RWBY S

by J.S. Everest

After a night of complete despair, Ruby Rose was given the opportunity to enter Beacon Academy so that she could turn her life around. But her decision to accept had slowly put her into something much bigger than anything she could have ever imagined. Now she and her ragtag allies are pursued by spies, the kingdoms, the world's secrets, and her own painful past.

16. Revelations Pt I

"So after everything I've said, you're still not willing to check out what our source said?"

"Damnit, Winter! Of course I'm not!" The sharp reply was followed by a hard slam of a hand on a desk. "And you're not going to change my mind on this! And don't you dare do something behind my back!"

"Should I be?"

Robyn Hill suppressed a scowl. Deep within one of their hideouts, she didn't think that their conversation would drag on the way it did, continuing for two long hours just to convince Winter Schnee to let go of the issue. And the gods knew she tried, she really did. But for all that effort she put in, she had nothing to show for it, all made worse by that determination on Winter's face. A determination that was completely and utterly misplaced… No, she shouldn't give Winter any inkling that she could ever agree to this. This went on for too long anyways; she should end it now. "My decision is final, and I won't hear any more of this! I said I won't, damnit! Don't give me that look!"

"..."

"Are you always this hardheaded? Why won't you listen to me? Don't youunderstand what I'm trying to do here, what I'm trying to protect you from?!"

"But do you know what we're trying to protect?"

"Of course I do! But I forbid you doing anything about what our source said, you hear me?!" Robyn slammed her hand on her desk again, harder this time. "He's an unknown figure at the end of the day, someone we can't afford to trust just yet, so don't pursue his claims any further! Stay put, that's an order!"

"Hmph. You're commanding me now? You act as if our ranks have any bearing in this group. Or did you change the rules just now? Sorry, I wasn't aware."

"Don't give me that either, Winter! You knew what you signed up for here!"

"Well, I certainly do. But do you? Because why the hell aren't you taking advantage of this?!" Winter scowled. "You've been after Ironwood for so long, so why are you backing out now, when this is what you've been waiting for?! Especially when there's no telling when Ironwood will wise up and look to destroy the data himself! Are we just going to wait for him to do that?!"

"If the data's even out there to gather in the first place!"

"I know that human and Grimm experimentation sounds crazy, but our source also gave info that only someone deep within Ironwood's circle could've said. The way he talked about hybrids… Even if he doesn't know where and how exactly Ironwood does them, only someone that studied the idea could be so detailed! And if what he said about Ironwood's progress was true, then war with the other kingdoms can't be far off!" For a moment, Winter looked like she wanted to throw something at Robyn; they were both at a boiling point. "I can't believe you, Robyn! This is the sting of a lifetime! But you're just going to ignore it? Despite everything you've told me about him?"

"Ignore it? After all the effort I've put in to catch Ironwood on something, of course I'd want to get on it! You have no idea how much I want to! But it's too soon, Winter! Especially when we've only talked to our new source once, and we haven't even seen him in person! He just called my office number out of the blue, and you're already getting carried away by him!" Robyn slammed her desk a third time, then a fourth; all to drive her point home. "You keep giving that man too much credit! Is being anonymous while on a secure line all it takes to convince you that someone's legit?!"

"Your hunch against Ironwood was all you had, yet you were convinced that he's nothing but trouble. But your instincts were proven right in the end, weren't they? So how come you're ok with doing that, but not this?!"

"Winter…" Robyn grit her teeth; Ironwood was different. He had too many red flags – rumors of a dark past and being far too involved with Atlas black ops were constant – that Robyn thought it was natural that their source would claim the things he said about the man. And maybe all of it was true, human experimentation and all. Her distrust only growing the more she saw Ironwood work – with the barest of validation present along with plausible deniability – and seeing the brass and the royalty prefer Ironwood's way, certainly didn't help things. Robyn could do nothing but watch as taxes were reallocated further into the military, along with a rise in mysterious Dust weapons research and development that were surely putting the other kingdom's intelligence agents on edge.

Yes, their source could very well be right. And potentially having the evidence they needed to back that up and convince people of who Ironwood really was? Robyn wanted this to be true, she really did. As part of Internal Affairs, she saw Winter's point painfully clear. And yet…

Robyn shook her head. As much as she wanted to be proven right for her belief that Ironwood was steering Atlas to ruin, she had to stay objective. She couldn't afford to rush in blindly, at least not without a strong plan; Ironwood could never be underestimated. And she couldn't risk the lives of her allies so wantonly… She could never. "Sorry, but it's a hard no. We ignore our source for the time being, Winter. Not until we get more proof, either from him or otherwise."

"No? But he's the closest lead we have!"

"Do you really think a supposed Dust scientist would have the spine to go against his fundraiser though, risk losing their research?"

"Wouldn't that make him more believable then, because of how rare someone like him in his field of work actually is? He's basically incriminating himself for being involved in all of this, and yet he chose to help us–"

"In exchange for immediate and complete immunity, mind you. And he wants it given to him even before we find anything. As well as a few other requests that he would only bring up once Ironwood's taken care of."

"You've never negotiated with a witness before?"

"And you want us to risk breaking and entering into Atlas government buildings, all to find some supposed data that might not even be there?!" Robyn was shouting this time, but there was just no helping it. "This source of ours is basically hoping that his former boss accidentally left behind a trail of research work deep within Atlas data centers that Ironwood isn't aware of, but that old man doesn't even have any idea where it is either! The data could be on some military base, the Defense Department, even the Atlas mainframe! It could be anywhere! So there's no reason to risk all of our lives for this! It's much too dangerous!"

"But if we don't act now, it'll be too late to respond to whatever Ironwood's planning!"

"Have you even considered the possibility that it's a trap, that Ironwood is actually on to us, and that we could be walking straight into him?!"

"Of course I did! But it's a risk I'm willing to–"

"Take for yourself, Winter. Yes, I know that's what you would do."

"But it's not just me, damnit! It's like you never heard what I just talked about! Have you even listened to what Fiona, May, and Joanna had to say?!"

"Believe me, I know what they all think. But regardless, your lives are worth more than just a hunch." Robyn took a deep breath; the gods knew she wanted to bring down Ironwood so bad, and so did the others. And she had this discussion with them already; they didn't take this long, but they weren't particularly easier to deal with either; ultimately, she just couldn't bring her team to take on this risk. No matter what the others said, she just couldn't. "Please listen to me, Winter. I know this is hard... Imagine how hard it is for me to let this go. But you have to trust me on this, it's not worth it. There will be other opportunities to go after Ironwood. I've already mentioned this to the others. So don't get any ideas about going rogue–"

"Go rogue? Really now?!" Winter's tone was so sharp that it even caught Robyn by surprise. "We're all 'rogues' here, no matter how much you try to go by the book as much as possible, did you forget that? And how could you even say that to me when you yourself brought me into the team, told me all about Ironwood, about corruption in the kingdom?! And at the same time you expect me to turn a blind eye to this?!"

"Stop oversimplifying things! It's not like that at all! You–"

"'The Merry Men always show their teeth'… Isn't that what you told me before? What happened to the drive to get to the bottom of things, especially when something has finally walked right into our front door? And didn't you also say that you love Atlas just as much as I do, Robyn? Whatever happened to that?!"

"…!"

"We'd be in jail for what we're doing here, but we still do what we do regardless of the consequences! That's what it means to 'show our teeth', Robyn! And with our efforts, we've caught many that would've slipped Internal Affairs otherwise!" Winter thumped her chest with her hand. "You were in the military long enough to see the corruption in it, and you did good to do something about it, I'll give you that.But why are you balking now when it's Ironwood we're talking about here? No, now you don't give me that look, Robyn! I could've led a team like thismyself if I had only been around for as long as you have! So don't you patronize me about oversimplifying things just because you're the one who made this special little group! You're not the only one here who's sacrificing something for the kingdom!"

Robyn was caught speechless; Winter's eyes were colder than the Atlas snow.

And right then and there, an ironic thought came to mind. Didn't Fiona once tell her how obsessed she was with Ironwood? Robyn realized that she had finally met her match… Winter was handily beating her in that department.

Winter took a deep breath herself. "Do you really think we'll have other opportunities? Do you really believe that? When we had nothing else to work with for the longest time? We finally have something we can work with, something that can bring Ironwood down! And yet you're hesitating… Why? It's not like I don't see your point, alright? I know the risk is high, but Robyn, for goodness's sake! Act on what we have!"

But Robyn said nothing to that. What else could she say at this point? Winter's determination was admirable, but they were never going to see eye to eye on this. So now that words have failed, she had no choice but to stand by her decision through her actions; she crossed her arms. She wasn't budging one bit, and she wasn't about to let those attempts at undermining her slip away either.

"…yeah, I thought so too." There was a pause, then Winter said, "…I'm done talking. I know where we both stand, and I've said my piece."

"Good. Because the matter's settled. Leave it alone, Winter. Don't think about it anymore. That's final."

"Hmph. So you say."

"Now let's get back to work, we've already wasted enough time arguing. We still have other things to deal with other than Ironwood."

And with that, Robyn left the room in a huff, slamming the door and leaving Winter by herself.

"Robyn, Weiss just woke up."

Sitting at her desk, in the very same room where she and Winter had that conversation, Robyn Hill opened her eyes, and she saw Fiona standing beside her now opened door. "So she is, hm? Good."

"Do you still want to talk to her?"

"Of course." Robyn had been so busy planning their next move that she didn't realize that she had fallen asleep in her seat. But it was only fitting that she dreamed about Winter, and of the last time she saw her. "Glad to hear Weiss's ok. but yes, I still want to go ahead, if that's what you're worrying about. No point in delaying things any further, right?"

"But Winter told us–"

"She's not here anymore to stop me, now is she?"

"…no, I guess not." There was an unsure look on the sheep faunus's face. "But maybe you can tell Weiss the truth some other time. It's been how many days since she and her group arrived here? Now's not exactly–"

"You're missing the point here."

"But what exactly is the point?" Fiona replied. "Telling Weiss everything won't bring Winter back."

"Well Fiona, you see…" Robyn knew that things would've turned out differently if she had just allowed Winter to do her investigative work of their source's claims, with backup from the others. Then maybe Winter wouldn't have taken matters into her own hands, gone rogue behind their backs. Maybe Winter would still be here… These thoughts had always weighed heavy in Robyn's heart, an all too familiar guilt.

"...see what?"

"The thing is…." She really should've known better. Winter was right all along. A second chance never did come; they never heard back from their source. And with Ironwood now on the move, were they too late to do anything anymore? Robyn hoped not. But there was no denying what she learned from Weiss and her friends, and with the things happening right now… If Atlas really did possess the power to destroy the Grimm, then thoughts of aggressive expansion on the other kingdoms – war in other words – entered her mind, which Robyn immediately shook off. No, she would stop at least that, even if it was the last thing she did. "My comeuppance is waiting for me, and I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Robyn…"

"So what are we waiting for?" Robyn stretched her limbs, then stood up. I'm sorry, Winter. I should've taken the risk with you. I shouldn't have dismissed your concerns like that. In the end, you wanted Ironwood more than I did. I bet you're sneering at me, aren't you? "Let's go meet the snow white girl, shall we?" But I'll make things right again, I promise. One way or another. "She's been asleep long enough. It's time to get this over with."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ruby woke up lying in bed in a dim room, but she soon noticed the presence of someone resting their head on her right side, and the warmth of their hand on her right arm; there was enough light from a nearby lamp for Ruby to see who it was. "…Weiss?"

Weiss didn't respond; the girl was asleep.

…I'm glad you're ok. Ruby recalled the last time she saw Weiss, which was when she got impaled by a wooden stake; with the help of Jaune's healing, it was a relief to see that she survived that attack. Thank you, Jaune.

Speaking of Jaune, Ruby wondered where he and the others were. She and Weiss seemed to be safe for now, but as to where they were and how they got here? They could be anywhere; the dim room gave no clues. And it looked like they were the only ones in the room too, and so Ruby's thoughts went to the others. She thought of calling them – she wasn't about to wake up Weiss – so she took out her phone that she last kept in her pocket… Except it wasn't there, because she was in a hospital gown.

Where exactly were they? Ruby tried to stand up, but a painful muscle spasm on her back quickly put a stop to that.

…but I guess I'm not doing so great myself.

Ruby didn't move for a while, waiting for the pain to subside and not set off another one, and soon enough she yawned, the dim lighting and the comfort of her pillow inviting her to sleep again. Sleep… That would be nice, except she didn't want to just yet. Even with her body pains, she worried more about the state of the others, and in her worrying, she remembered what she managed to pull off.

In the faint light, Ruby raised her right hand for her to see, and slowly closed and opened it, feeling some pain from her right arm as she did. Blinking together with two other people was one thing, but teleporting all seven of her friends with just a thought? The last time she did that was in the Hunter trials, and she was completely oblivious to it. She had tried many times to replicate that feat during her training hours with no success; she figured blinking one person was the extent of her abilities, and if she could do it somewhat consistently, then she thought that was enough. But after what happened in the battle at Weiss's manor...

If simply thinking about it was possible, then surely a command to teleport multiple people would be possible for her eventually as well, right?

No, she shouldn't think like that. She wasn't that special in the grand scheme of things. There had to be a catch. Doing that stunt had to have had some effect on her body, there was no way it didn't. Because this was the third time that she found herself in a situation where blitzes just weren't enough, and that she had to use her blinks exclusively for her and the others to survive. And each time, she found herself in some bed, her body clearly having trouble keeping up.

...how long was I out?

They were just trying to find Weiss's dad, but they almost got killed for somehow getting involved in some kind of Atlas plot, and that was on top of getting involved with a monster called Cinder, and her ravings of a grim future for mankind. To think that Ruby even thought they could take care of Cinder once she had everyone in the party fighting… Granted the eight of them did better against those guys they fought at the manor, but that was little comfort, because for all Ruby knew, they could be looking for them right now to kill them, using Weiss's mom as bait.

Ruby glanced at Weiss. If only she could've brought her mom too in her mass teleport. Because she was sure Weiss knew that their enemies took her hostage; she couldn't have possibly missed hearing her mom's screams.

I'm sorry, Weiss. If only I was better at this, then your mom would be with us.

Ruby closed her hand one more time, still wincing at the pain, before gently putting her hand down. She had to save both of Weiss's parents, no question about it. But as for future battles? Her body would just have to get better at blinking, then. She would just have to adapt. Teleporting multiple people was a huge advantage in a fight, and now that it was possible for her to do it on command, then she was obligated to explore it further to help her teammates, even at great risk to herself. Even if this was the third time she went unconscious because of it. She would just have to learn to wing it, just like what she had been doing ever since she got this power, even if she didn't know how. Because what else could she do? All she could do was promise that she would get better, and…

A wave of fatigue hit Ruby, and she yawned as her eyes began to droop. All this worrying – and guilt – was taxing her; she closed her eyes.

"…Ruby? You awake?"

Ruby's eyes opened from hearing Weiss's voice, and in the dim light, she saw a relieved expression on the girl's face; Ruby gave a soft smile in return. "…yeah?"

"Welcome back." Weiss breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're ok. Me and the others are doing alright… You were the last one left to wake up."

"That's good…"

"This mission's really turning out great for us, huh?"

There was a sharp sarcasm in Weiss's voice, a hurt threatening to blow up at any moment, and Ruby could only wish she could allay her friend's pains. "Weiss… About what happened… I'm sorry–"

"I know what you want to say," Weiss said. "But before any of that… There's something we need to talk about first. Like where we are, and how we got here…"

Ruby heard a door open abruptly, cutting Weiss off, and soft orange lights came to life, showing a blonde woman entering the room. Around Yang's height, her hair in a ponytail and wearing gray and brown clothes, with a bracer on her left arm.

"Hello there, Ruby. Good to see you awake."

"You again?" Weiss snapped upon turning to face the visitor, before Ruby could even think of replying; there was a venom in Weiss's voice now, a stark difference from her earlier warm tone. "What are you doing here? What do you want? Just go away!"

The woman looked at Weiss. "I need to tell Ruby what's happening, she's the last one who needs to be debriefed." The woman put her hands on her hips. "Or were you planning to tell Ruby yourself?"

"And what if I was?" Weiss began to stand up, but quickly stopped and went back to her seat, groaning and clutching her belly.

"You didn't let Jaune finish healing your wounds?"

"…!"

"The guy's had a rough few days, and the last thing he needs right now is someone running off when he's not done with that person yet. Don't bother hiding it, we're all Hunters here, we know when someone's still injured."

"Shut the hell up! And don't you dare lecture me! I hate you!" Weiss shouted, and she winced from her pains right after that. But that didn't stop her from pointing a finger straight at the woman. "I hate that I even have to share the same building as you! So why don't you just get out of here?! Go bother someone else!"

The woman said nothing. But after hearing Weiss's sister be mentioned like this, it was Ruby's turn to speak up. "Weiss, don't…"

But Weiss didn't seem to hear. Or didn't want to listen. "And you even dared to look at her back home?! Winter's in a permanent coma thanks to you!" Weiss was shouting now. "My sister will never wake up, all because of you!"

"I know, Weiss."

"I just told you to shut up!" Weiss snapped. "My sister had strong beliefs, she loved Atlas to the bone! She would've died a hundred times if it meant protecting the kingdom, that's how devoted she was! But you left her behind when she needed you most!"

"Weiss, please, not now…" Ruby pleaded.

"And now you want to destroy my friends, and the rest of my family!" Weiss screeched. "You even had the gall to imply that we should join forces! But I'll never join your little club, you hear me?! I don't want to hear anything that comes out your mouth! Now get out! Leave us alone! I said get out! Get out now!"

"You want to go at it with me again?"

"You're such a..." And so Weiss readied herself, drawing Myrtenaster, but she dropped her weapon as soon as she lifted it, clutching her belly once again.

"You can throw your insults at me for another time, Weiss. We can settle the matter once everything's dealt with. But not now, there are bigger things to worry about." Putting her hands on her hips, the woman shook her head. "Go to Jaune, he's been looking for you. Take care of yourself first."

"This isn't over!"

"No, I didn't think it was."

Weiss took some time grumbling to herself, before turning to look at Ruby. The fury in her face was gone, replaced with a tight, pained look on her face; Weiss was clearly holding back tears. "...sorry, Ruby. But I need to go."

"Weiss…"

"I'll be fine..." Weiss took a deep breath; she was clinging to some form of self control. "I'll catch up. Just…" The girl spared a look at the woman in front of them, before going back to Ruby. "...just tell me everything she'll say to you, alright?"

Ruby nodded, and so Weiss picked up Myrtenaster and left, not giving the blonde any more glances as she slowly made her way out the room, her hand caressing her belly. Weiss closed the door with a slam, but the woman simply went to sit on the same seat Weiss just used.

"Hello, Ruby. Sorry about that, it's a long story. But don't worry, I'll include what happened earlier in our talk. And feel free to tell Weiss all about our conversation once we're done, I don't mind."

Ruby still didn't know who this woman was, but there was a notably resigned tone in her voice…

Wait a minute. With the woman being this close, Ruby recognized her as the woman they met at Weiss's place. Those gray clothes, that green scarf... Yes. She was the one who quickly left after discussing something with Weiss's mom. Ms. Bright, if Ruby recalled correctly, and she was the same woman Ruby saw on the road before passing out from teleporting everyone else.

"Just give me a second here…" The blonde then took out a pack of cigarettes she kept in her pocket, only to find it crumpled with nothing inside. "Now will you look at that? I forgot that I spent it all on Weiss. So I guess I'll just have to make do without it, eh?" A smile formed on the woman's face. "You hungry? It's nighttime right now, but I'm sure we can whip up something here. What do you want? Corned beef? Hotdogs? Hamburgers? Sloppy joes?"

Ruby shook her head.

"I see you're not in the mood. Well, I figured those were the foods you liked, based on what Jaune told me. But it's ok, I'm not hungry too. So let's get to introductions now." The woman smiled. "My name's Robyn Hill. Pleased to meet you."

"…Robyn Hill?" Ruby's eyes widened. She recalled how that name was constantly mentioned by the people they fought… Ruby immediately connected the dots.

Yes, Robyn was their rescuer, saving them from certain death, but also the reason why their enemies went to the Schnee Manor in the first place. If she hadn't appeared in the manor, then their enemies wouldn't have come looking for her, and none of this would've happened, right?

"Colonel of the 31st Atlas Brigade Combat Team, a member of Internal Affairs for the Atlas Army, with prior experience in counterintelligence, and not even past 35." Robyn chuckled at that. "Charmed, I'm sure."

No surprise why Weiss walked out of the room then, Ruby was sure that was how Weiss thought about it. But could she really blame her? Could she herself have acted any differently if it was her mom instead that was captured? But maybe she still could've. She managed to set aside her anger for Ozpin, after all...

"...thank you for saving us." Ruby made a small bow. She shook off any thoughts of blaming Robyn for what happened. Because she still saved them at the end of the day, and that was what mattered. "…nice to meet you. I'm Ruby Rose."

"From the village of Patch in Vale, if I remember Jaune right. I don't think I've met a country girl from Vale before to be honest. Then again, you're not just a country girl as far as I'm concerned." Robyn threw her empty cigarette pack to a nearby trash bin. "...he's a good one, that Jaune guy. Weiss was in bad shape when we first found you and your friends, and it took Jaune the whole night to patch her up. And he did that without taking any breaks, while me and my team took care of the others. And he even helped us out on that, too. But you wouldn't wake up even with his best efforts… He almost went unconscious himself trying to bring you back, and we had to forcibly make him rest."

"...how long was I out?"

"You've been out five days."

Five days? That long? But this sounded just about right as the consequence of her mass blink, so Ruby considered herself lucky to have avoided death yet again. And she couldn't have done so without Robyn's assistance. Ruby made another small bow. "…thanks again for your help."

"Anyone with a heart would've done the same thing I did. But you guys did well to survive your fight, and no one else could've done what you did, escaping your enemies like that." Robyn's eyes narrowed, her face in a pensive mood. "Evolved Semblances never cease to amaze me. Was blinking like that your first time?"

"It was my second," Ruby answered. "My first was when I faced two Class Two Grimm during my Hunter trials, but I guess it was more instinct than anything else… I didn't even realize it until after the fact."

"First timers say the same." Robyn seemed to nod at her own answer. "...I also heard from Jaune that you originally have a speed Semblance, so I guess it makes some sense for blinking to come out of blitzes. You remember any moments when you went faster than expected?"

"Huh?"

"Can't recall doing anything like that? Like quickly crossing large distances that you wouldn't normally have?"

"I'm not sure..."

"I see." Robyn slowly nodded. "It's fine if you can't remember. I was just asking. I'm a curious person, and I've heard a lot of crazy things these past few days." So saying, Robyn stretched her legs. "Jaune also told me that it was you who formed the plan to defeat both a gallowbraid and a morinfen… Impressive, very nice. It's not every day that an aspiring Hunter gets to think of a plan that can beat those things with limited resources, much less make it work. You must be some kind of celebrity in Vale."

"I'm not so sure about that last part." Was she really? Ruby didn't really think much about fame, and she never boasted about her abilities. Sure, she got high praise from the graduating batch, and she good remarks for her blinks from past missions, but nothing more than that. Though if there were, she never noticed; fame was among the last things on her mind. "I don't want to think I'm that special, but thank you for the kind words."

"They aren't just words," Robyn said. "An evolved Semblance like yours is much too great to dismiss."

"..."

"Not exactly the reaction I was expecting. What, you're not the type that thinks having a Semblance in the first place is a gift?"

"I do think that… But it's not like I'm a chosen one or something."

"That's not exactly what I'm saying either," Robyn replied. "Then again, why do you think you got that blinking power?"

Ruby went quiet. Before, when she thought Cale was dead, she would've just thought of it as a gift from him, and kept that to herself, without any plans of talking about it to anyone else. But now that Ruby knew Cale was alive… Well, why did she even have this kind of Semblance? Unable to answer, the question only made her pine for him, which immediately felt wrong – they still had a mission to find Weiss's parents, she had to think about that first – but Ruby couldn't help herself.

"You know, Jaune and Pyrrha make a cute couple. And I overheard them one time talking about you and Cale."

"Huh?"

"I didn't intend to pry on your friends, but old habits die hard. And judging from what I know about Cale… No, never mind, let's just change the subject. We can always talk about your Semblance later. Right now, we need to talk about our current situation, and I'm sure you have many questions."

Ruby didn't like the way Robyn knew of Cale, but what was done was done; appreciating the change of subject, Ruby slowly nodded. "…where are we? Why were you looking for Jacques, and who were the people we fought? And why is Weiss–"

"One question at a time, though." Robyn paused for a moment, as if trying to find the right words. "Well, to start off, I'm an Atlas Army officer, but I'm also the leader of a group I've created called the Merry Men. And we're in our hideout in Atlas, right at the outskirts of Eir, Atlas's capital city. Don't worry, we're safe here, hell would freeze over first before any of Ironwood's lackeys manage to stumble on our front door."

Ruby looked again at the room she was in. Even with the orange light, the room still didn't have much to speak of… Yes, it would make sense that this was a hideout. Were they in some abandoned building, perhaps? Ruby then realized that she hadn't felt cold at all since waking up; Eir was still in the cold area of Atlas, if she recalled Atlas geography right. The heating meant that this place was maintained, and the way Robyn spoke about them being safe… She probably meant that there were in some kind of–

"Yes, an underground bunker's exactly where we are right now. Now it's not much in terms of space, but my family in the old days had bought it from the Atlas kingdom right after the Grimm were driven back in the Dust Revolution to recoup some costs. And when I found out from my parents that we had something like this, right when I got into my line of work a few years ago… That's when I figured I'd have a use for this someday. So I installed a barrier to make sure no one here gets detected."

"...so it's a place for vigilantes."

"Vigilantes? I guess you could say that about us, though I never intended our group to be anything like that, at least not at first. But I'll admit that I bent the rules just to take down a few officers who think they're above the law, even though I didn't want to… Ironic hearing this from someone in Internal Affairs, I know. But all I ever wanted was to protect Atlas from enemy threats that can't be dealt with internally or on the battlefield… Trust me, when you see so much shit going on when you get around to my level of work, sometimes one can't help but take things into their own hands."

Ruby didn't know what to say to that. She understood that Robyn had her reasons, but if not vigilantes, then what else to call them? Her thoughts went back to Ozpin. He and Robyn weren't so different; they seemed to have a thing for creating groups of their own beyond their job descriptions and doing things on their own terms, regardless of the consequences.

"We've had our ups and downs, but we got our bad guys more often than not. We have a good thing going with the Merry Men, and I don't regret forming it… Except for one thing." Robyn sighed, a wistful look in her eyes. "Winter… It was painful seeing her bedridden like that. I can only imagine what Weiss is going through right now… I'm sorry. I could've prevented it."

"..."

"Winter did tell us to keep her 'moonlighting' a secret to her family in case the worst happened. It was one of her conditions prior to her joining my team. She never wanted anyone else to know anything about her work behind the scenes… Winter didn't want anyone in her family to be involved no matter what. Winter also wanted people to think that she was an outstanding officer trying to bring change in the system, not some rebel trying to undermine it. She told me that she was well aware of how Weiss looked up to her… And that everyone's faith deserved to be rewarded." There was a pause; from the corner of her eye Ruby saw Robyn's hands fidgeting. "So it was painful to see Weiss take the fall for Winter being caught in the Atlas Defense Department, and having to endure seeing her sister be branded as a criminal. By the time I knew, it was already too late."

Silence filled the room.

"Yes, I did bring Winter into our group. And she's practically dead because of me, all because of a lapse in judgment. I left Winter behind when she needed me most."

Ruby dreaded it to be the case – Weiss wouldn't be saying those words if it wasn't true, but still – and hearing it be confirmed hit hard; she also didn't know what to say to that.

"But I still honored my promise to Winter to keep Weiss out of this, for as long as I could." There was a sullen look on Robyn's face now. "But seeing what you guys went through against Ironwood's lackeys was the final straw… I realized I couldn't keep Winter's promise anymore. That's also when I decided to come clean the first moment I could. Because guilt's a heavy bag of bricks, you know what I'm saying?"

Guilt… Ruby knew that one all too well.

"Winter had a bright career in front of her, with the skills to back it up, but she was also headstrong and idealistic, and I regret that I asked her to join my group. I would've kept her in the dark if I only knew it would end up like this. Maybe she would've been an enemy, maybe not. But Winter would still be awake, I wouldn't have failed her, and Weiss wouldn't have to hear anything bad."

Keeping people in the dark, so as to not be the bearer of bad news… Ruby suddenly wondered how Ozpin felt when her mother died.

No, best not to dwell on that right now.

"I'm sorry..." Ruby managed to say. "...did you tell Weiss everything?"

"...yes."

And so Robyn did the same with Ruby, and mentioned everything about her past. Apparently Robyn used to be part of Atlas's counterintelligence in her younger Hunter years, then she went up the ranks to be a member of Internal Affairs for the Atlas Army, only to see corruption like illegal Dust smuggling, money laundering, giving special favors to Laran and Soteria for approving certain missions... Which prompted Robyn to create her own group, the Merry Men, to oversee and protect Atlas from enemies both outside and in. She then talked about how Winter, their last member, was selected, and how Robyn personally met her in secret to give the invitation, with the full confidence that Winter would accept. A brilliant and ambitious First Lieutenant in Robyn's own words, Winter had all the skills that Robyn was looking for, needed against someone who quickly rose through the ranks, a man named James Ironwood.

"He's the highest Atlas army general," Robyn continued, "known for being vocal to the public about how Atlas was too soft on the Grimm, and that the kingdom was woefully unprepared for new enemies. He's the kind of man so fixated in eliminating the Grimm that he wished for Atlas to give everything it had to destroy the Grimm stronghold in Solitas, and he's ready to use any means to seize control from chaos, consequences be damned." Robyn took out her phone and showed Ruby a picture of a man in his forties, with a thick beard and a hard, cold stare. "I've always had a bad feeling about him. To be honest, I thought that more people would share my thoughts about it. Rumors of circumventing strict guidelines, of arbitrarily enforcing certain rules that favor him, of vanishing for extended periods without proper leave, just to get what he wants… There's a lot of things that don't add up with that man. Coincidentally things began to ramp up around a year ago, when projects began to get approved seemingly on his whims, and funds were being diverted elsewhere…"

You, Ozpin, and Ironwood aren't so different either. But it was a thought Ruby had to shake off right now; she continued to listen.

"But even with all that, it's impossible to pin him with only circumstantial evidence, even as part of Internal Affairs. And I guess I underestimated his appeal to those at the top. Because if we're too weak to finish off a bunch of monsters, then just how weak is Atlas compared to the rest of the world, right? Atlas isn't going to put up with that. Though if Atlas is indeed strong enough to defeat the Grimm, then the kingdom must also be strong enough to defend itself against the other kingdoms teaming up against. The royalty shares his views, and the rest of the brass won't shy away from someone not afraid to build arms and conduct war. Yes, I know what you're thinking Ruby, the Grimm have to be destroyed at some point. But should one go so far as to experiment with humans and Grimm to do that?"

The mere thought of combining human and Grimm stock sent a shiver down Ruby's spine.

"Never in my wildest dreams could I have thought that Ironwood could even bring himself to be involved in something like that, but apparently it's been going on for quite a while, slowly but surely, if our source is to be believed… The same guy Winter and I argued about. A scientist who goes by the name of Pietro Polendina. He pretty much incriminated himself as an accomplice to Ironwood's plans… He did it for 'personal reasons'… But he had heard about what an annoying thorn I was, and upon having a change of heart, hoped that someone in Internal Affairs could change the situation and avoid a potential war that could come out of Ironwood's experiments. Of course, I happen to have first access to these kinds of anonymous tips… According to Pietro, everything Ironwood was working on started from the research of Pietro's former boss, another Atlas scientist named Lusus Merlot, whose research far outstripped anything that the Atlas kingdom had ever done, and that Ironwood was all too happy to commandeer after killing Merlot."

"..."

"The process of 'hybridization'… That's what Pietro called it, the combining of human and Grimm stock, to form a superior being… 'Hybrid Theory'… Where success can be graded on three levels based on how crude or elegant the final result of the combination was, from 'cyborg' to 'amalgam' to a theoretical pure 'fusion'…"

Ruby remembered M374, the one their enemies called a cyborg. If that girl, imbued with metal parts and incredible strength despite her small frame, was only the beginning...

"Pietro unlocked the secrets of how it can be done, and his own findings were used to push through with the experiments, but he admitted that he was kept ignorant of many things by both Merlot and Ironwood, like where and how the actual experiments are done, how they're funded, and what materials were used to make it happen. But Pietro swore he once heard Merlot talking to himself and rambling about backing up data... Knowing how paranoid Merlot was, Pietro said that there could be data that Merlot hid somewhere, and that he just needed our help to scour the entire Atlas to find them. And the moment we find that data, wherever it may be, assuming it even exists… That's how we could bring down Ironwood in a trap, by catching him in the act. Pietro wanted favors in exchange for his information of course… Among them immunity for ratting out Ironwood. But while Winter was sold on Pietro, I couldn't bring myself to believe him. Could a scientist even have the guts to let go of a project that he was guilty of developing for his personal reasons? And why only now? This isn't even considering the possibility that it was all just a trap set up by Ironwood to finally take me down. It just felt all too easy to me, too good to be true..."

Robyn went on with her reasons, and Ruby completely understood. If she was in Robyn's shoes, she would've done the same thing. She wouldn't let her friends follow the advice of an unknown entity, one that only decided to come clean when things were at the precipice. Why only now, after all? Why did Pietro allow things to get this bad with Ironwood? But whatever the answer was, Ruby knew it was still a difficult decision to make, given Robyn's circumstances…

"And now here we are, in a situation where Pietro never reached out to us again, and Ironwood's escalating his efforts. He's even making his Ace Ops work out in broad daylight. It might already be too late to stop him, all because I made an error in judgment."

"...Ace Ops?"

"Atlas special forces, made of elite Hunters with the rarest and most valuable Semblances. And you could easily pass for one yourself."

"…"

"They're not a group that a single general should be able to influence, but there were also rumors that Ironwood was somehow able to install his own minions there in the group. I could never prove it of course, but I knew they were involved the moment I heard from Willow that there was an attack at the Schnee Manor…" Robyn shook her head. "My other contact, Sleet, was right on the money too, on what Ironwood was bound to do given certain situations."

"Sleet? Who's that?"

Robyn went quiet.

"...Robyn?"

"By the way, Atlas formally announced a plan to the public last month to destroy the Grimm stronghold out in the Solitas wilderness. Have you heard of it? No? That's alright, of course you wouldn't. News travels much slower across kingdoms after all. I was just wondering if you heard rumors when you got here in Atlas on how they're going to do just that."

A secret weapon? Did Weiss tell her something about that? Maybe she did, but Ruby couldn't remember…

"Atlas plans to destroy that bubble of darkness that we can't put a scratch on no matter what we do, which was exactly what Ironwood had always talked about. Now the public started out lukewarm about it of course, because it's not like there weren't plans before to destroy that Grimm spawning bed, which all ended in failure. And there's a general sense of wanting to just manage the Grimm problem instead of solving it in the citizenry, and that's if they even cared about things that are so far away and walled off, which I'm willing to bet is the same with the other kingdoms."

Ruby nodded; that last part was all too true.

"But a strong push from the Atlas kingdom got to change people's minds about the issue, and most are now just waiting to see what will happen next. Now having a powerful weapon in the hands of a belligerent man would be one thing… But I also learned something else from our other source, and that Weiss..."

Robyn's voice trailed off.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked. "What does Weiss have to do with this? Isn't this about Ironwood? And who's Sleet?"

"I talked on a secured line to a man named Hale Sleet recently. He's the other contact I mentioned... He's an assistant to Ironwood himself. He wanted to break free just like Pietro, though only because of the recent Atlas data breach, and he wanted to meet up with me in person asap and give proof of incriminating evidence against Ironwood in exchange for immunity. This time I agreed, but he never showed up as agreed upon, which probably means he's dead. But he did tell me one thing before we ended the call."

"What did he say?"

There was another pause. "...I'm sorry. Weiss didn't deserve any of this."

"…Robyn?"

"...Jacques Schnee, CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, is involved in funding not just Atlas's secret weapon, but also human and Grimm experimentation, forced to do so by Ironwood for being an accomplice to tax embezzlement along with Lusus Merlot."

Hearing that left Ruby blindsided; she didn't expect that at all, and her heart began to hurt for Weiss. First she lost her sister, then her father went missing, then her mother was kidnapped, and now she had confirmation that her father was a criminal…

Robyn went quiet too, and seemed to be trying to gather strength, before she continued.

"We all know how Dust is important in our day to day lives. But after so many years since the Dust Revolution, currently our networks are still only local area, severely limiting contact with the other kingdoms, and this makes people rely too heavily on spying, which of course has its own issues... The Grimm destroying undersea cables also stymied efforts to expand. But instead of physical cables, what if Dust could be used to transmit data like radio waves, except on a much wider scale? Jacques's goal was to create a 'global area network' that encompassed the world through the use of 'satellites', orbital wireless transmission systems that relayed information everywhere, reducing the need for spying and accelerating data transmission between people anywhere in the world. Sounds incredible, doesn't it? But if Sleet's to be believed, Jacques couldn't actually produce results to keep his investors interested in his space program, forcing him to turn to illegal methods to secure funding and keep his company in the black. Then Merlot caught Jacques in the act of doing it. But instead of exposing him, Merlot proposed a deal instead. To either be branded a criminal and live out the rest of his days in prison, or assist him in his project by diverting all his stolen funds back to Merlot, and provide him all the Dust excavation tools he would ever need. And that went on for quite a while until Ironwood came along… A new boss, yes, but just like the old one."

"..."

"Then Jacques suddenly vanishes without rhyme or reason, and Sleet's nowhere to be found either, right after the Atlas data breach. Too close to call it off as a coincidence as far as I'm concerned. So that's when I decided to investigate personally, and why I went to the Schnee Manor. But that didn't go exactly as planned." For a moment, Robyn had a pained look on her face, but she shook it off. "I don't think Weiss wants to talk to me anytime soon. I mean, she immediately wanted to tear me apart after hearing what I had to say, so I entertained the idea with a duel." Having said that, Robyn transformed her left bracer into a longbow, and the fingers on her right hand shone with a mix of green and pale lilac for a few moments; aura arrows, as Ruby had seen herself with other students back in Atlas, much like Blake's aura bullets. "Weiss fights just like her sister. A lot more aggressive, but pretty much the same…" The woman briefly winced as she sheathed her dustmetal weapon. "And she hits just as hard."

"You didn't have to go that far."

"No, Ruby. I really had to. And I'm not even mad at Weiss. Not that I have any right to be." Robyn sighed. "I like to think that I helped her get the bloodlust out of her system, at least. But maybe she's still waiting to take my head at her earliest convenience, and I–"

"No! Weiss isn't like that!" Realizing she raised her voice, Ruby quickly cleared her throat. "…Weiss has a temper, but I know she's a good person. Even if she knows what happened between you and her sister, she won't take things too far. She's not like that at all. And besides, she knows that you helped us. Regardless of how angry she gets, Weiss isn't the kind of person to forget those things."

"Is that so? I also heard from Jaune that you're the leader of Team RWBY. You say that as her teammate?"

"I say it as her friend."

"So you do, hm?" Robyn slowly nodded. "...you know, there was a moment in our fight when Weiss got me on the defensive, and got me pinned to a wall. But she suddenly stopped instead of following through with her attack, and that's when she got things off her chest. A lot of that were against me of course. That I was awful in every way, that I could never even be half as good as you are… And neither could she. Weiss said that you're the best person she could've ever befriended in Beacon, Ruby."

"She did?" Ruby was surprised to hear it, to the point that a small part of her refused to believe it.

Robyn went on, saying that Weiss talked about goodwill and forgiveness, and how she learned that from Ruby, among many other things. Now Ruby didn't think she deserved the kind words Weiss said about her – she herself had her own faults and mistakes – but it was still good to know that her words saved Weiss from doing something she would immediately regret. So you remembered… I'm happy that you did, Weiss.

"Still not convinced, I see." Robyn briefly closed her eyes. "Maybe I should go to another topic now. One that'll most likely get a definite answer from you, for better or worse."

"...huh?"

"Besides telling you what's going on, there's a few more reasons why I wanted to talk to you. And perhaps you can also convince Jaune of what I'm about to say." Robyn went silent, then she cleared her throat. "First, please take care of Weiss… You two have a good relationship."

"Yes, I will." This went without saying of course, but Ruby felt she had to say the obvious; the heaviness in Robyn's tone was unmistakable. "Don't worry, I promise I will."

"Thank you, Ruby. I just want Weiss to be ok, and this is the least I can do to make it up to Winter." For a moment, her voice sounded at the verge of cracking; Robyn once again cleared her throat. "Another thing. Please allow us Merry Men to get involved in finding Weiss's parents, regardless of Weiss's objections. She didn't exactly like the idea, as you heard from her yourself... But with us being a total of 12 Hunters, cooperating will make it easier to find where Jacques and Willow are, and we'd all be better equipped to deal with Ironwood's agents."

Ruby nodded again. It was about time the conversation went to that – she herself hadn't thought of it deeply since waking up – but now that Robyn mentioned it, how could she even disagree? Because how exactly were they going to start looking for Willow on their own anyways? Even with Weiss as their Atlas guide, they had no clues at all as to where Willow could be, and the threat of being ambushed again had to be considered. Working together to find Weiss's parents really was for the best. Ruby understood how Weiss felt about Robyn, but the more eyes and ears, the better. "We appreciate the extra help, Robyn. Thank you."

Robyn nodded back. "Now for the last thing… Though for this, I'll completely understand if you and Jaune will say otherwise."

"What is it?"

"To be honest, things in Atlas may have escalated to a point of no return. Those people you fought against could be none other than Ace Ops, and along with that 'M374' girl you fought against, they're only a taste of what Ironwood is bringing into the world. Now finding Jacques and Willow are our first priority of course, but should Ironwood show his hand well before us Merry Men are ready, then it's very likely we won't be able to do anything about it. At least, not without help." Robyn took her time to say her next words. "Ruby, I know this isn't something I'm supposed to ask, especially since you're from another kingdom, and you're not supposed to deviate from your mission. Ironwood technically isn't your team's concern. But I fear that Ironwood's steering Atlas and the rest of the world in the wrong direction, and maybe we can still stop him if we worked together on that… I'll compensate accordingly."

Ruby couldn't bring herself to nod this time. Ironwood abusing his position and experimenting with humans and Grimm was awful enough, but morality aside, could she really afford to tell her team to go against him and break protocol? Ruby wished to repay Robyn for saving them, she really did, and it wasn't like she didn't understand the threat of war should Ironwood succeed in his efforts. But Ruby knew that Robyn was overstepping, that she was asking for something improper, and that Robyn was aware of this herself… How could she not be? Especially when Ironwood couldn't have gotten to where he was without the public's approval in the first place. Going against him felt like going against Atlas itself, and Ruby didn't think that it was right for them, being foreign Hunters, to meddle in another kingdom's affairs of this magnitude.

In the meantime, report to me anything unusual you may find in Atlas. Remember that you'll be in another kingdom, so not only do you and your team represent Vale, Atlas also represents itself through what it shows to you. Keep your mission to find Jacques paramount of course, but just make sure to note of things should they arise.

Ozpin's orders came rushing back to Ruby, and his words gained new meaning after Robyn told her about what was going on in Atlas. It wasn't like Ozpin forced the idea on them – it was more like something he said in passing, actually – but there was no doubt that he did bring it up, even though they were in a rescue mission, not a spying one. But looking back at it, did Ozpin… Did he already know that something awful was going on in Atlas, and yet he still didn't tell them about it?

Ruby really didn't want to think about Ozpin right now, but–

Why would he tell you? Just so he could hear you refuse him? No, your blink's much too valuable to risk that. And this isn't the first time he decided to leave you in the dark.

Ruby felt something boil deep in her heart. She didn't want to hate Ozpin – she still wanted to think the best of him, knowing that he saved her in her darkest hour back in Forever Fall – but she wondered if Ozpin really set them up to unwittingly spy on his behalf. He couldn't have done that to them… Could he? But he could have the connections in the Vale royalty as Beacon headmaster to justify doing so. Ozpin could've dragged them all to Atlas, with finding Jacques coincidentally serving as perfect cover, for the sole purpose of protecting Vale's interests... And why? Just so that plausible deniability was kept, because she and the others technically weren't Vale spies or black ops?

Why wouldn't he set you up? Your mom worked as a spy for him, and that's why she died like one, all without telling you. And now he's using you in her place.

Memories came flooding in about her mom trying to dissuade her from being a Hunter. Did she know too? Did Ozpin somehow have her parents on a leash… Was that why they were always away, and why she was alone growing up?

More memories came, this time of Cale being disillusioned by the job when they first met. Of him giving up on changing a rotten system, a system that she vowed to change but only followed ever since graduating…

You've always wanted to be a great Hunter, right? So why not take one for the team, for the Vale kingdom? Ozpin wants you to break protocol and go along with Robyn right now, just so you can spy on his behalf.

Was her mother used like a tool too?

Dark ideas paved way to Ruby suddenly wanting to tear Ozpin limb from limb, much like what she wanted to do to Cinder, for being involved in her mother's death, and for using her and the others as his pawns.

But Ruby threw away the thoughts, and suppressed the sick feeling in her stomach. She didn't want to indulge herself any further in this, lest she became reckless and put her team at risk again, like what happened with Cinder. The gods knew that was the last thing she wanted.

Ruby took a deep breath. Whatever his reasons and intentions were, there would be a time for Ozpin. The others and the mission were what mattered most right now, and she had to be in the right frame of mind too. She vowed to be strong for Cale, right? She should also be strong for her team; with Weiss hurting, she had to be. Because if she wasn't, if she gave in to her own pain, then–

"I take it that's a no," Robyn said. "But that's ok. Just forget that I asked."

"Robyn, I–"

The door suddenly opened, surprising both Ruby and Robyn; a sheep faunus entered huffing and puffing, as if she ran all the way here, and her face was completely distraught.

"Robyn! There's a huge battle going on at the walls right now! The Atlas main defenses are swamped fending off a large Grimm invasion, but the number of Class Two Grimm in it is massive! Nihiliths, putrefaxes, eviscerators… And the gods know what else!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Jaune, please wake up..."

Jaune opened his eyes – he was starting to fall asleep again – and instinctively nodded at Pyrrha and her gentle nudging at his shoulder. "...I'm ok."

"Jaune, I know you're tired…" Pyrrha gulped. "But you really need to listen to this. Things are getting very serious out there, and it's all happening so fast."

There was a distinct fear in Pyrrha's voice, and so Jaune reached out to reassure her, caressing her right hand with his left. Pyrrha held tightly on his hand in response of course, but her green eyes were still glued at the TV screen, watching the current situation unfold through clips of devastation and chaos. He couldn't blame her though; even the news anchor of the Atlas News Network even showed a few hints of distress despite his efforts to hide it. Because the magnitude of the Grimm attack happening at Atlas's walls right now was the biggest the world had ever seen in a long time – probably since the Dust Revolution itself, 150 years ago – and the TV was filled with images and reports of Class Two Grimm fighting against the Atlas Army vanguard, with Grimm invasion alarms blaring in every scene… Jaune could only imagine the terror the citizens were experiencing right now.

"It'll be alright," Jaune said. "The Atlas military will take care of things."

"...alright," Pyrrha said. "I'm just scared for the citizens. I've never seen a Grimm invading force get this big, and I'm worried about the walls holding them back."

Pyrrha then turned to Weiss, who was watching the news with them, but the crossed arms and cold expression on the latter's face spoke volumes; Jaune signaled to Pyrrha to not bother. He didn't think any outreach from anybody would help. Having just healed Weiss even through her gritted teeth and foul temper, Jaune knew that the girl was in no mood to talk – he knew exactly what was going on in her mind right now – and it was for the best to let her brood.

Just to make sure he didn't fall asleep again, Jaune reached for his coffee. He was just waiting for it to cool off; good thing he kept it on the table, because it would've fallen earlier if he had held it. But his sip quickly turned into gulps, and he finished his coffee even though it was still too hot for comfort. The pain on his tongue was welcomed at this point; anything to keep him awake. The gods knew he was so tired healing everyone for days, but he would embrace insomnia just to make sure that Pyrrha was ok. The report did say that the attacks were happening near Clymene City, where Pyrrha was born and raised… A heavily populated area too. "The defense will hold," Jaune replied. "But whatever happens, I'll protect you."

"Thank you, Jaune." Pyrrha gave Jaune a loving look, complete with her small smile; a picture of beauty in his eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too." Being by Pyrrha's side was the least he could do for her, especially after failing to protect her during the attack at the Schnee Manor. It still stung him that they lost like that; only Ruby mass teleporting them away, with Robyn and her team being there at the right place at the right time, managed to save them. Getting their train car cut off by Cinder to prevent them from helping out Team RWBY was one thing – embarrassing yes, but he could live with it – but Jaune couldn't help but think he could've done much better with their latest fight. He knew they had a chance to at least hold off their opponents if he had just been better with his shields. And now that he was wide awake, without sleep to distract him, his frustrations came back to mind in full. Looking back at their strategy, he could've–

A hand tapping his shoulder interrupted Jaune's thoughts. "You ok there?"

"Tired, but I'll make it." Jaune turned to give Ren a nod; Nora was there beside him too, as often was the case. "And I'm glad you all did too."

"Sorry we're late, Fiona had to wake us up to deliver the news. She should be here with the others anytime now."

"Where are the others?"

"Beats me, but Fiona did say she'll be here soon."

"…"

"C'mon Jaune, give yourself a break. You've already done a lot, you don't need to worry about this too." Ren gave Jaune one more tap on the shoulder before he and Nora took their seat beside their teammates; Team JNPR was complete and they were all in their seats watching the TV in a meeting room, complete with a conference table. "Remember that everyone's in debt to you, and we couldn't have survived without your help. So take it easy on yourself."

I can't help it though. Ren had a good point, but being leader of Team JNPR didn't allow Jaune too much leeway when it came to defeats. And just like being the eldest and the breadwinner in his family, the one to continue the great Arc Hunter lineage, Jaune took his responsibilities to his team very seriously. I'm the first line of defense. I'm the one that should fall first, not you guys. Especially when Pyrrha in particular was…

Jaune looked at his girlfriend. Hunters in a team being in a relationship wasn't expressly forbidden – it was impractical to ban it anyway, as male and female Hunters were on average equal in strength Semblance wise, and coed teams were far too common – but there was an expectation that the guy in the relationship would be pressured to protect the girl, just like in ancient times, and it hit Jaune's pride that Pyrrha was the first to fall before him. Even though the enemy knew good tactics, Jaune felt that he should've been able to adjust accordingly… Because what good was he if he couldn't even protect the love of his life?

Pyrrha was only knocked unconscious last time, but it could've been worse, so much worse. The idle thought of Pyrrha being in an even worse state than what Weiss was in… Jaune didn't want to imagine it, it hurt too much.

"Thank you for being here for us, Jaune. And for me." Pyrrha's right hand held on tightly to Jaune's left. "I love you so much."

"I love you too Pyrrha." I won't let that happen to you again, Pyrrha. I swear I'll protect you always.

Jaune did his best to clear his mind and focus on current events, but he couldn't help but look at the door for a few moments first before watching the news again. Fiona Thyme, the sheep faunus member of Robyn's Merry Men – and the first to know about what was happening above ground – told them to stay here while she looked for the others. But that was how many minutes ago? Nora and Ren were here now, but where were the others? An invasion full of Class Two Grimm was something deathly serious...

"Things are looking awful out there," Nora said with a worried look. "And this is all happening a few days after we landed here, too. Who knew us going to Atlas would get this complicated?"

"You tell me." Ren replied. "Maybe the Grimm heard about Atlas's plan to destroy them and are doing a preemptive strike?" So saying, he shrugged. "Hey, after what we've been through these past few days, I'm willing to believe anything."

Me too, Ren. But please don't jinx it. It seemed only normal to think that a Grimm invasion of this size was bound to happen eventually as long as the Grimm existed, but after seeing things like Cinder and M374 – and hearing all about what's going on through Robyn – Jaune couldn't help but feel that something here was amiss.

The door of the meeting room opened, revealing the rest of Team RWBY and the Merry Men, and it was about time that they did. Though surprisingly, Ruby was with them, flanked by a contemplative Blake and a solemn Yang, which Jaune didn't expect at all; he was happy to see Ruby awake now, though her posture was still a bit off. But better this than bedridden… And if it took them that long to get Ruby going, then at least they had a good reason why they were late. All of Team JNPR greeted Ruby, though Weiss only gave Ruby a small wave of her hand; Ruby gave everyone a warm smile in response.

"Sorry we're late," Fiona said. "Took me a while to get everyone, Ruby especially." Fiona then made a slight bow at Jaune. "Thanks again for your help."

Jaune nodded. "Just doing my job, nothing special."

But Fiona gave Jaune a raised eyebrow, much to his surprise, and the faunus went closer to whisper something to him. "Nothing special, really? What are you talking about? I know things didn't turn out well in your last battle, but even I didn't think you'd be this down on yourself. Remember that you healed everybody in your group, Jaune. That's nothing to scoff at."

"I know that," Jaune whispered back. "But what I meant to say was…" He sighed, regretting that he sounded so hard on himself that Fiona had to call him out on it, but then again, he wasn't about to deny the helplessness he felt. "...I couldn't save them from getting hurt, and I feel awful about it."

"You managed to heal Weiss, who was almost at the brink of death. And you still don't realize the full extent of what you can do with your power?"

"Power? What power? I couldn't even–"

"I forget that you're still a fresh graduate. And that you're too kind." And after saying so, Fiona left both Jaune and the topic behind, with a knowing look to match.

Now that gave Jaune pause. He didn't think Fiona was insulting him, not at all, but there was something in how she said her words…

"What's that about?" Pyrrha asked.

"Nothing, Fiona just told me it took them a while to get back here." Jaune had to turn to Pyrrha and give her an assuring nod. "Don't worry about it, it's fine."

"They don't know what's going on above ground either?"

"I don't think it's that easy to find out what's happening real time from inside this bunker…" Jaune shook his head. "And it's not like the news here is giving us anything–"

"Meanwhile our military correspondent has been speaking to army leaders recently about Atlas's next steps on how to exterminate the Grimm," the news anchor said, as the news transitioned from reporting what had just transpired at the walls straight to a live feed; this quickly got everyone's attention. "And we now go to the Atlas eastern border wall. But please be advised, the following report may be disturbing." The split screen pulled up, showing both the news anchor and the correspondent; sounds of gunshots, artillery, and human shouts could be heard from the latter's side. "Now, what can you tell us? What do you know at this stage?"

The reporter was standing near what Jaune supposed was a safe part of the Atlas border wall; he could see explosions and hear monsters crying out from the distance, along with the Grimm invasion alarms blaring. "I'm with senior military leaders right now, and they have just confirmed that the Grimm invasion is steadily increasing in number, and that they have just given the order to pull back. This place I'm standing on is rapidly becoming unsafe… We've been ordered to leave immediately–" Suddenly the reporter was cut off by what seemed to be something the cameraman was saying, and just as quickly the reporter gained a totally different demeanor and tone of voice. "Wait, hold on! This just in! We interrupt this live news report to bring you an announcement from Atlas Army General James Ironwood! Emergency broadcast incoming… Patching everyone in live as everyone here falls back!"

The news program abruptly went into a live broadcast of a man sitting at his desk, with two Atlas flags right behind him, with a solemn look on his face.

There he was, James Ironwood, his eyes fixed at the camera, and everyone went quiet, intent on hearing on what he had to say.

"Good evening, everyone. My name is James Ironwood, General of the Atlas Army, speaking on behalf of our King of Atlas, the Ever Brilliant, blessed be his name. Just less than an hour ago, Atlas ground forces began a counterattack on the large Grimm force invading our eastern border wall, directly facing the Solitas Grimm stronghold. Be assured that the Atlas Army has not slept on our mortal enemies, and I've instructed our military commanders to take the needed steps to ensure the greatest possible protection possible for our service men and women. As of right now the current number of Class Two Grimm are steadily increasing in number, straight from the stronghold far in the east, but I assure you that this is only a temporary retreat… Our troops have the best possible support in the entire world, and they are not fighting with one hand tied behind their back. I confidently say that the fighting will not end until we achieve victory, and that our casualties will be held to an absolute minimum, regardless of the number of Class Two Grimm attacking our borders."

Suddenly the live feed showed a wurmcoil – a huge Class Two Grimm aberration of a worm, with an otherworldly roar to match – erupt from the ground right in front of the walls, and began to destroy the structure almost instantly; much larger than the other Class Two Grimm around it, the wurmcoil proved much more successful in destruction. What was already a losing fight against venomous putrefaxes, incapacitating nihiliths, and bloodthirsty eviscerators had just turned into a rout with the wurmcoil's entrance... Everyone in the room was shocked by the sight of course, even brooding Weiss, and Jaune thought he heard a gasp from Pyrrha as a large portion of the Atlas wall collapsed under the wurmcoil's sheer weight.

"Hmph. Now would you look at that… As to be expected from the Grimm, trying to dampen our spirits. But it won't work." Ironwood's voice was grave but with unmistakable authority, as he steepled his hands; he appeared genuinely surprised, but only briefly; the man ultimately kept an unfazed look, even when faced with this newest Grimm attack. "All the more that my broadcast has proven to be timely. Rest assured that your kingdom has prepared for this, citizens of Atlas. I will make the necessary adjustments, but with the kingdom's military might at my beck and call, our response still goes forward as planned." Ironwood then looked at someone from behind the camera with a steely look; most likely an underling of his. "Do it," he commanded. "Start the weapon."

The feed then changed from Ironwood to that of a wide area, somewhere in a vast, snowy region that Jaune had never seen before. Not a military base... Wait, was this some kind of mountain range?

But a flat snowy area revealed gigantic metal doors that opened in an instant, immediately shaking off the snow that hid them, and a structure slowly rose out, creaking and groaning like an awakened titan, to reveal an enormous cannon – one with a barrel that looked more than half as long as the whole area of Beacon Academy itself – and the mere sight of such a titanic weapon made the Merry Men stand up from their seats.

"Somewhere in the northern mountains… May, calibrate that weapon's location and check the records for any Atlas defenses set up there!" Robyn ordered. "Joanna, check the topography of the area! Fiona, gauge the citizen's reactions online… I want to know exactly how they're taking this! Hurry! We don't have time to waste!"

Robyn's teammates – who all coincidentally had laptops with them – went to work immediately upon being issued their commands.

Jaune then looked at the others, whose reactions were more subdued, but still showing shock at what was going on; with such a huge weapon, the likes of which had never really been seen before, he wondered how exactly they were taking this.

Ironwood was now at the left corner of the screen – and the wurmcoil assault at the opposite side – while the gigantic artillery was at the forefront, slowly moving and correcting its position to target what had to be the beleaguered Atlas eastern wall, and the camera wasted no time showing angles of the weapon that Jaune was convinced were carefully chosen to amaze and dazzle every viewer watching. And that wasn't even touching on what kind of weapon was this to begin with. There was no way this was just some oversized gun turret; that would be far too wasteful. No army general in their right mind would've bothered making this kind of announcement if it was only that…

Ironwood turned his gaze back to the camera. "My fellow citizens, our conflict with the Grimm has dragged on for so many centuries, going all the way back to the Remnant Era, when humanity was crushed and brutalized by these monsters. Yet even with the Dust Revolution giving us the upper hand, these Grimm continue to persist, never relenting on attacking our defenses, harassing our shipping lanes, and even targeting some of our air freights. This also happens to the other kingdoms, but they have resigned themselves to simply managing the Grimm threat. But I ask you... Is that the solution that's best for Atlas? With this newest assault, it's clear that the Grimm have no intention… If they even have the ability of thought… Of ever stopping their war against humanity until we're all dead, and I believe that the debate of whether the Grimm are to be treated as simple natural disasters has now been put to bed. The only correct conclusion is that the Grimm must be destroyed at their spawning beds… One of which is their stronghold in the wilderness here in Solitas, long thought of to be impenetrable. But that's about to change. Tonight, with the help of everyone that has believed in Atlas's cause to exterminate the Grimm through all this time, I present to you now the fruit of our labor, and Atlas's answer to finally end the conflict."

Then came the loud sound of mechanisms being locked into place; with select shots showing steam coming out of its sides and exhaust ports, the weapon was now in its intended position.

"Some among you may ask, what do we do in case the other kingdoms take offense to this? But our answer to that is simple… Atlas can wait no longer. We've grown tired of waiting for a time when cooperation with the other kingdoms would yield gains against the Grimm. And why should we wait any further, when for all the time the treaties held, the Grimm still persist? No more of that. Atlas will now make its move on its own terms, and we will defend our right to do so, that I can promise you. And we won't stop until peace is restored to its rightful place. That's why this new Atlas military weapon was created. And with the express consent of the Atlas royalty, with our king's blessing, I speak to you on their behalf to tell everyone that this is the weapon we've promised to deliver, the logical conclusion we've reached after years of research on what could be done to destroy the Grimm. Yes, I can understand your shocked expressions. But I assure you all that your tax money did not go to waste. Allow me to show you all the power of Atlas... As our soldiers back off, I will now demonstrate to the world the power of the Járnviðr Rail Cannon, Atlas's ultimate weapon!"

The monstrous machine groaned as it awoke to Ironwood's words, and unknown particles began to appear near the cannon's muzzle; what the hell was this?

"Firing sequence initialized… The Járnviðr is ready!" Ironwood thundered, his voice absolutely dominating, and he stretched out his right arm, ready to say his next command right from where he sat; Jaune could've sworn he heard hurried steps from the people behind the camera. "Launch tungsten Dust missiles at the target area upon my command... Fire!"

The camera went back to the cannon, and a few moments later, sheer amounts of kinetic energy erupted from the cannon's muzzle and launched multiple warheads that appeared to be fired by light itself. The TV then changed scenes back to the wurmcoil and the various Class Two Grimm ravaging the now almost destroyed eastern wall… And an instant later they were destroyed by the kinetic energy released by such high speed projectiles, their awful cries almost drowning out the explosions.

Jaune gulped. Railgun technology… Of course it had to be that. The theory of using electromagnetic force to launch projectiles with velocities far greater than what can be achieved through regular propellant – and annihilate targets through kinetic energy much greater than explosives of comparable volume – had been discussed before during their time at Beacon, but the tech had infamously never gone past the research phase despite the many years and resources spent on it. Yet somehow Ironwood made this happen… With what? What did the man use to make this a reality? It couldn't be Dust; so many had tried and failed with it. So then… What? Jaune couldn't stop himself from wondering just how exactly that man was able to do this.

The TV suddenly switched to a new scene, which was none other than the Grimm stronghold in Solitas; no doubt surveilled by drones stationed at the very edge of the stronghold's borders, as was done by the other kingdoms. And just like with the others, Atlas faced a colossal black bubble that towered over the windy tundra wilderness, complete with Grimm of all sorts patrolling it like sentry guards.

"All ground forces, return to the battlefield immediately and reclaim lost ground! All air forces, launch to give full support! And be prepared for any Grimm counterattacks!" Roaring as he issued his commands, Ironwood then slammed his desk with his left hand as he stood up, and stretched out his right arm once again. "And now… With the Járnviðr Rail Cannon at maximum output, with all limiters removed… Fire tungsten MIRV missiles straight at the Grimm stronghold NOW!"

If the first shot was amazing, then the second blew all of the former's spectacle away, as multiple warheads were launched in a wondrous display, missiles with cameras on them that followed their path all the way towards the Grimm stronghold for everyone to see. But after a few moments each missile split in midair, revealing even more submissiles that ensured a guaranteed attack even in the face of the tightest defense… Jaune could've sworn he saw eight split off from just one warhead. And how many warheads were launched in total? Jaune had no idea, but it seemed a moot point; missiles traveling at such speeds had to be too much for any Grimm to withstand regardless of the actual number, and he was quickly proven right about that.

All of Ironwood's payload hit their mark, bombarding the bubble with incredible kinetic force that made the earlier attack at the walls appear minuscule in comparison, and any Grimm that happened to be nearby were incinerated by the ensuing blasts.

But even the sight of that paled compared to what appeared next.

The tundra wind blew away the dust and carnage, and revealed that the missiles managed to deal what was long thought to be impossible, even after numerous attacks in the past with conventional weaponry… Which was to deliver a blow on the Grimm bubble, and it manifested as a long crack on the large, uncanny structure, and everyone from the room was in shock at the mere sight of it; from the corner of his eye Jaune saw Weiss gasp out loud, her eyes wide open.

"Actual damage on the bubble…" May said. "I can't believe it…"

"Incredible…" Joanna muttered. "That madman Ironwood actually did it!"

"The citizens are taking this very well..." Jaune noticed that Fiona's voice was shaky as she spoke; her fingers seemed to tremble as they moved on her laptop's keyboard. "It's an overwhelming positive response no matter where you go… And that shot of the bubble being cracked was pretty much the tipping point… Everyone's thanking Ironwood for–"

"That's enough, Fiona." Robyn cleared her throat. "Don't mind the citizens anymore. I want you now to search everything that has to do with railgun technology in the Atlas military database. I want to find out if R&D is hiding something from us."

"I'm already on it, though I can't promise that we'll find anything. I've kept tabs on those R&D guys for a while now, and last thing I heard, railgun tech was just as likely as pigs flying..."

"Check on it!" Robyn demanded. "Any pig will fly with enough thrust, and I'm not taking any chances!"

Robyn's distress was understandable; given what she told them about Ironwood, it would be depressing to hear just how much the Atlas citizenry were by his side. But even Jaune had to admit that the situation overall had shaped up to be a good thing for Ironwood. Now Jaune wasn't an Atlas citizen of course, but if he was and didn't know what was really going on, then he would've been thoroughly impressed and overjoyed at what he had just witnessed. The others had to be as well, for better or worse. This Ironwood person that Robyn was so concerned about definitely knew what he was doing, and it made sense how he managed to convince the Atlas populace to rally to his cause of complete and utter Grimm extermination.

Ironwood meanwhile was now quiet with his arms crossed, along with a look of calm satisfaction on his face. Coincidentally the Járnviðr Rail Cannon was shown to be overheating, with a lot of steam being pushed out of the weapon to cool it down… The sight reminded Jaune about M374 actually, and he was sure he wasn't the only one that noticed.

"Citizens of Atlas, you now bear witness to this new chapter of world history." It took a while before Ironwood spoke again – he took his time before sitting down, for one thing – though when he finally did speak, his voice was the epitome of both calm and strength. "Wherein after so many centuries, we have now taken the first real step in finally destroying these monsters. You all have seen how the Grimm recoiled under the might of our new weapon. I do not intend to let up… I mean to eradicate them all. And this is why I formally announce, with the good grace of our good King of Atlas, the Ever Brilliant, long may he live and reign, that our war against these forsaken beasts has been restarted. The road may prove very difficult, but in the end, we will destroy every single Grimm here in Solitas, and we will not settle for anything less than the total annihilation of their stronghold spawning ground. I promise that we will not fail in this, my dear citizens. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this old enemy, the Atlas people in their righteous might will achieve absolute victory, because in the end, there is only triumph and a brighter future for humanity. The gods have decreed it so long ago, when Atlas was founded from the ashes of the old Mantle, and that remains true today… The gods continue to bless all of Atlas and its people."

The transmission ended, and the feed returned to the local news, whose reporters were quick to report on the immediate army response to retake the eastern wall, and they showed live footage of the soldiers routing the remaining Grimm stragglers, just as Ironwood commanded.

"Ironwood, you son of a bitch..." Jaune heard Robyn utter under her breath. "How the hell did you get the royalty to stand by your side?"

"It's not difficult for Ironwood to get people to his side when he appears that strong," Blake said with crossed arms and her cat ears twitching, slouching on her seat, all with her usual cool and collected tone. "But somehow he got the privilege to formally restart war against the Grimm instead of the King of Atlas too? Now that's the question of the day, isn't it? You'd think your own king would prefer to make this kind of announcement himself. You weren't kidding when you told us that Ironwood has great influence on the Atlas royalty. But this bad, huh?"

"Ironwood has the royalty's full trust, including that of the king's," Robyn replied. "But the king's an old man too, and quite sickly as of late… I've no doubt that he allowed Ironwood to speak on his behalf."

"Imagine that," Blake replied. "Well, this is what the Atlas kingdom has decided, and that was an impressive showing from Ironwood… That was a good display of optics. He really made the most of the situation he was given, even twisted that wurmcoil's entrance to his advantage. He's well aware that this is his victory to throw away."

"You're right," Robyn muttered. "It doesn't help that Atlas citizens have always responded well to displays of strength. Something like this is probably what Atlas had been waiting for all along. Makes sense why they're ok with increased taxes towards the military. And now that this happened…"

"So is this it?" May mumbled. "Did we just lose? Just like that?"

"Nothing quite like overwhelming odds, am I right?" Joanna added with a defeated smile. "Things just keep getting better and better..."

"It's not over yet," Robyn replied as she looked at her teammates. "It still isn't over. The truth will come out, one way or another, and we'll work our hardest to make that happen."

"Changing the narrative's not exactly feasible for you guys anymore though," Blake said. "Sorry Robyn, but I can already imagine the Atlas citizens cheering about the whole thing. And no one can resist rooting for the winning team, especially when it's the home team too… I don't think they're about to let slip the possibility of being the first in the world to eliminate the Grimm, even when the citizens have become as apathetic as ever over the years."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Then again, you're not about to just throw in the towel, right? Not after everything you've worked on to pin the guy on something… And especially not now, when you know Ironwood's guilty as sin." There was a sudden quietness after Blake said that; Robyn herself could only frown. "You still have that other plan you told me earlier," Blake continued. "After Ironwood's speech, it's pretty much your only option at this point. I suggest you take it."

"Bet everything to find a smoking gun to expose Ironwood with?"

"It's your only chance, if you're willing to take the risk. There's a lot of chaos going around right now, so this is pretty much the best cover you'll ever have for infiltration. And maybe, gods willing, you might just find something… This could be the opening you're looking for, and it's something to think about. But that's all the advice I can give, can't get any more involved than this." Blake spared a glance at Ruby. "Did I get that right?"

"...right."

That was pretty much Ruby's confirmation that she didn't want her team to get involved – Jaune, for his part, had already told Robyn that he didn't want his own team to be entangled in Atlas politics either – though Ruby looked physically in pain from having to say that. But it was notable that Blake was a sharp contrast; Jaune didn't think that an aloof girl like her would be the most interested in trying to help the Merry Men out of the eight of them, but stranger things had happened.

"Still feeling down about it? Nah, don't feel bad, I knew it wasn't meant to be." As if to lighten the mood, Robyn showed a small smile. "But can you really blame me for asking?"

But Robyn saying that only made Ruby look even more conflicted. "We couldn't have made it out alive without your help, and I don't want you to think that we're ungrateful. But I…" Ruby shook her head. "Please don't think of this as us not wanting to pay you back. But I can't just break protocol here…

"It's ok, Ruby. I understand. We're under different circumstances, that's all. Besides, since my team's betting everything here, then that means we can't spare time helping you guys with your mission either. Sorry, but this goes both ways."

"That's what I figured too," Ruby replied. "And not only that, considering the damage the Grimm caused…"

"You're thinking about whether they got hurt, aren't you?" Blake asked. "Worried that they were attacked by some Grimm that might have sneaked past the broken wall after the wurmcoil arrived?"

"It's possible that…" Ruby looked at Weiss, who had her face buried in her hands; for how long Jaune couldn't say, but Ruby's words trailed off at that point.

"Not saying that your suspicions are correct, but it's something I've also been thinking of." Blake turned to Yang, who coincidentally was listening intently from where she sat, her lilac eyes locked on Blake. "Something tells me that we need to move now to have a chance at finding Weiss's parents. Yeah, put this down as my intuition talking, I think that it's in our best interest to go outside and find clues about Jacques and Willow asap, because the chaos might also be what we need for a breakthrough. Though if we find any injured, we help them out of course."

Blake made sense; they needed to go find Weiss's parents at some point, so they might as well start now. Knowing where to start was the tricky part, though... But with the chaos happening outside, it was possible that they could sneak inside an Atlas base and find information about the Ace Ops, their only clue about their opponents from the last battle. They might even find an injured Atlas soldier to interrogate in exchange for help. Ok, maybe a more honorable strategy would be preferable, but time wasn't on their side either, meaning they weren't exactly spoiled for choice.

"Fine with me. The sooner we get moving, the better our chances. And I don't think I can stand being cooped up in this place any longer anyways." Yang then looked at Ruby. "But what about you? Are you good to go? You just woke up, and…" She then shook her head. "No, on second thought, it's best that you stay. We can go out on our own while you rest."

"Wait… Me, stay here?" Ruby suddenly looked like she was surprised that she was told that – as if she never even considered it – so much so that Ruby stood up from her seat and walked towards Yang, as if trying to prove a point; Ruby stopped right beside where Jaune sat. "I should be with you guys on every sortie–"

Ruby wobbled where she stood, and Jaune instinctively stood up and reached out to catch her before she fell, and with his dustmetal weapons by his side, gave her a quick heal too, as much as he could spare, being tired and all; Ruby's body responded all too well to that.

"Thanks, Jaune. I was about to ask for that, to be honest..."

"Don't push yourself," Jaune said gruffly, which he thought was his kind way of saying that he disagreed with Ruby being ready, for obvious reasons. "Yang's right, you need to rest more. We'll handle things above ground."

"You guys need my teleports though."

"Ruby…" Jaune wished Ruby didn't say that in front of everyone. "Please don't. You still need to rest."

"You can't even stand straight," Yang added.

"Don't worry Yang, I won't exert myself too much."

Jaune knew that was a lie. There was no way Ruby wouldn't be exerting herself while using her blinks – given their battle record, it was almost assured that they would need her to do just that – but he quickly had a feeling that Ruby had already made up her mind, and he soon found himself unable to give a response.

"I want to find Weiss's parents as soon as possible," Ruby said. "We Hunters have a duty to accomplish the mission given to us at the quickest possible time. And I can't help but worry about the Atlas citizens too. Something about that Grimm attack tells me that things are going to get worse before they get better, regardless of what Ironwood says... We should help anyone we meet along the way that needs assistance. And if things get worse… If we meet those Ace Ops again, then everyone will need me in the fight."

"Ruby…"

"I'll be alright, Jaune. We're Hunters, we know the job we signed up for. And that's why… Regardless of what's really going on with the kingdoms… I want to do the right thing as much as I can, all while not putting your lives in danger. And I can only do that if I'm with you guys."

That tone in Ruby's voice – one of guilt, and overwhelming duty – was unmistakable, and Yang was starting to frown now, though not at Ruby in particular. Blake though was strangely calm, while Weiss still had her face buried in her hands.

Jaune realized something. His own team would most likely go along with whatever he decided, but with Weiss and Blake basically not saying their piece, it was pretty much only Ruby and Yang who was arguing, and Ruby would easily override Yang, being their leader. But Yang didn't look like she was going to just accept that, now did she? An argument between the two was the last thing they needed, and he needed to make this as smooth as possible.

"Alright, then all the more me and my team should be with you guys to provide cover." Jaune didn't like that he had to do this, but considering their mission and their circumstances, this was their only option as far as he could see it. "I don't know what Ironwood's planning with Weiss's parents, but Blake's right, we have to make our move too." Going outside now in the cover of darkness seemed more likely to bear fruit than going back to the Schnee Manor some other day, now that Jaune thought more about it. And after looking at how Weiss was doing… Yeah, this really was their best option. "Time's of the essence, and Ruby's blinks will make things easier for all of us."

"I…" Weiss suddenly stood up, gathering everyone's attention; her eyes were red, and her voice was shaky, struggling to gain strength. "I appreciate you for trying to help find my parents, I can't thank you enough. But I've been thinking…" She then looked at Robyn with surprisingly soft eyes, not like the hateful ones Jaune saw before. "Before we leave, I want to say–"

Suddenly everyone was plunged into darkness, with only their mobile devices giving them light. But it only lasted for a moment, as a steady, telltale mechanical hum brought back the power.

"The generators activated?!" Robyn yelled. "Fiona, locate the source of the blackout!"

"On it! And this just in… Everyone in the military has just received a report from the Atlas Electro Dust Company!" Fiona's eyes were fixed on her laptop screen as she shouted. "Triangulating based on received data… It's a few miles west from here… A portion of Atlas's western side is without power… There's been explosions at one of the power plants… Possible Grimm attacks!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Is he always like this?"

"Let him have his fun," Cinder said. "It's part of his contract with Merlot. He's paid well to do what he's told to do, with a few caveats. Now he was supposed to monitor Vale, but fortunately for him, this night gave us something that accelerated our plans tenfold. Right when we were about to sortie, too... The more the merrier, I suppose. To think we mulled for days on how we could infiltrate."

Emerald knew how badly Merlot wanted to infiltrate Atlas these past few days ever since they obtained the data from that Leon faunus. She recalled how agitated Merlot was after analyzing the data too, how he was almost foaming at the mouth raving about how James Ironwood, general of the Atlas Army, stole his life's work. But there were also clues there about that secret weapon Atlas had to eliminate the Grimm, clues that apparently could jeopardize the old man's dreams of a new world order, and so he had them spend considerable effort in planning how to break through the kingdom's defenses and destroy it. Those were wasted days of course – if it were that easy, Emerald figured they would've done it a long time ago – and she didn't think that them being ordered to enter Atlas to do surveillance would make a difference.

But that didn't matter anymore, because what was supposed to be an investigation of the current state of Atlas's defenses between her and Cinder had become something else entirely. Because the Grimm attacking Atlas proved to be the perfect cover to escalate the situation, hence why they were here in one of Atlas's largest Dust power plants, under the cover of darkness.

"And we made it just in time, didn't we? Right on time to see such a nice display from Atlas, firing railgun missiles to put a crack at the Grimm bubble. Who knew Atlas finally broke the code on how to make that technology work? But Merlot has had enough of Ironwood's tricks." Cinder smirked. "And our teammate here's been itching to stretch his legs."

"You call this stretching his legs?"

Emerald looked at the fiery remains of what used to be turbines and generators, all obliterated by that hulking monster called Hazel Rainart, who happened to be a few feet away from them, laughing maniacally at his handiwork. And what a handiwork it was… Who knew that a tiny yellow aura ball of light – so small it couldn't be any bigger than a bead – that formed in Hazel's massive right hand could suddenly morph into an enormous aura bomb of devastating power, one that lit up brightly and grew to Hazel's own size? But that was exactly what Hazel did, pushing his gigantic sphere to its target in what she could only describe as a lackadaisical manner, and he cackled all the way through as he made short work of an entire building in a surprise attack, along with all the people inside it.

"We need to field all the strength we have to take advantage of the chaos, that's all. Just a stroke of luck that we were able to change plans at the last moment. And Hazel's all too happy to contribute."

Alarms in the power plant were going off in all directions; anyone in the vicinity that survived by not being in the range of Hazel's attack had almost certainly escaped by now, which meant that they would find armed company soon. But Hazel didn't look one bit concerned about that, and seemed ready to fire another attack at another part of the power plant, as if he had more in him to spare… No, of course he would be ready for more. His unhinged laughing couldn't mean anything else.

"He can do a lot worse than this by the way." Cinder then chuckled, as if she had just read Emerald's mind. "And Mercury tells me I go overboard. Hilarious."

"If you go overboard," Emerald replied, "then Hazel capsizes the whole boat."

"Maybe. But I'm also the storm."

Of course, Cinder was no slouch either, given how she toyed with those four Hunters they met at the train, and Emerald didn't fail to always keep that in mind. But one of those Hunters was that blonde girl who was somehow immune to her Semblance, and Mercury and Cinder just so happened to witness it…

Emerald suppressed a frown. Even now, she still couldn't remove her uneasiness, as the last thing she wanted was to appear weak in front of her supposed teammates. She had that alliance of sorts with Mercury, which was a small comfort, but there was no way she would ask the same thing to Cinder; even Mercury didn't seem to have attempted it. And maybe for good reason. It would be hard to fully trust a woman insane enough to graft Grimm parts to her body and expect her to uphold agreements.

"You have a problem with me, little worm?"

Emerald turned, and was forced to look up to the hulking man that was now a few inches away from her. As to how he got to her so fast, Emerald didn't know, but it was much too quick for her liking; wearing gauntlets that served as his dustmetal weapons, Hazel truly was a giant of a man, and with his yellow Semblance aura that crackled electricity from time to time, his eyes were now pure white, with a wicked smile to match.

"Hmph. Don't tell me you're at a loss for words now. Hehe… Don't think I didn't hear you, that I don't know what you're thinking of!"

With such an imposing presence glaring at her, Emerald instinctively wanted to back off – and so her body did – but she only managed to make one step, as her other leg was stopped short by Hazel's sharp laugh and his fist moving dangerously close to her face.

"Where do you think you're going? Don't you dare back away when I'm talking to you!"

Emerald wanted nothing more than to reach out for her dustmetal weapons and deal Hazel the worst nightmare of his life – one that he would be groveling on his knees to be released from – but her body refused to move a muscle, and she quickly realized she was frozen in place.

"She's just the new kid," Cinder said calmly, moving so that she was now in between the two. "Nothing to be riled up over."

"Oho! But it seems she doesn't quite know her place yet Cinder, so I couldn't help myself."

"I know, I've been with Tyrian too. I know how you two think."

"Bwahahaha! Is that so?" Hazel somehow found that so funny, his massive frame almost doubled over. "Then what else can you expect… From true freaks?!"

"We're all a bit gung ho when we start our first job Hazel," Cinder said dryly. "But let's not forget our mission, we need all hands on deck. Raze this whole place to the ground for all I care, just make it quick. We don't have all night."

Cinder stood confidently despite being in front of a crazy man twice her size, and the sight of that admittedly wasn't something one saw every day; perhaps Hazel thought the same, as he let his belly laugh take its course. He seemed all too willing to drop the subject. But Hazel didn't forget to show a wicked smile to Emerald for good measure, and only after doing so, turned to leave.

"Be careful next time," Cinder said as soon as Hazel was out of earshot, clearly off to destroy another part of the power plant, once again charging up for another attack. "I may not save you again."

A rage boiled up in Emerald; she thought being intimidated by Hazel was bad enough. But this… How dare Cinder imply that she owed her one?! Emerald suddenly didn't care if the woman was some goddamned hybrid; she felt a desire to put Cinder into an unending nightmare just for embarrassing her like that.

But the conversation Emerald had with Mercury before she left soon came to mind.

I see that Merlot sent the four of you to destroy the Atlas power grid. Not really that surprising to me, Merlot's really making sure nothing goes awry after we just got this windfall. But I'm sure you have this in the bag.

Easy for you to say. You, Arthur, and that Neo girl get to escort Merlot to wherever it is he wants to go in Atlas. How hard can that be? I'll bet he didn't bring you guys to destroy stuff and get swamped with soldiers.

Our job's only easy if your side goes well without a hitch, we only move once we have Cinder's signal. So think of this as Merlot's confidence in your abilities. And you're not complaining about the pay, are you? Not to mention you're one step closer to finding out Merlot's true plans.

...whatever.

And Cinder's pretty much the most competent teammate you can have in this group. Well, other than me of course.

...

By the way, speaking of Cinder… She's insane in many ways, but she can be quite fair, if you can believe that. Far more than the other two you'll be with. So should something happen, I suggest you give her the benefit of the doubt.

Recalling Mercury's advice – and despite all the anger and shame that boiled up in her – Emerald sighed instead, letting her frustrations go. "...noted."

"Good, I knew you were a smart girl. And that goes for Tyrian too, in case he starts liking you a bit too much... Speaking of which, where is that damned lout?" Cinder looked in every direction to find the faunus, but to no avail; she shrugged. "No matter. The two of you are on guard duty anyway, so go scout for enemies, they could be appearing anytime now." Cinder then stretched her arms, and out came the sound of bone being popped. "As for me, I'll be taking my leave."

"So soon?" Emerald asked, while making sure her voice was as strong as it could be. "Hazel hasn't even finished yet."

"Hazel had already cut off some of the power, so I can go move out now, and by the time I reach my destination, I'll have all the cover I'll need. And Merlot was adamant that the rail cannon be destroyed and Ironwood be dragged alive to his feet asap, so that's what I intend to do. Any problems?"

"...none."

"Good. Now eliminate any opposition that tries to stop Hazel, we can't afford him being interrupted. Ultimately, we need Atlas completely in the dark for our mission to succeed." So saying, Cinder took out her scythe Tale's End, and twirled it in her usual manner; she smirked. "Don't get killed now, Emerald. You don't get paid if you're dead."

Embracing her Semblance, Cinder ran off without another word, leaving Emerald by herself, with that fool Tyrian still missing, and Hazel cackling while readying another attack, his hand starting to shimmer.

Hmph. I can take care of myself.

Emerald took out Oneiros Magos, her large twin shotels. Cinder and Hazel weren't the only ones with powerful Semblances here. And she was in no mood to show mercy right now; with her rage boiling, if anyone dared to stop them, then she would make them wish they ripped their own throats off.