going to make Amber very happy. It would also make her very talkative.

Amber's eyes widened and dilated as the drug hit her. "Oh. Oh, wow." She smiled. "Oh, hell yes. That's…that's good shit."

Cinder nodded. "I thought you'd like that." She reached through the plastic with one of the gloves, and took Amber's hand. "Are you my friend, Amber?"

Amber giggled, high-pitched and happy. "Right now…I'm everyone's friend." She squirmed in the bed. "Man. Wooo-eee!"

Cinder patted her hand and smiled.

Building 91213 (Female Officers' Quarters)

1500 Local

There had been silence below for at least five minutes. Ruby Flight still had their captured carbines leveled at the doorway to the stairs. "One of us should go check," Weiss whispered, not really sure why she was whispering. It seemed like the thing to do.

"I'll go." Yang got to her feet, crept forward, and eased open the door. She heard someone coming in through the front. "Hello!" a voice called. It sounded familiar, but in the acoustics of the hallway, Yang wasn't sure. "Anyone here?"

Yang put her butt against the door to keep it open, and raised the M4. "Who goes there?"

"Yang? It's Ren!"

Nora, who had armed herself with another fire extinguisher, ran forward to join Yang. "Ren?"

"Nora? Are you okay? I'm coming up!"

"Hold your ass!" Yang yelled. "How do we know it's you, Ren?" Nora looked at Yang like the latter had lost her mind.

"I'm Lie Ren, Captain, Chinese Unified Air Force, serial number 311-549-3318."

"You could've gotten that off a dogtag, you White Fang motherfu—"

"Ren!" Nora called out. "What shape is the birthmark on my butt?"

There was silence. "You don't have a birthmark on your butt."

Nora eased down Yang's weapon. "It's Ren."

Yang brought up the barrel anyway as they heard footsteps on the stairs. A hand came out and waved, then Ren stepped into view. Yang relaxed. "It's Ren, guys!" she yelled back at the others. "Sure is good to see you."

Nora took the stairs three at a time and smothered her lover in a hug. Jaune came up the stairs next. "Glad to see you," he said to Yang.

Yang came down the stairs, hugged Jaune, and kissed him on the cheek. "Same same. What happened to the White Fang?"

"They're apparently pulling out. Ironwood took command of the Security Forces, and they're trailing them." He pried Yang off of him. "Anybody hurt?"

"One of the cops got hit. Nothing too bad. Any of our people?"

Jaune looked grim, especially as Ruby Flight and Velvet came into sight. "Velvet, Fox got hurt bad. Grenade went off right as he threw it. He saved us, but…he's blinded." Velvet's hands went to her mouth. "Pyrrha got hit; just a nick. There's been some explosions on the flightline. There's at least one White Fang fighter up there, maybe two."

Blake walked down the stairs. "Can we get to the planes?"

"There's a hell of a fire going in the dispersal. No one's tried yet."

"Then we will." Blake turned to the rest of them. "Anyone who isn't armed, grab some hardware! We're going to make a run to the aircraft! We've got to get them in the air before the fire spreads, or more White Fang fighters show up!" No one asked why Blake was suddenly in command, but they began to move down the stairs as well. Ruby and Yang went back and helped the wounded air policeman to his feet. Blake waited until they came back. Yang stared at her friend for a moment. "You okay?" she asked softly.

"No," Blake snapped back, and headed for the door, stepping over White Fang corpses as she did so. Yang did not at all like what she saw in the Faunus' yellow eyes.

They moved out onto the sidewalk. There were scattered shots, but nowhere near the volume of fire they heard before. Carefully, the pilots moved forward, joined by Octavia Ember and a hobbling Pyrrha. Yang turned the wounded over to a medic, then got Pyrrha's arm around her. They reached the end of the sidewalk, crossed the street, and came to the fence that separated the base from the transient tarmac. They could see some of the security forces moving forward in short sprints, occasionally firing into the treeline.

Blake took point, and moved forward to the door of the equipment building. She tried the doorknob; it was open. She eased the door open, one hand on the knob and another on the carbine. The room seemed deserted, but everything was in place: helmets were in their bags, hanging from their hooks, along with flight suits, G-suits, and survival vests. Blake listened with four ears, then crept forward.

Something moved behind one of the lockers. She raised the carbine. "Who goes there?" There was no answer. "You have three seconds before I open fire."

Slowly, a Faunus came into view—a male with wolf ears, probably no older than sixteen. He was wearing a White Fang vest. He held his hands up. "Please…don't shoot," he pleaded.

Blake was tempted to shoot anyway; her finger tightened on the trigger. Then she thought better of it. "Strip," she ordered. The Faunus hesitated. "Strip!" she shouted. "Naked! Now!"

The Faunus nodded vigorously and did exactly as he was told, just as Yang, Pyrrha and Ruby walked in. Yang blinked. "Uh, Blake?"

"On the floor!" Blake ordered. Now nude, he dropped to the floor and put his hands over his head. "Check his clothes." Ruby nodded and went forward. So did Blake, keeping the M4 trained on the White Fang soldier's head. "You move, and I will blow your fucking head off. Do you have any grenades in those clothes? Explosives? Suicide vest?"

"No!" the Faunus screamed. "I got separated from the rest! Then all the shooting…I was scared, I didn't know what to do…"

Ruby stepped on the discarded clothes. "All clear, Blake. His rifle's over here." She reached forward and carefully picked up an AK-47.

Blake hauled the Faunus to his feet and shoved him towards Octavia. "Get him out of here."

"He's naked," Yang said.

"I don't care." She turned to Octavia. "Turn him over to the security guys. He probably knows a lot about the Fang and their numbers. Don't let the little bastard cover himself." Octavia nodded and shoved the Faunus out the door.

Pyrrha realized she was the senior officer in the room, and though Blake was doing well enough, there was something about her demeanor that was frightening. "Everyone, get your gear on. I'll watch the door. Hurry—leave your survival vests. Flight suits and G-suits only."

Quickly, weapons were set down and regular clothes were thrown aside, as pilots pulled on flight suits and G-suits. Helmets were grabbed off the shelf. Pyrrha, already in her flight suit, watched the door. Her ankle throbbed, but the grenade fragment had been only a flesh wound. She saw Velvet come in, strip down to her underwear, and pull on her flight suit. "Velvet. Is Fox all right?" she asked.

"I don't know. I'll check on him later."

"Velvet," Ruby said gently. "You're a WSO. Your Tornado got shot down—"

"No fucking shit!" Velvet shouted back. "I've already started training to transition into the front seat as soon as we got back home. I know enough to fly!"

"But there's no spare—"

"Ruth's Jaguar." Velvet speared Ruby with a furious look. "I'm going. You want to stop me, you'll have to shoot me."

"Sky down, big chief," Yang said. "You're gonna fly." She looked around the room, taking stock. All of Ruby Flight was present—Ruby, herself, Blake, Weiss. Juniper as well: Nora, Ren, Pyrrha and Jaune. Octavia had returned, the only member of Indigo Flight present, though the rest should be at the dispersal. Coco, Yatsuhatchi, and Velvet rounded out Coffee. Sun Flight was all there: Sun, Neptune, Sage, Scarlet. 16 pilots, plus Auburn and Indigo with the aircraft. Yang grinned. That was more than enough to kick the hell out of whoever was up there.

Blake waved to get everyone's attention. "Listen! The bread trucks are gone, so we're going to have to make a run for it. Everyone runs, nobody stops. Someone gets hit, you have to leave them. We get to the aircraft at all costs. Understand? Nobody stops."

They all nodded. Blake didn't want to think about it: it was half a mile to the dispersal, over open ground. If there were any White Fang around, they'd be sitting ducks. And Adam was still up there, though she doubted that he would strafe them; he had an odd sort of honor about such things.

They all gathered close to the door. "Pyrrha," Jaune said. "Your ankle—"

"I won't have far to run. My F-16 is parked right out the door, remember? As long as the White Fang didn't sabotage it." She smiled at him. "Good luck. Je t'aime." She wished she could kiss him, but this wasn't the place for it.

"Se agapo," he replied. Jaune squeezed her hand, unseen in the press of pilots.

"Let's do it," Ruby said impatiently.

"Go," Blake ordered.

Adam Taurus swept over Beacon. He was bored. No one else was trying to take off. He checked his fuel gauge.

"Well, well," he heard Roman's voice. The F-5 was turning as well over the base. "Looks like a whole bunch of people running across the tarmac. I bet those are pilots." He leveled off, preparing to roll in. "I almost feel sorry for them."

"Hold your fire," Adam snapped. "Let them get to their aircraft, if they can." He leveled off as well, and touched his speedbrakes, falling back behind Roman. "You peel off, I'll shoot you down. Let them get in the air. Fighter pilots shouldn't kill each other on the ground like common footsloggers."

"Well, aren't we the honorable one," Roman growled back, but held his course.

"Hello, my lover! Seven o'clock low." Roman turned at Neo's voice, and grinned as he saw the red F-22 skimming over the trees to the north. Then he realized she was heading for the tanks.

Task Force Karelia

Between I-94 and Joint Base Beacon

1510 Local

"So…this…is…why…you…didn't…want…anyone…on top!" Sean Fletcher struggled out, trying not to be bounced out of the tank. The three Abrams were heading across a farmer's field towards the north fence, and Captain Karelia Bighorn-Vlata's driver seemed bent on hitting every chuckhole and ditch along the way—without slowing down. He held onto the gunner's M240 with one hand and the Stinger with the other, afraid it would bounce right off the tank.

"Fun, eh?" The captain grinned madly at him. Fletcher groaned; she was enjoying this. Then he looked past her, and saw a glint of sunlight off canopy. "Aircraft west!" He pointed. Her head swiveled in that direction, and she slewed the .50 caliber machine gun to bear. Before she had a chance to radio a warning, the other tanks had already spotted the F-22 coming in, and opened fire with their machine guns. Karelia pulled the triggers and held on as the heavy machine gun bucked in her hands.

"Slow this fucker down!" Fletcher yelled. He grabbed the Stinger, braced himself, and raised it to his shoulder. The driver slowed down a little, but not much. Karelia saw what he was doing and dropped back down into the turret. Fletcher fired, and the missile went wide. The F-22 broke off its attack and climbed nonetheless.

Karelia climbed back up onto the .50. "I fucking hate airplanes."

Transient Aircraft Ramp

1510 Local

The pilots charged out of the door. No one yelled or cheered, saving their breath for the run. The parked C-130 gave them a little cover. Pyrrha let go of Jaune's hand and ran for her F-16, which looked intact.

Yang saw Ciel Soileil's body lying next to her F-15, the canopy blown off and smoking. "Fucking bastards," she said under her breath.

Then they were in the open, and the pilots broke into a sprint. Everyone waited for the shots to come, but they were halfway across before one did. The crack resounded across the tarmac, and Scarlet screamed as he went down, tumbling to a halt. Despite Blake's advice, Sun slid next to him, throwing himself between whoever fired and his flightmate.

So did Ruby. She dropped prone, turned towards the treeline in the distance, and saw something move. She sighted down the barrel, through the iron sight, and fired twice. A second later, a White Fang soldier fell out of a tree and landed motionless in the grass.

"Holy shit!" Sun exclaimed. Ruby watched the treeline as Sun grabbed Scarlet, levered him onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry, and ran the rest of the distance. Ruby waited until he was past, then took off running herself. No other shots came.

The pilots dashed past the F-8, which was still burning, but Nebula's last act before abandoning it had kept it from blocking the taxiway or the fire from getting close to the revetments. In the first revetment, Arslan's F-16 was a smoldering wreck, surrounded by mechanics with fire extinguishers; the berm that surrounded the revetments protected them from the White Fang.

Vogelmord ran out to them, meeting Yang and Blake first. "Who's with you?"

"We got Ruby, Juniper, Sun, most of Coffee, and Octavia from Indigo," Yang puffed out. "Are the aircraft ready?"

"Yeah, if you can get off the ground." Vogelmord pointed upwards. "There's two of the bastards. One of them strolled right in here and took Lieutenant Ember's F-5 right out from under us. We fell for it, Captain. Thought he was one of ours. I think it was that Roman Torchwick asshole. Anyway, the one with the forward swept wings got Flynt Coal as he was taking off. We saw a 'chute, so maybe he got out okay. I think Lieutenant Katt and Lieutenant Kobalt got out. They headed west for some reason."

"We'll have to chance it," said Blake. "Pyrrha got to her F-16 all right—as long as the White Fang didn't screw with it." Sun carried Scarlet into the nearest revetment, which held Bolin Hori's F-16. Blood was running from Scarlet's left leg. One of the mechanics rushed over, pulled off his belt, and tied it above the wound as a tourniquet, as two others ran towards them with first aid kits. Blake ran to Sun and bent down next to Scarlet. "How bad?"

"Hit the leg. I think it's broken." Scarlet sucked in his breath as the mechanic tied the tourniquet tight. "Shit! Fuck!"

"We've got two spare aircraft, then," Vogelmord said. "Apologies to Lieutenant David, but he's not flying anything now. His Lavi and Lionheart's Jag."

"Velvet's taking the Jag," Yang said. "She'll probably rip someone's throat out with her sharp, pointy teeth if someone tries to take it away from her. We need to figure out who'll take the Lavi." Octavia and Arslan, who had run up to the pilots, looked at each other. Arslan chose rock; Octavia chose paper; Arslan spit a vile Turkish curse. "Sorry," Octavia said. To Scarlet, she smiled. "I'll take care of it for you, my friend."

"Allah go with you," Scarlet grinned, then fought back a yell as pain washed through him, the ground crew dressing the wound.

"A Jordanian flying an Israeli airplane." Sun laughed, despite it all.

Blake raised her hands for everyone's attention. "All right! Pilots, man your planes! We go out by the numbers—Bolin and Gwen, that's you! Don't bother waiting for instructions—we don't even know if the tower crew is still alive! Combat departures! Go!"

They all began running for their aircraft. Yang stopped Ruby as she handed off her M4 to one of the ground crew. "You okay, sis?"

Ruby nodded. It had occurred to her that she'd killed another living being today, three times at least, but she'd have to worry about that later. There wasn't time now. "I'm good."

"Let's go kick some ass!" Yang pulled on her helmet, hugged her sister, and ran for Ember Celica.

Base Hospital

1515 Local

Cinder took out a knife and slid the plastic curtain open, as Amber continued to babble happily. It had taken a bit, but Cinder now had the activation code for the Fall Maiden. She took the wristband off Amber's hands. "I'm taking this to Ozpin, okay?"

"Um…no, I need…to keep that," Amber protested, but she was too weak and too much under the effect of the drug to do more than paw at Cinder's hands. "That's mine, dammit," she said, then dissolved into giggles again.

Cinder strapped on the wristband, got out from under the plastic, and picked up the pistol from where she'd set it on a chair. She kept her back to Amber, and was about to turn and shoot her, when she hesitated. Then she set the pistol down again. "Amber. Where do they keep your morphine?"

"Over there somewhere," Amber laughed. "Why? You gonna…shoot up?"

Cinder found the morphine and filled three syringes with a fatal overdose. Then she went back past the plastic curtain and injected all three into Amber's arm. She brushed a strand of hair from the other woman's face. "You…gonna kiss me?" Amber snorted. "Don't like girls!"

Cinder could not help but smile. "Goodbye, Amber." By the time she picked up the pistol, tossed aside the smock, and reached the elevator, Amber had already subsided into a sleep from which she would never awaken.

Base Headquarters

1520 Local

"Yes, Mr. President. At this point I do not know if I can get aircraft in the air, and the Barrier is no longer operational; if we reactivate it, it may attack everything that flies. If I can, then there's a possibility we can shoot this Wyvern down, but with its approximate size, I see no other choice at the moment." Ozpin paused, waiting for President Shawcross to finish. "That is my recommendation. I realize I am jumping the chain of command, but time is short. If we can't stop the GRIMM, they will then attack Chicago. Ellsworth and Sioux Falls are scrambling their fighters, but they may not be enough and they may be too late." He paused again. "Yes, I know, Mr. President. But I see no other choice. If you wish to relieve me of command after all this is over, I will understand." Involuntarily, Ozpin smiled. "I might even help you." Another pause. "Thank you, Mr. President. I will activate my code now. Would you like me to stay on the line? Very well, sir. Yes, sir. God help us all." Ozpin hung up, and looked at Glynda, taking a deep breath. He felt cold, all of a sudden, and very old. "Maiden use authorized."

"Mother of God," Glynda breathed.

Ozpin turned to his terminal. He opened a folder marked Committee Correspondence, which contained two hundred extremely boring minutes of long-forgotten meetings, and hidden among them, the activation program for the Fall Maiden. He opened that file, and began typing. The phone rang, and he picked it up while continuing to type. "Ozpin." He stopped typing. "Excellent. Thank you. That's something at least." He put down the phone. "The tarmac is clear; the White Fang have fallen back to the forest south of the runway. The pilots made it to their planes."

"Then we might be able to shoot this thing down without using the Maiden," Glynda said.

"Possibly. I'm going to activate it anyway, then go over and get Amber to do the same. We haven't committed yet, but it will be nice to have the Maiden—just in case." He waved her towards the door. "Go, Glynda, and don't forget the world was made in seven days. I can grant you anything, except time."

Glynda smiled wanly at the quote; it was Napoleon, who along with Winston Churchill Ozpin liked to quote now and then. "We'll kill this thing," she said, and ran out the door. Ozpin went back to his typing.

Glynda ran for all she was worth towards the stairwell. The door opened just as she reached it. Standing in front of her was Cinder Fall. The two women stared at each other for a moment, then Cinder raised the pistol and shot Glynda twice in the stomach. Glynda gasped with the pain and collapsed, gripping her middle as Cinder stepped over her and walked down the hall. She tried to shout a warning, but the pain stole her breath.

Ozpin's door was still open, and Cinder strode in. "Hello, Captain Ozpin." She raised the pistol.

"Cinder Fall," he said, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. "If that is your real name."

Cinder kicked the door shut. "Strangely enough, it is. Colonel Goodwitch won't be joining us, on account of dying." She shook her head. "She was right about you, you know—Salem, that is. She knew that, if you were pressed, you'd activate the Fall Maiden." She motioned at the computer.

"If you're trying to take control of it, it won't work," Ozpin said. "You need all three codes." He saw the wristband. "What happened to Amber?"

"What was going to happen to her the moment she accepted the task of controlling the Fall Maiden," Cinder said. "Don't worry; she didn't suffer. Certainly no more than you already made her suffer. As for the Maiden itself…" Cinder shrugged. "Who said anything about taking control of it? Salem doesn't want that, Ozpin. She doesn't need to control the Maidens. She only needs to ensure they can never be used." He stared at her. "She wanted me to ask you a question, Ozpin."

"Which is?" There was a pistol in his desk. He wondered if he'd be fast enough to get to it.

"How does it feel to know that you've started another world war?" Then Cinder raised the pistol and shot Ozpin. Blood sprayed on the wall from his head and he fell off his chair to the floor. Cinder then shot the computer twice. As it sparked and died, she reloaded the pistol and left the office.

"You…" Glynda gritted her teeth against the pain.

"Keep pressure on it," Cinder said conversationally as she walked past. "And you might live. Unlike poor old Amber and dear old Ozpin."

"You'll never escape," Glynda snarled.

"Oh, yes I will." Cinder winked at her. "Is your F-22 parked at the transient ramp, Colonel?" She stepped over her again and went down the stairs.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: What Pyrrha and Jaune say to each other is "I love you" in French and Greek, respectively. Which doesn't bode well...