I'm finally back! Took two whole months to get around to writing another chapter, that's the longest I've gone without writing in years. Yikes. Well, the one-year anniversary of this story has come and gone, it's crazy looking back at the beginning and realizing it's been a year already.

So, I don't have a real explanation as to why I've been away all this time. I've been trying to chip away at this chapter for weeks, but my brain has refused to get into gear. Part of it might be the season – I hate winter with a passion – and part of it is definitely the pile of games I bought during the Steam winter sale. Long story short, it wasn't until I've plowed through fifty dollars worth of discounted Steam games that I finally turned back to writing. Even then, this didn't want to happen.

That was when I stumbled upon a genius idea. The nature of my job leaves me with some spare time on shift once in a while, where my main purpose is to A: get projects done, which I'm almost always ahead of, and B: deal with any issues that come up, which happens only occasionally. In other words, I wind up with a few hours a day a couple times a week where all I have is my phone and my thumbs. I've been using that time to read fanfics, but I had the idea to try writing them instead. So, I fired up Google Docs, sequestered myself in my work area, and hammered out roughly a quarter of this chapter in one day. Turns out having nothing to do but write is excellent for my productivity. Who knew?

So, hopefully, I should be able to resume the weekly uploads. It'll depend on how my new crackpot plan goes and my brain's willingness to cooperate. In the meantime, thanks for your continued support of the story!

Chapter Fifty-Seven: No Safe Place

Blood dribbled down Cardin's chin as he followed the fleeing Dukes, bobbing and weaving through the crowd to avoid the sporadic shots of the hacked Knights. To his left, Duke Montblanc let out a strangled cry and fell, bleeding from a hole in his lower back. The other Dukes trampled him in their panicked flight from the concert hall.

Beyond the emergency exit, four Huntsmen waited with an armored car, motioning for everyone to get in. Cardin was tempted to join the other Dukes as they piled in the rear seats, but without knowing where their allegiances lay, he couldn't risk it. Instead, he ignored the shouts of the Huntsmen and ran for his team's meeting spot.

The streets were boiling over with panicked people, all running in the same direction, towards the heart of Vale. In the sea of movement and confusion a single pool of stillness and the glint of metal caught Cardin's eye. Already armed and armored, Cardin's teammates waited in front of a clothing store where they had pretended to do some window shopping. As Cardin approached, Russell drew Cardin's mace and armor out of his shadow and handed it to him. Hands shaking from the adrenaline, Cardin struggled to fit the armor into place.

"Any sign of Grimm yet?"

"The warning just went out," Russell said. "Everyone's evacuating to the shelters."

"I hope Cinder didn't sabotage those. All it'd take is a couple Grimm down there to cause mass panic."

Sky shot a nervous glance at the streets around them as the crowds thinned out. "Are we going to Junior's then, or should we wait for the others?"

Cardin checked the area, but he saw no sign of the other teams. "We shouldn't stay out in the open. We won't have much time before the streets will be overrun. They'll just have to meet us there."

Their path took them away from the fleeing crowds, closer to Vale's outer walls. As they headed further south, they saw a billowing shadow darken the sky, too solidly black and mobile to be thunderclouds. The faint, far-off shrieks of countless Nevermores filled the air, drowning out the staccato blasts of gunfire from Atlas' beleaguered ships. As they watched, the swarm swooped around one of the battlecruisers, completely engulfing it even as its machine guns fired wildly into the flock. Seconds later, it came hurtling down, fires blazing from its massive engines.

The other ships retreated, but even as they inflicted heavy casualties on the Grimm, they fell one by one, until only the General's flagship, flying above the flocks, remained. The flock labored towards it, struggling against the thinning atmosphere and the pull of the earth to reach the massive battlecruiser, but its array of lasers and anti-air cannons cleaved through the mass of Grimm, keeping the space around it clear. Even as it rained death, Nevermores swarmed over the city. The flock snuffed out the sun, leaving the streets in darkness. The street-lights kicked on, the steady light illuminating the swirling mass of feathers overhead. The oppressive darkness and the shadows lurking between buildings left the ominous sensation that Grimm could jump them at any moment. They kept looking up, expecting the Nevermore to dive down at them, but the swarm seemed not to notice the movement below them.

As they approached Junior's, the baying of Beowolves called out as the walls fell. Cardin and his teammates instinctively ran for the doors, knowing that the innumerable swarm could be on them before they knew it.

Junior's had every window not simply boarded up, but sealed with brick and mortar, clashing in color and texture with the surrounding brick walls. The old wooden doors were gone, replaced with thick metal slabs. Near the roof, narrow slits were gouged out of the walls, providing Junior's goons with a fortified, elevated position to fire from. The roof itself had been covered with thick iron spikes and swathed in barbed wire to keep Nevermore from crashing into them from above.

Cardin pounded on the doors. A grate slid aside, revealing a frightened set of eyes. After some shouting, the doors flew open, and they slammed shut the moment Cardin's team came through. Junior shoved his way through the crowd towards them, lugging a rocket launcher over one shoulder.

"Did the others make it?" Cardin asked as Junior came up to him.

The crime lord shook his head. "You're the first to get here, and from the sound of it, the only ones. The Creeps will be on us any second now, and the Beowolves won't be far behind."

All the walls around Junior's establishment had been reinforced with metal plates and struts welded to the floor. Just beyond the doors were a set of machine guns, pointed towards the streets. Spools of high-caliber rounds sat in crates to either side of each gun. The tables and chairs had been cleared away, leaving a large empty space surrounded by low walls. Refugees clad in ill-fitting suits huddled behind the walls, awkwardly clutching pistols and rifles, while Junior's goons stood guard from the elevated walkways.

Cardin gestured towards the groups of refugees. "Are you sure it's a good idea to arm all these people?"

"We've got more guns than people, and the way I see it, we're going to need every last one of them."

"Do they even know how to use them?"

Junior grinned. "Point them at the Grimm and pull the trigger. I even had these custom-made without a safety, since my boys kept forgetting to turn it off before waxing the competition."

Cardin warily eyed the refugees and the nervous way their fingers clutched the triggers. He suspected that a single loud thump at the door would have half of them bleeding out on the floor before a Grimm could even break through.

"Do we have somewhere more secure to discuss what we need to do?"

Junior shrugged. "I thought staying here was the plan."

Cardin held up his Scroll. "That's our plan. Others might need to know what I've learned of Cinder's plan."

Junior nodded to two of the men stationed at a door in the rear of the building. "I think you'll like what you see down here."

They traveled down a well-worn set of wooden stairs to the cellar. The liquor racks had been emptied of their bottles. In their place were guns, magazines, Dust phials, explosives, and even a few cut crystals. Sets of Kevlar body armor hung on racks in one corner, and in another, knives and swords sat in wooden crates. Against one wall, crates of canned food and bottled water were stacked high enough to sustain the whole establishment for weeks, even if everyone survived.

What caught Cardin's eye, however, was the thick metal wall at the far end of the room. A circular hatch sat at the center, with a big red wheel to open it. Junior grunted with the effort it took to turn the wheel on the hatch, and it swung open without a sound. Cardin stuck his head inside and noted with approval that the walls were nearly a foot thick. Junior's improvised bunker had more foodstuffs stashed inside, along with a few rolled-up pallets, more munitions, and a mounted machine gun facing the hatch for a last-ditch defense.

Cardin let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding. Looking at those thick metal walls, thoroughly insulated from the chaos engulfing the city, made him feel at ease for the first in ages.

"Sorry for the tight squeeze," Junior said. "It was the most I could manage on such short notice, even with your funds."

"It will do. Good thing none of the others made it, I don't want to think about being crammed in there with all of them."

Junior chuckled nervously and motioned towards a set of crates in the cellar. Cardin's team and the crime lord sat in a circle atop crates of preserved food.

Junior leaned forward and stared at Cardin with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. "So, how bad is it?"

"Worse than I thought. Did you see the news?"

Junior scowled. "Who didn't? I don't know how the White Fang waltzed in there and stole a Grimm control device. Hell, I don't even know how they made such a thing in the first place!"

"It's fake," Cardin said. "Cinder's the one controlling the Grimm, not that device. She has a Seer somewhere near her. The point is, everyone's going to think that the White Fang can control Grimm, and if that doesn't set off Grimm attacks against every settlement on Remnant, I don't know what will."

"Then we have to get word out there that the device is fake," Sky put in.

"If we did that," Cardin said, "Then it leads to the question of how Vale's Dukes could get Grimm to shake hands without ripping their arms off. It'll make Vale look like it's making a Faustian bargain to control the Grimm."

Dove leaned forward and drummed his fingers on his knees. "We could say the one they took was a decoy."

"Adam Taurus used it on live television. No one's going to believe it's a fake."

"So, Cinder's planning to pin the destruction of Vale on the Faunus and make it look like they can now control the Grimm, effectively starting a second Faunus War."

Cardin nodded. "What makes this worse is Vale's going to be in no condition to fight after this and relations with Atlas are completely shot. Mistral's going to be on their own, and I can't imagine they'll cope with White Fang attacks and rising negativity very well, not to mention Cinder will probably continue to back the White Fang and give them Grimm support."

"You're serious?" Junior asked. "What the hell does she get out of all that?"

Cardin eyed the hatch again. It was risky, but Junior had already proven himself loyal enough, and if he knew the stakes, there might be more he could manage with his criminal contacts.

"Cinder's just a pawn for the Salem." Cardin watched the confusion on Junior's face for any sign of feigned surprise before telling him everything he knew about her. As he laid out everything he had learned from his nightmare, Junior looked more and more terrified, though he hid it well.

Junior leaned back on his crate and took a flask out from his coat pocket, spilling some of it onto his suit. After a long swig, he rolled his head back and forth, as if trying to find a comfortable spot for all the uncomfortable information he had just learned.

"I'd have called you crazy yesterday, but with everything that's going on…" Junior shook his head. "There's too much chaos, and no clear winner except maybe the White Fang. It was way too convenient that they could just swoop in and take it. Someone helped them get their mitts on it, and that someone's using them." Nodding, he continued, "They're using them to add to the chaos. There'll be Grimm attacks all over after this."

"And in all the chaos," Cardin added, "Cinder's going to take Vale's Maiden and Relic."

"Is there anything we can do to stop it?"

"That's Ozpin's job. He thinks I'm working with Cinder, so he won't trust anything I say anyways. Hopefully, he'll have realized what Cinder's planning and have both of them secure."

Junior stroked his chin and mulled over their conversation with a weary expression. After a few moments of anxious silence, he asked, "So, all those men she had shipped off to the Grimmlands, what did she want with them?"

"No idea. I'm really hoping we don't find out today."

Junior shivered and took another drink. The harsh tang of alcohol soured his breath. "Well, if the Grimm aren't knocking on the doors already, they will be soon. I'm heading back up to get the men ready." He gestured at the spare guns around them. "The four of you are welcome to get straight to the bunker, if you think it's too risky to be out, but I would appreciate it if you could pitch in. You may be in training, but you know a lot more about killing Grimm than a pack of street thugs."

Cardin frowned. "You're not staying with us?"

"Brothers, no," Junior said. "Someone has to keep everyone up there in line, otherwise they'd be scrambling for the bunker. With me up there, they'll hold their ground." He chuckled, and the hollow laughter had a hint of hysteria behind it. "That's what I pay them for, isn't it?"

Before Cardin could say anything else, Junior straightened his suit and ran upstairs, shouting at his makeshift militia to get the spare ammunition ready. The cellar was eerily quiet, save for the stomping of boots and shouting of people upstairs.

"So, what do we do now?" Sky asked.

Cardin fished around in his pocket and found the receiver that the Duke of Cirilian had given him earlier. A tiny switch on the back of the earpiece activated it. Once he had a good fit, he spoke aloud. "Is anyone receiving this?"

"Cardin?" The Duke's voice was tiny in his ear. "Why didn't you come with the rest of us?"

"I have my own bolt hole," Cardin said. "I didn't know what you guys had planned."

"Probably for the best, I suppose. The CCT is down, though I think Cinder left the equipment intact. She might have another broadcast to make before this is all over, so we have a Scroll on just in case."

Cardin checked his own Scroll. The signal was dead. "Are you going to send someone there to investigate?"

"Heavens, no! We have to make sure we weather this storm. Once Ozpin is out of the picture and Cinder has what she wants from him, we can worry about Vale. If we try to stop her now, she'll make sure we're crushed."

The Duke's confidence didn't sit well with Cardin. Considering the scope of Cinder's plans, the ultimate objective, Salem on her forgotten throne pulling the strings, the CCT had the potential to spread untold despair through the kingdoms. It already has, perhaps, but another push, Vale falling to a swarm of Grimm or worse, could plunge the rest of the world into chaos.

But what could he do? He had already tried telling Duke Cirilian, and he was half-convinced Cardin was crazy. Ozpin would have his hands full, Junior's men would be useless against Cinder and her allies, and without a Scroll, he had no way of organizing the other Beacon students.

"I guess we have no choice," Cardin said into the radio, "But to let Cinder keep the CCT for now."

The Duke hummed in frustration. "Quite right. It's too dangerous to split our forces at the moment. Watch what she does and be ready to act on it. I'll call you if anything urgent comes up."

With a click, the radio went silent. Cardin tucked it back into his pocket and slumped back against boxes of ammunition.

Russell twirled a dagger in his hands. "Well, now what? We just sit here, twiddle our thumbs, and wait for this to blow over?"

"What else can we do?" Sky asked. "We aren't even Huntsmen, we're just students."

"That doesn't mean we can't help," Dove said.

Cardin nodded. "We'll help keep this area secure. Junior will need us if anything big comes this way."

Dove shook his head. "Not what I meant. There has to be something we can do to stop Cinder. This is all her doing, right? Isn't there some way we can stop her?"

"I don't know where Ozpin has the Maiden now, and even if I did, we can't even compete with Cinder head-on. We just have to hope Ozpin can deal with her."

"Well, what about the CCT?" Dove leaned forward, staring directly at Cardin. "It would help if someone got it up and running, and we're not too far."

"The Grimm aren't too far away either," Sky countered. "Are you crazy, Dove? It's a full-on Grimm invasion out there, and anyone with half a brain is sitting in a shelter until the Huntsmen clean it up."

Cardin thought back to the slaughter at the concert hall and the escort for the Dukes. With a frown, he said, "I'm not even sure the Huntsmen can deal with this. They're down too many."

"All the more reason for us to help. Also, once we have the CCT back up, we can get in touch with RWBY and JNPR. They probably decided to hole up somewhere when the walls broke."

And that left the option to get in touch with Ruby. How much her eyes could accomplish was a mystery, but if she was in the right place at the right time, she could turn around the entire battle. Cardin weighed the pros and cons with the practiced care of a miserly merchant, wondering how far Cinder's plans went for him and how long this hiding spot would hold.

Cardin took a deep breath and stood up. "It's risky, but there's a good chance we'll be overrun here anyways. We might as well go out there and see what we can do."

Dove grinned and joined him on his feet, while Sky stared up at him as though he had grown a second head. "Not you too," Sky growled. "Have you lost your mind?"

Russell leapt to his feet and stretched. "Where Cardin goes, I go. Besides, I was getting bored in here."

Sky looked nervously up the stairs. "Well, what about Junior and the others? Are we just going to leave them?"

Cardin frowned. He trusted Junior, but if anything happened to him, most likely from the civilians, they might lose their last-ditch refuge. "We should keep someone here then. That way, we can touch base with Junior once the CCT is back up."

Sky wavered, looking back and forth between Cardin and the stairs. "Fine, I'll stay here. My spear would be better suited for helping with defending this palace anyways."

Junior wasn't pleased with the change of plans, and, going by the sour expressions of his makeshift militia, nor was anyone else, but once Cardin explained that they hoped to call more students to the club, Junior let them out without complaint.

The door slammed shut behind them as they sprinted out into the streets. Around them was a snapping, snarling pack of Grimm, dense enough to walk across, but between Cardin's mace and covering fire from Junior's militia, they carved themselves a path through the street. With the negativity from inside the club drawing Grimm like a magnet, Cardin and his team were able to slip away without pursuers.

As they broke out onto an empty street, their immediate surroundings were deathly quiet, but a chorus of bowls approached from behind, steadily growing louder. Halfway to the CCT, the scrape of claw on stone made them turn. A lone Beowolf, well ahead of the pack, sprinted right for them. Cardin crushed its face into the pavement, but more trickled in from alleys and smashed windows. Rather than standing to fight the horde, Team CRDL fought as they ran, focusing on shrugging off the Grimm instead of killing them.

They were nearly out of breath when the CCT came into view. Once inside, Dove and Cardin held the doors while Russell searched for something to barricade the entrance. With a few desks and a thick metal pipe from Russell's shadow, the doors rattled but held.

They spent a few minutes in the lobby catching their breath and equipping more Dust. As they sat in desk chairs, drinking water from a nearby cooler, Russell asked, "What will we be up against?"

"Cinder won't be here," Cardin answered. "She has something important to find, and Ozpin wouldn't have hidden it here. More likely she has someone disposable watching over the CCT until she wants to use it."

"Disposable?" a rich, masculine voice asked over the intercom. Cardin shuddered at the memories that came with it. "You wound me, Cardin."

They leapt to their feet, weapons drawn, looking around for enemies, but they were alone.

"A shame that Cinder won the bet. I thought you'd stay holed up like the other Dukes, but she believed you'd come sniffing around here."

Cardin caught sight of a security camera and looked right into it. "I know what you are planning," he said, hoping Watts wouldn't catch him bluffing. "I can't stop Cinder, but at least I can keep the panic from spreading to the other kingdoms."

Watts chuckled. "If you know what our plan is, then you should know it's already hopeless. The CCT is just a catalyst, nothing more."

"It will buy Ozpin time to-"

"Ozpin is already dead. See for yourself."

Every computer on the floor lit up with an image of Cinder standing over the Headmaster's lifeless body, plucking a glass arrow out of his heart as his chest turned to ash.

"Beacon is already wavering, the Atlesian forces have been routed, and the Dukes have holed up in their little bunker, like rabbits waiting to get dug up and devoured. Oh, speaking of, it should be happening now. Why don't you head on over to the window and watch?"

Cardin pretended to head for a window, but as be passed the door to the security office, he swung a Semblance-enhanced made into the door. It flew apart in a shower of splinters.

Mercury, sitting at the chair, glowered at him as he shook off the splinters. "You could've tried opening it first. It wasn't locked."

"Sorry to disappoint, Cardin," Watts said from the intercom, "But I had other business to attend to. However, you were right about the disposable part." A crash came from a distant hallway, followed by bestial howls. "Also, this building does have more than one entrance. I think it's supposed to be a safety precaution." Watts chuckled at his own joke. "Have fun kids. Oh, and do mind the bomb. It'll go off in ten minutes."

The intercom shut off with a click, though Cardin didn't trust that Watts had entirely broken off his surveillance. At the same time, the room was lit up with an ominous, blinking red glow, coming from a cylindrical device in the chair next to Mercury. The digital clock on its side started ticking down.

Mercury rose from his chair and stretched. "And that's where I come in. I'm supposed to keep you busy until they're done with the place."

Cardin holstered his mace and raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Any chance I can buy you out?"

Mercury lifted his pants leg, revealing a cutting-edge prosthetic. He tapped a phial filled with a clear fluid. "I don't think you can top that."

"Poison? You should've left them while you had the chance."

As Cardin drew his mace, gunshots rang out from the lobby. A quick glance out the door showed him Dove and Russell holding off the Grimm, trying to force their way to the emergency exit, but more Grimm were pouring in by the second.

"To be honest," Mercury said, dropping into a fighting stance, "I'm glad to get a rematch. Emerald never let me live down that cheap shot you took, and it's gotten annoying listening to her talk about how she could've totally beaten you if Cinder hadn't ordered her to back down."

"Huh. Nice to know I was right about that."

Cardin glanced around the room, too cramped for the chain, but outside, he'd have Grimm to contend with. He hit the button on his mace, priming the Gravity Dust inside.

"Hey Mercury, if we both somehow come out of this alive, want to work for me instead?"

Mercury snorted. "Nice try. You're not bad, but I value my life too much to let you live."