So, on my way home on Tuesday, I was behind a lorry which lost something off the back of it. Tried to dodge, but whatever it was hit my tyre, annihilating it. Lorry drives off, as you'd expect, leaving me to do an emergency tyre wheel change on my own on a motorway. Sigh.

Had to spend a lot of today on that, because the repair person could only come down today. Nice £540 repair bill, and a couple of hours lost helping him with that. Yay.

Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 86

"Where is she?"

"I dunno. Where is she, Sun?"

"What!? Why are you asking me? It was Ilia's job to keep an eye on her."

"Like hell it was!"

"Well whose was it, then?"

"No one's. She's fifteen, not five."

"Enough, enough!" Weiss waded into the fray and held her arms out, forcing everyone to back down before the argument could get any louder and alert Salem. "Let's just think for a moment. When did we see her last?"

"When we were putting on the Seer robes," Blake said.

"And did we pass any tentacle monsters she might have gotten distracted by?"

"Weiss…" Yang warned.

"What? It's a legitimate concern. But no, I suppose not." She pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something under her breath. "Okay, knowing Ruby, what is the worst thing she could have possibly done by now?"

The tower shook. The stones rattled, and dust fell from the ceiling. Through it all, a voice reached their ears, agonisingly loud and bathed in pure anger.

"JAUUUUUNNNNNEEEEEE!" They all froze. "GET DOWN HERE, YOUNG MAN. I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!"

As the roar ended and the tower became still once more, they exchanged glances between them. Soon, all eyes turned to Jaune, who – despite it being somewhat unnecessary – looked them back in the eyes and said, "I think I know where Ruby is."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Gee, you think!?"

"Sarcasm aside, we have what we came for," Ren indicated Pyrrha. "If I recall, it was always your intent to confront your mother once we had Pyrrha back. Now is as good a time as any."

"I was hoping to talk to her when she didn't have a potential hostage…"

"No plan survives contact with the enemy. Salem would have had hostages anyway, namely the entire population of Remnant and to the Grimm. You can talk her down, correct? Or you think you can?"

"Yeah. Of course."

Ren nodded. "Then now is as good a time as any."

"Right." Jaune took a deep breath. "Okay, leave this to me. I want you guys to stay outside and whatever happens don't come into the main hall. If any Seers try to enter, stop them. I'll talk her down."

"You sure you'll be able?" Weiss asked. "No offence, but social interaction isn't exactly your strongest skill."

"Hey, I'm not as bad as I used to be."

"I completely agree, and for that you deserve some praise, but my point still remains. Out of everyone here, I'd probably pick you last to send into a hostage situation. Are you sure you won't just make things worse?"

"Weiss, trust me. I know my mom."

"And I know you…"

"I have a plan."

"Strategy is not your forte, either."

"No. But it's not Mom's, either. Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

/-/

Jaune stepped slowly into the main hall, eyes scanning left and right. He spotted Ruby almost immediately, bound by a Seer and sat on the floor to the side of Salem, who had one hand on the younger girl's head. Ruby's expression was equal parts apologetic and embarrassed. Qrow and Coral sat on Salem's other side, the former looking nervous and the latter vaguely annoyed.

He could sense his mother's ire even before they locked eyes. Like any child about to be told off, there was that certain air of anticipation. When he'd been younger, he would have come in head bowed and eyes wide, prepared to beg and plead his way out of trouble. This time, he jutted out his chin and prepared for her worst.

"So nice of you to join us, Jaune," Salem said. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Months, even. Months without so much as a visit and then when you do come, you sneak around like some kind of thief. Why, I might feel hurt by such a thing. What do you think, dear?" she asked Ruby. "Should I feel hurt…?"

"Um…"

"No, I suppose you wouldn't know." Salem let out a long sigh. She sounded tired. "What am I to think, Jaune? Is this teenage rebellion, a cry for more authority? I give you everything I could and more, and all I receive for it is this lack of trust."

"Trust isn't how I'd put it…"

"How would you put it, then? Oh, and you can call in those friends of yours. They're hardly hidden from me now." They didn't enter. Salem raised an eyebrow. "No? More of the same, Jaune? You don't trust me with them?"

"It's not an issue of trust," Jaune said. "It's not all about you, Mom."

Salem's eyes narrowed. Her hand on Ruby's head tightened, making the girl wince. "No!? How is it not about me? I am your mother! You disobeyed me, ran away from me, defied me, ignored me and now you return and seek to steal from me? You even roped your sister into this nonsense!" She waved a hand at Coral, who remained predictably silent. She wasn't in the crosshairs, after all. Best not to make her own situation worse.

"That's the problem!" Jaune snapped. "Everything is always about you! I disobeyed you. I ran away from you. It's my life and it's my choice how to live it."

Ruby shuffled a little. "Uh…"

"Not when you decide to put your life and those of your entire family at risk!"

"There! Exactly! It's not me not trusting you; it's you refusing to trust me!"

"You don't know the way the world works," Salem said, growling. "I kept you here for your own safety. Because the world is a cruel and dangerous place, and you were unequipped to deal with it on your own."

"Because someone kept me locked in a tower where I'd never have a chance to interact with it."

"I provided you with everything I could. I'm trying to fix the world, Jaune, but it's going to take time."

"Time to kill everyone? That's not fixing the world!"

"It's one way of doing it – and I don't have much choice when all of humanity would prefer us dead! You must know this now. Your friends might be persuaded, having believed you one of them for so long, but surely you have seen how the average human reacts. They are vicious, murdering beasts!"

Ruby stirred, "Actually…"

"It takes two sides to start a war!" Jaune yelled and slammed a hand down on the table. "You can't blame them for hating us when the Grimm still hunt and kill them all across the world. Someone has to take a stand. Someone has to be the first to suggest peace!"

"Idealistic nonsense," Salem drawled, waving the suggestion away. "If you believe for an instant that people will listen, then you're sorely mistaken. And the very moment they realise we exist, we shall have every huntsman and huntress coming to the Grimmlands to try and kill us. Me, they won't manage to defeat, but you would put your sisters in such danger just to sate your own sense of right and wrong? You'd get them killed! Do you even remember what happened the last time?"

"What?" Ruby asked.

"This is different. I'm not a child anymore!" Jaune let out a heavy sigh. "And this isn't about the past. This is about you kidnapping one of my friends. It's about you continuing this pointless crusade against the humans."

"No." Salem said, seething. "It's about you refusing to listen to your elders!"

"Because you're wrong!"

"I've watched as civilisations rise and fall, young man. I am hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years older than you. I have seen what comes of humanity feeling it has no equals. I have witnessed the so-called utopia of man. I have experienced its fall." Salem hissed, but calmed herself enough to stay seated. Her eyes flashed with clear agitation. "You, Jaune, have lived a blessed, simple, life."

"And what?" Jaune asked, teeth gnashing together. "That means I should just sit back and be happy living like a caged animal in my room? Never allowed to experience my own life. Never allowed to do what I want to do!?"

"No!" Salem gasped.

"Well, that's what I've been given! That's the only option I have!"

"It's the only option because you never tried any other! I'd have willingly let you travel with Cinder or one of your Uncles. I'd have been fine to let you go with Sapphire, too. They, at least, could have looked after you. Or your father. Any of them, but not on your own and certainly not to Ozpin of all people!"

"Why can't you trust me to make my own decisions?"

"Because you're my son!"

Ruby struggled wildly, but only managed to fall over, landing on her side. She rolled a small distance before coming to a stop. Even so, she managed to look uncomfortable more with the conversation than her position. "Look, I really don't think I need to be here for this," she said. "Can I, like, go?"

"No!" Both Jaune and Salem replied at the same time.

"Ugh… Can you at least choke me out so I don't have to be awake for this?"

Salem did no such thing. Instead, a Seer's tentacle wrapped around Ruby's mouth, muffling her voice but forcing her to continue listening. She didn't look pleased about that. Not that Jaune noticed, too busy glaring at his mother.

Why was she so stubborn? Why couldn't she understand?

"It'd be different if it was Sapphire asking, wouldn't it?"

Salem's expression darkened, "I love all my children equally."

"Doesn't feel like it. She gets to go around on her own and do whatever she wants, while you had me stuck here with only Cinder and Mannie to keep me company."

"And if Sapphire was untrained, unable to defend herself and hopelessly naïve, I would have done the same with her. Love has nothing to do with it. Sapphire can take care of herself. You cannot."

"That's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair!"

"Not if you-"

The door slammed open. The wood cracked as it hit the wall, bouncing off with enough force to make Jaune flinch. A figure stormed in, catching both Jaune and Salem by surprise. Jaune more because he thought they'd agreed this wouldn't happen.

"Yang!" Jaune hissed, waving her back.

"Don't `Yang` me," she snapped back. "Fuck. No. I can't listen to this crap anymore."

"But the plan…"

"The plan is shot. Weiss was right; waiting for you to convince her is going to have us die of old age." Yang's eyes flashed red, an indication of her temper. She stormed forward, and although several Seers moved towards her, they all flinched and backed away. They could sense Yin and their standing orders were never to harm or try to apprehend one of Salem's brood.

"Ah, so one of the other interlopers finally shows their face," Salem said. "This one even looks familiar-"

"You can shut up as well!" Yang said.

Salem's mouth fell open. There had probably never been a human to say that before. Yang didn't look bothered by her achievement and instead came to stand on the other end of the table, glaring at both Salem and him.

"I've listened to the two of you negotiate for the past five minutes – and trust me, I use the term loosely. I think I've heard enough from both your points of view to make an informed opinion. Here it is." Yang took a deep breath, before she shouted out, "You're both stubborn idiots!"

Jaune gaped at his girlfriend. "What?"

Salem frowned. "Young lady, you do realise who you are talking to, no?"

"Realise and couldn't care less. At this point I half wish a Grimm would attack me just to break the monotony. Anything to escape more of your silly family drama. Ah, ah, ah," Yang chided when Salem made to stand. "Sit down. I've had it up to here listening to the two of you go on. It's either you listen to me, or I pick up this table and fucking beat the both of you to death with it."

Perhaps it was the shock of being addressed in such a way – and it certainly wasn't the threat - but Salem actually did sit down, though her eyes narrowed, and she watched Yang with a mean look. It took Jaune a second to realise he was being glared at too by Yang, and that she hadn't yet spoken.

He nervously pulled out and took a seat himself, feeling very much in the dog house.

"Good," Yang said once they were both seated. "Right, so, there's no doubting the two of you are related, because – Gods – you're both just like one another. Neither listens, both just do what they think is right without considering anyone else's opinions or asking them-" She glared there at Jaune, who wilted a little. "And worst of all, neither of you is able to consider what someone else might be feeling. I'd call you both socially inept, but I can at least understand why you would be."

"Jaune," she rounded on him.

"Why are you starting with me!?" Jaune stammered.

"JAUNE!" she repeated, louder. This time, he remained silent. "You're expecting way too much from her. Your mom has literally no experience to go on when it comes to being a normal mother. Yes, she's controlling and maybe a little over-protective, but that's still about ten thousand times better than mine who, if you'll recall, abandoned and then tried to kill me."

"Truly?" Salem asked. "What a horrible woman."

"Tell me about it," Yang agreed. "Anyway, my point is, expecting your mom to know all of this is pointless. This argument is probably long overdue, but you should have had it years ago! Running away from home the moment she said no was a dick move and you never gave her a chance to be convinced. You say she doesn't trust you, but you didn't trust her, either."

Jaune slumped.

Salem smirked. At least until Yang turned on her.

"And you don't get to sit there and feel pleased about that! Jaune may have messed up, but he was a kid and you're his mother. Anything he doesn't understand is at least partly your fault. I get that you had nothing to go on, but couldn't you have found help? Or, you know, learned from experience? You have eight children. That's a lot! Maybe less time banging your husband and more time paying attention would have helped here."

Salem flinched. "I… well…"

"And Jaune's right, you know, even if he's wrong, too. You don't trust him to make his own decisions. And yes, I know, you're probably right not to. He is – or was – an absolute doofus. Hell, he went around complimenting our knees for weeks. But if there was a reason you didn't trust him, then maybe explaining that reason would have helped. And then, once he knows what the problem is, he could try and improve. And you could help him do so! Keeping him locked up because he isn't capable of looking after himself doesn't work as an excuse if you never help him get better."

"You're both at fault in the end," Yang decided, crossing her arms and looking at them with relentless certainty. It was enough to have both cringing. "There's no one in the right here, just two people arguing over and over because they don't know what it means to compromise. And you will have to compromise," she added. "That's the only way out of this. Unless you want to try and capture us and lock us all away," she said, looking to Salem. "And in doing so, lose your son's love for you once and for all."

Salem glanced at Jaune and her face fell. That probably had been her intent, and she'd not realised the effect it might have on him. On them. Now, she looked torn.

"I just wanted what was best for him," she whispered.

"But not what I wanted," he said.

Yang interrupted them. "Ah, ah, ah. None of that. Salem, you wanted what was best for little Jaune, but in doing so never gave him a chance to grow up. Jaune, you're still stuck on not getting what you wanted. It makes you sound spoiled." The casual way she said it made him wince. "All in all, Jaune needed something. He's grown up a lot more than he was before he came to Beacon. Even you have to admit that."

"He does stand taller," Salem acknowledged. "More confident, controlled. I can see Nicholas in him. But that does little to change the situation. He may carry himself differently, but his ideals are just as naïve."

"Yeah, I kinda agree."

Jaune whirled to stare at Yang, eyes wide. "What!?"

Salem seemed surprised, too.

"World peace is pretty naïve, Jaune. I'm not saying it isn't worth trying for or something, but it's definitely not going to be easy." Yang looked to Salem. "That's the difference, though. We're willing to stand by and help your son. You said you were worried he'd be in danger. Well, he won't be with all of us watching his back."

"But that's not the point," Yang said sternly. "No more stupid arguing. Hug and make up."

"W-What?"

"Hug and make up," she said again."

"My dear, I don't think you-"

"HUG AND MAKE UP OR I WILL PERSONALLY MAKES YOUR LIVES HELL!"

Jaune was the first to stand, wincing as he jogged around the table. Angry Yang was frightening Yang and he wouldn't put it past her to keep her promise. Salem seemingly decided it would be easier to accommodate her than argue as well, for she sighed and stood. The two paused before one another. It had been a while, but she was still his mom. For all that she'd done…

Salem stared back at him. She opened her arms and waited with a raised eyebrow.

It wasn't that he hated her. He couldn't. She'd raised him, read him stories, stolen an entire library to help him and even raised a megalomaniac minion in Cinder to look after him. All the normal things a mother did for her son. Sure, they'd had their ups and downs, but the intent was still there. Still, in front of Yang and Ruby? Jaune looked away, red-faced.

"Hug!" Yang said, voice full of warning.

Slowly, awkwardly, they embraced. It had been a while. Months since he ran away for Beacon. He wouldn't go so far as to say there was anything magical in the moment, for there wasn't. Salem was warm and soft and her arms wrapped around his back as they always had. If anything... it was familiar. And in a way, that felt nice. Comfortable.

"I'm sorry," Jaune mumbled, unsure exact what he was apologising for, but knowing she deserved it. Maybe it was for all the things Yang had said he'd done wrong.

Salem sighed. "I suppose that I, too, am-"

She never got to finish. The moment Salem spoke, her eyes closed, and Yang took the chance to leap over the table. She landed in a crouch, shot one blast into the Seer holding Ruby and dove for her sister. "Yoink!" She hopped back with a grin and Ruby in hand. "And that's how you plan a rescue," she said cheekily.

Jaune's mouth fell open. "You did all that just to rescue Ruby!?"

"Yeah. Duh. What did you think I did it for?"

"W-Well…" Jaune looked to Yang, then back to his mom. His cheeks heated up. "But all that stuff you said!"

"No less true for just being a distraction. Besides, your plan sucked. We keep you around for Grimm back-up, muscle and because you're a friend. Not for your silver tongue." Yang grinned. "And now she has no hostages. Go me."

B-But… but their moment.

And the plan…

Their mutual apology...

And making him feel bad…

Salem, rather than be angered, burst out laughing. "Hm. Devious, manipulative and focused on the goal at hand. I think I like you, girl. Of course, having your sister back changes little. No one can leave the Grimmlands without my permission."

"Yeah, well, we didn't really intend on leaving without convincing you to hear us out anyway." Yang looked to Jaune, and then nudged him with elbow when he didn't notice. "Come on," she hissed. "This is your changing her mind moment. You know, world peace?"

"I thought you called that naive?" he hissed back.

"To distract her! And it is. A little bit, I mean. Look, that's not important right now." Yang lowered her voice to a whisper. "I sent the others off to find a Bullhead in case things go bad."

"She could have the Grimm knock that out the sky easily."

"Doubt she'd do that with you on board."

"Are the two of you done with your adorable little conference?" Salem asked, standing. She stepped by Coral and Qrow, the latter of which tried to move, only to go still when Salem's hand touched his shoulder. "Do stay, future-son-in-law. Don't make me any angrier than I already am."

Yang saw her coming and backed away, using Jaune as a shield and pushing Ruby behind her. "All that stuff I said still applies, you know. You really are just like Jaune. Too stubborn to accept when you might be wrong, and too determined that only you know best."

"I admit to it," Salem said with a little shrug. "But that does little to improve your situation."

"You no longer have a hostage," Yang threatened.

"And neither, I notice, do you."

"Yeah?" Yang grinned and pulled up the sleeve on her right arm. "I think you might be wrong there. Meet Yin, my son."

Salem stilled. Her eyes widened.

"Yang, this isn't a good idea," Jaune hissed.

She ignored him. "My son, and also Jaune's."

"You're bluffing," Salem said, eyes narrowed. "You would not harm your own son. Not with how you spoke of your mother."

"Who said anything about hurting him?"

"You mentioned a hostage…"

"I don't have to hold a person hostage. Sometimes it can just be a concept." Yang's smile turned vicious. "Say, visitation and babysitting rights on your grandson. You can't hurt me, or Yin gets hurt. You can't stop me leaving or I'll get hurt. You can't afford to piss me off, because if you do, I'll try to leave."

Salem flinched.

"So," Yang said, smiling casually. "What's say we sit down and talk this out like actual adults. And this time, we'll come to a compromise that benefits all sides. But only if you listen. Only if you actually listen to what we have to say."

Jaune wanted to warn Yang that was a bad idea. That she was being way too optimistic about her chances of escape. Salem could and possibly would capture them without causing any harm to her or Yin. Or she could just force the Grimm to make a solid wall of bodies around Yang and prevent her escape.

But to his surprise, his mother did no such thing. She calmed down, stepped back and sat on her throne once more. Wait, was she actually listening to Yang? Just like that?

"I see you are the brains of the relationship. I thought Cinder might one day be that for him, but I suppose the familial ties were too much, despite how often I tried to convince him otherwise. My son has ever needed a guiding hand. A woman who can prod him in the right direction and stop him making too many foolish mistakes."

Offended, Jaune crossed his arms. "Hey, I can make my own decisions."

Salem, Yang and Ruby, still half-tussled up, rolled their eyes.

/-/

Pyrrha led the others down through the tower, calling on the limited memory she had of the route and aided by Mannie when she got lost.

"You sure we can trust a Grimm to show us the way out?" Sun asked. Mannie snarled at him. "Hey! No offence, man. Just saying."

"Mannie is a friend," Pyrrha said defensively. "Besides, Salem hasn't told him we're not allowed to leave, so it's not a problem. He won't try and stop us."

"Damn. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for you having to live here. The horrors you must have been through…"

Pyrrha's cheeks darkened a little. "Um, yeah. Something like that…"

"Idiot," Ilia snapped, punching Sun's arm. "Can't you see she doesn't want to think about that? Would you in her shoes?"

"Ah. Sorry…"

"It's fine," Pyrrha was grateful for the save, if only from embarrassment. "I think the docks are up ahead. They're not on the bottom floor. Something Watts complained about a few times if I recall. I think the area was originally a roost for Nevermore instead of Bullheads."

"But there will be some here, right?" Blake asked.

"I think so. Not everyone travels by Nevermore or giant dragon. Speaking of, couldn't we just take that?"

"Kevin is loyal to Salem," Weiss answered.

"Kevin?"

"Not important. Until I get a dragon of my own, we have no option. It will have to be a Bullhead. Salem must keep spares, otherwise her lieutenants would be stuck here. If this Watts character is here, then he must at least have one for himself."

Mannie growled excitedly, though only Pyrrha recognised it as such. The others flinched and backed away. She, however, saw what had caught his attention. Moonlight ahead, from the corridor's end. A way outside.

"This is it," she said, leading them out of an open archway and onto a wide, flat protrusion that jutted from the side of the tower. True to her words, there were numerous signs of Nevermores roosting, namely in the feathers and even one of the Grimm itself, perched over by the edge. It looked in their direction but, recognising Pyrrha, decided not to attack.

More promisingly, there was a single Bullhead sat off to one side, inert.

"Nice!" Nora crowed. "I've always wanted to fly a Bullhead."

"Ilia will be piloting," Blake cut in before her partner could get them all killed. "She knows how, trust me. Besides, we can't leave without Yang, Ruby and Jaune. Our job is just to secure an escape route in case we need it."

Ilia hurried over to the Bullhead and began to work on it. To her surprise, it was open. "Not even locked?"

"Who is going to steal something out here?" Ren asked.

"Good point. I guess crime rates are pretty low in the Grimmlands." Ilia ducked inside. "Ignition isn't on, though. Guess they're not that stupid."

"Thoughts of Jaune or one of his sisters joyriding comes to mind," Weiss said. "Can you hotwire it?"

"Sure. This is how the White Fang got most of our early resources. We'd raid convoys or SDC plantations and mines and take what we could. Plenty of Bullheads among those, along with weapons and the like." Ilia paused as she realised exactly who she was talking to. "But I guess you already knew that…"

"Yes," Weiss said, voice flat. "Yes, I do…" She let out a long sigh. "Just get this thing working and all is forgiven. At least for you."

Ilia nodded and got back to work. Ren clambered in to help, while the rest of them milled around awkwardly. Pyrrha looked back towards the tower, but there were no signs anything was going wrong. At least not yet.

A sudden whirr behind spoke of the Bullhead coming online. The engines didn't start, but the electrics flickered on and the inside radio began to play classical. Watts, Pyrrha decided. No way was she going to believe Tyrian listened to classical music.

"About time," Weiss said a little uncharitably. It had only been four minutes tops. "Now, we just need to-"

"Uh, guys," Ilia called. "The display is going a little… insane…"

Pyrrha exchanged a worried glance with Weiss. "Define insane."

"Like, it's saying there are contacts close by. A lot of them."

"The Nevermore, surely," Weiss said. "Or Kevin. This area is covered in wild Grimm."

"I didn't say the radar. I mean the tactical display. It's keyed in to Atlas signals…"

"Impossible. That would mean-" Whatever it meant was cut off as the Nevermore around the platform suddenly began to go wild, taking flight and cawing aggressively, creating a wall of black around the tower. Pyrrha fell to her knees and covered her head, trying to make as small a target as possible, but the Nevermore didn't come for her, or for any of the others. Mostly, they flew outward – away from the tower.

"What the heck is going on?" Nora howled.

"They were spooked," Blake said.

"Yeah, but by what?"

"By that," Emerald interrupted, taking a step back. Her eyes were focused off towards the south-east, towards Sanus, and by extension Vale. Pyrrha turned, along with Weiss, and the two froze almost immediately.

Sun cursed, "I think we've found Ilia's signals…"

An Atlas battleship, approaching from over the ocean – visible only as a spec in the distance, but obvious from its blinking white lights and the sheer size of it. The other signals would doubtless be from all the vehicles stored inside it.

"Why would Atlas be here?" Blake asked. She looked to Weiss.

"Winter knows what I'm doing, but she let me go. She wouldn't do that and then tell Ironwood. If she was going to do that, she might as well have tried to stop me in the first place."

"Well that's definitely an Atlas warship out there. Maybe it's just patrolling…"

"No one would patrol this close to the Grimmlands."

"But I thought no one even knew about Salem's existence," Ren said. "And no one should know where we were headed, let alone be able to respond so quickly."

"Only General Ironwood could order something like this," Weiss said. "But he wouldn't do so for anyone, and certainly not for me. And who could have told him? Winter promised to keep it a secret and the only other people to know was us and-" Weiss trailed off for a moment. "Ozpin. Ozpin knew. Ironwood trusts Ozpin."

Pyrrha cursed under her breath.

Emerald stepped up beside Weiss. "What now? Do we run?"

"No. We'd be spotted by their scanners and they'd send aircraft to apprehend or shoot us down. They might think us Salem's allies at this point." Weiss bit her lip and looked back toward the tower. Pyrrha caught it.

"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"

"Depends what you think I'm thinking…"

"Um, guys?" Sun asked. "A little less abstract, please. We're kinda in danger of being blown up here."

Weiss sighed. "We have to warn Salem."

"What!?"

"You heard me, Sun. We need to get back in there and warn her, otherwise Jaune, Yang and Ruby will go down with the tower. If it were just Salem, I might suggest leaving." Weiss' words earned a horrified look from Pyrrha. "I agree with Jaune that peace would be an ideal solution, but I'd not give my life to run into a warzone for it. If she died, Remnant might be safer. It depends on the Grimm and what happens after she's gone."

"They move and act without her instruction," Pyrrha said. "I don't think they'd vanish if she did. They might even become more aggressive. Reckless, even."

"It doesn't matter. Our teammates are in there and we're not leaving them. If that means we have to warn the literal enemy of all humanity as to an attack on her person, then so be it. She did look after Pyrrha for us – kept her safe – so it behoves us to return the favour."

"Aw, man." Sun kicked the floor idly. "This is gonna do wonders for my status as a huntsman…" Despite that, the faunus firmed his jaw and nodded. "Right, let's get this going, then. The Nevermore should keep 'em busy for a while. Looks like that's where they're all headed."

It certainly looked like it, but Weiss wasn't all that sure they'd last – not if Atlas decided to use its new Paladins in the fight, or the AI-controlled troops she personally knew were being developed. There had been rumours they intended to use those at the Vytal Festival, except that Ozpin won the right to handle security and vetoed them. Here, they might be far deadlier.

With one final look towards their Bullhead, and one final curse, Weiss turned and chased after the others, back into the bowels of Salem's tower.

What a day. What a vehicular disaster for me. Sorry for how late this one came out, but like I said I've been running around all day trying to get my car fixed. Looks like it's okay now, though the cost still hurts. Hurts more because the tyre that was totalled was pretty much brand new. Worse, it went through the front wheel and into the back, and we've now found that it's bent the alloys there on the interior side. This is all kinds of bad, and I've been looking for whell alloy repair for hours now. Finally found one I limped into tonight, but no telling if it can be repaired or not.

If it can, I'm looking at a fairly low cost. If it can't, I'm utterly screwed - as I'd need to buy it through the manufacturer, and they just LOVE putting the price at stupid levels. One of our neighbours had to do that for their Audi, and the mnfr said that because they didn't do that wheel type anymore, he'd need to buy all four. If that happens I'll be in trouble. Ugh. I guess the annoyance is that if I were thirty seconds earlier or later leaving work, or drove 5mph slower or faster, I'd have avoided it. Such a small time window to get ruined like that.

Well, that's life. Got back late and started working on this frantically. You probably all noticed given the time this came out. Like, 9pm here.

Next Chapter: 11th October

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