White concrete walls and lighting, that made Qrow squint, were the only features of the Atlas fort that he was following some random grunt through.

"I'm telling you, Tai, that brunette was into you," Qrow swayed back and forth, taking another squig from his flask. "If Jimmy lets us go early, you still have a shot."

"Pretty sure she was closer to the girls' age than mine... and she was mostly interested in this little fella," Taiyang reached down to give his corgi a scratch. The man leading them deeper into the Atlas base made a noise under his breath.

Qrow snorted, "Old enough that she wasn't carded and picking up chicks with your dog is a time honored tradition." Qrow took a longer drink while said dog watched him.

"Is that why you always volunteered to walk him?"

"Might be." Qrow shrugged. Zwei was the second-best wingman he'd ever had. "Besides, it's been how many years now?"

"I think that I- We have bigger problems to worry about."

"We've been chasing shadows for a week. You've got time for one night." Qrow rolled his eyes. "Whatever happened to the man who joined me on the month-long crawl through Vale's best bars?"

"He fell in love and got married."

Qrow couldn't argue with that. Summer had been something special; just being able to lead their team at Beacon had proven that. Raising a pair of girls who… kept their morals despite all of the problems, cinched it.

Harbinger's weight was suddenly all he could think about as its blade bounced on his back. No way Jimmy'd ask them, just the two of them, for an immediate call this late at night if it didn't involve the girls in some way. Maybe, maybe, Atlas did their job right for once and both of them died without too much pain.

They spent another five minutes walking deeper into the base, ending at a plain door with 'Top Secret Encrypted Communications Station B' on the outside. Not exactly top secret if you went around labeling it like that.

"General Ironwood will be calling this station shortly." The grunt said as he opened the door for Qrow. The room was tiny with a single screen on the opposite side. A table with generic office chairs filled most of it.

Qrow barely had time to cross the room and leaned against one of the walls before the terminal in the center of the table flicked on. Holograms of James Ironwood and Winter Schnee appeared in the center of it. Neither looked like they'd had much sleep. "Qrow, Taiyang, thank you for coming in on such short notice."

"How's it going, Jimmy?" Qrow leaned against one of the walls. "You two look like shit."

"A lot has happened over the past few days." James took a long breath, "For the only good news, you two were correct. We've ID'd not only the unknown Anathema that met up with Weiss, but also where they went."

Qrow sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Something's telling me that I'm not gonna like this."

"The unknown Anathema was Yang XiaoLong and that entire group has reconvened with the rest of team RWBY."

"Great, just fucking great!" Qrow shouted while Tai murmured under his breath. After a long groan, Qrow turned back to Jimmy. "Alright, so they're all back together. That still isn't important enough for this? You could've just called us normally."

James took a long breath, "There are things that we do need to discuss under a secure line. To put it simply, we've lost."


"What?" The images of Qrow and TaiYang shouted while James looked over his most recent reports.

"Our plan was to siege the Anathema and sweep in once Salem made her move. We lost the fight against them and I doubt we'll have another chance for years; due to how powerful they've grown."

"You're kidding…" TaiYang mumbled just loud enough to be transmitted.

James opened a video screen next to his head. "Watch this and you'll understand."

The first segment concerned the bombardment on Theta Three, Yang XiaoLong. TaiYang winced as the first round of explosions covered her. James held in a sigh; while TaiYang was a skilled Hunter, he wasn't suited for this sort of work.

Qrow, on the other hand, kept close watch despite being drunk enough that he was swaying. "That's a ton of Dust."

"About one-hundred-thousand Lien per shot. Enough Dust to kill most Hunters from a single hit."

"You just shot-" Tai's eyes continued tracking the explosions. "Way more than my house at her?!"

"Yes," James paused the video and switched to the next one. "To no effect. A single barrage like this took out a Silver Anathema foolish enough to try and escape via turning into a bird three years ago. Given this result, we're reconsidering our strategies for her. While we're certain that her Aura was being expended, it was at a much lower rate than expected."

"What's really going on? That's scary alright, but nothing too far out of the norm." Qrow grumbled.

"If we had only seen this sort of growth, we would not be as concerned." James played the second video. It was Ruby Rose's attack on the Sixth Air-Defense Battalion from the perspective of several of the robots failing to shoot her. "Through all of this we only suffered ten casualties and zero fatalities. She was holding back, just like during the attack on Beacon."

"Might've been too overwhelmed to finish anyone off," Qrow muttered, but the grimace made his feelings plain to see.

"Did she just combine my style with your's?" TaiYang asked Qrow.

"Uhh… Shit, yeah she did." Qrow paused. "Probably picked it up from Firecracker."

"Yeah, but… I thought Yang was the martial artist… Did I forget something else?" TaiYang lowered his head.

"Pay close attention to the next one." James started the final, and clearest, video; her destruction of the Behemoth Beowolf.

"Neither video does her speed and her engagement range justice." Winter stepped forward, "Nor her newest Semblance."

"How can it get worse?" TaiYang gaped at them. "We're already in multiple elite teams would lose the fight territory."

"That we are," Winter nodded, "Ruby Rose has developed the ability to reverse any damage done to a person along with something disturbingly similar to my own Semblance."

Qrow slammed his head back, presumably against a wall, and closed his eyes. "Lay it on me. What can she summon now? The Behemoth?"

"No, something much more dangerous." Winter continued after a slight pause. "During the battle, she slew a previously unknown-type of Grimm, temporary designation Man-O-War, that was commanding the swarm and revealed the power to take control of it. We're… updating our information about how the Grimm follow orders from this knowledge, but the end result is that Ruby Rose appears to have command of all Grimm within a ten-kilometer radius. Including the immaterial ones that Ozpin warned us about."

James pulled up his final report on their current focus. "She has not yet revealed this new ability to the world at large nor has she indicated her desires for the other settlements that fall within her range. While we are researching methods of detecting and fighting these controlling Grimm, I wouldn't expect results for several years, if ever." Of course, one part of the file was already becoming corrupted.

Active High-Value Targets

Capture Preferred

Raven Branwen - Designation: Theta One. Last Known Location: Southern Sanus.

Blake Belladonna - Designation: Theta Four. Last Known Location: Aincrad.

Weiss Schnee - Designation: Theta Five. Last Known Location: Aincrad.

Penny Polendina - Designation: Theta Seven. Last Known Location: Aincrad.

Pyrrha Nikos - Designation: Theta Eight. Last Known Location: Aincrad.

Arthur Watts - Designation: Sigma Four. Last Known Location: City of Vaccuo.

Ivan Merlot - Designation: Sigma Thirteen. Last Known Location: Eastern Forever Fall.

Guame Verd - Designation: Sigma Sixteen. Last Known Location: City of Mistral.

Sienna Khan - Designation: Sigma Twenty. Last Known Location: The Menagerie.

Ilia Amitola - Designation: Sigma Twenty Four. Last Known Location: City of Vale.

Kill

Yang XiaoLong - Designation: Theta Three. Last Known Location: Aincrad.

Cinder Fall - Designation: Theta Nine(Sigma Twenty Two). Last Known Location: Beacon Academy Vaults.

Jazzel Charr - Designation: Sigma Six. Last Known Location: City of Vaccuo.

Hazel Rainart - Designation: Sigma Five. Last Known Location: Windpath.

Report Any Contact(Strict Observation Only)

Salem - Designation: Theta Zero. Last Known Location: Unknown.

R̸̹̝̐́ữ̶̪b̸̖̖̎y̴͇̅͑ ̸͍̤̒͛R̷̢̔͐o̵̪͐š̸̢̍é̷̢̪ aka The Girl I n̸̎ͅ ̶͕̄Ř̴͜é̴͖d̶̝͂ ̸̧̃-̵̧͝ ̶͕̄D̷̺͛e̸̤̕s̷̫͌ ignation: T̷̻́ḩ̵̻̈́Eta Two. Last Known Locä̵́ͅt̶̝͋ĭ̶̝o̴̲͗n̵̲͒:̷̨̏ ̸̰̈́Ả̴̫i̴͗ͅNcra̷d̵̫͛.

All four remained silent for several minutes while Qrow and TaiYang digested the news. It was the first time that anyone reached the same classification as Salem herself. However, Ruby's new influence, along with Weiss' latest warning about the state of her mental health, had kept James up all night for the past day. If she had been this dangerous at Beacon…

Qrow spoke first, "Welp, that's it then, we lose. The only one who might be able to stop them is Salem and it sounds like she got screwed by this too. What's the plan now, Jimmy?"

"There is no plan." James took his own seat, Winter stepped behind him and to the left. "I've been recalled to Atlas to explain how I allowed the situation to reach this point. If I'm lucky, I'll be allowed to peacefully retire from my command."

"They'd sack you over this?" TaiYang clearly had not been part of any sort of structure for a long time.

"This is my failure, the greatest defeat in Atlas' history, even if only our highest commanders realize it. It was by my order that we embarked on a prolonged siege that allowed them to reach this point. It was by my order that we didn't switch our target from the Grimm to Ruby when we had a chance to take her out. Our other top officers have previously claimed that I have been corrupted by the Anathema, Weiss in particular, and I can no longer disagree."

"I told you she was dangerous." Qrow muttered under his breath, but the room's microphone still picked him up.

"If it was just her, I wouldn't be worried." James sighed. "My involvement in many of our more secretive projects can't be unwound quickly, but my command over the army itself and Atlas Academy can. The nature of maintaining the blockade will be determined by my replacement."

"So.. we're on our own then."

"You'll still have Leo and Locasta as resources."

"For what good they are."

James couldn't help agreeing. "I'm certain that the two of you, at least, will be able to weather whatever changes they want."


Tai didn't say anything during their walk back. Ever since Qrow brought him into this secret masters of the world nonsense, he'd been two steps behind everyone else.

"Hey, Tai." His partner shook his flask at the ground. A single drop of whatever Qrow filled it with fell to the pavement. "You got any left?"

"You know I don't carry one of those."

Qrow stared at him for a moment, swaying like a pendulum. "Bummer."

Tai mostly caught up by the time Qrow turned around. He meandered down the sidewalk, moving towards each light pole and using one arm to push past, barely avoiding each collision. The inn was only a few blocks away, but it would take half an hour at the current pace. After three more poles, Qrow turned back around. "So, what'd you want to do now?"

"Sleep." Tai rotated Qrow back and threw an arm around his back. With support, he could make a decent pace.

"You know what I mean."

Tai sighed. "I'll do what I should've done a long time ago."

Qrow raised an eyebrow at him. "What's that?"

"Go have a talk with my girls."

"Any idea what you'll say to them?"

"Nope."

"Heh," Qrow leaned back, staring at the sky. Tai held him up because there's no way he'd manage it himself. "Might want to bring up the gods and all that crap. Maybe this is all part of that big cosmic plan to kill the Grimm."

"You mean Ruby's talk with one?" Tai shivered. If someone as jaded as Qrow thought a goddess talked to Ruby, then he had to believe it happened.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that this might be it, you know?"

"You could always ask. I'm sure they'd want to see you." Tai lightly tapped Qrow's arm, leaning him back upright.

"Nah, I've got a date with a creepy basement and avenging Oz."

Tai grimaced. The other Anathema that was still trapped in Beacon.

"I'll pull everyone we were bringing on this wild goose chase there and smoke her out for good."

"Yeah…" Tai said softly, stopping. Qrow staggered forward without him, slowly fading into the darkness of the night.

"What?" Eventually he turned around. "You coming?"

"Nothing, it's just… Do you have a message for Ruby and Yang?"

"What're you talking-" Qrow's eyes went wide, "Hey. Hey! Look, I'm not gonna just up and die on you buddy."

"She killed Glynda and Ozpin! That's not something you can just say 'I'll be fine' to." Tai walked up to him and grabbed the collar of Qrow's jacket. "I've lost too many people to that shit already!"

"Tai, I-" Qrow tried to pull away, but he'd never been able to beat Tai in a grapple, even when he was sober. "I'll be careful, alright! I'll have Pete, Barty, and half of Vale's Hunter's chomping at the bit for this fight!"

"And you won't just run ahead of them? You'll fight like someone on a team?"

"I'm the best fighter we've got left and I know how to be on a team."

"Dammit, Qrow!" Tai threw him back. "You know what I mean!"

Qrow toppled over, spinning as he failed to get his feet under himself. "It's what we signed up for as Huntsmen!"

"That doesn't mean you need to take so much of it onto yourself!"

"Better me than someone with something to live for."

"Qr-"

"Don't give me that. There's maybe four people left alive who give a damn about me and three of them are on Remnant's most wanted. Atlas' most wanted… Whatever, same thing."

Tai sat down next to him. "First off, you're wrong about that. And secondly, you and the girls are the only family I have left too and right now. This... it feels a lot like when Summer ran out to help with a 'crisis from Oz'."

Qrow took a moment. "Shit. Fuck! I'm sorry, Tai, I-"

"I still remember her last words."

Tai looked up to the stars and rubbed his eyes. When he opened his mouth, his breath caught in his throat. "B-brownies are in the oven for Yang's bake sale. They need ten more minutes."

"Fucking hell, of course she would, of fucking course." Qrow leaned forward, half laughing.

"So, no brownies or 'I'll be fine' from you." Tai poked him in the center of his chest. "You hear me?"

"Alright… alright…" Qrow flopped back, laying down. "I'll figure something out… Just give me five minutes to rest."

Tai let out the breath he was holding and laid down next to Qrow. "I'm going to hold you to that."

A/N: July was hell and most of August was recovering from it. I'm hoping to get back up to speed, but we'll see how the true vacation next week interacts with that.