Chapter 95: Besieged
In which the war for the relics finally begins in the most anticlimactic way possible, and everyone does their best to speed it up.
The comms crackled until the audio became clear.
"Attention, all Atlas military personnel. This is your councilman and commander speaking, General James Ironwood."
Though he could only see the bridge crew aboard his flagship, he had a feeling that the rest of the fleet, nay, the rest of the city was listening intently. An alliance stronger than any faction in either the Great War or Faunus Wars had parked themselves within firing distance of Atlas. No doubt the citizenry was on edge by this agitation. The lack of response on his part had been a calculated move; there was no answer he could give them that would alleviate their fears, so he chose to wait until the precipice of the first battle before providing one. It was his hope that any dissidence over his choices would be overshadowed by the more pressing need to repel the invaders.
James was aware that this was skulduggery at best, and outright manipulation at worst. He didn't care. If they came for him with a noose after the war was won, he'd simply be happy they were alive to come after him at all.
"It is my intention to address the forces that have gathered at the Amity Colosseum 30 miles to the southwest of Atlas and Mantle, and to outline our plan for combatting these belligerents."
Steadfast as always, Specialist Schnee had taken command of the ground forces, leading her younger sister and their useful shared Semblance into the fight. Penny Polendina had been refitted with a new array of swords, though Dr. Polendina confessed that the damage incurred to her memory units was beyond his ability. The young cadet seemed to have known that from a self-diagnosis and had accepted her own imminent terminality. While Rose's maiden powers and hand to hand combat skills might have proved invaluable on any other day, her control of the creatures of Grimm would be their ace in the hole this time. As such, she stood beside him and his three dimensional holographic map of the battlefield, somehow still as bright and bubbly as the day he'd first met her under her shrouding cloak.
"I will not sugarcoat this situation, nor will I bemoan our lot. Their intentions are hostile. As of 0200 hours this morning, they declared war on Atlas by beginning a long range Dust artillery barrage. While they are only testing our defenses, poking us to see how we flinch, it is but a matter of time before their true attack begins in earnest, and it shall be the gravest threat this outstanding kingdom has ever faced. Now, it is up to each and every one of you to return the investment Atlas placed in you when you were accepted into the hunter or military academies."
He had promised himself in advance that he would not lie to these men and women. To do so would be the gravest crime imaginable, far more pusillanimous than his usurping of the council or his annexation of the SDC into the public sector. If any among them were fated to perish today, they would do so fully aware of what was at stake.
"Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and the island of Menagerie have bought the word of a madman offering them false prophecies in exchange for cooperation. It is their intention to lay claim to the critical technology that distinguishes Atlas as a wonder of innovation: the floating city's power source. They believe that stealing it will make them stronger. It will not. Without any provocation on our part, they have hostilely landed an unprecedented antagonistic force on our shores in a move that can only be described as a pre-emptive act of war. If they take the power source, Atlas will have no means of autonomous propulsion and will crash land into Mantle, resulting in the destruction of both cities. We cannot and shall not stand for this."
This caught the attention of those around him. It was not his aim to paint a picture of wanton destruction awaiting them, but Rose's characterization of Ozpin's true nature depicted him as a religious fanatic who casually disregarded the lives of those around him in his relentless pursuit of the relics. James was uncomfortably forced to admit that his own interactions with the man had suggested a similar zealotry, though he'd believed it to be directed against Salem at the time.
"Never before has Atlas faced an enemy of this scale, but never before has the true mettle of Atlas' iron will been put to the test. Furthermore, we are not alone in this fight."
Here was the challenging part. James drew upon Mettle's drive to guide him through the admission, lest he falter or attempt to back out. If his soldiers did not fully understand that Rose and her creations were on their side, crossfire would set the seal on their downfall.
"An ally has come forward with an unusual semblance. The ability to control the Grimm."
The collective gasp of the entire Atlesian naval and armed forces could be heard echoing across a now silent city.
"This power may be difficult to accept, but given the vastness of our foe's manpower, we cannot afford to let squeamishness or reservations deprive us of any advantage, however menacing. I know that asking you to fight alongside the Grimm, of all things, in combat against our allies-turned-enemies is asking too much of you, but I shall remind you that it was the same kingdoms that declared themselves our friend who launches the first blow on this fair city. It was the same hunters and huntresses who swore to remain apolitical and defend all of humanity that unlawfully landed upon our shores. It was the same headmasters who gave me their solemn word…"
Ironwood paused to collect himself. All of Atlas was hanging on his every word. He could not afford to let emotion bleed into his remarks.
"If there are any among you who do not wish to partake in this war, be it out of fear or moral quandary, you may voluntarily leave your post now without any risk of a court martial or dishonorable discharge. Desertion is the act of abandoning your duties and responsibilities, but what you are tasked with today is far beyond any duty or responsibility that Atlas could place on your shoulders. I only remind you that Atlas needs you."
He paused, knowing full well that nobody would leave. While he intended to honor his word to any who left, the fear of being the only one to walk out now would prevent any from doing so. Even if every solider in the army desired in their heart to flee, none would act on their intentions for fear of being outed as the first or, worse yet, only individual to do so.
Rose seemed to realize Ironwood manipulation and did not seem pleased, but she held her tongue. To be fair, James himself wasn't entirely at ease with the underhanded maneuver, but the morale boost would be palpable. Every fighter would see and believe in the unflinching loyalty of those around them. Furthermore, had any or all of the troops up and left, James would have allowed them to do so. He'd sooner fight with just the drones and Specialist Schnee by his side before he'd conscript or force someone to join him.
Things had been different when he answered to a council. Now, the only barriers between him and becoming a second Ozpin were the limitations he placed on himself. The downward spiral into fanaticism for a cause would be all too easy, and he was already wrestling with Mettle's subtle urging to take the leap.
"While our enemies turn a symbol of peace into a weapon, Atlas and Mantle stand united in the name of our shared survival. I don't know about you, but I for one think it's time we show the enemies at our doorstep just what Solitas is capable of!"
"ATLAS!" cried his bridge crew.
"MANTLE!" cried the infantry down below, so loud he could hear them from the ship.
"FUCK THOSE DIRTY VALEANS!" cried Winter Schnee, most vocal of all.
"Ironwood out."
All throughout his childhood, Sky had been supremely tall. In his combat school, he'd used this fact to his advantage and lorded it over the other kids whenever possible, reminding them that he was the top dog and bringing it up whenever he felt insecure. Beacon had matured him, but he was still a great big man of a hunter, beaten only by Team Castle's own Cardin and some fourth year guy, Yatsushi or something.
But as he sat with the other student teams watching the massive Dust cannons, each larger than the spires of Beacon, launching wave after wave of relentless fire that crashed meaninglessly into the defensive perimeter of Atlas' state-of-the-art shielding technology, he couldn't help but feel like the tiniest boy in the universe.
"How on Remnant are hunters supposed to mean jack squat when weapons like that exist?"
Cardin shrugged. "Each kingdom has its own military. We always hear about Atlas because it's the biggest, but that doesn't mean the others are slacking off. Vale was buddy-buddy with Atlas for years, so it makes sense that they copied their homework on some of the bigger guns."
"The point of the larger ordnance is to bring down Atlas' Hard Light defenses, not to damage the city," explained Ren. "Should Atlas be reduced to rubble, nobody would stand to benefit. The relics would be lost in the wreckage, Ruby would be blown to bits – mark my words, the very second those shields go down, the rain of fire will terminate."
"We ought to get ready," said Cardin. "I think I can see some cracks forming."
"Then you're the first person to ever document the rare and frankly quite impossible scientific phenomenon of Hard Light being broken," Ren remarked sarcastically. "It can't be shattered. It's literally a wall of non-physical matter being asked to behave like a barrier." Ren snorted audibly. "The day that a Hard Light shield breaks is the day a noble gas bonds with other materials."
Sky shared a silent nod with Nora, the pair of them silently agreeing not to embarrass their respective boyfriend and/or partner by mentioning the xenon fluorides.
"We aren't trying to damage the shielding," explained Sky, in an ever so slightly more patient tone than Ren had taken. Sky felt for Cardin – it wasn't easy being the only dunderhead on a team of three intellectuals. Sky was a master tactician (if ever felt so bold as to admit it to himself), Ren had more book smarts than the most wizened scholars of the finest institutions, and Nora, despite her whimsical quirks, was the only Castle to have never scored less than a passing grade on any test in their first or second year so far.
"Then what's the point? Why waste Dust if the wall can't be broken?"
Before Ren could vexedly browbeat Cardin into paying more attention during their Dust theory class, Nora silenced the knights of the Castle with a raised hand as her scroll rang. As radio silence for non-essential matters had been declared, this had to be from Headmistress Goodwitch or someone representing equal authority.
Nora listened to the message for a minute, then responded with a simple affirmative word. Such was the norm, as the heads of the Vermillion Alliance often saved time by initiating group calls to update the more junior teams. Nora, while among the best, was also among the youngest, so it was expected of her and all newer teams to listen rather than speak.
"What's up?" asked Sky.
Nora gestured for them to gather in a circle. "Listen up. Cardin, pay attention."
"Why me?" he groaned.
"Because you just outed yourself for not understanding the theory behind what I'm about to discuss."
The boy gulped.
"The intent of the Vermillion Alliance's first strike is to hopefully run Atlas out of Dust reserves." Ren opened his mouth to say something, but Nora shook her head. "Not now, Renny. We only need the barebones, not a detailed lecture into the physics of Hard Light and all that."
Ren closed his mouth, likely just as embarrassed as Cardin.
"Hard Light has a force limit – a maximum amount of damage it can take before it fails. Our problem is that the Atlesians are going to keep replacing the shield generators with new Dust until they run out. Now, we've cut off a bunch of the SDC's highest producing Dust camps outside of the floating city's reach, but we still have no idea what their reserves are, or how many mines and refineries within the city walls are still operating. Thus, until the force fields around Atlas and Mantle go down, we and all other hunter teams are on standby. Keep your weapons loaded, keep your aura full, and keep yourselves awake."
"Awake? Until fucking Atlas runs out of fucking Dust?" bellowed Sky. "That's absurd! It could be days! They own the damn SDC!"
"I don't make the rules, Malarky." Nora must have been in a tolerant mood because an outburst countermanding her orders normally yielded stricter punishments than a calm rebuke. Or perhaps she also saw the futility of their absolutely mental orders.
It wasn't stupid to keep teams running hot; Atlas would know before the shields fell, but the Vermillion Alliance wouldn't. Thus, their only chance of not being caught by surprise was to never be unprepared.
What was stupid, though, was to think that huntsmen and huntresses would be fighting at their best after days of sleep deprivation. Apparently, Goodwitch and the others were more afraid of not having their full contingent of aura-users available at a moment's notice than they were of a diminished, exhausted force. A much smarter option would be rotating sleep schedules – have 25% of their forces rest up for periods of, say, six hours at a time. It sounded like a lot of manpower unavailable at any given time, but the fix was to have those 25% come from different teams. That way, three teammates would wake up or wait for their last member. Sure, it might mean that everyone would be about ten minutes later to the party, but surely the benefits outweighed–
"Malarky. Instead of mentally optimizing our bedtimes like we can all see you doing in your head, why don't you put that big brain of yours to better use and find us a way into the city?"
Sky put the napping calculations on hold and rubbed his eyes. "Say what?"
"As team leader, I'm asking you to save us and every hunter here a buttload of time and come up with a scheme to take down the shield before, you know, next year."
"M-Me?"
"You. You're our strategist."
Sky exchanged a quick glance at Ren, but he seemed just as baffled by the Nora's random declaration. Up until this point, she'd mostly been able to keep the silliness down, likely quenching it by remembering the grim Grimm fate that had befallen Ruby. Now, it sounded like she was back at it again.
"C'mon, Nora.," whimpered Sky. "We've got Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral's best–"
"And Menagerie."
"–and Menagerie's best and brightest on the job. How am I supposed to be smarter than all of them? I'm just a second year."
Nora smiled at him. "So's Ruby, and she's the one causing all this ruckus. So was Jaune, and he killed the Grimm Queen. So were we, and we brought in a Grimm horseman with no losses. Hootin' heck, we were actually first years. Age isn't going to be an excuse we can hide behind forever, so we might as well rip that bandage off now."
"Sky." Nora gripped Sky's biceps and lean in forward, her face growing uncharacteristically serious. "The so-called best and brightest weren't able to come up with a better solution than throw stuff at the problem until it blows up or shuts down. They can't be all that best and bright if they literally just plagiarize what I do all the time. With Team Adventure…gone, and Team Rainbow split up, the only ones we can count on, truly count on, on are ourselves. We can't just sit back do what some head-dudes and head-dudette say because of their rank or age, not if Ruby's life is on the line. Team Castle is probably just as competent as any graduated team, and I believe with every fiber of my heart that our Malarky has what it takes to figure this out."
"I…I…"
"We're counting on you. Now, then. Renny, Cardy, I think we ought to give Sky some alone time to strategiate and formulify a plan for us."
"You can do it, Sky," reassured Ren, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "No pressure."
Cardin heartily patted Sky on the back. "Queen's orders, buddy. Good luck."
The three Castles rose and departed before Sky could overcome the shock that had frozen him in place.
They're counting on me?
Well, of course they were. He'd singled himself out as the tactics guy on their first mission, and then he'd gone and solidified his position during Vytal. Now they expected him to come up with a plan where hundreds if not thousands of highly trained veteran huntsmen and huntresses had failed. Honestly, Sky kinda wished he'd chosen to be the brawny guy, and that Cardin had been the smart one.
Oh, well. If wishes were watermelons, I'd have…uh, one watermelon.
With that productive thought to start him off, Sky popped out his scroll and typed 'Hard Light' into the search bar.
"Yes, you explained your reasoning behind the method of sitting around with our thumbs firmly planted inside our asses quite well, Theodore. I do not need a refresher."
GG sighed. "What Miss Rose means to say is that we need to devote our energies to finding a more proactive way of infiltrating the city rather than develop our current one any further."
"Thank you, Glynnie. And my name is Raven Branwen, for your information."
The principal sighed. Ever since she'd run into Raven again, she'd had no idea what to make of her. On the one hand, Glynda was clearly overcome with joy that one of her old friends was still alive. On the other, she seemed mighty miffed that the person who was supposed to look like Summer was 'claiming to be Raven.' Raven was fairly certain that Oz had spoken to his little witch in advance of their first reunion. The old coot must have spun some fairy tale that didn't end with him being the big bad wolf.
Of all of them, only Tai, who'd loved both Raven and also Raven-but-when-she-was-Summer, seemed to accept her as she was, not as they pretended her to be. He seemed to be pleased with a) finally having an answer as to why his two wives had disappeared, b) having both wives back at the same time, and c) knowing that their little firecracker wasn't actually the spawn of a bloodthirsty killer bandit. Raven certainly was bloodthirsty and an ex-bandit, but a killer she was not (except for all of those people she'd killed, but that didn't count). Her double husband certainly had a new skip in his step that she hadn't seen, well, ever.
Also, on a completely unrelated note to Tai-Tai's improved mood, Raven may or may not be pregnant. She hadn't taken any tests, but given the number of times they'd…well, let's just say it was unlikely that she was not pregnant at this point.
Theodore exhaled deeply as though the suggestion that his, Glynda, and Ozpin's strategy was anything less than the most masterful plan ever crafted by man or Faunus. "Unless you have some manner of increasing the force or area of affect yielded by a Dust explosion, then I'd suggest you keep–"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"
Raven's eyes widened as the familiar voice rang out, but in a less familiar way. The gravelly tone and pitch of that man's voice was one she recognized better than all others, even that of her husband, as the familiarity had been ingrained into her since childhood. What was concerningly absent was the drunken slur that was supposed to accompany it.
"Qrow?"
"Su–Summer…?" Qrow gasped the same gasp of utter astonishment that Raven had heard at least a thousand times since her abrupt return to civilization, but this one made her feel slightly more guilty. With Tai-Tai, Yang, and Rook, she'd honest to the Brothers thought they were dead. Oz's deception was lifelike to the point that even a talented tracker like her hadn't seen any signs of knavery. She still wasn't sure how he'd done it, though the blonde boy, Jaune, mentioned something about Oz killing other people and disguising their bodies.
Her brother, on the other wing? She had simply chosen to ignore and forget about him in her all-consuming depression. Qrow was Ozpin's stooge, but Raven hadn't ever suspected the old wizard would ever outright murder someone (or fake their murder) until she had the evidence right in front of her, so it was unfair to expect the same of her twin sibling.
Well, now was her chance to apologize and greet her long lost sibling with the affection that they'd showered upon one in their shared youth.
"Yo. S'me, Raven."
"Ra – what?"
"Raven."
The huntress manhandling Qrow looked at Raven with suspicion. Oh, yeah, she forgot to mention that Qrow was handcuffed and had been dragged in by two burly women and thrown to the floor. He now knelt at the feet of the Vermillion Alliance's high leadership.
Oh, hey, that also means that Team Stark is back in one piece, baby! Tai, Qrow, my immortal soul, Summer's possessed corpse – the gang's all here.
"Qrow?" voiced the young child who used to be a farmhand. "Is that you?"
"Oz, thank the Brothers you're back! Oz, these people think that I killed you! They're blaming me for what went down that night! You gotta set the record straight, man!"
Oscar Pine and the parasite that now infected his husk looked Qrow over with a pair of eyes that had seen kingdoms rise and fall. He was easily the oldest man alive, and yet he was also the youngest boy in the room. Raising one hand to his chin and wresting that arm's elbow on his other, he adopted a thinking pose.
"Qrow…"
"Oz?" her brother quavered pleadingly. It was rare to see a Branwen display weakness, but Qrow here was a picture of pitiful desperation. He looked like he was about to cry, and his hands weakly quivered as he attempted unsuccessfully to steady himself on the floor. His muscle definition seemed to have slightly faded, likely due to either a lack of training or a long period of lethargy. All that was missing was a puddle of piss, and Raven would be able to call pathetic bingo.
A tense second passed before the immortal spoke again. "Hmm, yes. Young Mister Branwen was not the culprit behind the attack on Team Adventure and their headmaster. I was a witness to the event."
The huntresses looked at Glynda, who nodded. Qrow was released, and he shakily pulled himself upwards.
"Please take Qrow to the armory had have him outfitted with your finest mechshifting sword. Furthermore, have him cleaned and seen to by a physician, if we have one available. We are on the brink of war, and having one of our best huntsmen in anything but peak shape would be most impermissible."
"I'll take him," said Raven. Qrow may have been a picture of brotherly disappointment, but he was her brother still, and she felt duty bound to take care of him, if only to absolve the tingling sense of guilt in her stomach. Actually, come to think of it, that might've been the maybe baby.
Raven led the wide eyed Qrow out of the announcer's booth and led him towards what used to be the emergency medical services' booth of Vytal, now retrofitted to hold munitions and arms. Tai tagged along, likely to ease the tension between the three of them. Judging by the way Qrow looked to his brother-in-law with frequent quick confirmatory glances, the two of them had kept in communications. That was good; Yang and Rook deserved to have some connection with their Branwen family, even if was through a watered-down, namby-pamby male version of their mother.
Eventually, Qrow broke and was the first to speak. "So…you're back."
"Yes."
"We thought Raven killed you."
Tai cut in and said, "Qrow, have we got a whale of a tale for you."
It left Qrow speechless and out of breath.
Not the story, but the gut punch Raven landed on him when he suggested that Oz might somehow be innocent. Knocking the wind out of him was all Raven could do to prevent herself from accidentally committing fratricide.
"Qrow," complained Tai. "He was weighing the benefits of accusing you of killing him. You saw it. We all saw it."
"He…but why? Team Stark loyally fought for him for years. We bled for him! Why would he turn his back on us? How could he?!"
Raven shook her head. "You're looking at this through Summer Rose-colored glasses. From your perspective, we're loyal soldiers who obediently fought his battles, because that's all he let you see. In reality, Summer and I tried to back out, so he silenced us and made the name Summer Rose synonymous with martyr. There was never any love lost between her and Ozpin, but he needed it to seem like there was. Whenever he needed your loyalty, all he had to do was say 'Summer died for this cause' and you'd sit and roll over like Zwei. In reality, we got too defiant, so he covered up the truth to keep his remaining soldiers from getting the idea that they could too."
"I…I…all this time. All those years, wasted…"
"Not wasted, mate," cajoled Taiyang. "You kept Salem at bay, and you protected your nieces. You may have been following Ozpin, but you fought for them."
"And for that, I am grateful," said Raven. She may have felt disappointment in how low Qrow had fallen, but he had stepped in to watch over the girls when she was absent. That alone redeemed…a few of his many, many, many failures. Like, probably at least three of 'em.
"Still feels like a waste," Qrow grumbled. The gray man absentmindedly reached for a hip flask before he realizing he no longer had one.
Raven shot him a lopsided smirk. "Finally sobered up, eh?"
"You're not the only one with a wild story."
"Six months?" Raven practically screamed. "You were a fucking bird for six months?"
Qrow raised his hands to shush her after frantically looking around to make sure they were alone. "Hey, keep it down. That stuff's still supposed to be on the down low."
"You idiot! It's supposed to be used for quick transformations when you're in a tight spot, maybe a day at most if you're in a real pinch. What if you got stuck?"
"Aww, you caaaaare," teased Qrow.
The point of a knife found its way to Qrow's throat, stopping just before it stabbed into his aura. "Actually, yes, I do care. So don't do stupid shit, baby brother, or I'll kill you myself."
"Yeesh," Qrow said, cautiously pushing the knife away. "Okay, okay. I won't. Dust, I only did it because I was on the lamb for so long. Some of Ruby and Yang's schoolyard friends let me crash with them. And I'm not your baby brother. We're the same age."
"The birth was ten seconds apart, and you came out second. You were born a baby, and you'll die a baby. By my hand, if you continue to needlessly endanger yourself."
Tai still had one lingering question, and he patiently waited until the Branwen finished their gentle jostling of one another before asking. He was more than inured to these types of juvenile antics from his wife and brother-in-law after their time as Team Stark, and he knew that interrupting would lead to them siccing their mischievous energies on him instead.
"…fine, fine, you win. You're older."
"Damn straight."
Tai cleared his throat. Both pairs of blood red eyes turned on him.
"So, um, if Oz is such a lame walrus-licker, and we all agree that we hate him, why are we still fighting for him? Why not just go after Ruby on our own?"
His wife pocketed her blade and pointed to Atlas. "You see how those Hard Light force fields are taller than they are wide, with an aspect ratio of about two, maybe two point five to one?"
Tai squinted at the floating city in the distance. "Yep. I see it."
"And you know how the city of Atlas is tethered to the Mantle crater by ten huge cables? You know, those giant cables that always hang down?"
"Yeah, I'm following."
"Now, here's how it is. Atlas has a fuckload of guns. If we tried anything, we'd be blown up to fuck. So that's why we need Oz and his army."
Tai blinked a couple of times. Raven merely stared at him.
Try as he might, it was impossible to contain a smile. No matter what she looked like, it was those stupid little mannerisms, the angry humor and the dry wit and the dismissive casualness, that he loved about her. He hadn't known the secret of her body-swapping at the time, but he had been aware of 'Summer' changing into a more likeable person, and it all made sense now.
Still, he wouldn't be satisfied until he was sure that he'd exhausted every option to bring little Ruby home. "Can't you sneak in? You know, fly in, as birds?"
Qrow threw his hands up in the air. "Sneak in, he says," he groused, as though Taiyang had asked him to jump into a woodchipper naked. "Fly in as birds, he says."
"I can no longer transform. As for Qrow…Solitas airstreams, the ones he'd need to access in order to fly over the shields in as a bird, can go down to subzero temperatures," Raven explained. "He'd freeze before he got above the clouds."
"There's a reason crows fly south for the winter," Qrow snorted.
"Yeah. To do it," said someone behind them.
Two flashes of silver heralded the someone's doom. Raven's mace swept the gray haired boy off his feet in half a second, and her cutlass (where in the Brother's name did she keep all those weapons?) was at his throat in the other half.
Qrow quickly slid in between the two of them and waved his arms in a frenzy. "Ray, no! He's one of Ruby's friends!"
The terrified boy saluted. "S-Sky Lark, ma'am. Team Castle."
"Ma'am?"
"Sorry. Miss."
Raven removed the sword from his throat. "That's more like it. Now, what's this about crows fucking?"
The boy rubbed his hair. "Er…crows migrate south for mating."
"And warmth!" added Qrow. "It's also for warmth! It can be two things, Sky!"
Sky, if that was his name, sheepishly nodded. "Of course, Professor. I wasn't accusing you of anything."
Wait, he knows about Qrow? Just who is this kid?
"About that…I was wondering if I might speak to the three of you for a second," the young huntsman said. "I think I might have a way to get us into the city."
"Mr. Ironwood."
James sighed. "Just Ironwood is fine. Or General. Or even James. Anything but Mr. Ironwood."
"General, then."
The two of them were alone in his ready room about the flagship. He would've liked to stay on the bridge until the fighting began, but that was logistically unfeasible. With the SDC firmly under his control, it was conceivable that their Dust shields could last for up to two and a half weeks. A prolonged siege was normally to the attackers' advantage, but Atlas had internal farmlands, and Mantle's industrial centers could produce enough resources to sustain the city for the duration of the siege. In this case, when Ozpin's forces were on foreign soil with limited stockpiles of food and supplies, the longer they could last, the better.
"What is it you'd like to speak with me about, Miss Rose?"
The Queen of the Grimm, clutching her living scythe close to her chest, looked James dead in the eyes.
"I think it's time we discussed the Winter Maiden."
Next Chapter: Divide and Falter – In which Sky lays out his grand plan, and Qrow, Cinder, and Cardin struggle to execute it.
Omake
Nora: Wow, Sky. You already thought of a full plan, in the same chapter that I asked you? That was fast.
Sky: Yeah, it was crazy. The thought just came to me out of the blue, almost like some all-powerful being with control of my mind and character is trying to cause our adventures to draw to a close before a certain number (like 100) of framed narrative sequences is exceeded.
Nora: Well, if that were the case, then perhaps some of the less important narrative sequences could be dropped altogether. Like–
Sky: NO! WE WILL NOT DELETE CHAPTER 69!
Author's Notes
The war begins not with a bang but with a…yeah, okay, with a bang but one that's just kind of far off in the distance. Atlas isn't besieged by a giant whale Grimm this time but by a modified symbol of peace turned weapon of war.
Ironwood's doing his best to balance winning the war with not giving in to his darker impulses, though if he has to make a choice…well, first things first.
With the return of Team Castle comes the return of their awkward teenager dynamics. Ren, the blossoming emotional boi; Nora, the steadfast squadron captain; Sky, the self-proclaimed strategist; and Cardin, the meathead.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!
