The General
"I must admit, Summer," General Ironwood declared as the two walked into his office, "You caught me a bit unprepared."
"Yeah, that was the whole point of going off the grid, General."
It had been two months since that fateful night, and Summer had been working non-stop to try to find Ketos. Two months of trying to reach her daughter. Three months of her daughter being scarred by her actions, and Summer living with the guilt.
She had a decent plan. Find the flight path of Ketos, and cut it off, sneaking aboard. But simply finding Ketos wasn't going to be enough. Getting onboard was the hard part. Summer wasn't dumb. If Ruby hasn't shown up at all in those three months, then she's actively going to avoid confronting her. Which means she'll only get one shot at getting into Ketos. If she fails, then Ruby will reinforce its defences, and her daughter will likely forever be out of her reach.
Okay, maybe that's a bit pessimistic. Ruby can't possibly stay on Ketos forever. However, it could be years before the two meet again, and, by then, who knows what Ruby's mental state will be. Will she be forgiving of Summer? Will she hate her? Will she see her as a monster, and try to hide? Will she just straight up attack her?
It was a gamble she wasn't willing to play, so she had to find her, and fast.
Most of the past two months was pulling in favors so that her contact in Mistral could get enough eyes and ears across Anima. Okay, that's a lie, it didn't take her two months. It only took her the second month. The first month was trying to track down Raven. Her original plan was to find Raven, and use her Semblance to get to older Yang. But, for some reason, Raven's been avoiding her like the plague. Everytime she got close to tracking down the bandit tribe's location, they disappeared. She only stopped trying when, after waking up in a hotel, she found a note stabbed into the door that both saddened and pissed her off!
I know who they are, stop trying to find me.
Needless to say, Summer had to demolish a nearby forest after that. Raven knew that Scarlet and Ursis were Ruby/Yang, and was doing nothing to help her!? Yeah she needed to burn off some steam. The nearby town would be wondering why a section of the forest was not only overgrown, but also frozen, burning, and blown apart, but, honestly, she didn't care at the moment.
So, with that dead end, she had to find…other sources.
Then…the dreams. It started out simple enough. Reliving the memory of facing Scarlet, and ripping off her mask. But there were variations. Sometimes, Scarlet would combust along with the bleeding. Sometimes she'd be frozen in ice, but clearly bleeding from the face. One particularly nasty one was, when she ripped off the mask, she ended up straight up ripping the head off (yeah, Summer didn't sleep the next night). However, the more recent one was…different.
Summer's vision is hazy, but she thinks she's in Patch. She sees a girl in a red cloak, standing on her favorite cliff…with a gravestone on it. Upon inspection, Summer saw they had Scarlet's mask on. Scarlet collapsed to her knees, tears coming down her face, before wiping them away and walking away. Summer looked to the grave.
Summer Rose, Thus Kindly I Scatter
Summer's breathing hitched, realizing it was Ruby, and she chased her down. She reached her in a clearing.
"Ruby!" Summer yelled, seeing three young beowolves approaching her. Ruby turned her head, glaring at her mother.
"Why did you leave me?"
The beowolves lunged at her, ripping Ruby into four separate pieces, but her gaze never stopped at Summer.
Summer bolted with a jump, the scenery of trees passing by at a rapid pace.
"Where-" she stopped herself, "Right. I'm heading to Argus. And I took a short nap."
She could only hope Atlas could give her some help.
Which brought her here.
"I frankly didn't believe it when Ozpin told me that you were going off the grid, Summer. You're the Spring Maiden, you shouldn't put yourself at such a risk."
"I'll tell you what I told him. Everytime we've tried to investigate them our way, it ended up backfiring. First was Trivia, then the Glass Unicorn, then the Staff-" Summer noted that Ironwood clenched his hand, "I'm going after them my way. But I'll need your help."
"You'll have all of Atlas's resources if it means getting the Staff back." Ironwood took a seat in his office, bringing up holographic images.
Summer shook her head, "No, we have to be both direct and subtle."
The General raised an eyebrow, "How are you going to do that?
"I'll need two things. First, constant survailence. If Ketos is sighted anywhere near Solitas, I need to know."
"That can easily be done, because I've already had most of my ships on alert."
Summer's eyebrows raised, "You aren't-"
"Not to attack, of course. Whatever Ketos has, it's clear nothing short of an armada could assault it. Just to keep an eye on them."
"Well, luckily I'm not trying to assault it. I'm trying to sneak into it, which brings me to my second point: I need a diving suit."
"A diving suit? Why would you come to me for something that simple?"
"It's anything but simple." Summer pulled out a list, handing it to Ironwood, "This is what I need to have equipped onto the suit."
Ironwood looked over the list.
"Grappling hook, grappling hook backpack extension, deep sea filtration mask, laser grade glass cutting—Summer, what are you intending to do?"
"I'm going to wait until Ketos is near Mistral, swim underneath it, then climb up and sneak in."
"Summer, the things on this list…it'll be a small fortune, and I can't rely on Pietro."
"Why not?"
"Recent reports…may indicate that he's allied, if not at least friendly, with ROWSE."
"Are you serious!"
"I fear so. Which means, if he designs it, he may report it to them. I don't believe he would, but-"
"No, no, you're right. I can't take any chances. So you'll need to form a team of engineers, then subtly get the supplies."
"Summer…why are you so determined to find out?"
This was an expected outcome. If Ironwood didn't immediately agree to it, she knew she'd have to tell him. Not everything, obviously, but Ironwood was the most likely to trust with this information and not tell Ozpin. Haven still needed a replacement, and Theodore…was a coinflip. She could imagine Theo telling Ozpin (not everything), but enough to have Ozpin recall her back, and she couldn't afford that. Ironwood may be green, but he's also a bit paranoid. He showed that more than once. The first time having his special agent harass them at Argus, then nearly bringing the entire Atlas fleet to chase after Ketos.
She's only hoping this gamble (of many in the past month) pays off.
"Didn't you find it strange, how ROWSE could so effortlessly get the Staff?"
Ironwood scowled, "Of course I'm angry. Ozpin trusted me to protect the Staff and the Winter Maiden, and, in the same hour, I lost both of them."
"I didn't say angry, I said strange. They not only knew exactly where to find her, but how to safely extract her Maiden powers, something none of us have even thought to do. They knew where to find the Staff and how to use it, the exact points to implement the gravity wells for the Oracle System, everything. Somehow they even knew Ozpin's original name, something I think only he and Salem were aware of."
As Summer spoke, James's anger slowly morphed into sheer confusion.
"This isn't something that can simply be leaked, General."
"You're right, but what other possibility?"
"Well, they had to have gotten that knowledge from somewhere."
Ironwood's eyes widened. "The Lamp underneath Haven?"
Summer nodded, "Yes. I believed that they may have used it."
"But only you can open it."
"And we didn't think anything but the Staff could keep Atlas floating, yet here we float. I told Ozpin that I would be going to Haven to help Lionheart find the mole. In truth, I was going to make sure the Lamp was secured."
Summer effortlessly weaved truth with lies. It actually frightened her how effective she was at doing it. Then again, this was all to get to her daughter.
"And?"
"Jinn still had three questions. So they didn't use the Lamp. However, since I was there, another idea came-"
"You could use the Lamp to find out who they are!"
Summer snapped her fingers, pointing at him, "Correct…or so I thought, because she denied my request."
"What?!"
"Has Ozpin told you about Jinn's rule?"
"I wasn't aware she had a rule."
"Figured. You've only been part of this cabal for a short while. Well, Jinn can answer any questions you have…so long as they don't consider the future. So, dumb example, but you can't ask what's the winning lottery ticket, since it hasn't happened yet."
"That makes sense. But how does this pertain to team ROWSE."
"James, I've been told you're a smart man. They knew all of this knowledge, with no source to get it from, and the one that could never gave it to them. And, when I questioned her on them, she refused, on the grounds that she can't ask questions regarding the future."
Ironwood's eyes widened in disbelief, "Summer, that's ridi-"
"A wise man once said 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'. Every other smart option isn't possible, so we have to go with the dumb options."
Ironwood pinched his face, "Even if I entertain this idea, why would ROWSE be against Opzin? If they aren't on Salem's side, then why don't they use their knowledge of the future to benefit humanity?"
"Perhaps they already are?"
"In what way?"
"Remember what Scarlet said, on the airship? Ozpin failed Remnant for the last time. Why would they say that…unless he already failed them? Not Remnant, but ROWSE. What if Salem made a big move, a decade or two from now, and those people had to fight against her and her people, like Piper, or Hazel."
"It would explain how they could easily pass the test for getting a license."
"Yes! And, remember, it was the God of Light that tasked Ozpin with defeating Salem. But what if he failed? What if Salem won, and so the Brother of Darkness decided 'Okay, we tried it your way, now it's my turn.' and sent ROWSE into the past. They technically told the truth, that they were sent by the Dark God. The only difference is-"
"That instead of finding each other, the Dark God sent them through time." Realization dawned on him, "By the Gods, Summer."
"Exactly! The cherry on top. When I opened the vault…ROWSE was waiting for me."
Ironwood stood up, "Do they-"
"Have the Lamp? Yes."
The General fell into his chair. "That's two relics, stolen from underneath us."
"Yes. And…I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or not."
"What do you mean?!" Ironwood exclaimed, aghast.
"Remember what I said. Ozpin's going to lose. When I tried fighting them, I argued for them to join forces with Ozpin, combine resources. Scarlet said that Ozpin's part of the problem, not the solution. And, if he loses, then it means-"
"That his plans aren't going to work."
"They'll work for another decade or two, but past that…I'm not sure."
Frankly, Summer was doing a combination of half-truths, lying, and winging it, but if it got Ironwood on board, then she would be grateful.
"It's why I went off the grid, using the bare minimum of Ozpin's resources, because it's likely that ROWSE will see me coming. But, if they've changed the timeline this much, perhaps they won't expect us to do something crazy."
"Agreed. I'll see to it that this gets made."
Summer nodded, and stood up to walk out the door.
"Summer, wait."
Summer gripped the handle, but turned to Ironwood.
"Yes?"
"A thought just occurred. Trivia Vanille and Cinder. The two girls ROWSE had abducted-"
"Adopted." Summer corrected, although a new thought just occurred to her.
'Hold on, does that mean they're my granddaughters?! I mean, certainly Trivia, but did Ruby form a connection to Cinder?'
"This talk about the future got me thinking. Trivia's father was working with the criminal underworld, as was Cinder's…caretaker. What if ROWSE never got involved? They'd have grown up under those kinds of people, and potentially became criminals themselves."
"Who'd likely go up against ROWSE in the future."
"Precisely. What if the connection Scarlet had to Trivia wasn't a motherly one, but one born of desperation, because she knew how much of a threat Trivia could become."
Summer looked down. She didn't agree that there wasn't a motherly connection, it was clear as day. But the idea that Ruby would want to save some of her enemies by adopting them…
…
…Actually, Summer would totally adopt a younger Raven if it meant she didn't turn out like a bitch, and she doesn't even consider Raven an enemy, so Ruby would absolutely be the kind of girl she'd raise.
"It's a nice theory, and it does hold weight. Whatever you do, make sure nothing gets connected back to me, and make no mentions of this to Ozpin. I need to catch Ketos by complete surprise, and I won't be able to do that if-"
"I understand. However, the secrecy will mean it might be a couple months before the suit is made."
"Even better. I need all the time I can to find out their flight patterns, and I don't want that suit just waiting in a crate somewhere for me to pick it u-" Summer groaned painfully, gripping her forehead.
"Summer?"
"Sorry, General. Just…haven't been sleeping well these past few weeks."
"Do you need accommodations."
Summer was about to rebuff him, but then sighed. "I good bed might help me."
Ironwood gave a sad smirk, "I'll set you up. Get some sleep, and I'll start on that suit."
"Good. And I have to repeat myself, James. Nothing can be connected to me. If my plan backfires, I'm the only one who should get the blowback, who gets dragged through the mud and insects."
Ironwood looked at her, concerned. "What did you do?"
"For this? Whatever it takes."
Summer stood on a metal floor, the open sky around her. The breeze against her told her that they were flying.
"You've got spirit, Red."
Summer turned around, seeing Scarlet standing in front of a man with a bowler hat.
"But this is the real world!" Bowler hat hit Scarlet, sending her to the ground, blood pouring from the wound. Summer tried to move, but found roots trapping her feet to the ground.
"The real world is cold!" He smacks Scarlet again, breaking her arm.
"The real world doesn't care about spirit!" He smacked her again, breaking half the mask as blood came out. He taunts Scarlet, allowing the girl to get up.
"You want to be a hero, like your mother? Then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history!"
Summer eyes widened in horror, as Ruby followed the same path she did. Sure, any parent would love their child to follow in their footsteps. But if those steps lead to death, then…
"As for me, I'll do what I do best: lie, steal, cheat and survive!"
A Griffon charged from behind Bowler hat guy, but the man ducked under. As a result, the Griffon grabbed Scarlet, swallowing her whole.
Summer screamed.
"No!" Summer reached forward, sweat coming off her head. She noticed that she wasn't in the air, but in a comfortable Atlas apartment, the dim light casting shadows everywhere. She groaned, rubbing her face.
"Another nightmare."
She didn't notice the top hat on the counter disappearing.
Author's Notes: To the fine gentleman who suggested she could use Raven...after what Raven learned, do you think she'd want anything to do with Future Yang/Ruby, when she didn't want to deal with present Yang? Nah, she's running like a coward.
And, man, Summer's not feeling too goo, isn't she? Also, I gave a hint as to who her contact is. See if you can guess.
As always, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all next time.