"…and then, there are the treads," Velvet continued to her captive audience as the party walked through the endless sands. The walls of Vacuo were rapidly approaching, standing tall and uneven as they formed a massive ring. "The little nubs along them add traction, and trying to run regular tires out in Vacuo would be pointless. A dunecrawler is less a bike, and more a… rocket-shaped tank."

"A rocket for your crotch," Roman contributed. "It's a sexy machine, that's for sure. Bulky, but you want something bulky down there."

"…bulky is not a term I've ever heard used to describe… down there…" Sage said thoughtfully.

"It's a little sketchy," Kali considered. "Girthy? Just plain 'thick', maybe?"

Ghira merely sighed, shaking his head for what felt like the tenth time that morning.

"Is sex all they talk about?" the burly man asked in a low voice as he turned to a blushing Summer.

"Not always," Summer reassured. "Just… often. It's honestly somewhat endearing, after dealing with it for so long. It's also pretty easy to shut down, if you know how."

"Is that right?" Fox asked with a confident grin. "I think I'm picking up what you're putting down." With a quick pulse of aura, Fox meandered over between Kali and Roman and threw an arm around each of their shoulders. "So! How long have you two been a thing?"

Kali's ears shot straight up at the question, and Roman began coughing uncontrollably as he slipped out from beneath Fox's arm. Neither of the supposed couple looked his way, though Fox remained gleefully ignorant of the fact.

"…did I kill him?"

"Just about," Qrow said half-jokingly as Roman continued to sputter and stumble away from Kali, toward the back of the line.

The faunus looked somewhat disappointed by her partner's reaction, though she quickly turned to squeezing Fox's scarred biceps instead.

"…wow, you work out."

"Don't we all?" Fox asked. "We're hunters."

"And that's one hell of an academy," Taiyang said with a low whistle as he looked up at the steppe pyramid of Shade Academy over the nearby wall. "It's all one building…?"

"It is," Ghira confirmed as he made his way up to a nearby gate. "And the majority of it is actually underground. There's a massive natural cavern divided up by construction beneath the pyramid. The building's really mostly there to keep it from flooding with sand."

Two trained huntsmen stood guard outside of the swinging metallic door. The gate itself was more a formality than anything- while the 'walls' of Vacuo did indeed stand on either side of it, the majority of the outer limits of the city were formed by buildings arranged in a ring. Everything from houses sculpted from clay to brick-and-mortar buildings were lined up in a gentle curve to form a gigantic ring almost a half mile from Shade Academy, and several of the alleyways between them were totally unguarded. Slipping into or out of the city unnoticed would be quite easy, especially during the night. Bartholomew stiffened slightly as he realized that that fact may have been by design.

"The outer ring…" the boy mused as the two guards swung the gate back for the approaching teens. "And the inner- how close is it to Shade?"

"Literally touching," Velvet said as she walked alongside OKRA, still guiding her dunecrawler. "This outer ring is all residential… or almost all residential. There's also an orphanage, the primary academy of Oasis…"

"…Oasis Academy is near the outskirts of the city?" Raven questioned. "Those students can't defend themselves from grimm attacks, or invasion attempts. Doesn't that leave the most vulnerable hunters as the easiest targets?"

"You would think so, but not quite," Ghira began as he moved to the front of the procession. "Oasis, as you see it above ground, is mostly just offices. Just like Shade, the majority of the school is underground… and it connects to the larger academy through a series of tunnels. They're really one Academy in all but name, to be completely honest."

"Interesting…" Adam said as his eye darted back and forth amongst the meandering crowds. The sudden blast of noisy conversation and street music that had assaulted his senses the moment he crossed the threshold of the gate and stepped onto rocky ground had him on edge. "But still… why? Just because they can run from grimm outside of the city doesn't mean it's a good idea to place them in close proximity to the danger."

"Grimm aren't the real danger," Velvet said with a hint of mischief in her voice. "We get plenty of practice against them, even as children. It's the people of Vacuo you've gotta watch out for. Most of the shady types are petty thieves at the market that makes up the inner ring, and young guns like to jump straight to their guns when they're pickpocketed. It's safer for everyone if the would-be hunters and sticky-fingered rabble are kept apart. Besides… now and then, actual hardened criminals unafraid of hunters show up at the inner ring."

"And law enforcement?" Willow asked. "They're not particularly effective in downtown Vale, but where are they located here?"

"What law enforcement?" Fox asked, clearly amused.

"You're telling me that this place has no laws? None at all?" Taiyang said incredulously. "Just… the hunters police Vacuo? It's all vigilantes?"

"Save for one. The Headmaster," Sage said cryptically. "The headmaster talks? People tend to listen. Criminals tend to listen. When people stir the shit too much, he steps in. Then, the dust settles pretty quickly."

Qrow and Raven exchanged a quick look, before the Branwen brother cleared his throat.

"…out of fear? Respect? Both?"

"Definitely both," Ghira answered as the party continued to weave their way through the crowds, getting closer and closer to the steppe pyramid. "I doubt you'll get the chance to meet him, but that may be for the best. He's a suspicious man that tends to keep to himself. That's another reason that his public appearances are so effective."

"I hate to say it, but… that isn't too far removed from the way that things are run up in Atlas," Willow said hesitantly. "I mean, obviously, there's a full army and law enforcement system established, but when the headmaster speaks? He holds two council seats. People tend to listen."

"…huh. I can see it," Fox considered. "In a weird, roundabout way. Opposite extremes with the same fundamental failsafe."

Taiyang raised a brow as everyone fell silent.

"…no blind joke?"

Fox blinked in surprise, looking as though he had been stunned by a sudden jolt of electricity.

"I… guess I missed it. Huh. Nerves must be getting to me."

"Nerves?" Adam questioned. "You're a local, and still nervous about going into the market?"

"It's not easy, here," Fox admitted. "Tracking so many people with my semblance at once is draining. See for yourselves."

Fox solemnly nodded toward the market up against the base of Shade Academy, drawing STRQ, OKRA, and Willow's attention toward the 'inner ring' of the city. Wooden stalls with cloth coverings draped above them, small buildings, spacious tents, wooden carts, and carpets loaded with merchandise were pressed up against each other as they fought for space around the Academy. Nearly every storefront was packed with people inspecting the wares, and each vendor was yelling loudly as they hawked their goods to the assembled crowds. The majority of the people- sellers and buyers alike- were faunus, though there were a few humans milling about as well. Even to the crew from Vale, it was stunningly obvious who among the patrons were foreigners to Vacuo.

"I can't even imagine trying to navigate this with a semblance," Kali said softly as she kept a grip on Fox's arm. "Are you alright?"

"Just fine," Fox reassured. "Though I'm usually holding on to Velvet while we walk through. As long as I've got someone to hold on to…"

"I don't like it," Roman said warily as he brought up the rear of the pack. "The market, I mean."

Kali wasn't quite convinced.

"Few people do," Sage said with a shrug. "It's certainly an… acquired taste. Academy entrance is just over there. Do you all plan to hang around inside?"

"No," Bartholomew answered quickly. "If all goes well, we'll make the drop off and be right back outside with all of you. That being said, I fully expect this not to go well or be that simple."

"Chin up," Willow insisted. "Things have worked out thus far, haven't they? After all, we met BASS. I'd call that a fortuitous turn of events."

"She isn't wrong," Summer said cheerfully as she stared up at the massive pyramid before her. "Alright, teams. Let's do this!"

"We'll be waiting right here," Ghira replied. "Are all nine of you really going in to deliver a suitcase?"

Willow stiffened slightly at the question and moved to stand next to Ghira.

"You know… that is a good question. I think I'll stay out here with BASS. After all, I'm not a part of the 'crew' as it were."

"You'll always be part of the crew," Qrow insisted as he gave Willow an uncertain look. "But, I get what you mean. I'm not entirely sure if we should go in, either. OKRA was tasked with delivering the case. Not us."

Adam cleared his throat in protest.

"And yet, if we do get an audience with the Headmaster of Shade, I think you all should be there. Willow would be a lot harder to explain."

Raven and Qrow both looked to Summer, who was nervously playing with the edge of her cape. Suddenly, she released the fabric and stood a bit taller.

"…we're going in, too. No mistakes, no funny business. Let's try to get this to the headmaster personally."

She could feel every single set of eyes upon her back, some heavier than others. One was nervous, suspicious, even, and expected her to run. Another wanted her to run, so that it could give chase through the snowy mountain path and tear her limb from limb. Yet another seemed totally impartial to her and her actions, instead looking at her out of boredom with the rest of the scenery. The final set of eyes- the unnatural, reddened set with black sclera- she couldn't even begin to guess their motives, but it was that pair that filled her with fear more than any other.

"Tell me, child," the owner of the unnatural eyes began. "What is your name?"

The young woman leading the group tensed up, not daring to look behind herself as she raised her voice to be heard above the whirling wind.

"It's… Sparrow…" she said slowly. "Of the Kenna lineage."

A lilt of amusement entered Salem's voice as she listened to the uncertainty in Sparrow's voice.

"The Kenna family still lives?" the witch asked. "How… interesting. Unexpected. I'll be sure to pay your current patriarch a visit after our business at the temple has concluded."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there is no one left to visit," Sparrow lamented as a structure became visible through the snowstorm. "There is no patriarch. I am the last."

"That explains quite a bit," Tyrian replied, his voice practically singing as he sped up to walk at Sparrow's side. "You were so alone, out on patrol. So easy to capture… as though you wanted to be found."

"Does any of this really matter?" Hazel questioned. "We're here for one reason, and one reason only."

"That may no longer be true," Salem said enigmatically, her eyes transfixed upon the massive wooden gate up ahead. "We've arrived. Sparrow, if you would?"

The shivering young woman marched ahead and stood before the gate, leaving her charges behind her. She closed her eyes as she felt several more pairs weighing upon her from on high.

"Sparrow?" a voice called from somewhere in one of the watchtowers. "Who are these people? Where have you been? The council has been looking for you!"

"I…" Sparrow began as she opened her eyes and looked up, unable to see her comrades through the falling snow. "I need you to let us in. They're not a threat. You have my word!"

"Your word? Is that not Leonardo Lionheart?" a second voice questioned. "He's been exiled."

Sparrow's breathing quickened. She couldn't put her finger on just what was wrong, but she knew that something terrible was about to happen.

"I… please, for my safety, and yours, I need you to open the g-"

An arrow whistled through the air, the noise masked by the howling mountaintop winds until it was too late for Sparrow to notice. Her eyes widened as the spinning missile came into view, headed directly for her face. Just as the arrow came within arm's length, a curtain of inky black material rose from within the snow, catching the projectile and snapping it in half.

"It's her! It's the grimm qu-"

No sooner had a third voice called out from the watchtower than the entire gate exploded with blackness and shards of bone from every crack within the wooden structure. A massive, tangled root of oily sinew continued to burst through the ground and impale itself within the guards atop the towers before holding their corpses aloft like macabre decorations upon a charred tree. Salem quickly approached as the tendrils and spears of bone continued to weave and splinter their way through the walls encircling the mountaintop encampment. A horn began to sound in the distance, and Salem flicked eyes full of scorn to meet Sparrow's terrified gaze.

"They care little whether you live or die," the witch said pointedly as the giant doors were torn apart entirely by the slithering tendrils. "Lead the charge, and take us to the temple. Fight for your life, little Sparrow… and I may just let you keep it."

Author's Note:

Next up is Chapter 69. Uh-oh…

-RD