Sun had really tried to stay seated on the edge of the transport craft and simply watch from a distance as Marrow tended to the wounded emerging from the apartment complex. Sitting in one spot and taking a breather as he tried to recover from his wounds should have been the easiest thing in the world, and yet, he found himself fighting back the urge to stand and offer help every few seconds. The faunus had started idly swishing his tail to work out some of his nervous energy, and while that occupied him for a while, Sun did eventually stand up and begin to pace. Only a few short minutes later, he found himself several feet from the plane and questioning if he really did have some ingrained problem with authority. Not long after that, he was face to face with Marrow, who wore an exasperated expression as he looked up at Sun's guilty one.
"…just couldn't look after yourself, huh?" the older faunus asked as knelt down to wrap a length of gauze around an injured tenant's wounded leg. "I'm honestly not even surprised."
"Yeah… sorry…" Sun said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "Anything I can do to help? I don't have much medical experience, but…"
"Not particularly," Marrow replied with a tired sigh. "I just got off a call with Weiss. She's making her way up the levels and hasn't run into Cinnamon… yet."
"I could g-"
"No, you couldn't," Marrow said to cut Sun off. "You might be back on your feet, but you're wobbly and off your game. I can see it from here. The last thing we need is you passing out in a staircase from a combination of fatigue and smoke inhalation. You need to rest, especially since we're all going to have to debrief later tonight anyway. Or this morning, the way things are going…"
"That's like… the thing I'm worst at, though," Sun complained. "I can't just sit on the sidelines when I could be helping!"
"…I give it a year before you're wearing one of our uniforms," Marrow joked. "Honestly, we'd be glad to have you. All of us have that problem, Sun. Still- doctor's orders. If you have to do something, then I'll put you on triage. Find out what injuries people have as they come out of the building and prioritize them. That would actually help quite a bit."
"Easy enough," Sun replied as he gave Marrow a salute. "I'll… we've got incoming…"
Marrow followed Sun's finger as it pointed upward, where a streak of brilliant green shot across the sky. The sparkling trail curved toward the apartment complex and swooped into a dive, bringing its owner to a spot in the air just before the two faunus. Jets of flame from the soles of Hope Polendina's feet arrested the android girl's motion and brought her to an unsteady hover several feet off the ground as she looked over the two men with a nod and smile.
"Sun Wukong! It is good to see you alive!"
Sun blinked in confusion as he looked up at the girl, noticing immediately that something about the way she carried herself had changed dramatically.
"But… you just saw me a few hours ago…"
"In a technical sense," Hope answered. "We do not have time for details, but I have been restored- it's me, Penny!"
"…oh, shit…" Marrow said softly as he looked up at the floating android with wide eyes. "The General isn't going to like that…"
"Let's not worry about that right now," Sun said as he held out a hand toward Marrow, unable to fight back a grin of his own. "Good to see you, too! But… why did you come here? Weren't you with Jaune and Elm?"
"I was, yes," Hope answered. "I came to check on your progress with the apartment while they make their way here. Moving in to prioritize search and rescue!"
"Weiss and Cinnamon have that covered," Marrow said, catching the girl's attention. "Could you start putting out the flames?"
"Right away!" Hope replied before flying up along the side of the building.
Sun watched as Hope retracted her hands back into her arms, trading them for a set of mounted cannons. Torrents of water began to fly forth from her limbs, dousing the flames as she flew back and forth to spray the most obvious patches of flames. The spectacle was soon interrupted by a vibration in Sun's pocket, and he was quick to take out his scroll and check the new message from Yang that had been sent to their entire group of friends.
Everyone, get back to Atlas as soon as you can. Clover just sent a message to the Aces to call them all home, but I think our group needs to meet up and stand together ASAP. I'll wait for you all at the landing zone outside of the Academy. Raven, Ruby, and Oscar are here, and they brought us Fox Alistair and Cardin Winchester. Both of them are badly injured. Coco Adel, Qrow, my Dad, and Neopolitan are outside of Argus, and the city's under siege. We have no time to waste, and I've got a shitload of bad news from Raven. We need to get to Ironwood… or get the fuck out of here and take matters into our own hands. Don't share this message with the Aces, in case we end up on Ironwood's bad side tonight. Be prepared for the worst and stay on guard.
"…just got word from Clover," Marrow announced as he looked up from his own scroll. "As soon as those two get out of the building, we're to pull back to HQ. Hopefully local EMTs get here by then. I might not be able to get my family out of Mantle tonight after all…"
"Don't say that," Sun replied, his face pale as he began to type as quickly as he could. "We'll… figure out a way to get it done, before we go topside. I'll cover for you, somehow. If we're being called back to Ironwood, though… so much for getting sleep tonight."
Where are Blake and Neptune? Ruby was supposed to bring them to us with Qrow.
"Sleep… as nice as it would be, I don't think it's in the cards," Marrow mused as he finished tightening the gauze and waved the next tenant over to him. "I hope you've pulled an all-nighter before."
"One or two, yeah," Sun said nervously as he kept his eyes glued to the device in his hand. "But they were a lot more fun than this one…"
"I can imagine," Marrow replied as he began inspecting a faunus' wounded arm. "Maybe those days will come again. Maybe. And here we were, thinking we were going to have a party before things got rough…"
A soft buzz caused Sun's heart rate to skyrocket as a new text came through.
They're somewhere in the snow fields outside of Argus and making their way to Qrow. They got separated for some reason, and Raven can't open a portal to them. All we can do is wait until they reach him… and we won't know when that is.
"Shit…" Sun cursed as a collection of red and blue lights came around the corner, speeding toward the apartment building. "That must be the local authorities. Marrow, get going!"
Marrow turned his head to look at the incoming vehicles, and then gave his patient an uncertain glance.
"Sun, I can't just…"
"If Clover gets here before you leave, you won't be able to get your family up to Atlas!" Sun warned. "Go!"
"I… don't wait for me. I'll get back on my own!"
Marrow gave Sun one last anxious look before he turned to run off around the side of the building. Sun let out a sigh of relief, only to hear a familiar voice call out to him from among the approaching ambulances.
"Sun!" Jaune cried as he clung to the side of the emergency vehicle. The moment that the transport rolled to a stop, he leapt down and ran over to the other boy. "Did you get him?"
"Get…" Sun repeated, taking a moment to figure out what Jaune even meant as he watched Elm hop down from the other side of the ambulance. "Watts? No, he was already gone by the time we got here. We ran into Scarlet with some kind of super-grimm, though, and they both managed to escape…"
"Figures," Jaune replied as he shook his head. "Still, good to see you're alright."
A second streak of light, a deep crimson in coloration, appeared in the sky and began heading toward them. Jaune drew his sword instinctively, but Sun was quick to step between him and his target.
"That'd be Pax," the faunus explained. "Penny must've called in backup to help with the fire."
"Penny…" Jaune said as he slid Crocea Mors back into its sheath. "Feels weird to say. Feels good."
"I'll admit, it's not terrible," Elm added as she walked up to the pair. "Everything alright, here?"
"As alright as it can be," Sun replied as he watched Pax appear overhead and begin to circle the building. The second android mirrored Hope's movements, spraying gouts of water at the building and adding to her counterpart's efforts. "Mission failed, but we're all still alive. Lots of dead inside…"
"Something we're going to have to get used to as this turns into a full-scale war," Jaune lamented. "Weiss alright?"
"She's still inside," Sun answered. "Once she and Cinnamon come out, we'll head up to Atlas. Emergency services should be able to handle things here, and Marrow's got a ride back to the city."
"Where is he?" Elm asked.
"…family emergency," Sun answered as he gave the muscular woman a hard look. "I told him to go and take care of it while we settled things here."
"It's important to take care of the ones important to you," Jaune emphasized. "That includes family. Friends. Marrow's smart- he wouldn't have gone if things weren't under control, here."
Elm let out a long sigh and shook her head as she looked up at the smoking building. Hope and Pax flew inside a pair of windows, working to douse the fires from within.
"…yes, he has made a point of how important it is to take care of ourselves and those we care about. I won't raise an issue over it. The two of you have been right more often than not."
"Good," Sun said with a sense of finality.
Sun's scroll buzzed again, and he drew it from his pocket to find a message from Ilia.
On our way to you- we can see the fire from a block away. We've got some serious dirt on Robyn, and Emerald's in custody. You alright?
Almost got killed by a giant grimm after being thrown into a fire while unconscious, so yeah, I'm fine, Sun replied. See you soon.
The reply was immediate and consisted of only a single word.
Asshole.
Sun chuckled and returned his scroll to his pants, only for Weiss and Cinnamon to emerge from the apartment building as several emergency workers ran past them to enter it.
"Sun?" Weiss asked. "I thought you were supposed to be resting. Actually, now that I say it out loud, the fact that you're not makes perfect sense."
"…yeah," Sun replied. "I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a terrible one that you all know me so well…"
"If we didn't, our lives would be way worse for it," Jaune offered as he nodded down the street. "Here comes trouble. The good kind of trouble."
Ilia, Clover, Corsac, and Emerald were making their way toward the building, with the faunus out front and the leader of the Ace Ops holding the other girl's arm as they went. Sun took a step backward as Ilia sprinted into a flying leap directly for him. He was barely able to stop her momentum by spinning as she wrapped him in a hug, her feet whirling above the pavement. As Sun guided her to a steady landing, she threw a hard punch into his shoulder.
"Hey!"
"You are not allowed to get knocked out in a burning building," Ilia proclaimed as she glared up at her friend. "Seriously. Don't let it happen again."
"I'll… try not to?" Sun said uncertainly as he rubbed his aching shoulder. "Man, you're getting stronger…"
"We all are. Is this everyone?" Ilia asked as the rest of her party made it up to the front of the building.
Corsac kept his distance from the rest of the group, his eyes not leaving Cinnamon once as the woman ignored him.
"Seems to be," Clover answered from behind the faunus. "Don't suppose I could put you in cuffs if I wanted to."
"You couldn't," Cinnamon said coldly. "You have nothing to charge me with, other than saving Sun and leading you all to your targets."
"Somehow, I don't think that's true…" Clover considered. "Either way, we need to get back."
"…Marrow's taking his own transport," Weiss chimed in as she looked up from her scroll. "He has something to take care of before joining us in Atlas."
"Then Elm and I will take Emerald with us," Clover decided.
"…she rides with us," Sun said as he stepped in. "Her semblance can probably fool two people, but not a crowd like my squad. We'll keep watch over her."
Emerald gave Sun a thankful nod as Clover released his grip upon her. Without hesitation, the young woman walked over to stand near Cinnamon and Ilia.
"Fine," Clover said as he turned around to face the waiting transport. "All of you, take that one home. Elm and I will take mine. Don't make me regret giving you autonomy. You're already in hot water with General Ironwood."
"Don't I know it," Sun replied with a roll of his eyes. "Alright, people. Let's head home."
"Home…" Ilia considered as the group began to walk. "Never thought I'd think of Atlas that way."
Weiss moved to walk beside the faunus, her voice soft and comforting.
"I'm beginning to feel the same way about Mantle. This is a place worth protecting, and we have a better chance at it than anyone else on Remnant."
Cinnamon couldn't help but scoff.
"And just how good are our chances? Do we even know?"
"We don't," Sun answered as he hopped up into the side door of the aircraft. "But I have a funny feeling we're about to find out."
Author's Note:
A sort of transition chapter, but a necessary one to wrap up the various missions. Next time, the group reunites and prepares to head to confront Ironwood… and something else will happen, as well…
-RD