"If it's a routine mission, why are you going alone?"

Summer rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. Though the feeling of Taiyang's hands lightly caressing her own brought some comfort, she couldn't help but still feel a little annoyed.

"Listen to yourself, Tai. I'm going alone because it's a routine mission. Oz's contact needs an escort through the forest just outside of Vale. Sure, there might be beowulves, maybe an ursa, but… nothing I can't handle alone."

"No ursa's gonna stop Mom!" a small, blonde-haired child with several missing teeth proudly proclaimed as she appeared in the doorway leading inside from the porch. "She'll kick it's ass!"

"Yang," Taiyang said disapprovingly. "Language. Where did you even learn that word?"

"Uncle Qrow!"

"Of course you did," Taiyang muttered as he lifted a hand to put his face into it.

"See? Even more reason you need to stay behind for this one," Summer said with a smile as she placed her hands upon Taiyang's shoulders. "Someone needs to watch the kids, and if Qrow does it, they'll learn even more colorful words."

"Mommy?"

Summer looked past Yang to find an even smaller girl holding a stuffed animal in a death grip. She was clad in a pair of light pink pajamas, and her dark brown hair was hanging down in front of her face.

"Yes?" Summer asked as she knelt down and held out her arms in front of herself. "What's wrong, Ruby? Did we wake you?"

"Are you leaving again?" the girl asked as she trundled forward, dragging her feet across the wooden planks of the porch. "I don't want you to leave…"

"Just for a little while," Summer promised as she pulled her daughter into a tight hug. Ruby's head bonked against her shoulder, and she transitioned a hand up to rub at the child's hair. "I'll be back before the moon is up."

"Promise?"

"I promise," Summer asserted. "I'll never let you down, kiddo."

"'course not! You're the best!" Yang agreed as she flung herself into the hug, nearly knocking Ruby over.

"Maybe not the best, but close enough," Summer replied as she stood up from the hug. She planted a quick kiss upon Taiyang's lips before giving him a final nod and smirk. "I'll see you all soon."

"I'll be waiting," Taiyang answered. "It's never quite the same here without you."

Ruby could feel the fingernails of the pale witch digging into the flesh of her neck deep enough to draw blood. She watched as Salem glowered at the lamp and narrowed her eyes, her grip on both the replica and the small girl tightening. Salem's eyes flicked from the lamp to Ruby's own, and within them, she found a burgeoning rage that perfectly reflected what she, too, was feeling.

No words needed to be said between them. The understanding was immediate, as were the stakes behind each of their next moves. Someone was going to die, and each thought that the other more than deserved it for what they had done.

A low, guttural noise unlike any Ruby had ever heard from herself before escaped from between her clenched teeth. The growl escalated to a furious yell as her eyes began to flash, strobing quickly enough to paint the entirety of the lobby in blinding light. Ruby felt Salem's nails dig even deeper into her throat, though she was barely able to make out the woman's outline through the rapidly pulsating lights. Suddenly, another bright, prismatic flash filled the area and Ruby fell to the floor as Salem was thrown to the side with great force.

Not far from where Ruby had fallen stood Oscar, his cane held outward in both hands like a sword and the tip of the weapon smoking with multicolored trails of what could only be raw magical power. The boy was breathing hard and his hair was a shaggy mess as though it had been tossed about in a forceful wind. Raven was quick to join his side, her hand upon the hilt of her sword as she stared down their opponents. Ruby scrambled backward to Oscar's other side and clenched her hands around her scythe, digging it into the ruined carpeting to stand up while she surveyed her surroundings.

Nearly all of the grimm material within the lobby had dissipated, and in its place were stringy strands of black and a rising white smoke pocked with ash. Salem had been thrown backward toward where the chrysalis had once been, and a long trail of scour marks through the floor reached from where her fingers were embedded into the ground almost to where Ruby stood. At her side was Tyrian, who looked rather pale and as though he was in disbelief as his mechanical tail swept from side to side in a nervous tick behind him. Hazel stood slightly in front of the pair and off to the other side, several dust crystals of multiple colors already embedded within his arms and upper chest.

"…adorable," Salem mocked as she dragged herself to a standing position, her eyes full of mirth. "Is now really the time to be using that, Ozma? I know what resources you possess, and they are finite. Mine are limitless. You know what I want, and if that lamp really is just a convincing reproduction… then I can at least claim a Maiden as a consolation prize. Give her to me, and I'll allow you two to walk away… for now."

"Lives are not a currency I am willing to spend," Oscar declared as he whirled his cane and rested the tip against the floor before him. "And there are more here than the two before you. All of them are ready to stand against you to the end."

"Are they?" Salem questioned. "Then perhaps I'll give you an opportunity to show me what little soldiers you've managed to raise during your reprieve. Tyrian. Hazel."

"Goddess?" Tyrian acknowledged as he took a step forward and raised his arms in a stance of preparation, his katars pointed directly at Ruby.

"Leave us."

"…ma'am?" Hazel asked, giving his superior a sidelong look of uncertainty.

"You are not needed here, and you seem to be missing a subordinate. My grimm have spotted Mercury on the run. Find him. Bring him to me," Salem ordered with a wave of her hand. "Use the tunnels below the building. I will handle this minor inconvenience personally."

"But y-" Tyrian began, only for Salem to step forward and raise the back of her hand in his direction.

"Leave."

It was then that Ruby noticed that Oscar was beginning to sweat profusely from his hairline and collar.

"You will not claim her," Oscar said definitely as Tyrian and Hazel moved to escape behind Salem. "This fight isn't going to go the way you think it will."

The sound of clanking metal rang out through the lobby as Cardin ran inside, his mace held up over one shoulder.

"Hey, the grimm all just stopped moving. It's almost like th-" the boy began, only to come to an abrupt stop several feet behind the assembled fighters. Cardin's face paled as he looked Salem over, and all of the bravado and determination was sucked out of his voice in an instant as he spoke again. "Is that… her?"

More footfalls echoed through the ruined doorway as Taiyang, Coco, Fox, and Neopolitan entered the lobby and fanned out, further bolstering the ranks standing opposite of Salem. No one else dared to speak as they sized up the sorceress, who wore a smug and subtle smirk.

"…eight of you, just for me?" the witch mused. "And how many among them know the truth, Ozma? Half of them? Perhaps only one?"

"What truth?" Ruby seethed, finally breaking her fuming silence. "If you're going to stall, then tell us what game you're playing! Why did y-"

"No," Raven interrupted as she tightened her grip upon Omen. "Now isn't the time to be divided. We have to stand together against her to have any chance in hell at surviving this!"

"All of you, go," Oscar commanded. "You are not ready f-"

"Fuck that," Coco declared as the barrel of her minigun began to spin up. "We're here to keep her from getting to Beacon, aren't we? Hunters don't run!"

"I can feel the darkness emanating from her…" Fox warned. "Perhaps this isn't our f-"

"My head is pounding," Taiyang added as his knees began to shake. "My semblance is running wild, and I can't… she doesn't even feel human…"

A bitter, high-pitched laugh echoed throughout the lobby as Salem raised the back of a hand to her mouth. As she lowered her limb once again, she revealed a predatory smile, her eyes alit with something deadly and confident.

"You won't prove to be nearly enough, children. You cannot even stand united, let alone fight as one. All that aside, you have become pests worthy of removal from my new domain of Sanus."

"Enough," Raven spat. "Make your first move, demon… and for your sake, make it count."

"Oh," Salem mused as she raised her hands, their fingertips swirling with an odd, wispy energy. "I already have…"

Yuma drew in sharp breaths as Scarlet escorted him back toward the middle of the floor. Arthur Watts was talking, but the faunus wasn't paying any attention at all. A sudden flicker on the monitors mounted around the room had caught his attention, and the gun barrel pressed into his side was another unwelcome distraction. It wasn't until he was shoved toward an unfamiliar table and held in place by two faunus that he didn't recognize that he began to realize what was going on. One of the two men put a hand over his mouth and dragged him back into the booth, effectively preventing him from speaking out or moving.

"I have a message for you all," Arthur declared as he withdrew a remote from his pocket and held it out. The man made a show of pressing a button, and suddenly, every monitor within the establishment fizzled out at once. "I can assist you in getting your revenge, but first… you all need to listen."

As Arthur finished speaking, every monitor crackled back to life only to show the face of a young woman, though she was something less than human. A single glowing yellow eye pierced through the dark red gloom of the atmosphere around her, while the other was mostly hidden by stringy black hair that covered half of her face. The most striking and grotesque feature of the otherwise attractive young woman was her jaw. Where the chin should have been was instead a divided mandible of warped bone that chittered and clacked in an unpredictable rhythm. The white material was inscribed with red patterning and jutted out from beneath her upper lip where the skin had been peeled away. Her breathing was ragged and shallow as though merely existing was a taxing effort, and as she began to speak, her voice came through with an unnatural reverberation that sounded almost otherworldly.

"Faunus of Solitas," the woman said, her jaw clicking with every word as a strand of black drool worked its way down the bone. "You do not know me, but I know you. My name is Cinder Fall. The late Adam Taurus once made a deal with me to assist in the destruction of Haven Academy, and he failed to uphold his end of the bargain. Before her untimely death, Cinnamon Shoal was working to make good on that debt for the sake of the future of her people. She did a great deal to assist me, and so, I have come to offer both my condolences and assistance in your time of need. Watts. Show them what you've been developing, and how it might serve them."

All attention returned to Arthur Watts amid the frantic discussions occurring within the room. The man held up a white ring larger than his hand made of some sort of glittering metal and made a show of popping it open on one side.

"Scarlet. If you would."

Scarlet did as he was told and moved toward Arthur, who quickly worked to fit the device around the younger man's neck as he began to speak once again.

"Yes, Miss Fall is indeed partially grimm, as so many of you seem keen to point out," Arthur announced while locking the collar into place. "A hybrid being, of sorts, who has faced undue oppression at the hands of those who do not understand what it means to be the next step in evolution- not unlike yourselves. You see, the grimm are a wildly underutilized resource because people fear them, no matter their monetary status, features, or creed. If grimm were to reach Atlas, their citizens would panic just as much if not more than those here in Mantle. But what if I told you that grimm could become your allies in your fight for liberation? What if I told you that with the assistance of Miss Fall and I… they could be controlled?"

The feverish murmuring of the crowd intensified as Arthur stepped toward the covered parcel he had brought with him and thew back the tarp atop it. Beneath the covering was a small doglike grimm snarling within a cage, which the man opened before stepping off to the side. As the beast wandered forward and drove the surrounding faunus back, Scarlet moved toward it and blocked the small grimm's path. As the redheaded man raised his arm, the grimm stopped in its tracks and looked up at him expectantly.

"Stand."

The grimm stood upon its hind legs on command, its eyes never leaving Scarlet's.

"Evolve."

The surface of the unimpressive hound's skin began to bubble and froth as it doubled over. A growl of pain escaped the creature as its claws began to grow at an alarming rate and its limbs extended and crackled. Within moments, the beast had doubled in size and its jaws jutted forward to more resemble those of an alligator.

"More…"

Again the hound let out a cry of pain as more and more of its body twisted and contorted, elongating it to stand taller than Scarlet even on all fours. Quite suddenly, the boy snapped his fingers, and the whimpering beast's attention was again upon him.

"Stand."

The hound did as it was told, awaiting the boy's next command. He didn't give one, instead turning to face the crowd with a flip of his hair.

"…as you can see… the good doctor has powerful tools at his disposal, and they will be made available to those of you who are interested in taking back what should be rightfully yours. We can accomplish now what none of your High Leaders were able to, for all of their talk and good intentions. All you need to do is follow instructions and be willing to learn."

"Now is the time to prepare, before you are called upon to become the crushing wave that overwhelms Atlas," Cinder added from within the monitors. "Those of you who comply will be given power beyond anything you have known before. Those who dissent… will receive a demonstration of what that grimm can do. Let this be the dawn of a new era for the downtrodden and misunderstood. Fall in line… and go with Doctor Watts down into the sewers beneath Mantle. You have much to learn in the week before I arrive."

Author's Note:

Next week will see an interlude with Sun and Ilia getting ready for their respective outings.

The week after will conclude Salem's scene.

-RD