Cardin met Ruby's eyes, his expression one of disappointment.

"Jaune… isn't with you, is he…?"

"Jaune went to the front lines in Atlas," Ren said calmly as he and Nora remained up against the wall opposite Cardin's table, both looking rather guarded. "Why?"

"I…" Cardin started, only to hang his head and give it a solemn shake.

"…guys," Coco interrupted as she put a hand on Cardin's shoulder. "Now is not the time for this. We can deal with the high school drama later, after you're all brought up to speed."

"Actually… I'd hate to start something, but I have to disagree."

Everyone in the room looked to Velvet as one of her rabbit ears flicked nervously, and she gave Cardin an apologetic look.

"Cardin isn't the person he used to be, and I think clearing the air would let us all work together more effectively. I'm sure they have questions. They didn't see… what happened."

Ruby took several deep breaths as she watched Cardin continue to stare down at the map of Sanus, avoiding everyone else's eyes. The silence in the room was deafening, until she finally mustered the courage to speak up.

"What… happened?"

Cardin drew in a breath through his nose, heavy enough that it was audible to everyone in the room.

"They're dead," he said coldly. "Russel, Dove, Sky… my entire team. I was there. I saw it happen, when… when Beacon fell. First it was Russel, and it was so sudden that none of us had time to react. He was just… swarmed by grimm that broke through a barricade. We all tried to run, and Sky… he fell. I wasn't fast enough to go back for him before he was underneath a living wall of grimm. Dove…"

"You don't have to do this," Nora offered, her voice soft and apologetic. "That's en-"

"Dove and I managed to escape," Cardin interrupted as he looked up at Nora, his shoulders shaking and a furious expression upon his face. "We managed to hole up in an empty lecture hall, and we made a last stand together. He went down, right in front of me. I had to watch as a beowulf went for his throat. If Coco hadn't seen me through a window and leapt in to help, I would've been dead. I should be dead."

"You're not the only one, kid," Roman offered as he leaned up against the wall next to Ren and folded his arms. "But the fact of the matter is… you're not. Neither of us are, and we've got work to do."

"Yeah," Cardin agreed. "I'm not the best. I'm not the most qualified… but I am the angriest, and the most driven. That's why I'm here, planning this aspect of our defense, Ruby. I'm not going to stop until every last grimm in Sanus is wiped off the map, and if you get in my way…"

"No one is getting in your way, Cardin," Coco reminded as patted Cardin's shoulder and then removed her hand from the boy. "We're all here to help you and work together to push back the encroaching grimm."

Oscar balled a fist and coughed gently into his hand, his eyes flashing a brilliant green as he stood up a bit straighter. The move was enough to earn Cardin and CFVY's attention as the young boy approached the table and mimicked Cardin's stance, bracing his hands on either side of the map and leaning over it to look down.

"And with me here… I'll see to it that your fallen teammates are avenged."

Fox shifted slightly and tilted his head, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"And… who are you, exactly? Unless Yatsuhashi just hit puberty and his voice changed, it sounds to me like there's a 12 year old with us now? Did I miss something?"

"…Oscar is 15," the farmhand said with a roll of his eyes. "I suppose this must be doubly strange for you, Mr. Alistair, but you are speaking to Professor Ozpin, in the body of one Oscar Pine. I'm here to help."

Fox paused, totally taken aback as he raised a brow. The remainder of CFVY and Cardin all had similar reactions, ranging from Velvet taking several steps backward to Coco removing her sunglasses entirely with a look of shock upon her face.

"…you guys are messing with me, right? It's not nice to play tricks on the blind guy in a situation this dire…"

"We're not," Ruby reassured as she stepped forward. "He's telling the truth- Ozpin is in Oscar's head, and he's working with us… but… Ozpin, you said that if we came to Beacon, it would be a disaster. You were furious and didn't want to help. Not to mention, revealing yourself to everyone seems…"

"Things change," Oscar replied with a wave of his hand as he studied the little flags stuck down into the map. "It will be a much bigger disaster if I stand idly by, especially while the grimm are forming a circle around Beacon, and slowly tightening the noose. Besides… Mr. Ayana, Oscar isn't the only one you've been speaking to, lately."

Sage bristled and cracked his neck.

"…is that so."

"It is," Oscar warned without sparing the man a look. "I've taken your words to heart. You and I will talk later."

"Okay, hold on," Cardin said as he made a 'T' with his hands. "We're talking to the ghost of the headmaster right now? Possessing an adolescent farmer?"

"Correct," Oscar confirmed.

"That… seems unlikely," Yatsuhashi offered. "And yet, with everything we've seen and heard in the past year, I'm not even going to question it."

"Yeah, no, I believe it," Coco added as she placed her sunglasses back in front of her eyes. "Fucking wild, but I believe it. Can we get an actual explanation later?"

"You can," Oscar confirmed before looking up at Cardin. "But first… tell me your plan. I may have insight into what is going on, and ideas as to how to handle it."

"Alright…" Cardin said hesitantly before beginning to point at several red flags upon the map in sequence. "It all started maybe six months ago? Grimm began appearing in greater numbers, moving in giant roaming balls of death all around the countryside, attacking small towns and vomiting black shit all over the landscape. It seemed random, at first, but… it's not. They started here, then moved here, then here, and finally, they all moved around to a bowling alley a good 20 miles from the Academy. The deathball just kept getting bigger and bigger with each attack, and they moved in unison every time. Almost like they were being controlled by something."

Ruby exchanged a worried look with Ren and Nora, though none of them dared to speak.

"If you look at the placement of these flags," Cardin continued, "they roughly form a large square around Beacon. The fifth major attack came at a town between the first two. The sixth? Between the second and third."

"…they're boxing us in…" Ren observed as he finally began to approach the table. "Trapping us."

"Yeah," Cardin agreed with a nod. "There are lines of grimm and black pools connecting those five points, forming two perpendicular sides of half of a square. We wanted to evacuate everyone we could out of the remaining two sides before they strike again, but… Professor Goodwitch is insisting we hold Beacon, for some stupid reason. That leaves us one option."

"I think I see where this is going," Ruby said as she pointed to the unoccupied space between the third and fourth flags. "This line is open, and so is the line between the first and fourth flags. They will move to close the square sooner or later… so we should beat them to the punch."

"Smart kid," Coco praised with a smirk as she folded her arms across her chest. "We've been trying to figure out how to divide ourselves up to occupy the two remaining halfway points without compromising our defenses against random attacks at Beacon, but we kept coming up short. Now, with you all here? It'll be easy."

"Easier," Cardin insisted. "The waves of grimm that are going after these places… I've never seen anything like it. Nobody has. It's like… a tidal wave of fur and bone. Most of the other skilled hunters were either killed during the fall, attempt to take back the first two points, or they got out while they could after seeing what's coming. We don't really have many people to spare."

"You've got us," Ruby reassured. "What are the two remaining targets, and which are we hitting first?"

"Well… a lakeside resort and a shopping mall," Cardin replied as he ran a hand through his hair. "Kinda stupid, I know, but… they're halfway between the remaining flags. Those are our best guesses. The mall would be easy to fortify with enough people, but the resort? It's... gonna be a struggle to work around all that water and cover everything, especially with only a few hunters. Lots of spread-out attractions and forested areas."

"…and we're hitting both at once, aren't we?" Oscar asked with a knowing look at Cardin.

"…yep."

"That seems… risky," Nora pointed out. "Especially if these waves of grimm are as big as you say, and we're not getting backup."

"Yeah, well, that's the job," Fox said with a shrug. "If we wait until we… or the rest of you see the grimm coming, it'll be too late. We have no idea which point they're attacking next… and we should leave some people behind at Beacon, just in case this is all a diversion and they plan to rush the school."

"Additionally, occupying both points gives us a better chance of running into whatever agents may be spurring on these attacks," Oscar said with a pointed look at Ruby. "There must be some people here in Sanus pulling the strings for the grimm to be acting like this."

Ruby nodded slowly and pointed to one of the two yellow flags upon the map.

"…I'll take a team to the lakeside resort. If it's the harder one to defend… I've got a secret weapon against the grimm. Let me handle it."

"Fine," Cardin acknowledged. "But we're not quite at the point of picking out teams just yet. Still more research to be done on both areas, and I've gotta run all this by Port for approval. You actually showed up right at the beginning of the planning phase, and your timing couldn't be better."

"We need to move quickly, but not so quickly that we move carelessly," Coco warned. "And on that note, CFVY is due for check-in at Beacon. We need to report in to Goodwitch about a recent outing to bring down a chimera."

"By all means," Oscar replied as he leaned up from the table. "I'll be joining you and Cardin for these planning sessions from here on out, though you're both doing rather well already. In the meantime… Roman. You and I need to have words."

"Do we?" Roman said flatly as he pushed off the wall. "Guess I'm still on 'the naughty list', huh?"

"Something like that," Oscar agreed. "Ruby… I would suggest that you, Ren, Nora, and Sage take the remainder of the day to familiarize yourselves with Styx."

"Won't hear any arguments from me," Sage replied with a shrug. "I'll be looking forward to our… talk."

Sage was the first to lead the way out of the command center, followed closely by Roman, Oscar, and finally, Team CFVY. Nora walked forward to join Ren and Ruby at the table as Cardin turned away and approached a filing cabinet. The trio of hunters watched for a moment as their former classmate pulled out a drawer, his hand shaking all the while.

"Cardin…" Ren said quietly.

"Don't," the boy warned. "Just… don't. I'm sorry for all the shit I did back when we were at the academy together, but… that's not who I am anymore. None of that matters. None of that even feels like the same lifetime, now. I don't want your 'support' or your pity, or your apologies. I'm sorry for how I acted toward you guys, and especially Jaune, but just… leave. Get out. The less I have to think about the old days, the better."

"You know that isn't the right way to go about this," Ruby said carefully. "Especially since… we lost someone, too. We're going to get through this grimm situation together, as a team. We can get through dealing with the past together, too. Nobody should be fighting any battles alone right now, and we all have to set aside our differences to make this work. Please, just… give it some thought?"

"…didn't the man up top give you people somewhere to be?" Cardin deadpanned as he went back to rifling through the cabinet.

"…we'll be around," Nora said as she shook her head and turned to make her way toward the door. "Just let us know if you need us."

"Yeah. See you," Ruby added before heaving a sigh and following Nora out of the building.

"…wait," Cardin called as he turned around, only to find Ren halfway out the door.

"…yes?" Ren asked as he closed the door behind himself and gave Cardin his full attention.

"There's… you have no way of contacting Jaune, do you? There's no real way to get a message to Atlas anymore?"

Ren shook his head solemnly in response.

"Jaune… chose to take on a great responsibility, and that took him away from us. We miss him, but we have faith that he's alright. He would forgive you, Cardin. Especially now."

Cardin scrunched up his nose, seeming to consider his options before returning to the filing cabinet.

"…yeah. Maybe."

Ren merely offered a small bow of his head before leaving the command center and hurrying to catch up to his friends.

Author's Note:

This scene ran over, but it was important to flesh it out to set up Ruby's arc for the foreseeable future. Next week… something a little different in Atlas, and then some Sun focus…

-RD