Winter sat just outside the room where Fria was resting. She knew time was running out. Fria's life would soon come to an end, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Worse, she might have to be the one to do it, and it was increasingly looking like that would be the case. She looked up only briefly when she saw Raven approaching at a casual pace. She knew Raven was here to help her, but also to take the Maiden powers if Winter failed. That could mean Raven killed Fria, or it could mean Raven killed Winter. She really didn't like any of the options available, but she really hoped she got to live to see tomorrow. Raven stopped across from Winter, leaning back against the wall. Winter glanced up at her, seeing a neutral look on the woman's face. Either she wasn't very concerned about whatever was about to happen, or she was doing a very good job hiding it.

"Can you do this?" Raven asked simply, breaking the silence.

Winter thought about it for a moment, her eyes moving back down and studying the floor idly. "I don't know. I hope I can."

"Ironwood seems to think you can."

Winter nodded. "Defeating Cinder is going to be hard enough, but I'd prefer to do it without killing Fria."

"That's why I'm here, I guess." Raven shrugged. She looked over Winter, taking her in, and noting how apprehensive she was about all of this. "You're really not ready, are you?"

Taking a moment to think about her answer, Winter shook her head. "No, but it doesn't matter. If I have to do it, I have to do it, and it doesn't matter how ready I am."

"That's the spirit, that's how you get yourself killed." Raven said sarcastically. "Look, this... Fria. She's the Winter Maiden, right?" Winter nodded. "She's really old, like she's not going to live much longer either way." Winter nodded again. "And the reason you're the only person she's had contact with for a long time is so that when she passes, you'll get her powers."

"That's it." Winter confirmed.

"But when you get the Maiden powers, you won't have time to get used to them. Cinder has been using them for a while now. She'll outmatch you, and she'll take them from you."

"That's why you're here, I guess."

Raven smirked. "I guess." She nodded, looking away as they fell into silence. Glancing down the hall, Raven spotted someone walking past at the end of the hall. She waited until that person was out of earshot, then turned back to Winter with some advice. "When the previous Fall Maiden was attacked, Cinder used some Grimm powers given to her by Salem that allowed her to drain the Maiden powers while the Fall Maiden was still alive. She was interrupted by my brother, but she still got some of the powers. She took the rest when she killed the Fall Maiden."

"...That sounds horrible." Winter commented, not really paying full attention. She knew that failure would result in some form of excruciating demise one way or another.

"After Beacon fell, Cinder got a Grimm arm. She can drain the Maiden powers from you more directly with it, again, without killing you... at first." She took a deep breath. "I fought Cinder at Haven. She used that arm on me. It was painful. Very painful."

After a moment, when her words sunk in, Winter looked up at Raven. "Wait... so she has some of your powers?"

"No." Raven let that sit, watching confusion come over Winter's face. "Would you like me to tell you why?"

"Uh, well... yes."

"When a Maiden dies, the powers go to whoever is in her last thoughts. When one is killed in battle, her last thoughts are usually on the person who killed her." Winter knew that, of course. That's why she was doing all of this stuff with Fria. "When Cinder used her power on the previous Fall Maiden, all of that pain made it very difficult for her to think of anyone but the person who was stealing her powers. When Cinder used her arm on me, she got nothing, because I was focused on someone else." Raven finished smugly, folding her arms over her chest.

Winter thought about it for a moment, coming up with her next question. "Who?"

"Yang." That surprised Winter, though when she thought about it, it really shouldn't have. Raven explained. "When I was fighting Cinder, and every time I fight, my mind is occupied with the fight, but my heart is somewhere else. My heart is focused on the person I'm fighting for. I'm fighting to make the world better. Maybe nobody agrees with how I'm going about it, but that's what it is. I'm fighting for a world that Yang can survive in. So my heart is with her, even when my mind is completely overridden with pain and thoughts of battle, if I die, it all goes to Yang."

"So your advice is..." Winter was sorting through Raven's words, her eyes darting back and forth as though she was reading some text document behind in her mind. "I should keep my focus on Weiss when we fight Cinder."

Raven waved that idea off, a laugh hidden under her voice as she answered. "No, I said Yang."

Winter stood up, straightening her uniform as she turned to the door. "Don't be ridiculous, we're not fighting Yang." Raven watched, amused with Winter's quippy comeback, as the younger woman opened the door and entered Fria's room. Winter glanced back at her. "Keep watch out there." Then she closed the door.

Shaking her head, Raven looked back down the hallway. The same uniformed woman as before walked by, oddly walking in the same direction. She was going in circles, and her attention was a lot more on the hallway than Raven thought it should be. Her hand resting on the hilt of her weapon, Raven pulled up her scroll. "Ironwood, I think Cinder might be here now. If it's her, she's got a uniform." Whoever that woman was, she was only presenting her right side. Cinder's left side would be too obvious if Raven saw it. "We might be having to deal with her momentarily, but there's a chance she'll try something else. She definitely saw me, and she might not be too keen on a rematch."

"Elm, Harriet, and Blake are escorting Watts to prison, Marrow, Ruby, and Penny are bringing Tyrian in." Clover turned to Vine, pointing up to a ledge on the wall. "I need you up there. We'll have backup soon, but it might not be soon enough." Nodding, without a word, Vine used his Semblance and reached over to the ledge Clover had indicated, pulling himself up. Clover looked over to the rest of the people he had assembled. They were not a fighting force he wanted to face Cinder Fall with.

He had Vine, and that was good, but aside from the two of them there was Oscar, Piper, Kali, Pietro, and Maria. For this to be even remotely possible, he needed a really good plan. If Cinder had been warded off of trying to get to the Winter Maiden, she might try to take the vault first, or just attack randomly to cause chaos. That was really the worst case scenario, since so much of their forces were focused on the vault and the Winter Maiden. What little they had left was focused on election security.

Jinn had filled them in on enough of the enemy plans to know that arresting Tyrian and Watts was going to make this night a lot easier on them all, and it would almost completely blind Salem until she actually arrived. Cinder was apparently rogue, but trying to win back her place among Salem's agents, which meant she was effectively still working for Salem. Neopolitan had been working with Cinder, and Cinder was relying on her to do the legwork, but since Neo was now in prison, soon to be joined by Tyrian and Watts, Cinder was also going in blind. They had no illusions, however, that Cinder didn't know where the vault was.

Clover waved Piper and Kali over to the container for the Flute. "Piper, disable the security feature keeping the Flute inside. Get ready to bring it out. We may need it to pacify Cinder." As the two women rushed over, he pointed Pietro and Maria over to the sealed container holding the Cradle. "Hide behind that and don't come out until I say so." He looked over to the new platform that was still under construction off to the side of the main walkway. Right now it was only a half-built container with a heavily secured crate in the center. Inside the crate was a box, and inside that was a small case containing the Voice. He pointed Oscar over to it. "Get over there and stay hidden."

Inside the Flute's enclosure, Piper ran around the corner to the secondary door, looking over to where Kali had stopped at the controls. "I'd hate to have all of this rest on my shoulders. Can you do anything to fight this Cinder woman?"

Kali shook her head. "I left my frying pan at home, dear." She keyed in the passcode to open the door, holding her finger over the enter key. The moment they got the signal from Clover, she would open the door and Piper would bring the Flute out. Hopefully, that would be enough to make Cinder not want to fight. Kali held her breath, looking up at the window. The Flute was a powerful Relic, and she was very reluctant to now have the authority to bring it out in the open. She'd only agreed to take Qrow's place as the one person with access to every Relic because the poor man had looked on the verge of a heart attack. Too much coffee, she suspected. He needed some alcohol to take the edge off.

Outside, standing in the center of the walkway, Clover looked up to the top of the lift. That was where Cinder would be arriving, if she arrived. She was going to show up somewhere. Someone would be the unlucky person who had to fight her, and he knew it. That thought stuck in his mind. "Ah... damn it." His luck wasn't that bad. He pulled up his scroll, calling the general. "Sir, I don't think Cinder Fall is going to target the vault."

"Agreed, but we can't risk it. I'm giving the order for all Atlas personnel to get to Mantle. Jinn says there's a large Grimm force heading in. They'll be here before midnight, and Salem is coming with them."

"I don't suppose she's just here to make sure the election goes smoothly."

"The election is the least of my concerns right now. As soon as it's finished, I'm having Weiss arrest Jacques for treason. Jinn got us the video evidence that will put him away. One way or another, he's not getting on the council."

"And Amity?" Clover asked, hoping there was someone in place to defend the communications tower when it went up.

"Let's just say if anyone wants to take down my new tower, they'll have to go through me."

"You can be a mean person sometimes, you know that."

"I don't like being nice to the enemies of humanity."

"Roger that, sir. I'll keep you updated. Clover out." He closed his scroll, putting it away, and went over to the Cradle's container. "Dr. Polendina, how is the election going?"

The elderly man looked up from his robotic chair, a holographic screen floating in front of him. "I didn't realize it was that important right now, considering what's coming."

"Negative emotions attract Grimm. The worse it gets, the more aggressive they'll be. If Jacques wins, we may have to deal with widespread confusion, even riots. The absolute last thing we need is people attacking our defenses before the Grimm even arrive."

Beside Pietro, Maria looked up at Clover. Her mechanical eyes narrowed at him. "We heard what the general said. Maybe instead of waiting until after the election, he should arrest Jacques Schnee before the results are in. That way, Miss Hill is a shoe-in, the people are happy, and there's less of a fight."

"Maybe." Clover admitted. "The fight's coming either way. Are we sure that the election system won't be tampered with?" He asked Pietro again, refocusing the conversation.

"I've done everything I can." Pietro sighed, closing his eyes with a knowing smile. "With Arthur in custody, however, I doubt we have much to worry about." He looked down at the holographic display again. "We'll find out in a matter of moments."

"What's it looking like so far?" Clover asked, curiously. He'd put in his vote for Robyn. There were a number of other options besides Robyn and Jacques, but realistically those existed solely in the margins. He might have even voted for one of them, since he did not like Jacques Schnee at all, and he'd been at odds with Robyn Hill for a while, but the recent help Robyn and her Happy Huntresses had given definitely served to warm him up to her. That made the choice pretty clear, and even if Jacques still won, and then was arrested, requiring another election immediately after, one which Robyn could lose as well, she'd be a lot less troublesome if she knew that all of the Ace Ops were pulling for her.

Adjusting his glasses with mild concern, Pietro answered tentatively. "Robyn Hill is ahead for now. The gap has been narrowing, but not very quickly. Two minutes to go before it's over."

"Alright, let me know how it goes." Walking away, Clover looked up to the top of the lift just in time to see the door open. Someone was coming down. "Alright everyone, get ready! We have company!" He watched as the lift slowly descended until it reached the walkway. The doors opened, and someone stepped out. It wasn't Cinder. He relaxed, glad for the backup. "Penny, you have no idea how glad I am to see you right now."

The Floating Array hovered in the air around Penny as she scanned over the room, ready for combat at a moment's notice. "Tyrian Callows is in prison. The others will be here shortly. Cinder Fall will not reach the vault under any circumstances."