Sun let out a long, tortured breath that he wasn't aware he had been holding as the portal opened beside Qrow and a trio of figures rushed through onto the tarmac. Raven was quick to follow the rest of her family as she sealed the dimensional door off behind herself and quite nearly collapsed from fatigue. Taiyang caught the huntress and held her against himself, and for the first time in what felt like ages, Sun actually managed a small smile.
A transport ship carrying thousands of civilians along with Weiss, Marrow, and oddly enough, Harriet and Cinnamon had arrived only moments before. The craft was quickly followed by two others, both of which landed safely and began to let more citizens of Mantle off onto the landing pads. Blake had successfully retrieved Coco, Cardin, and Ilia from down in the infirmary in the interim, and all three had taken up spots around Sun.
The chameleon faunus' injuries had just missed the femoral artery, and she had narrowly escaped death with only temporary, albeit painful injuries. Jaune was keeping a hand upon her leg to speed along the healing process, though the expression on Ilia's face was one of agony throughout. Coco looked exhausted and stressed, but insisted on joining the assembly topside to discuss who was going where and when. Cardin, though scarred and still with bits of steel fused into his flesh, seemed resolute in his determination to contribute, and spent the waiting period allowing Ilia to lean on him so that she could stay upright. Almost no one had emerged from Mantle unscathed, but it seemed that everyone who had committed to escaping had arrived in Atlas alive.
For once, things were going right for the group. Despite the less-than-ideal evacuation and the state of the lower city in the days to come, Sun felt that he and his friends had been incredibly lucky. All around him were reminders of what he was truly fighting for- Daisuke had Cinnamon wrapped into a tight hug, and though Sun didn't know the man at all, he could tell that the embrace was one for a couple that had been through hell together. Ruby and Yang shared a similar embrace, the elder sister whispering something to Ruby that Sun couldn't quite hear. Even Raven and Qrow were content to support each other as the huntsman helped Taiyang keep his sister upright. Seeing that they were all alive and all still had someone they cared for was a small victory that Sun was content to savor as he looked out at his friends… even if many of them didn't share the sentiment.
"So many people are still down there…" Weiss lamented as she made her way up to Sun with a guilty look. "We did all we could, but…"
"We did all we could," Sun echoed. "Never forget that. It may not even be over yet, if some people decide to try to make another trip down… but time is running short. Amity is apparently on its way up, and the entire air fleet is protecting its ascent. Once Ironwood parks it here… that's the end. He's going to raise the city out of Salem's reach."
"And Emerald's still down there," Ruby replied. "We have to find a way to try to retrieve her. She went after Robyn alone…"
"Shit," Sun cursed as he rubbed at his forehead. "I'll… we'll come up with a solution. We owe it to her, for trying to help us. We need to make a lot of decisions right now, before Ironwood gets here a-"
"Before he gets here?" Elm asked rather loudly, drawing the attention of those farther away from the center of the conversation. In small groups, the hunters moved closer as Elm advanced upon Sun, looking annoyed. "For what reason would you start making plans without consul-"
"Maybe because it's time we took things into our own hands," Blake chimed in as she stepped forward to stand at Sun's side. "The second he arrives, he's going to want to raise Atlas, all else be damned. Ironwood has made it perfectly clear what the priority is, and he has given us reason not to trust him with being open to adjusting the plan beyond that. He remotely detonated Sun's scroll down in Mantle, and while it saved us then… he could have chosen to do that at any second and for any reason, without our knowledge. All of the scrolls he gave to the people who brought the lamp to Atlas are likely rigged to explode… and yours probably are, too."
"…you've gotta be fucking kidding me," Ilia seethed as she pulled the gifted scroll from her pocket. "This is a bomb? I fucking told you people!"
"He could have, and he didn't," Elm pointed out. "Our devices have that functionality for exactly the scenario you found yourselves in- The General used it to buy you an escape, did he not?"
"Wait- you knew about this?" Marrow asked, his tone full of disbelief as he kept a tight grip on Weiss' hand.
"…and you didn't?" Weiss asked, her face going pale.
"Neither did I!" Harriet roared, still hunched over and trying to catch her breath as she held her injured arm. "What, were we just too naïve to be told the truth? Did you think we would turn on General Ironwood if you and Clover explained the situation to us? You really think it was best to just fucking keep secrets from your own colleagues and expect us to fall in line if the curtain ever got pulled back!?"
"Do you think Vine didn't know?" Elm challenged. "You weren't told for a reason, Harriet."
The Winter Maiden clenched a fist and her teeth tightly enough to make a grinding noise within her head.
"Every single one of you, stand down," Elm ordered as she moved a hand toward her hammer. "Without Clover here, I'm the one in charge o-"
Elm's words were interrupted by a resounding crunch as Ilia stomped her gifted scroll to pieces on the pavement, her eyes blazing and locked upon the Ace Op the entire time.
"You're in charge of no one… and we don't answer to you, or Clover, or Ironwood. We came here because it was the safest place for the lamp, and we'll be leaving because it's no longer a safe place for us."
"And because Vacuo is next in line as a target for Salem," Sun added as he approached Ilia and put a hand upon her shoulder. "This doesn't need to become hostile… but you need to step aside, Elm. Now. My friends and I are going our own way on this one, but we're not about to leave Atlas high and dry, either. Not everyone is going to head to Vacuo… and not everyone is going to leave Atlas, either. We need some people here, but the terms of this alliance are going to have to change. If you're proclaiming yourself to be in charge, then you're going to have to either compromise… or fight. Not even an Ace Op can stand against all of us."
"Especially when two others are on Sun's side," Marrow added. "I won't stand for any of this. Clover and Ironwood have a lot to answer for…"
"Hell yes they do," Harriet agreed. "But that can wait."
"For what it's worth- I agree," came a smooth, thoughtful voice from just outside the ring of gathered combatants. Oscar Pine stood with his hands clasped behind himself, looking every part the patient Headmaster and completely unlike the farmhand he presented himself as. "Sun's words hold merit. His group's every move thus far has been in the best interests of Remnant, and I, as well as Ironwood, have not been entirely honest with our methods…"
"That's putting it lightly," Ruby accused with a glare. "There's still vital information you're not telling us!"
"Is now really the t-"
"It's never the time, is it!?" Yang interrupted. "Why don't we just get it all out in the open right here, right now, and hear what it is that you've been holding back? You know, other than the fact that Salem can't die. That one little detail that just seemed to slip your mind, unless you were holding it back intentionally. But you'd never do that to us- right?"
"Miss Xiao Long…"
"Everyone, please!" Weiss said suddenly, panic ringing clear in her voice. "I just… hold a moment, if you would. Where… where is my family? Where are Winter and Whitley right now? Are they inside the Academy?"
Sun suddenly felt very cold as his tail came to a complete stop. He looked around at the others in the crowd only to find them wearing similar expressions of confusion and panic. It only took a few seconds for the group to collectively realize that no one had an answer.
Blood was streaming from Winter's hairline as she stared down the alleyway before her. An ursa was waiting for her midway through the cramped corridor, and a writhing mass of indeterminant black awaited behind the beast. The huntress was breathing hard, her usually immaculate uniform stained with ash and ripped open in several places to reveal fresh battle scars. Winter's hair was a hanging, sweaty mess, her aura was running low, she was admittedly lost, and neither of her charges were capable of fighting alongside her. It was supposed to have been so easy, and yet everything had gone so wrong in an instant.
"I'm not getting anything…" Whitley said nervously as he kept his fingers pressed to his borrowed earpiece. "I'll keep trying, but…"
"No one's coming for us," Winter snapped. "Comms are down, and we're stranded. I'll… I'll get us to safety. Relative safety."
"The only safety is up in Atlas," Jacques said, though his voice lacked all of its usual haughtiness. For once, the man sounded terrified as he kept close to his daughter, his fists raised ineffectually in a desperate and sloppy attempt at a defensive stance. "You'll find a way, won't you? You've trained for situations just li-"
"Don't you ever pretend like you know what I've trained for," Winter snapped. "You've never had interest in my military career, you've never once shown approval for the path I chose, and up until this very moment, you never wanted anything to d-"
"Please," Whitley said loudly, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. The boy pressed harder on his earpiece, beginning to panic. "Please, don't do this right now. Hello? Anyone!? We were ambushed on our way to the evacuation zone, and… grimm are everywhere…"
"Whitley," Winter said firmly as she rested a hand upon her younger brother's shoulder. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. As long as I'm still standing… you're safe. We need to find a place to hide. Once Amity is in the air, we can try to call for a ride up to Atlas…"
"Look out!" Jacques called, directing Winter's attention back to the alleyway.
The ursa was barreling toward them on all fours, and Winter was quick to separate her blades. With a flourish of the longer sword from the pair, she summoned up a glyph and unleashed a hail of frozen bolts straight into the narrow tunnel. The grimm was assailed with countless razor-sharp shards as it continued to run, eventually slowing and slumping forward when it became overwhelmed. Unfortunately for Winter, several other grimm were chasing along behind the beast as it dissolved. Winter's aura began to pulse dangerously as the shards dwindled in both frequency and intensity. With a deep breath, the huntress steeled herself and raised her blades in a fighting stance in anticipation of the incoming tide.
A sudden explosion from the other side of the alley thinned out the back of the herd, and several of the running beowulfs and lumbering ursa turned to locate its source. Winter took advantage of the distraction and charged forth into the fray, tearing open the throats and bellies of several grimm in a whirlwind of blades. Another explosion rang out dangerously close to her and she summoned up one final glyph from which to kick off, sending her back toward Whitley and Jacques. Within seconds, the only remaining grimm was a rolling boarbatusk headed straight for her. Just as the beast cleared the alley, however, it spun out and slid along the pavement sideways with ash spraying from within its sensitive underbelly.
It didn't take long at all for the woman responsible to reveal herself as she walked through the smoke toward the small gathering of Schnees. Robyn Hill walked purposefully through the smoke, stopping only to wrench a crossbow bolt from the pile of ash where the boarbatusk had been. She, too, was bleeding rather badly and looking annoyed as she locked eyes with Jacques.
"…so, you got left behind, despite all of your supposed connections…"
"One of them being you," Jacques accused as he adjusted his collar. "We have no way up to Atlas, and this sham hardly matters anymore. We need to work together openly to get out of this alive. Tell me you have a plan."
Whitley's face paled as he looked between the two candidates. The boy's stomach was twisting itself into knots as he tried to understand the situation, and Winter didn't look like she knew what was going on, either.
"What's going on…?"
Robyn spared Whitley a brief glance, her face full of disdain.
"Isn't it obvious?" Robyn asked. "I'm on your father's payroll."
"You're what?" Winter snapped, looking between the two with barely contained fury.
"Oh, don't act so surprised," Jacques admonished. "As if I would allow anything like a revolution down in this shithole without pulling the strings behind the scenes. All that matters now is that we have another huntress with us, and she can relieve you of some of the burden of protecting me."
"When we get topside…" Winter began to threaten.
"We're not going topside," Robyn asserted. "We're going to the election hall, and leaving Mantle. You lot have no exit. I do. Keep up or die. I don't care either way."
Winter stared in disbelief as Robyn took off at a run, Jacques close behind her. Whitley was next in line, and Winter moved to follow.
"Winter?" the boy asked, his cheeks reddening with effort as he ran. "What do we even do…?"
"We survive first," the huntress answered. "We deal with both of them later…"
Author's Note:
Next week… oh boy…
-RD