The tension in the room was palpable. Light from the ruined moon spilled into General Ironwood's dark office as the fragmented orb continued its slow ascent into the sky. To Sun, it felt almost as though they had entered the office while his namesake was still hanging in the sky. Minutes passed like hours as the general examined the collected evidence from the scrolls sitting upon his desk. Holographic replications of the images floated within the air, giving a rough layout of the rooms within Robyn's tavern, as well as the oddities found in her basement. Sun, Ilia, Weiss, Clover, and Winter all stood silently as they watched their superior scrutinize each photo over and over, his expression pensive.

"…well?" Sun dared to ask, his tail dragging along the floor of the office as it shifted from side to side. "Can you make anything of it all?"

"…I don't have a damned clue," General Ironwood admitted with a sigh of resignation. "None of this makes any sense, at least with what little context we have now. Robyn has every reason to have some munitions, given her self-appointed role as a community protector down in Mantle, but these blue flowers and that chained door…"

"They seem to suggest some sort of smuggling operation," Winter considered. "Empty crates marked, full ones left plain. The question now is whether Robyn is marking crates to be filled… or someone else is marking crates they've emptied."

"That does seem to be what's going on," Clover agreed. "But who? And why?"

"Who the hell knows?" Ilia asked. "Hope's scans of the wreckage in comparison to the ship's original cargo don't match up with what's in Robyn's basement. Of course, she could have moved exactly those materials in a hurry, just in case… which would mean that the flowers mark contraband that has been successfully taken away from the tavern. Probably through that door."

"But again- why?" Weiss asked. "What reason would Robyn Hill have to associate with… anyone, really? She can't be running supplies to the White Fang, or at least, I can't see a reason to do so when she's running for public office in Atlas."

"And if she is, we'll find out from Cinnamon tonight. She's got no reason to have Robyn's back," Sun assured. "But I'm with Weiss- that doesn't sound right. There are no organized pirates out there in the ice fields?"

"None that we can confidently name," General Ironwood confirmed. "They may well be organized, but we have no solid proof. No name, no motive other than terrorizing the S.D.C., and no leader… unless it's Hill herself. Still, I strongly doubt that. You did… well, Sun and Weiss. As well as you reasonably could have in enemy territory during broad daylight. I may have overstepped and asked too much of you two out of frustration. What I'm saying is… good work, you two."

"Thank you," Weiss acknowledged with a curtsey. "It wasn't exactly glamorous work, especially in the aftermath of our sneaking when we ended up running that tavern all day…"

"But was it good work?" Sun asked. "We haven't really accomplished anything other than raise more questions. We backed out when things got too hairy."

"And that's an important skill to have as a leader," Clover praised. "Some fights are unwinnable. Some leads aren't worth pursuing or need to be sidelined until later. Keep that in mind in the coming days and weeks, when we're likely to be facing an enemy who is largely unknown."

"Clover's right," General Ironwood confirmed. "This evidence may well be important… but we're unlikely to be able to sink Hill with it in only a few days. This can't a priority right now, given what little you found on her property. Your task now is to meet with Cinnamon and do what you can to extricate her from Salem." The general paused and furrowed his brows, seeming to have arrived at a sudden conclusion. "Actually… I think I might have just come up with a way to go about this…"

"You… did?" Sun asked, simultaneously feeling curious and nervous.

General Ironwood nodded and moved closer to the faunus, his expression stern.

"I did. Listen very carefully, and follow my instructions to the letter. Let's see how good you are at manipulation…"

"So, I guess what I'm saying is… I'm sorry," Ruby said into her scroll as the truck rumbled along the dirt road. "I'm really, really sorry, to both of you. I haven't been a great friend, and I've been a worse leader. I should've opened up to you earlier, when you first offered…"

"Hey," Nora chided. "Don't beat yourself up over it. We're all going through a lot. Ren and I get it, and we're on our way to you. Everything you've told us about Ozpin and what he told you about your eyes and your mom… yeah, this is starting to make more sense, now. All that stress on top of feeling like you're not longer in control would put a lot of weight on your shoulders. We can talk more about specifics once the resort is secured. We'll pull an all-nighter tomorrow and just catch up."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Ruby agreed. "Still, I feel awful that it took us being separated for me to start using your shoulder. Even in this big group, I still just feel… alone. I don't know what to do about my eyes. I'm not like the rest of you…"

"You're still one of us," Ren chimed in. "And while I understand your hesitance, taking Torchwick's words into consideration isn't necessarily a bad thing. The fact that Raven is telling you to be suspicious of Ozpin as well gives merit to the idea."

"Your friend's smart," Raven called from the front seat. "Listen to him."

"I really should," Ruby agreed. "How are you two holding up, though? No grimm attacks on Beacon?"

"None yet," Nora answered. "Things have been relatively slow, b-"

The sudden deceleration of the vehicle caused Ruby to lurch forward and miss the rest of Nora's words. She leaned through the middle of the two front seats, squinting into the darkness to try to see what exactly had caused Taiyang to slow down. A good distance ahead in the truck's headlights was a girl kneeling in the road, her leg bloodied and features indistinguishable. She had her hands held up in front of her face to shield herself from the light, and her arms quivered noticeably.

"…Nora, I have to go," Ruby warned before disconnecting the call. "Gun it."

"What?" Taiyang asked, turning around in his seat to give his daughter a look of disbelief. "Ruby what are y-"

"It's her," Ruby said as she narrowed her eyes. "Neopolitan, the woman I told you about. This is a trap, and we're being slowed down intentionally. Step on it and get ready to swerve just in case she doesn't move!"

"Cold," Raven remarked. "But understandable. If you're right, we can't afford to stop, and if you're wrong, we can always turn around…"

Taiyang stepped on the accelerator and the engine of the truck roared to life, carrying it forward with increasing speed. The woman in the road stood up onto her injured leg without hesitation, and an umbrella materialized in her hand as a pink shimmer flickered down her body. Ruby had already opened the door and dived out the side of the truck, whirling into a spiral of red fabric to overtake the vehicle as she sped on a collision course for Neopolitan. Before the truck could even pass her, Ruby had reformed and clashed the blade of Crescent Rose against Neopolitan's umbrella, sending sparks up into the air.

"Listen to me, right now!" Ruby hissed as Taiyang roared past her and steered the truck into a wide turn in order to face the two girls. The other vehicle behind Ruby stopped short, lighting up Neopolitan and giving a clear view of the road and surrounding trees. "Roman Torchw-"

The rest of Ruby's words were lost in a cacophony of sounds brought about by rushing projectiles of energy flying from the tree line. Ruby leapt back just in time to let the bursts pass harmlessly between herself and Neopolitan, only for Mercury Black to come rocketing out of the woods with an overhead axe kick aimed straight for the top of her head. The man's boot clashed with the shaft of Ruby's weapon and for a moment, he balanced atop the implement while staring down at her.

"Been a while," Mercury sneered. "I owe you for what you did to Emerald back at Haven."

Just as Ruby opened her mouth to speak, a hail of bullets flew over her head for Mercury. Sudden pressure upon her arms was the only warning Ruby received as Mercury flipped backward, deftly avoiding the barrage from Coco's minigun. As Ruby diverted her gaze downward, she found Neopolitan rushing straight for her, a long blade readied and aimed at her gut. Ruby brought her scythe down and fired off a shot for her attacker, causing Neopolitan to shatter into a collection of shards as the bullet impacted her torso. A second later, Ruby felt a rush of wind behind her and pivoted to find Cardin swinging his gigantic mace in a wide arc.

"Got your back!" the young man called as Neopolitan leapt out of range of the blow. "We've got numbers of them!"

"Numbers won't do much against him!" Oscar called in an authoritative voice as he pointed toward the trees. "Winchester, Adel, and Alistair! Hold him back!"

Ruby clenched her teeth as she watched a shirtless Hazel step forward from the forest, dust crystals already jammed into the skin of his arms.

"'Hold him back'," Hazel spat. "And here I thought you would've learned that such a thing isn't possible after Haven. Not sending the Maiden after me is a mistake, Ozpin…"

The three teens leapt into action as they formed up around Hazel, sizing him up and waiting for the massive man to make the first move.

"Ruby!" Taiyang called as he joined his daughter and stood at her side, holding his trident aloft and tracking Neopolitan's movements with the tines. "Can she even be pinned down?"

"When an aura is broken, a semblance stops working. All it would take is a well-timed blow," Raven said confidently as she came to Ruby's other side, watching her back and focusing on Mercury. "We'll handle these two. Get Roman on the line as soon as you have an opening and keep Taiyang close to her. I'll do the rest."

Mercury opened with a flurry of spinning kicks, flinging more bursts of energy Raven's way. The woman parried each deftly with her sword, her eyes beginning to glow as Ruby rushed forward, firing in Neopolitan's direction with her scythe. Taiyang slammed down a lever on the side of his weapon, launching the tines from the trident to follow up Ruby's assault. The metallic points sped through the air, high tension cables behind them as they reached for Neopolitan.

With a twirl of her umbrella, the small woman deflected one of the tines while leaping the others. She opened her parasol in midair to hover in place, only for Ruby reach upward with her scythe and go for a raking slice downward. Neopolitan tucked in her legs for a moment before kicking the blade away and beginning to float backward, putting some distance between herself and her attackers.

"Make the call!" Taiyang ordered as he pulled back a separate lever on the trident to reel the spikes back into the weapon. "See you soon!"

Ruby took out her scroll as Taiyang leapt into the air and aimed his trident backward. Gouts of flame spilled forth from the tines and rocketed him upward, carrying him high into the air to trade blows with Neopolitan. Ruby spun around to check on Raven as she hurriedly navigated through her contacts list only to find Mercury on the defensive and barely dodging the woman's furious strikes.

"I'm fine!" Raven snarled. "Focus on what you're doing!"

Ruby winced as the call connected and she turned her attention back to Neopolitan, who had landed and begun clashing weapons with Taiyang in the middle of the road.

"Ruby?" Roman asked. "Why do I hear gunfire?"

"Long story," Ruby said quickly. "Neo's here. We need you to talk her down!"

"Say no more," Roman answered. "Get the scroll to her, and I'll handle it. I won't let you down."

"And I'll return the favor," Ruby insisted. "Time to seize the advantage and turn our luck around..."

Author's Note:

Consider the "war arc" begun.

-RD