Ironwood stood behind his desk, looking out the window at the back of his office. He watched the streets down below. It was hard to believe that, soon, not only would the Grimm be running through the streets of Mantle, but he could even be seeing them in the courtyard of his school here in Atlas. This was truly the last stand of humanity, as far as he was concerned. Whatever futile attempts might be made after this, either he wouldn't be alive to see them, or they wouldn't be necessary.
He was staring rather intently out the window as he formulated his plan for how to achieve the latter of those two options. The Cradle was no longer an option, since using it on Salem would require releasing Cinder Fall. It would be better, for sure, to trade Cinder for Salem, but Cinder being free again would make getting Salem inside the Cradle practically impossible. Not that it wasn't basically impossible already. Ultimately, he wasn't willing to risk it, especially after losing two very valuable people to achieve that victory.
The Flute wasn't a great option. Clearly, the plan to use it on Cinder had not worked as well as hoped. Frankly, it never even got off the ground. Cinder breached the safety protocols right away, which triggered a sleeping agent that knocked out Piper. Anyone else who attempted to reach the Flute would also be put to sleep. He wasn't sure how fast the Flute worked either, and finding out while combatting Salem was just a bad plan, even if it wouldn't start working on the person holding it first.
No, if they wanted to rely on a Relic to win this for them, it was the Voice. That was a scary prospect in and of itself, but he supposed there were ways to make it work without too much danger. Moving all of his other plans aside in his mind, he focused on the Voice and how to use it. Ultimately, if he had to charge through the battlefield and tackle her with the Voice in his hands, that's what he would do. There had to be a more tactful approach, he was sure of it.
The door behind him opened, and a few people entered. He looked over his shoulder to see those assembled. "Is this everyone?"
Ruby saluted. "Everyone who can still fight is present and accounted for, except the people who are already on the frontline."
Raven stood next to Ruby, hands on her hips like she belonged in this office. "I sent Yang back to Qrow outside the city. We'll be able to deploy out there at a moment's notice."
Weiss stood pointedly on Ruby's other side, still not fully trusting Raven. It's not like Ironwood fully trusted her either, but he trusted everyone who was willing to take responsibility for her, and it wasn't like her actions at Haven put the Relic of Knowledge into Salem's hands. In some sense, Ironwood completely understood Raven's motives. She had people she wanted to protect, not excluding herself, and she'd been trying to acquire something that would give her that protection. It just wasn't realistic. It would be like if Ironwood had decided that he needed to sacrifice Mantle in order to protect Atlas. Obviously only a lunatic would try that.
Weiss grumbled. "My dad is sitting in a cell right next to that Watts character, and I got a call from my mom telling me she's opened the Schnee manor's doors to people from Mantle so they don't have to be out in the streets."
"That's a good idea. We should get as many people into the buildings as we can, away from any Grimm that might reach Atlas." Ironwood nodded thoughtfully. Minimizing collateral damage was good, but actual deaths were the main thing he wanted to avoid. He'd already lost too many people for him to be happy at the end of today.
"I'm not sure how I can help now." Penny said. She looked a little odd the way she was, barefoot in his office. He would need to get the girl some shoes, and a better overall outfit, as she looked cold. She smiled in spite of it all. "I can help people by directing them into the buildings."
Ironwood's gaze lingered on Penny a few moments longer than he intended. He was sure she knew, she must have known that her father was gone. It seemed unusual to him that she was standing here smiling, only thinking of helping others, with as far as he could tell not a single tear shed. He hoped she was just preoccupied with the situation and was storing up her tears for later when she had the time. In the event, however, that she just hadn't thought that much about it and it hadn't sunk in yet, he didn't want to ask her and cause some kind of breakdown.
Oscar broke into his thoughts. "We're going to use the Voice on Salem, aren't we? That's the plan, isn't it?"
The boy was badly hurt, but not so much he couldn't move. Maybe in a fight he would be of no value, but there were other things he could do, for sure, that Ironwood wouldn't want to entrust to anyone less. That is, if he was Ozpin and not Oscar. He still wasn't entirely sure about Oscar.
Jinn spoke up, since the Voice had been mentioned. "That's a risky move, but we may have no other choice. If there's some way to trick her into taking it, then we could minimize risks. Maybe feigning surrender and offering her the Relic?"
Winter, who was standing next to Weiss, shot down that plan. "Surrendering in this position would raise too much suspicion, and offering to hand over one Relic she's never heard of before? There's no way to convince her both that the Voice is a legitimate Relic, and that she wants only that. She would only accept that surrender if we brought her both the Relics of Knowledge and Creation as well, and then she would treat the Voice with a lot of suspicion. She'd sense that it's a trap."
Jinn groaned, annoyed with herself both for not thinking of that, but also for not having anything better. Winter crossed her arms and closed her eyes, putting deep thought into the matter. She looked stronger than when Ironwood had last seen her. Much stronger. Obviously, Fria had passed away. That plan worked at least, and now she had the Winter Maiden's powers thanks to the connection she'd built with the old woman. Unfortunately, that bond went both ways, and losing Fria was now eating at Winter's mood.
The last two present were Marrow and Pelka. The last standing Ace Ops member was quiet. He'd just lost his team leader, and he was easily the most emotionally sensitive of the Ace Ops. He was no doubt also worried for the wellbeing of his three living teammates who were still in critical condition at the hospital. Pelka, on the other hand, was the opposite. Really, she was an enigma that Ironwood knew very little about. She was a soldier, of course, and had no emotional connection to anyone around her right now, so he could rely on her to keep a level head. That didn't mean he wanted to put the highest responsibility on her shoulders.
No, responsibility for this task rested squarely on Ironwood's shoulders. There was a moment where silence reigned. Ironwood had hoped to spend that time in thought, figuring out what to do, but his mind had wandered into a corner. He wasn't sure how to face their situation. The silence was broken by a beeping sound, signaling a message from one of his soldiers on a priority line. He pulled up his scroll and opened it. "What's the situation?"
"This is Holm, sir, aboard Amity. We're seeing a giant Grimm approaching the city. It's almost over Mantle. At its present course and speed, it'll reach Atlas in twenty minutes."
"...That's it then." Ironwood said, sighing. "Thank you." The call ended, and he closed his scroll, staring at it for a moment. "We've come a long way in so short a time. We've apprehended several of Salem's most dangerous operatives. But it's not worth anything if she can still come into my city with impunity." He shook his head, wracking his brain for anything he could do. "A lot of people are going to die, and it doesn't matter if we leave them in Mantle or bring them to Atlas."
"What about Amity?"
Ironwood looked up to see Ruby. Had she really just suggested that? "Amity?" It was a huge arena, a lot of people could stay up there. Not nearly the entire population of Atlas and Mantle, but a lot. There wasn't enough time to get everyone up there. Some, though. They could get some people to safety. "Yes..." He opened his scroll again, sending the call out to all Atlas Military personnel. "All evacuation ships redirect to Amity Colosseum. Continue ferrying as many people from Mantle up to Amity until no longer possible." Ironwood's Semblance was acting strange. He felt like he was making mistakes. There were flaws in his plan. It was nagging at him that he was missing something critical. He looked up at those assembled in his office. Ruby smiled at him. He ignored his Semblance. Ruby's smile was all he needed to tell him he was doing the right thing.
"What about the people already on Atlas? If that giant Grimm is on its way here, there will be a lot of casualties." Weiss said, criticizing the plan as it stood.
"I think I know how to take care of that. Raven, I need you to go to the center of Atlas. Hurry." Nodding, Raven dashed out the door. She knew what was coming. Ironwood opened a channel on his scroll to one of his most trusted friends. "Qrow, I need you and Yang to evacuate to Amity."
There was no response for a few seconds. He was probably busy fighting for his life. When he finally came back, he sounded incredulous. "You're taking two of our best frontline fighters out of the fight? James, are you nuts?"
"Raven is going to evacuate people using her Semblance."
Qrow paused again, but came back starting to understand. "Both of us? James, do you know what that'll do to my sister?"
"It doesn't matter, Qrow. The civilians come first, above all else."
"...You got it, James. We're on our way."
The call ended, and Ironwood looked to Ruby. "I need you all on the front line of Atlas, protecting the evacuating civilians. The Grimm are moments away."
Ruby saluted. "Yes sir!" She dashed out the door without a second thought. Weiss, Winter, and Pelka were out right after her, and Marrow wasn't far behind.
Ironwood nodded to Oscar and Jinn. "For now, get down to the vault. We may still need to use the Relics." Once they were gone, he prepared for an announcement that would be heard across Atlas. Turning it on quickly, not even getting into position before he started the transmission, he spoke to everyone in the floating city. "People of Atlas, and refugees from Mantle, we will be evacuating you further. Head to the center of the city, above ground. There, you will find portals that will take you directly to safety on Amity. Waste no time. Hurry. The Grimm are coming." He hoped that was enough, but he repeated the message.
"Mom, we're in position! Start sending them!" Yang's voice held what Raven felt was an appropriate amount of urgency. "Mom, are you... are you sure you can do this?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Of course I can." Raven wasn't so sure.
"You're opening two portals at once. You've never done this before. We have no idea what it'll do to you."
Raven grimaced. She'd been very cautious about telling anyone the side-effects of her Semblance. Qrow knew, but that was only because he knew his sister. Holding the portals open for too long gave her a headache. They'd speculated about trying to hold two portals open at once, but never actually done it, as they figured the headache would get much worse a lot faster. Qrow and Yang were both on Amity, but they were on opposite sides. Everyone thought that meant she would be opening two portals at once. They were wrong. "I've never done two at once, and I'm not going to start now."
"What? Then what are you-"
Raven closed her scroll, cutting Yang off. She could see people running towards her from basically every direction. She closed her eyes. "Here we go..." Taking a deep breath, she reached out with both hands, and with her mind, focusing on forming and maintaining the portals. Three swirling red and black portals appeared around her. "I hope you're ready, Tai." The fleeing people were getting closer. She shouted at them. "Hurry through! Two of them go to Amity, one goes to Mistral! Just get through to safety!"
Some of the people looked cautious and unsure, but they didn't wait long. They could see that she was straining herself, and they started streaming through. It was working. They were making it through. More people were arriving every second. Families, carrying small children, escaping to Amity or Mistral, whichever. She heard someone thank her, but she couldn't tell who. Her focus was on maintaining three portals. Her head was already starting to hurt, and it had been barely a minute. She had to close her eyes, straining against the growing pain in her head. She felt something that had to be blood running from her nose. That wasn't a good sign. She had to ignore it and keep going. She was losing track of time. She couldn't hear anything. Something, probably also blood, was coming from her ears now. She had to keep holding on.
A hand touched her shoulder, and Raven reacted quickly, grabbing the offending hand and shoving it away. She opened her eyes to see who was attacking her, but her vision was too blurry. There was something, or someone, pick in front of her. Everything was pink. Whoever it was, they grabbed her again, holding her up. Her legs were giving out. They helped her to the ground, and she finally heard something. The voice sounded distant, or muted, but urgent and strong.
"Raven! Close the portals! Everyone is through! Close them!" It worked? She'd gotten everyone to safety? If that was true, there was no reason to keep those portals open. She closed them. "That's good! Stay with me, Raven!" Who was this pink blur holding her? "Weiss! Ruby! Help me get her up!" It wasn't Weiss or Ruby, but whoever it was, they were with Weiss and Ruby.
"Marrow's flying in with the last Manta." That was Weiss.
"Pelka's waiting for us at the hospital." And that was Ruby. So that left...
"Winter, we got company!"
The pink blur responded like that was its name. It was Winter. Raven was sure she would be safe if Winter was taking care of her. She felt herself being pulled up into a sitting position. She was really not a fan of how bad her eyes had gotten, so she reached up and wiped them with her hands. It cleared it all up a little, and everything was less pink. She looked down at her hands. They were red. That was fantastic. She added her eyes to the list of parts of her that were bleeding. Coughing, Raven found another way to lose blood. At least her headache had died down. Either that, or it was so bad she just couldn't tell anymore.
Winter appeared in front of her, less blurry and less pink. "Hey, you did good, but you're in bad shape. We need to get you out of here. Just hold on."