AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry about the long delay! I was traveling a good portion of last week, so I didn't have time to write anything. I'm back home now, so I should be back on my regular update schedule. Hopefully this long chapter will make up for the missed week.

Though technically (aside from Ruby's chat with the Blacksmith), this chapter would be the end of "Volume 9," as I mentioned last chapter, this story will continue past this point. The next chapters will deal with Ruby and her friends dealing with the fallout (no pun intended) of the loss of Poland, the court of inquiry, and some discussions about the fate of Summer Rose. No, I haven't forgotten that Raven Branwen was last spotted in Taiyang's shower...

I did, however, forget in the last chapter that Cheshire should be flying his version of the Moonslice, not a F-5E. I'll change that as soon as I can.

Satu Mare Airfield

Satu Mare County, Kingdom of Romania

16 September 2001

In the end, Ruby's revenge had to wait thirty minutes: Pyrrha convinced her to wait for Delta Force. Landing their aircraft at a potentially hostile airfield, surrounded by angry people with automatic weapons, seemed like a particularly bad idea. Once Ruby gave it some thought, she realized Pyrrha was right.

She was still going to kill Neo.

The C-17 landed at Satu Mare and reversed hard on landing, stopping well short of several vehicles and the people who owned the airport. Once stopped, the rear ramp came down and two light assault vehicles—little more than heavily armed dune buggies—and Delta moved out of the aircraft. If anyone wanted to start a fight when the special forces troops were at their most vulnerable, they were kept honest by Ruby Flight orbiting overhead, occasionally making low passes over the airfield. All five aircraft were low on fuel and ammunition, but the people of Satu Mare didn't know that. The C-17 taxied off the runway and onto an unoccupied part of the tarmac, and Delta fanned out into assault positions, finding cover. Once secure, Otome, still leading her troops with an arm in a sling, radioed for Ruby Flight to land. As each aircraft went into the downwind leg, three F-15s arrived overhead: the rest of Dragon Flight. They would fly top cover in case Cheshire returned or the GRIMM did.

As Ruby Flight taxied in next to the C-17 and shut their engines down, a few of the Satu Mare ground crew began to move forward. They instantly found themselves staring down quite a few submachine guns and assault rifles, so they stopped. Only when Shogun's team moved forward and patted them down were they allowed to continue forward to chock the wheels of the fighters and set ladders against fuselages.

Ruby climbed down the ladder and took off her helmet—Marrow's helmet—and set it down on the ladder. Her hair was a mess, matted with sweat; her head ached from the helmet being a little too tight. Her ribs hurt too, letting her know that the G-forces pulled during the dogfight had done more damage to her still healing body. She shut the pain out as best she could.

"Ruby!" Yang ran up to her, arms wide open. "What the hell, sis?" Ruby barely managed to fend off what would've been a very painful hug. Yang grinned at her. "What did you do, knock Marrow out?"

"It was his idea!" The others ran up to her, trailed by Pyrrha. Ruby waved her hands. "It was Marrow's idea! He told me to switch with him!"

"Let me guess. He lied about his INS being out," Blake observed.

"Yeah! I didn't want to…" Ruby hung her head. "Okay, I did, obviously. I didn't…I couldn't let you guys go on without me. I mean, I was, but Marrow didn't have to twist my arm."

Weiss smiled. "We're glad you did. I think we could've handled those other GRIMM, but…it's nice to have you with us."

They turned as Pyrrha arrived. Ruby expected Pyrrha to chew her out, to curse her, possibly even hit her. She certainly expected anger. Yet there wasn't. Instead, the Greek girl just looked tired, older than her years. "Pyrrha, I'm sorry," Ruby said.

"No, you're not. You're lucky to be alive." Pyrrha sighed. "But you are here, and you obviously can still fly and fight. And you did well. But please, Ruby…this is the military, not a country club. You can't pick and choose what orders you obey." She winced. "My God, I sound like Ironwood."

"Let's figure all this out later," Blake said, which she thought was becoming something of a mantra lately. "We came here for Neo. Let's cross that bridge first before we start with the recriminations."

"Yeah," Yang added. "Let's burn that bridge." She looked darkly in Neo's general direction. They began walking towards the knot of people where Neo was last seen. Each one was joined by a Delta soldier, their faces covered with bandannas, each holding a weapon. Otome caught up with them as well; she alone did not have her face covered.

They were intercepted by a tall, thin man, dressed in an expensive business suit. He kept his hands raised. "I am Morden Eminescu," he announced. "I am the director here at the Satu Mare Airport." His English was flawless, with no accent; Ruby thought that they had been very lucky that nearly everyone they had met had spoken the language. "What do you want?"

Otome put out her good hand to halt the others, then stepped forward. "I am Major Otome Higurashi, United States of Canada Army." She motioned to Pyrrha. "This is Major Pyrrha Nikos, United States of Canada Air Force."

Eminescu gave a slight bow. "I've heard of you, Major Nikos. It is a pleasure." He turned back to Otome. "Major Higurashi. Satu Mare is neutral ground. Our business depends on maintaining that neutrality. Should we favor a side, whether that be the United States, NATO, Salem, an air pirate band, or even Romania itself, we would lose that, and with it, our livelihood. Do you understand?"

"I do," Otome answered. "Though I would remind you that you are in a poor bargaining position. My team of Special Forces is highly trained, well-armed and very motivated. While I have no doubt that your people are also motivated, I would direct you to the three fighters flying overhead. I would also inform you that there is an AC-130 gunship en route that will arrive within half an hour." That last part was a bluff-the AC-130 was back in Prague-but again, she was quite sure that Eminescu didn't know that.

Eminescu nodded. "I am not oblivious to the current situation, Major. However, you must understand our position as well. We will fight for our home. Yes, you will kill very many of us, and we will kill very few of you…but it is you who will have to live with the knowledge that you attacked a people that meant you no harm."

"I do intend you no harm, sir," Otome said. "We have no intention of staying at Satu Mare for a moment longer than necessary. Our objective is to secure the criminal named Neo Politan, nothing more. Once that is taken care of, we will leave and your neutrality is secure."

"I do not think you understand," Eminescu countered. "Neo Politan, whatever crimes she may have committed, is under our protection. Anyone who seeks shelter at Satu Mare is entitled to our protection. It is how we do business."

"Of course," Otome told him. "Very understandable. Any future clients would say you cooperated with American and NATO forces, therefore you are no longer neutral, correct?"

"Correct, Major."

"I see. How much do you usually charge people to use your facilties, sir?" Otome asked.

Eminescu shrugged. "It varies, Major—"

"If I were to pay you one million dollars, right now, would that convince you to turn over Neo?"

He blinked. "You are serious."

Otome gave a short nod. "I am."

"Then in the words of the esteemed American philosopher Jerry Maguire, Major…show me the money."

Otome nodded again, then unbuckled her body armor and reached into a breast pocket. She withdrew a sheaf of papers that Ruby, to her surprise, recognized as a checkbook. She flipped it open and held it out for Eminescu to inspect. Each check was marked with the words United States Treasury. He gazed at it for a moment. "They won't bounce," she assured him.

"You have authorization to do that?"

"I do."

"We can tell any future clients that you forced us to turn over Neo Politan under duress? We need not make this transaction public?"

"You can tell any future clients anything you like."

Eminescu smiled. "Very well, then. One million USC dollars." Otome glanced behind her, waved Yang forward, and used her back as a desk to write out the check. She signed it, then handed it to Eminescu. He ran his fingers over it, then held it up to the sunlight to check the watermark. Satisfied, he folded it once and put it into his pocket, then put out a hand. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Major Higurashi."

"And you, Mr. Eminescu." Otome put her checkbook back into her pocket, and waved once. Eminescu turned and did the same. Weapons relaxed on both sides. He turned and briskly walked over to the people guarding Neo, and spoke in Romanian. Neo had been sitting on the tarmac, her head in her hands, but now she was roughly grabbed by two burly men and pulled to her feet. Neo shouted at them to leave her alone and tried to struggle loose, but they paid her no heed, and dragged her forward. She seemed strangely weak. The Delta troops stepped away from Ruby Flight and raised their weapons to point at Neo as she was deposited nearly at Otome's feet. "She's yours, Major," Eminescu said, and stepped back.

Neo bared her teeth at him. "You bastard!" she snarled. "You fucking piece of shit! What about Satu Mare's neutrality?"

"What about it?" Eminescu answered. "I don't think you were worth a million dollars, Miss Politan, but that is what has been paid for you. Everything has a price. Good day." He contemptously turned his back and walked off, followed by his men.

Neo spit a few more curses, then saw that she was surrounded. She was about to get to her feet, only to be grabbed by two of the Delta operators and kept on her knees. She snapped curses in several languages at them as well, but she was held fast. Otome looked down at her. "Neo Politan…or, to use your real name, Trivia Vanille—"

"Go fuck yourself!" Neo screamed. "That's not my real name!"

"—by the power invested in me by the United States of Canada government," Otome continued, ignoring her, "you are under arrest. You are charged with multiple counts of terrorism, conspiracy to terrorism, murder, theft, arson, and multiple other crimes that I don't have time to read off, as I don't want to be here all day. These are capital crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, laws of the European Union, and laws of the United States of Canada. I'm quite also I can turn up multiple violations of the Geneva Convention. Miss Vanille, how do you plead?"

"Fuck you," Neo hissed. She suddenly weaved and nearly toppled over, but was held up. She moved a hand towards a flight suit pocket, only to be shoved to the ground hard enough to drive the breath out of her. One of the Delta guards knelt on her back, pushing his M4 back and out of her reach, then grabbed Neo's hands. Zip ties were quickly and efficiently put around her wrists, tying her hands behind her back, then she was dragged back to her knees. Bits of gravel stuck to her cheek. She spit on Otome's boots.

"I ask again," Otome said patiently, "how do you plead?"

Neo smiled savagely. "Guilty as hell, bitch."

"Very well. For the record, Miss Trivia Vanille, aka Neo Politan, has entered a plea of guilty to all crimes. The sentence is death, to be carried out immediately." She nodded at her troops. "Get her on her feet—"

"Just a moment, Major." Everyone stopped at Pyrrha's voice. "Are we serving justice here?"

Otome seemed surprised. "We are, Major Nikos. I should think you of all people would approve of this."

Pyrrha visibly started at that, but composed herself. "Very well, Major; I have no objections. However, I would like Neo's execution to be done by someone who suffered the most at her hands." She turned to Ruby. "You wanted justice, Ruby. Here's your chance."

Otome hesitated, opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it, then assented. "Spider. Your sidearm, please." The operator pulled out his Beretta and handed it to Otome, who held it out for Ruby. Ruby slowly took it, pointed it down, and slid back the slide. It was loaded, with a round in the chamber. Otome, the operators, and Pyrrha all stepped back, and Ruby raised the pistol, centering the sight between Neo's mismatched eyes.

"You're going to kill me?" Neo asked. "You?"

"Yes," Ruby said.

Neo smirked. "Well. I suppose you've earned it." She slowly got to her feet and stood at attention. Ruby had forgotten how short the other woman was; they were of a height. "It doesn't matter, Ruby Rose. I got what I wanted."

"That wasn't Roman," Ruby snapped. "That was Cheshire. He used kerasine on you, just like you used it on me."

"Oh, I know. I've been sitting over there feeling like I was going to puke for the past half hour. He must've dosed me two or three times. I'm lucky he didn't kill me." Neo laughed at that, and even Ruby couldn't help a small smile at the absurdity of Neo's statement. Cheshire hadn't killed her, but Ruby was going to. "That's all right. He made me think Roman was making love to me, when it was him. He was pretty good, so I suppose I don't have any regrets."

"Good for you." Ruby moved her finger onto the trigger.

"Anyway, getting laid isn't what I meant when I said I got what I wanted." Neo gave her an insane grin. "I broke you, Ruby. I broke you. I watched you kill yourself. Oh, you didn't actually do it, but your brain damn well thought you did, didn't it? Lucky for you that these over-testosteroned Delta Force dipshits found you. They would've killed me, but I guarantee I would've finished you off first. Or if they hadn't showed up, you would've just died. Starved, dehydrated, maybe just shut down. Who knows?" Neo shrugged. "But I got to watch you break. I got to watch you fall apart, and to cry. And I'll take that with me into hell." Neo continued to smirk at her. "You're weak, Ruby. Confused. Incomplete. Broken."

"You're wrong." Neo looked past Ruby, who didn't waver at Weiss' voice. "You're wrong, Neo," Weiss said. "Ruby has never been any of those things."

"That's why we follow her," Blake added.

"We're going home," Yang finished. "And you're staying here. They'll roll your body into a ditch, Neo. No one's gonna remember you."

Neo's smirk faded at that. Ruby slowly inclined her head. "She's right," she said. "No one will remember you, Neo. You'll be a footnote in history. If you're lucky." Ruby shook her head. "You and Roman will just be remembered, at best, as Salem's pawns."

"And what will you be remembered as?" Neo snapped.

"I don't know," Ruby admitted. "But at least I won't be remembered like you. Or forgotten like you."

Neo was quiet for a moment. "Then do what you came to do," she told her. Ruby didn't answer. She just held the pistol out, keeping the sight leveled on Neo's forehead. Her hand was steady; Neo's weren't. "Shoot me," Neo demanded. Ruby still did not move, still did not pull the trigger. "Shoot me!" Neo shrilled. Still nothing. "Goddammit, Ruby! Shoot me!" Her voice broke on the latter, and Ruby saw tears in Neo's eyes. "Do it! Fucking DO IT!"

Ruby's finger tightened briefly on the trigger. Neo swallowed audibly. Ruby then let go and she lowered the pistol. "No."

"Wh…why? Why not?" Neo whispered.

"Because I'm not like you." Ruby leaned forward, close enough to taste Neo's breath. The silver eyes were pitiless. "And I got what I came for."

"What's that?" Neo asked.

"To see fear in your eyes." Ruby drew back. "To hear it in your voice. You're scared, Neo. You're scared of me."

"I'm not scared," Neo said, but they both knew it was a lie.

"Yeah, you are." Ruby walked backwards and handed the Beretta to Otome. "I'm done here, Major."

"Good." Otome kept the pistol in her hands and faced Neo. "Unfortunately for you, Miss Vanille—Neo, whatever—Ruby may not have chosen revenge, no matter how much she rates it, but I have my orders. And my orders are to kill you. Even if my orders were to take you alive, I would disobey them, because we haven't forgotten what you did to Trix. Delta takes care of its own. So that is what I will do." Neo said nothing, just stared at the ground. "Any last words to your victims here?" Otome motioned at Ruby Flight.

"No," Neo said softly.

"Thank you." Otome flicked her head towards a row of hangars. The Delta men grabbed Neo again and shoved her forward. Ruby and her flight watched as Neo was pushed towards the hangars, even knocked down. One of the operators punched her as she got up. She fell again, and Otome kicked her with enough force that Neo doubled over and then threw up. She was hauled back to her feet, punched again, and then dragged behind the hangar.

They all jumped when they heard a single gunshot. All but Ruby.

After awhile, Otome walked back to Ruby Flight. "Neo's dead," she said simply.

"All right," Ruby answered. She felt nothing, which surprised her.

Otome let out a long breath. "It's over now. Neo is dead. Cheshire is gone—the AWACS tracked him heading into what used to be Russia. He'll run out of fuel long before he reaches Salem. I suppose he may bail out into the Pripyat Marshes, but I don't give him much of a chance in there."

"He's a survivor," Pyrrha commented. "He may just come out of there yet."

"Then we'll deal with him then." Otome gave them a tired smile. "Look, I don't know about the five of you, but it's been a hell of a month. I want to go home. I'm also instructed to tell all five of you, plus that lunatic Marrow Amin, to report back to Ramstein immediately. General Gale wanted me to tell you that is a direct order, and you've disobeyed more than enough of those. If you want to have any chance at holding onto your careers, you will fly back to Kosice, turn over your aircraft to our people there, and fly back to Ramstein on one of our C-17s. His words, not mine." Otome shrugged. "I could, of course, say that you managed to overpower me and escape. You know, just in case you intend to go pirate or something."

"Hey, there's an idea," Yang grinned.

"No," Blake told her.

"I don't think so," Weiss agreed, but looked at Ruby. "Of course, our commanding officer might have something to say about it."

"She might." Ruby looked at Pyrrha. "What do you say, Pyrrha? Want to go mercenary?"

"Huh?" Pyrrha was taken by surprise. "Me? But I'm…oh." She understood what Ruby was actually saying—and not the joke, either. "No, I think I've had enough of independent operations for now. We will do as ordered…unless there are any objections?"

"No, I guess not." Yang lost her bantering tone. "Suppose we'd better go face the music."

"Yeah. Might as well get it over with." Ruby started to walk towards the F-16, then stopped. "Major Higurashi? Can I ask a small favor?"

"Oh, no," Otome groaned. "What now?"

"Nothing big. There's a woman at Banska Bystrica. They call her the Blacksmith. She was injured when the Jabberwockies hit Silac the first time. Do you think maybe we could get her transferred to Wiesbaden?"

"I might could do that," Otome replied guardedly. "Why?"

"Because she can get better medical care there," Ruby answered. "And I think she just might know where Salem is. Not her present location—where Salem's base is. What my mom died trying to find."

Otome's mouth fell open. "You're shitting me."

"Nope."

The Delta commander rubbed her eyes. "Oh my God…fine, sure. We'll do that. If you're…oh my God, are you sure?"

"Yep."

"Oh my God," Otome repeated in disbelief.

"Don't you mean 'oh my Buddha'?" Yang snickered.

"Oh shut up, Captain; I'm Mormon." Otome made a shooing motion. "Fine, Ruby; I'll get this Blacksmith person to Wiesbaden. Now get out of here before you think of something else to get in trouble for."

"Yes, ma'am." Ruby came to attention and saluted. After a moment, so did the others. "Thanks, Major."

Otome waved it off. "Yeah, all in a day's work. Get out of here, you bums."

She watched as the five women walked to their aircraft. Ruby's head was high. Pyrrha seemed relieved. Yang nudged Blake, and the Faunus laughed, then the tall blonde put her arm around Weiss, who made a clearly false show of trying to pull away.

Shogun was suddenly at her side. He pulled down his bandanna. "Major, do you think we might have made things even worse around here?"

"I'm not sure," Otome said. "I'd like to think we did a little good, right?"

"I suppose so." Shogun paused. "So why did you order me to inject Neo with propofol and knock her out?"

"The same reason I fired that shot into the air rather than into Neo's head." Otome scowled. "I wanted to. For Trix. But those were my orders."

"I was tempted to overdose the little bitch instead of knocking her out," Shogun admitted, "but that's too good for her. What do you suppose Miss Arashikaze wants her for?"

"Maybe she intends to torture Neo to death. I don't know." Otome sighed. "I don't want to know."

"Suits me," Shogun said.

"Yeah, me too." She patted his shoulder. "Let's go home, Shogun."

Chernobyl

Former Ukraine Soviet Socialist Republic, Former Soviet Union

16 September 2001

Cheshire had been practically out of fuel. As Salem had instructed him, he had flown north, dropped to low level, then turned northeast. As soon as he was clear of the AWACS' coverage, he had turned due east, then doubled back, then finally southeast. With the fuel gauges on the Moonslice reading empty, he was preparing to either eject or try to find a clearing somewhere, when suddenly a row of white lights appeared in the forest below. He had glanced at his INS, then at the map in the clear thigh pocket of his flight suit. He was somewhere between the overgrown, irradiated ruins of Kiev and the even more irradiated, melted ruins of Moscow. There was the Pripyat River ahead, and he thought he saw the remains of a small city to his right. Either way, it was this or bailing out. He lowered the landing gear and landed easily. The Moonslice had an extremely low stall speed thanks to its forward-swept wings, and it was designed to operate from grass airstrips, if it had to.

He finished the landing roll out and turned back down the airstrip; the lights were already out. There was a figure with light wands motioning him to a taxiway, so Cheshire followed him, and he was directed into a hangar. As he drew closer, he saw that it was cleverly disguised with a false roof, to make it look like the roof had fallen in; the whole airfield looked abandoned and overgrown, but on close inspection, it was fully operational. He taxied the Moonslice into the hangar, and just as he reached the parking space he was guided to, the engine suddenly wound down as the aircraft exhausted the last of its fuel. He reached out and patted the instrument panel. "Thanks, love."

Cheshire opened the canopy and unstrapped as the internal ladder was extended. He safetied the ejection seat and climbed down. The hangar doors rumbled closed and ground crew quickly surrounded the Moonslice. He pulled off his helmet and handed it to someone with outstretched hands. As Cheshire ran a hand through his tousled hair, he saw someone waving to him by the door. "Take good care of her, yeah?" he said to the crewman holding his helmet, then jogged over. As he got closer, he recognized the figure. "Well, I'll be damned," he said.

"More than likely," Cinder Fall replied. She wore a form-fitting jumpsuit, an eyepatch over her left eye, everything in black. "It has been awhile, hasn't it?"

"It has." He took her still-natural hand—Cheshire noticed the metal one in passing—and kissed it. "I can't say it's a pleasure to be here, but it is a pleasure to see you, Cinder."

"That I doubt. I'm not the same scared girl you tried to woo." She brushed back the fall of black hair to expose the angry, pinkish scars that ruined the left side of her face, but Cheshire merely shrugged. "In any case, Salem's waiting. I'll take you to her."

They climbed into a jeep that was waiting outside the hangar, then sped down a road that was half-covered by a forest. Cheshire noticed that the trees were sort of a ginger color. "That doesn't look natural," he remarked, then braced himself as Cinder seemed bent on running into a huge pothole. They went over it without a bump, and he realized it was paint to make the road look long abandoned.

"It isn't," she answered. "The locals call it the Red Forest. This area was downwind of the nukes that flattened Kiev back during the war." She grinned lopsidedly at the fear on his face. "Relax, Cheshire. It's safe now, so long as you don't go digging in it."

They drove a few miles until they reached a large clearing, where the road petered out into a weed-choked, cracked expanse of concrete. Beyond it were rusted, half-collapsed buildings, some of them quite large. "Here we are." Cinder beeped the horn three times. Nothing happened for a moment, then the concrete suddenly rumbled and pulled back just enough for the jeep to drive through and under. Cheshire involuntarily ducked as the top of the jeep barely cleared the lip, then they were driving down a fairly steep graded road. Another set of blast doors opened, and they were in a parking garage. There were several other jeeps and two BTRs there as Cinder pulled into a spot and turned off the engine. "Follow me."

Cheshire did. They went through a warren of passageways, and he was soon turned around and lost—which he was quite sure was the intention. "This is enormous," he commented.

"Salem started building this place back in 1972," Cinder informed him. "It's about ten, twelve square miles of tunnels and so on. She had it built as a secondary production facility for GRIMM and so on; nobody in the West bothered to even look over here, since everything's supposed to be dead. Can you believe it? We actually have wolf and bear problems in the forest!" Cinder laughed. "The whole thing is powered by a nuclear reactor." She pointed upwards. "That's what's in those buildings up above us. They're made to look like ruins, but that's actually the reactor and generating plant. There's fifty feet of concrete between us and the reactor, and it's cooled by nitrogen, both to disguise it from heat plumes on satellites, and to keep everything working...so don't worry. It's not going to explode, if that's what you're worried about."

"I wasn't," Cheshire replied. "You'll have to show me around more later."

"Of course," Cinder said. "It'll be my pleasure." Cheshire knew that he was probably about to be killed for sure now; Cinder was being far too friendly. Even so, he knew there were no other safe havens left. Not for awhile. Once the heat was off and NATO was back to ignoring Banska Bystrica, then he could go back. Alyx would be upset, but she would understand. She always did.

"Here we are." Cinder broke Cheshire out of his thoughts as she softly knocked on a door. A voice told her to come in, so Cinder opened the door and showed him inside. "See you later," she said sweetly, and closed it behind him.

Cheshire stopped in shock. So far, the facility had been almost antiseptic, white walls and pipes, with linoleum floors and arrows directing people where to go, though the hallways had been sparsely populated. The doors had been marked with symbols and numbers he didn't understand. This room he did understand, because it looked like an opulent hotel room, with leather seats, luxurious sofas, and a picture window that somehow showed the forest and river outside; he saw that it was actually a projection from an overhead camera. Set into a depression in the floor was a circular bathtub.

In it was Salem. She lounged against one side of the porcelain tiles; next to her were two bottles of vodka with two glasses. Her alabaster skin glowed in the soft light, the tops of her breasts just above the water, and her white hair was out of its braids, to fan out across the tile and into the water. The blood red eyes took away from the otherwise beautiful sight as they fixed on him. "Good evening, Charles Tabey—but you prefer Cheshire, yes?"

"I do." He put his hands behind his back. "Thank you for taking me in."

"Certainly." She motioned to the bath. "Please, join me."

"Ah—all right, then." Cheshire wondered what Salem's game was, but his situation had not changed. It occurred to him that Salem might want to seal a new partnership with sex; it wouldn't be the first time he had done so, though not with her, of course. He stripped off his sweat-stained flight suit, G-suit and survival vest, his boots, and then his underwear. Salem watched placidly, sipping on the vodka. Cheshire walked naked down into the bath and settled into it; the water was warm and smelled pleasant. He could see all of her beneath the water, and Cheshire thought that, for a woman that should be over sixty, she looked rather good, odd colored skin and eyes all the same.

"Drink?" she asked.

"Don't mind if I do."

Salem reached over and opened a new bottle of vodka, then poured him a glass and handed it to him. The other bottle was nearly empty, so she poured the rest of that one into her own glass. "I suppose it's a cliché," Salem said, "a Russian drinking vodka. What can I say? Perhaps it is genetic."

"It could be," Cheshire replied, taking a drink. The liquor burned on the way down, but it was a nice burning, and he had been parched from the long flight. "I do enjoy a good scotch, after all."

"I suppose Ruby Rose, being from the American South, prefers a mint julep." Salem looked over his shoulder. "I don't see her, Cheshire, and you came alone."

He took another drink; Cheshire had been prepared for the sudden change from pleasant hospitality to threat. "I did. Things went…rather wrong."

"I should say so. Mr. Eminescu contacted me shortly before you arrived. Ruby Flight and a group of very rough individuals, who I suspect is the same Delta Force operators who attacked my headquarters in Warsaw a week or two ago, landed at Satu Mare not long after you fled. They arrested Neo Politan and then shot her." She shrugged. "I have no problem with that—Neo was an untrustworthy little bitch, and if the Americans killed her, that's a point in their favor. She already served her purpose." Salem pointed to the sofa, and Cheshire saw a laptop computer sitting on it—at least, it looked like one. "That's the Joint Inter-National Network…a rather unimaginative acronym, JINN. Undoubtedly one thought up by my late, unlamented Ozpin."

Cheshire helped himself to more of the vodka. "I wasn't aware that Eminescu worked for you."

"He doesn't. He works for whoever pays him—and whoever leaves him alone. I do the latter. The Americans did the former. Apparently Neo was worth a million dollars, so I can hardly blame Eminescu for taking the money."

"She was worth that much?" Cheshire rolled his eyes and settled further into the bath. "Damn. I should have simply turned her over to NATO."

"You probably should have. Then you would probably still have your base, your aircraft, and your woman. Alyx, isn't it? I think JINN said that was her name. Instead, you are here, your base and aircraft have been undoubtedly confiscated, Alyx probably knows you cheated on her with Neo—those walls are awfully think at Satu Mare—and I…" Salem spread her hands. "I'm now 20 GRIMM poorer. I'm still replacing my losses from Poland, Cheshire. I didn't need to lose more to simply edge Ruby Flight's kill totals higher." She finished her vodka and set the glass aside. "According to you, Ruby Rose was either dead from kerasine or dying from it. Instead, she turned up at Satu Mare looking very hale and hearty. So everything you promised was a lie."

"I didn't lie," Cheshire insisted. "I didn't know."

"Perhaps." Salem leaned back. He nearly dropped his glass when he felt her feet on his thighs beneath the water. "Well…water under the bridge, I suppose. Now that you are here, tell me, Cheshire…what do you bring to my table?"

He gulped down more of the vodka as her feet moved a little higher. There was a fey smile on her bloodless lips. "What do you mean?"

Her toes teased a little. "Oh, come now, Cheshire. All my minions have something unique. Cinder Fall is a rather good fighter pilot. Mercury Black is not very intelligent, but he's a blunt instrument and flies well himself. Tyrian Callows is my shotgun that I point at my enemies—and is also a fine pilot. And then there's my chief designer, Ambrosius…my geneticist, Dr. Merlot…and so on. So what can you do for me? You are a rather good pilot as well, but what else?"

"My contacts," Cheshire said. "I have them all over the world. I can procure aircraft for you."

"Mm." Salem was resting her feet against his stomach now, her chin nearly at the water's surface. "I have contacts that can do that as well—the Malachites, the Crown."

"But I can do better than them. Lil' Miss Malachite works for herself, and herself only. She'll sell you out to the CIA. The Crown are a bunch of crazy monarchists that want to establish a pan-Arab kingdom. You can't trust them. You can trust me." Her feet moved down a little further. "Oh, Lord…"

"That is true. And perhaps you can offer…something else?"

He set aside the empty vodka glass and moved her legs apart. "Perhaps I can," he purred.

Salem laughed. "A lover? For me? You are quite tempting, Cheshire."

"I try." He moved a little further, reached out, and took hold of her breasts.

"A shame that I have to kill you," Salem sighed.

"Kill me?" He laughed softly as he teased her a little himself. "Why would you would do that, love?"

"Because, Cheshire, you bring nothing to my table that others don't already do better. And unlike them, I can either trust them to do as they're told, or I can trust myself that I can manipulate them into doing what they're told, while they think they're doing what they want. You, I cannot trust to do as your told, and you're too smart to be manipulated...usually."

"So true." He leaned forward to kiss her. "But I'm curious as to how you're going to kill me, Salem. You're not in a good bargaining position here…not with my hands on your knockers and my knob somewhere even better."

"Cheshire, Cheshire, Cheshire," Salem laughed. "Always thinking with either your wallet or your penis. I've already killed you."

"I don't feel…" He blinked as he realized his heart racing was not from excitement or arousal. "You…" He looked over at the vodka. "You poisoned it."

"I'm afraid so. If you had actually proven you were worth something to me, I would have administered an antidote." She reached out and shoved him away, then stood up as he floundered in the bath. "But you are worth nothing to me, Charles Tabey Junior. Your contacts will be compromised by the CIA when Alyx turns over your files to Arashikaze. The money you've squirreled away in Swiss bank accounts I hardly need—not with the gold mines of Kolyma at my disposal. I have a good crop of pilots that I trust not to turn on me the moment they're offered money or power—Emerald Sustrai nonwithstanding. As for a lover, I hardly need one of those, and those I take I can trust not to cut my throat at the first opportunity. Even your Moonslice offers me nothing...aside from another aircraft for Cinder to play with." She shook her head. "You tried playing a game in which you are less than a pawn, and you have lost."

Cheshire felt his muscles stiffening up. Whatever the poison was, it wasn't kerasine. His throat felt like it was closing. His feet went out from under him, but he managed to slam himself backwards into the side of the tub to keep his head above water. "Sal—Salem," he struggled out. "I…I have…"

"You have nothing," Salem said with finality.

His vision began to swim. "I…I…I have…" He coughed and spluttered as water washed over him. "I have…th-the...Black…sm—"

"Oh, hurry up and die, you useless fool." Salem leaned over and shoved his head below the water, and held it there. He stopped struggling fairly quickly, but she kept him under for a full two minutes. When she let go, his body slowly rolled over and floated for a moment before it slipped back under the waves. She got out of the bath. "At least you had the decency not to foul my bath." She grabbed a towel and began drying herself off; as she did so, Salem wondered what Cheshire had been trying to say. She considered asking JINN, then dismissed it. It had been the ravings of a doomed and dying Faunus, and she was not that curious.

AUTHOR'S OTHER NOTES: So passes Cheshire, the Curious Cat. I really had to give some thought to leaving him alive; he's kind of grown on me. I originally intended Cheshire to be as crazy and manipulative as the Curious Cat from the Ever After, but he ended up being some kind of weird combination of the Cat, Harry Flashman, and Gordon Ramsey. Unfortunately, much like Salem, I couldn't figure out how he would fit as one of her minions, so he meets his demise. Like Salem said, he tried to be a player in a game he wasn't part of.

I also wanted Salem to have another base besides Yamantau, so Chernobyl it is. The name actually dates back to the 12th Century; the city of Pripyat wasn't built or even named until 1972, when the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant broke ground. In the ORW universe, Chernobyl would not have been built by 1962, so it gets turned into a secret Bond villain lair for Salem. I couldn't resist Cinder reassuring Cheshire that the reactor wouldn't explode-after all, RBMK reactors don't explode. (Hope Salem doesn't have any power tests scheduled.) I also put in references to Dr. Merlot from the Grimm Eclipse game, as well as the Crown from the CFVY novels. I have a feeling either one or both will show up in canon RWBY, as Salem is getting low on allies. Carmine Escalados would be fun to write into ORW. I did manage to slip Jessica Cruz in there, but an unseen cameo is the most that the RWBY/JLA crossover will affect this story.

Hopefully we'll start getting into the court of inquiry stuff next week. Until then, throw me some reviews!