Clover took a quick look around the room, surveying the responses of his subordinates. Elm's expression was unreadable. Harriet had tensed up, the tendons on her neck taut and accentuated by the harsh overhead lights of the office. Marrow seemed incredibly worried and met Clover's eyes with a pleading expression. It was upon seeing the look on the faunus' face that Clover stepped forward to stand beside Sun.

"…General…" Clover said with a sense of heavy urgency. "Wait. We need to consider our options. Do we even know how many questions remain?"

"One," General Ironwood replied coolly as he kept his eyes upon the lamp. "I already spoke with her about that, shortly after she was brought to us."

"She?" Sun asked, looking back and forth between the two men.

General Ironwood cast a glance over his shoulder for a moment before turning to face Sun once again.

"To say her name is to invoke her. Each Relic carries within it an ancient spirit, capable of performing specific, incredible magic. Within the Relic of Knowledge is a spirit capable of answering any question… but she will only ever answer three in a given century. Two have been used in this cycle. That leaves us with one. Denying Salem the chance to use the final question would be a great blow to her efforts…"

"…but is that a good enough reason to use it right now?" Marrow asked. "I do agree with the notion that we need to know with as much certainty as possible whether or not that transmission is legitimate. But… there might be another way. Another way that would cost us time, but spare us the use of the lamp."

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Ilia asked as she nudged the other faunus with her elbow. "Cinnamon."

Marrow nodded slowly, and General Ironwood narrowed his eyes.

"Working with Watts… she would know if he's spoofing the transmission…"

"And if she doesn't know, she's in a position to find out," Sun added. "We could… we could try to get her to run recon for us and get confirmation. She's done it before, with Adam…"

"At the cost of time, and her safety," Elm reminded. "All options here have a tradeoff. Extracting Cinnamon and dealing with her one way or another was the goal, up until a few minutes ago. If she needs to remain with Watts to get us information, then that impacts several other aspects of our current situation."

"You could say that about everything we do," Sun grumbled as he threw his hands up. "No matter what the plan is, we're at a point where every move is going to come with serious consequences."

"Which is precisely why I told you not to go ahead and do what you did," General Ironwood reminded as he shook his head. "But that's in the past, now, and retreading that ground will do us no favors. I do agree that saving the question that remains would be strategically sound… and I have enough doubts about the signal's origins to be comfortable in assuming it's fraudulent. I'm going to go and talk to Dr. Polendina directly, and then, I'll make my decision. I expect you all to abide by it."

Sun was keenly aware that General Ironwood was looking right at him. The faunus was the first of the two to look away.

"Yes, Sir," Clover answered as his superior made his way to the door. "Whatever orders you decide upon, we'll carry out."

General Ironwood gave Clover a subtle nod on his way out the door. After two sets of metallic sounds from the heavy panels opening and closing, everyone in the room fell silent. Sun found his gaze repeatedly being drawn to the lamp as his mind raced, and eventually, he gave up on the notion of being subtle. It took less than a minute for him to end up staring directly at the lamp, transfixed by the odd swirling patterns within the blue stone surface of its bulb.

"…don't," Ilia warned as she grabbed her friend's arm. "Don't even think about it. He would seriously kill you, and I'd probably just roll my eyes because you'd have had it coming."

"Yeah, yeah," Sun acknowledged as he brushed Ilia's hand aside. "I know. Besides, we don't even know how to use the stupid thing…"

"Very few do," Clover replied as he approached the desk and moved to stand behind it. "I don't know her name, either."

"You're joking," Ilia said flatly. "Aren't you the second-in-command? What if something happens to Ironwood?"

"That isn't something you should just say openly," Clover warned as he moved to stand between the two faunus and the desk with folded arms. "But… think about it. Power like that- the ability to immediately know anything you've ever wondered? It's tempting to use it now, in a time of encroaching war. That temptation would be nigh unbearable in a period of peace for even the most stalwart and trusted subordinate, especially if more than one question remained. I can understand why he wants the lamp as secure as possible to the point that only he can use it."

"I think we can all understand it," Marrow offered, "but I also think that nobody standing in this room really likes it. I know I'm still pretty green, but the three of you? You've proven that you're loyal to General Ironwood several times over. When words like 'final battle' are being thrown around, don't you think we need a backup plan at this point? At least one of us should know how to work the lamp in the event of an emergency, and we should probably know the plan for what's going to happen if Salem attacks, too."

"There's a plan beyond 'fight to the last man?'" Sun asked with a raised brow.

"Evacuate Mantle to Atlas and protect the perimeter of the city down below as best we can," Elm answered. "The specifics of how we're going to evacuate Mantle haven't been shared with us."

"…that sounds to me like it hasn't even been seriously considered," Ilia said hesitantly. "Like he's just pushing it to the back of the queue and hoping it doesn't come to that. Call me obnoxiously skeptical, but an evac plan should have step-by-step details long before it's needed…"

Harriet snorted lightly and nervously scratched at her scalp as she began to pace the office.

"Yeah, I said the same thing not too long ago. The response I got was that it's being 'taken care of', and not to worry about the specifics."

"Is evacuating everyone up to Atlas even the right call?" Sun asked. "It sounds like they'd be easy targets while in transport and collecting everyone in a single space is… questionable."

"There's nowhere else to go," Clover said with a shrug. "Solitas is limiting, and Atlas has hard light shields that can be engaged around the entire island in the event of an emergency. They run off a portion of the dust embedded in the rock below the city and should be nearly impenetrable. Nothing's getting through unless we allow it."

"Does that include evacuees?"

The reactions around the room were both mixed and staggered. Ilia didn't take her eyes off Clover as he gave her an annoyed look. She could feel the weight of a few pairs of eyes upon her back, but she refused to break focus as she awaited an answer.

"…General Ironwood isn't like that," Clover said icily. "Regardless of what you think of him… he would never do something like that unless it was absolutely necessary. We will evacuate as many as we can if and when Salem approaches. We have an early warning system set up all around the borders of Solitas, and Argus watching the sea. We'll have time if Salem appears anywhere near us."

"Will we?" Harriet replied as she approached Clover. "If that supposed transmission from Vacuo is bullshit, then how do we know our entire perimeter isn't compromised? What if she wants us to think we're safe while she's creeping closer and closer?"

Marrow nodded along with Harriet's words and moved to appear at Clover's other side, his tail flicking nervously behind him.

"…I would personally feel a lot more comfortable if we as a team checked out the signal towers. I know they haven't been reporting anything unusual, but…"

"Then that's exactly what we'll do, as soon as we get the chance," Clover reassured. "We need to finalize transport of resources to Amity tomorrow, but after that, we can worry about checking the perimeter. Until then, we should all get some rest, put tonight's events out of our minds, and mentally prepare ourselves for whatever orders we receive."

"…how?" Sun chimed in. "Serious question. How do we mentally prepare ourselves for being told to ignore that distress call? I know it probably is Watts, but…"

"Sun," Ilia said sharply, catching her friend's attention. "Since when were you the guy overthinking everything to the point of decision paralysis? I thought your whole deal was just kinda doing things that felt right and being confident that they would pan out in the end, somehow. If you actually do believe that the signal is a fake, then what's the problem? Your gut has gotten us out of shitty situations before, and it also led you to following Blake. Have some faith that you're doing the right thing… because all of us have faith in following you."

"No one is saying that it's easy," Elm added. "But it is necessary. Personally, I'm going to go and get some sleep. I would suggest you all do the same."

"I'll try," Sun acknowledged with a nod as he made his way to the exit. "And Ilia? Thanks. I needed that."

The smaller faunus nodded and gave Sun a subtle smirk.

"Anytime, big bro."

Sun gave a small wave over his shoulder as he walked through the automatic doors. His feelings of crushing guilt only intensified as he made his way to the elevator and began the short journey to the training room alone.

Ren kept his eyes closed, his mind entirely blank as he reveled in sensation. The sheets against his chest, the soft pillow beneath his head, and the touch of Nora's bare chest and arm against his side did wonders to help him settle in for the night. Errant thoughts wandered into Ren's serene subconscious, and he brushed them away as quickly as they arrived. He was vaguely aware of Nora's fingertips gently exploring the muscles of his arms, but he paid them no mind.

"…what are you thinking about?"

Ren opened an eye to find Nora pressed up tightly against him. Despite the blanket covering the majority of her body, he could still see part of the lines of her collarbone as they disappeared beneath the fabric. The sight filled him with a pleasant tingle, spurring him to wake up just a little bit more.

"…nothing."

"Nothing?" Nora asked, her disbelief obvious. "With everything going on, you've got nothing on your mind?"

Ren opened his other eye and then blinked. Something about Nora's voice had changed. Where there was usually a confident and insistent authority, there was instead only vulnerability. Ren couldn't help but wonder if their entanglement hadn't brought something to the forefront of her mind, and whether or not that was a good thing.

"Well… now I'm thinking about something," Ren teased.

"What's that?" Nora asked softly.

"You," Ren answered as he gently brushed Nora's chin with his hand.

Even in the darkened room, he could see Nora's blush.

"…be serious…"

"I am," Ren insisted as he pulled Nora in closer. "Is something wrong?"

"Well… I just feel like we're… failing," Nora replied, deflating a bit as she sank into the crook of Ren's arm. "We failed to help Jaune. I failed to break through to Ruby. Now, we're just… here. We have each other, but overall, this all feels wrong. Like we should be doing more. I know that we're the backup crew and that Beacon and Styx need defending, but it almost feels like we're being…"

"…lazy?" Ren tried. "Unhelpful, because we aren't on the front lines? I agree, but we'll be called soon enough. Perhaps the reason it feels like we're 'failing' is because we're stretched too thin. You need to rest… and I know that telling you that will accomplish little, if anything. That doesn't make it any less true."

Nora was quiet for a moment. She closed her eyes and simply breathed in Ren's natural scent, focusing upon the warmth he provided.

"…I want to call Ruby. I feel like something terrible is about to happen."

"Tomorrow," Ren proposed as he began to trace his fingers through Nora's hair. "She, too, needs rest. First thing in the morning, we'll call… and if she doesn't listen, we can explore other options."

"Alright," Nora conceded. "Tomorrow. Maybe it'll be a better day…"

Ren closed his eyes once again, welcoming the familiar darkness.

"…maybe…"

Author's Note:

Spoilers: It won't be.

-RD