A lot of people had turned up for one meeting, and Ruby was surprised at how tense and excited the air was. Entering Ironwood's office again, she saw the general standing in front of his desk, waiting for them. Qrow stood off to the side, next to Clover and the Ace Ops. When they entered, Winter and Penny went over to stand at the general's other side. Ruby and her team were invited to line up next to them, facing the Ace Ops across the room. Nora danced over to stand with her team, who was hanging back near the door.

Finally, Ruby noticed someone she had not seen in a while. Standing on the other side of the door from JNPR was none other than Ciel Soleil. The girl had grown a little taller, but her hair was cut just the same as it had been before, when Ruby first met her in Vale. Standing next to Ciel was another woman, who Ruby felt like she recognized, but she just couldn't quite place. The woman was about as tall as Winter, dressed in a very similar uniform to Winter as well. She had skin almost as dark as Ciel, with long dark hair and piercing blue eyes. She saw Ruby looking at her and winked, planting a kiss on her hand and blowing it across the room to the girl. Ruby felt her face heat up with embarrassment, which distracted her from trying to figure out who the woman reminded her of.

Once they were all inside and ready, Ironwood locked down the office, sealing them in. This wasn't what Ruby expected, but she assumed it had something to do with the answer he got from Jinn, so it made sense that he wanted to keep it as private as possible. If that was the case, however, why so many people? Whatever he had learned, it must have led him to a huge choice. That explained the air of tension she got when she read the room.

"Good. Now we can begin." Ironwood started. "You all understand that nothing you hear inside this room leaves here except for with my express permission, which will only be given in this room, right now." He looked to the half of Ruby's team that had not been invited. "You two would have been read in on this mission after our departure, but since you're here, there's no reason not to tell you now." He straightened back up, clasping his hands behind his back. "I will be leaving Atlas for a period of time possibly extending to several days. This is a very high priority mission, and I will be taking point myself, with the Ace Ops. Winter will be leading a hand-selected team of men to support us. We will be heading North, into the wastes."

"Wait, you're taking all of them into the North?" Qrow asked, concerned. "Who's going to look after things here?"

"You are." Ironwood explained, turning to Qrow. Before the seasoned Huntsman could protest, the general continued. "You will have Penny here with you. Besides her, Arc, Ren, Valkyrie, Belladonna, and Xiao Long are all quickly closing the gap between them and the Ace Ops. I'm counting on you, Qrow. For the time I'm away, you will have one hundred percent of my authority, as well as access to everything I do. I trust you and your judgment in this. Though I will be asking you to relinquish that authority when I get back."

Qrow was taken aback. It took him a moment to recover from hearing all that, but he brushed it off. "Uhh, right. Don't take too long, then."

Ironwood nodded. "Like I said, I may be gone for several days. As much as a week. If the mission is not completed by then, I will return regardless. If," He reached out and put a hand on Qrow's shoulder. "If I have not returned within a week, I'm sorry to say you will be taking my place permanently." Backing off and clasping his hands again, he returned his address to the rest of the room. "However, we will plan for success. So let's not dwell on what-ifs. Somewhere, far to the North of Atlas and Mantle, in the frozen wastes, there is a... temple, of sorts. A cradle. There, we do not know what we will face, but at this site there is a Relic."

The room erupted with disbelief and confusion. Most people clearly thought that all four Relics were safely sealed away in the vaults below the four schools, with the recent exception of the Lamp of Knowledge. Ruby found herself just as confused as everyone else seemed. Everyone, when she looked around, including Oscar, who should have known better than anyone where all the Relics were hidden. That woman, however, seemed perfectly calm, like she had already known what they had just heard. She even smiled. It wasn't a nasty smile, but a playful one, and that struck a memory. Ruby had seen that look before.

Weiss nudged Ruby's arm, distracting her. "Maybe he doesn't mean it's a relic like a Relic, but just and artifact?"

Yang raised her voice to be heard over the din of the others. "Well, when I entered the vault to retrieve the Lamp, the inside of the vault looked like some sort of desert. Maybe the vaults lead to otherwise unreachable parts of Remnant, and one of them is up there?"

Ironwood called for everyone to stop making so much noise. "Enough!" Everyone went quiet. Ironwood spoke slowly, so that no one would misunderstand. "There is a Relic, like the Relics of Knowledge, Creation, Destruction, and Choice. It is the Relic of Deliverance."

It all fell into place. While everyone, again, began to express their lack of understanding, protesting that this didn't make sense, that this couldn't be that kind of Relic, Ruby realized what had happened. Ironwood had asked his question, and he had learned about something. Perhaps, she thought, he had asked of a way to defeat Salem, or merely keep her from continuing to be a threat in some way, and in her answer, Jinn had told him of a fifth Relic. Something Ozpin hadn't known about. Something the gods had left behind, maybe before Ozpin was put on this world, or after that time, or maybe even before Ozma and Salem had first started this whole ordeal. What Ruby did know, or was pretty sure she knew, was that Jinn was standing there next to Ciel, and no one else had picked up on it yet.

Sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose like he was getting a headache, Ironwood waited for the ruckus to die down. His display of annoyance sped up that process, especially among those who had been his subordinates for a long time. One voice from the crowd came out. It was Oscar.

"If this Relic of Deliverance is comparable to the others in any way, why didn't Ozpin know about it?"

"I don't know." Ironwood answered, exasperation coming through in his voice. "Its power is undeniable, and it may be the key to our victory over Salem, but I don't know where it came from. I assume a similar origin as the others, but for anything else we have to turn to..." He looked up, across the room to the neatly dressed newcomer, who everyone else seemed to suddenly notice. "Is there anything else you can tell us about this Relic?"

Reaching down and picking up a small case that had been resting on the floor next to her, Jinn stepped out of the corner and stood in front of the door. She held one hand in front of her and gave a slight bow to the room. "Hello. I am Jinn, the spirit of the Relic of Knowledge." Everyone who had seen her before was shocked in amazement, and those who hadn't were bewildered. Straightening, she smiled. "I will be your guide to the world of ancient Relics." She seemed to glow in the gawking that was being directed towards her.

"Report." Ironwood cracked the silence with his sharp command, and to everyone's surprise, Jinn responded immediately, like she really was the Atlesian Special Ops officer she was dressed as.

"Yes sir." She took two steps toward the center of the room. "The Relic of Deliverance. All I can really tell you right now is that it has the capability of sealing Salem away. I will be guiding the transports carrying us to the site. Once there, I can guide you to the Relic, but any obstacles we face will be your responsibility to handle."

"If I can ask," Qrow leaned out, holding up his hand. "Didn't you used to be bigger? And blue? What's with the new look?"

Jinn rested one hand on her hip, offering him a smirk. "As much fun as it would be to see the common people of Remnant running in terror, I am not especially sadistic in actuality. General Ironwood thought that it was prudent to conceal my true identity from the public in this way, since I will technically be serving him until such time as I have finished answering his questions. Also, I might normally suggest you be a little more careful with asking me questions, if I weren't already unable to answer any more per the gift of Knowledge."

That last bit seemed to shut Qrow up, and he fell back in line with the rest. "Right. Got it."

Something had been left out, however, which Ruby felt someone needed to bring up. "Um, if I may, sir." She caught the general's attention. "We were told Weiss and I had a mission. What is that?"

"I'm glad you brought that up, Ruby." Ironwood motioned to Jinn. "Apparently, while in this form, she can still access her powers, though they are currently exhausted. However, taking human form comes with everything that, well, it comes with. Including mortality. If something were to happen to Jinn, the Relic of Knowledge could be lost to us. Since she will be coming along on this mission, and the rest of us will be focused on our own roles, you and Weiss will be tasked with keeping Jinn safe. A guard detail, if you will."

Ruby looked back to Weiss, hoping to catch her initial reaction to that information. She looked concerned, but also excited. Ruby felt both of those as well, and turned back to Ironwood. "Understood, sir. We won't let you down."

He let out a laugh, taking a casual step closer to her. "Don't worry. Even though the Relics do attract Grimm, we'll be going so far North it will be too cold for most of them. I expect the three of you to flee before fighting, unless it's absolutely necessary." Returning his attention to the entire room, making sure that they all understood their jobs, he raised his voice to ensure none of them would interrupt again. "Jinn, Ruby, and Weiss will be in the back, only moving to the front once each area is cleared by myself and the Ace Ops so that Jinn can direct us to the next point. Until the Relic has been located, the team led by Winter and Ciel will remain with our transports and guard them. Once we've located it, either the Ace Ops will secure it and get it back to the transports, or if it cannot be secured or moved, they will guard the area while myself, Jinn, Ruby, and Weiss will return to the transports. From there, Winter's team will begin to set up a base camp, either outside the temple site, or around the Relic itself. She and her team will remain there to guard the Relic, while the rest of us return to Atlas. We will either return with the Relic, or at the end of seven days. Do you all understand your part in this?"

There was a resounding chorus of "Yes sir!" That was a sound Ironwood liked to hear.

"Good. You are all dismissed to prepare. We will be leaving tomorrow morning at nine, so be ready. Qrow, good luck." He looked specifically to Winter. "You should go select your men now. They should be capable of handling inclement weather and top level security."

"Understood, sir." She saluted, and marched away, Ciel falling into step behind her as the room's lockdown lifted and the door opened.

Qrow grumbled, turning to Clover. "Me, in charge? I was just starting to think Ironwood knew what he was doing."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You're going to do fine." The handsome leader of the Ace Ops smiled disarmingly. "I don't think I know anyone better for the job, in fact."

"That's easy for you to say. You're not going to be here when things start going wrong just because I'm sitting in the chair."

Ruby watched as the Ace Ops filed out of the room, Qrow glumly following. Jaune and his team left after, and the rest of Ruby's team went next, followed by Penny. That left her with Ironwood, Jinn, and Oscar. Jinn seemed content to hang around in Ironwood's office indefinitely, but Ruby could tell that Oscar wanted to know exactly what the general had asked of Jinn, and she could tell that Ironwood was waiting for either her or Oscar to ask him about it.

Oscar broke the silence first. "I see you asked." He looked to Ruby. "Which means you could ask."

"I did." Ironwood answered shortly. He then added. "Twice, actually."

That surprised Ruby. "Twice? But... but how?"

"Timing, it seems, was on our side today." Going around behind his desk, Ironwood sat down. "Simply put, I asked how to win. She started to tell me the ways, and there are more than I could have dreamed of. Somewhere in the answer, she said something that led me to my second question. I had other questions, ones which I would still like answered, but this one was more pressing, and more important. Creation, Destruction, Knowledge, and Choice. There have always been four. That's what you told me. Well, now there are more. A lot more. And we need to find them and seize them before anyone else can. Humanity depends on it."

Oscar sighed. "I know... I'm not Ozpin. But I wish I had been told about this beforehand. I know he wouldn't have liked being kept out of the loop." He looked to Ruby, which told her that was meant more for her than for Ironwood. She suddenly found the floor very interesting.

"Maybe so. In fact, definitely so." Ironwood agreed. "But time is of the essence. There is a Relic of Deliverance, and it just may be the key to delivering us from evil. This knowledge is invaluable."

"I hope it's worth it." Oscar turned and left.

Once he was gone, Ironwood looked to Ruby. "I know you lied about that question becoming available just recently."

"What?" Ruby jumped at the accusation. She fidgeted something awful, trying to find a way to weasel out of admitting that it was true. "It's not so much I lied as I, uh, you know, altered facts to fit the situation. Wait, no, that's lying. I um, I just thought, well actually no, I didn't think, uh that's not what I meant, I-"

"Ruby, it's okay." He held up a hand to get her to calm down. "I'm not angry. I'm not even upset a little bit. You had doubts, so you played your cards close to the chest. When I gave you reason to stop doubting, you opened up. I'm glad I was able to impress upon you that my intentions are strictly for the benefit of everyone. On top of that, if you had told me there was still one question available when you first arrived in Atlas, I would have wasted it on a poor choice of words, I'm just sure of it. Things were not exactly... stable, at the time. Since you arrived, however, the situation has improved, and it's been a tremendous load off my shoulders. While I can't encourage you to keep lying, I will say that in this instance, it may well have saved the entire world."

"Uhhhh..." That left Ruby speechless. He was telling her that her little deception had kept him from asking something like Ozpin had once asked, with wording left open to Jinn's whimsical interpretation. A calmer head had prevailed, and he had been rewarded with two answers, meaning that her lie had actually been the truth. Those answers opened up a new avenue to victory and salvation for everyone in the whole of Remnant. That kind of blew her away. "Thank... you?"

"Formally, your punishment is a boring guard detail. I hope you think about your actions while you're there."

"Ah... thank you, sir." That was more like it. He said it with a note of humor, so she knew not to take it too seriously. At the same time, she looked over to Jinn, the woman she and Weiss would be tasked with protecting for possibly the next week. Something told her it would not be all that boring. "Right." She turned and saluted her best salute to the general. He stood and returned it. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, then. Have a good evening, sir."