When Jinn agreed to be checked by a doctor, she hadn't expected it to be so invasive. Obviously, she knew what the procedures were, but actually having them done was a different thing entirely. Having someone touch literally every part of her was all sorts of uncomfortable, even if it was a trained professional and a woman doctor at that. She didn't think there was any possible benefit from shoving a camera down her throat either. Again, she knew why they were doing it, exactly why in fact, and that there wasn't any better option available to them at the time, but still found herself thinking that there was no way this wasn't some sort of cosmic punishment and completely unnecessary while the doctor closely inspected the inside of her stomach.

Once the literal worst experience of her life was over, Jinn was putting her clothes back on, trying to remember how to walk and also trying to imagine what it would be like when she felt like she could eat again. She was so distracted by the weird feeling that was covering her entire body that she didn't even notice when the door opened and someone walked in. It was a nurse, so even when she vaguely noticed her guest, she didn't react, instead simply continuing to slowly get dressed. She felt dizzy, so she put her hands on the bed and leaned over it for a few moments, taking her time catching her breath. She would definitely be needing proper sleep after all of that.

Jinn pushed herself up, almost falling over backwards, but the nurse quickly caught her and stopped her from hitting her head on anything. Steadying herself, Jinn smiled at the nurse. "Thanks. I should probably get some rest." Smiling and nodding, the nurse just pointed back to the bed. She had a point, that was pretty much what it was for. Jinn sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'll stay here until I feel better."

The nurse helped Jinn back into the bed and then quietly left the room. Once she was properly resting, and no longer trying to stand, Jinn felt her stomach settle and the room stopped spinning. Nothing happened for a few moments, but then the things she should have known started flooding in. That nurse was not who she seemed to be, but that wasn't even the worst of it. The Flute of Serenity was not safe. She knew that, but she had told the general that it was. She sat up and scrambled for the standard equipment she'd been given, grabbing her scroll and opening it up. She fumbled with her fingers for a second, trying to get an open line with the general. Finally, it worked, thanks to the priority status her scroll had.

As soon as the line was open, she wheezed out her warning, nearly collapsing and out of breath. "General! The Flute, it's... it's not safe. I affects your mind. It keeps you from sensing danger and prevents you from fighting, or doing anything with urgency. It must be contained."

After a second, during which she worried that he hadn't even heard her, Ironwood responded. "I see. I assume it's self-evident why you didn't warn me about this earlier."

"Yes sir."

"Then how do you propose we contain it. Any team that is sent to contain it will arrive and come under its influence. They won't be able to follow through if the Flute affects their mind into thinking that there isn't any reason to."

"I understand that, sir. We'll need to put it somewhere more remote, and then call everyone away. Some kind of automatic containment device will be necessary." Taking a deep breath, Jinn sat back down on her bed. "It is an addictive presence, though. Separation from it can have side-effects. With how long Piper has spent exposed to it, I'm concerned for her safety. It hasn't been so long that it will for sure kill her, but there's a chance it could."

"I see. Do I need to be concerned about anyone else?"

"No sir. She's been exposed to it through direct contact, and even playing it, for years at this point. No one else has been exposed for more than a day or two at most, since she has kept moving around ever since she acquired it. She'll have to be restrained once she's away from it, for her own safety as well as everyone else's, but she'll most likely be able to make a full recovery. The sooner we get it locked away, the better for everyone."

"I understand. Thank you for telling me." With that, the general cut the line.

It was out of her hands now, so Jinn let out a sigh of relief and lay back down. A moment later, she realized that he'd cut her off before she was able to tell him about the uninvited guest. He'd naturally assumed there was only one serious concern she wanted to talk to him about, and immediately set about solving the problem. She didn't want to bother him by calling him a second time all of the sudden. Opening up her scroll again, she scrolled through the quick-contact list she'd been given and selected one of the Ace Ops.

"This is Harriet. What's up?"

"You should get RWBY's help with this. There's someone in Atlas who is disguised as... well, they were disguised as a nurse. RWBY will know them as Neopolitan. She's up to no good, and..." Jinn stopped and focused on trying to determine what else was going on. "Cinder Fall is here..." There was more than even just those two. She could sense Tyrian, and she could sense Watts. She could sense Salem was on the move. "The eye of the storm has turned its gaze on Atlas."

"I didn't really understand that, and I don't know who those people are offhand. I'll get RWBY and tell them, though."

"Good. You should join up with me. I think I'll be able to help."

"Got it. Anyone else I should bring along?"

"Mmm, not unless you want to."

Ruby was tired, but not exactly sleepy. She'd actually just gotten up when they returned to Atlas in the LAD, so she was wide awake, just not full of energy due to having just finished an adventure. Weiss was the same, though she had been able to get some sleep while Ruby was called away again by Qrow. Blake and Yang were ready to start winding down for the day as well, but Blake had been called away too. When Ruby and Blake got back to their team's room, Weiss and Yang wanted to know what had happened. They had mixed feelings about it when they learned why Ironwood wanted to see their teammates.

"I can't believe you get to be a Specialist and I don't. I'm supposed to be the most exemplary student." Weiss pouted halfheartedly. She was annoyed, but she didn't really care about the prestige of it very much.

Blake tried to reassure her. "It's really Qrow's fault, if you want to blame someone. He graded us, and just so happened to give me and Ruby top marks. He was probably trying to avoid looking like he was playing favorites when he chose not to give them to you and Yang."

"Favorites?" Weiss asked, incredulous. "Why would anyone think I was his favorite? Do you know what the last thing he said to me was?"

"I'm going to guess 'hi'?" Yang offered.

Weiss huffed irately. "Yeah, I think he shushed me. Pretty sure that was back at Beacon."

"Wait, have you two seriously not had a single verbal exchange this entire time?" Blake asked, genuinely surprised. "Really?"

"I don't know, maybe." Weiss just shrugged. "It's kind of my fault, I guess. I try to avoid him, cause I think it's gross how he keeps flirting with my sister."

"Yeah, I've seen him with Winter." Yang shook her head. "That's not what flirting looks like."

Weiss looked confused. "The first thing I ever saw them do together was tear up the courtyard of Beacon Academy. She proceeded to complain about him. A lot. That's what she does when she likes someone. They're obviously just shy of being a couple."

Ruby waved her hands to get the attention of the rest of her team. "I appreciate that you want my uncle and your sister to be happy together, I really do, but I think we should probably let that develop on its own. Anyway, we're going to get Specialist training, which sounds like it could be fun, and also really helpful. Our abilities will grow even stronger, and we will be better equipped to fight Salem. I see this as an absolute win."

"And while we're doing that," Blake continued, "You two can do more groundwork. We can cover more ground."

"Okay, I see your point. I just would have liked it better if I got to be the Ace Ops candidate. Otherwise, it's a good long term plan." Weiss said, her tone showing some good-natured annoyance.

There was a knock at the door, and Ruby turned around and opened it without pause for caution or anything. The door opened to reveal a girl in the Atlas Academy uniform. Ruby recognized that it was Amaranth again, the girl who had been called to Ironwood's office with her and Blake, but now she had done her red hair up in a braid that hung over her shoulder. Her eyes were still sparkling with excitement and immediately fixed on Ruby.

"Oh... hey. Amy, was it?" Ruby knew her name, but she wasn't sure how to act around a new person. Especially one she would probably be training alongside for the next long while. "How are..." She stopped, looked back into the room, then back to Amaranth. "You haven't really met the rest of my team, have you? Come on in."

Amaranth stepped in, and it was immediately obvious to the others that she was barely containing something. With the door closed behind her, she let some of it out, turning to envelope Ruby in a big hug. "This is going to be so much fun, I am looking forward to this so much! We're going to make the best of teammates ever in the whole world!"

Weiss coughed in a vain attempt to get the girl's attention. "Ruby is my partner. We are the best teammates in the whole world already."

Yang leaned in towards Weiss' ear and whispered to her. "Yo, jealousy isn't a good look for you."

Weiss whispered back. "I'm trying to make her jealous."

Amaranth jumped off of Ruby and turned to the rest of her team, inspecting Weiss and Yang. She spent a bit longer sizing up Yang. "Oh ho! Very nice... is this your girlfriend?" She looked back to Ruby questioningly.

"Uh, what? Ruby's my sister." Yang explained. "Are all Atlas Academy redheads in on a conspiracy to make me angry? Is that what's happening?"

"Don't think about it too hard. The cranial pressure will cause brain damage." She said smugly.

Weiss cut in. "I'm pretty sure Ruby doesn't have a girlfriend, but if she does, it's probably me."

"Wait, what? I don't have a girlfriend." Ruby said, confused by the turn the conversation had taken.

"It's okay, Ruby." Weiss said. "I was joking. I know you're not a lesbian."

"Wha- who said I wasn't?"

"Yeah, Weiss. What do you have against lesbians?" Yang added, grinning.

Aware that she was being teased, Weiss pointed an accusing finger at Yang. "I can hurt you."

"You guys have a weird team dynamic." Amaranth was inching towards the door. "Well, it was nice to meet you all, uh... my name is Amaranth. Your names are...?" She pointed to them in turn to get their names.

"Weiss."

"Yang."

There was a moment of awkward silence, then Blake relented. "I'm Blake. We met before."

"Yeah, no, I'm pretty good with faces." Amaranth drew in a sharp breath and shook her head. Blake looked insulted. "Anyway, I'll see you two at training." She opened the door to leave and almost ran face first into Harriet. "Excuse m- Oh! Ma'am! What are you doing here? I mean, what an honor!"

"Alright, calm down." Harriet handily moved the girl out of her way. "I'm not sure who you are, sorry." She turned to team RWBY. "Jinn asked me to come get you. We have a problem you might be familiar with. Neopolitan?"

Weiss facepalmed. "Oh no."

"You need our help finding her?" Yang asked. "Or fighting her?"

"We're going to be picking up Jinn on the way. She'll find her, and I'll fight her. You're just going to be my backup, keeping an eye open for her allies."

Blake looked reluctant. "Allies? Who else is here?"

"Jinn said Cinder Fall. She seemed to think there were others as well, which means we've got a serious problem, but they don't know anything about Jinn. If we make the right moves, we can isolate them and pick them off one at a time."

Amaranth, who had not allowed Harriet's dismissal to bother her, poked her head back in. "Is this something I can tag along on?"

Harriet paused, looked over the other girl, then turned to Ruby. "A friend of yours?"

"Uhh... probably?" Ruby shrugged.

"Okay..." Harriet gave Amaranth a nod. "You can come, just don't get in the way."

While those two went ahead, RWBY followed after exchanging knowing looks. If Neopolitan and Cinder were in Atlas, everyone was in danger. Nothing would go according to plan. The only thing they had going for them was knowing for sure that Jinn's power was out of reach for now. The other Relics would have to remain a closely guarded secret, or they would become a primary target for Cinder. They were treading on thin ice, and they knew it. Responding quickly to knock Neo out of the fight would be a necessity.