Chapter 86

Note this is after the Arthur Watts fight and after Tyrian is captured

'Schnee?'

'Yes sir?'

'Was anyone caught trying to enter the school grounds while I was away?'

'N-No?'

'Are you sure?'

'Still afraid I see.' Cinder mused from her spot in the school building, watching the white-clad special operative run at full speed into the building. 'Now show me where you've been hiding her.'

'I don't understand.' Weiss said, staring out the window of the airship as they flew back to Atlas. 'Why would the General call us back without giving a reason?'

'Especially with evacuations going on in Mantle.' Ren added, glancing at the hulking woman she spoke.

'You don't have to understand orders kids. You just have to follow them.' Elm said, turning back to the clear skies ahead as they approached the floating city.

'Spoken like a true mindless soldier.' Jaye muttered, leaning against the door. Having left behind the three to take care of Tyrian's capture, he'd met back up with his team as they worked through the evacuation effort. Harriet offered a more detailed explanation.

'Civvy transports won't be stopping anytime soon.' She reassured. 'If the General says he needs us now, he needs us now.'

'You all get to the General and find out what's happening.' Jaune said. 'We'll bring Oscar and see you soon.'

General Ironwood's office

The members of the Ace Ops paced slowly into the room, missing only Clover and Alexius, one of whom was still in the prison transport with Tyrian, Qrow and Robyn. The rest of the party gathered around the area, save for Kamina and the twins who'd yet to arrive back in Atlas, accompanied by Alexius. Harriet stood to attention.

'General Ironwood.' She greeted, watching the man curiously as he slowly swiveled around in his chair. His face dead set, paler than the shining moon above, he reached out slowly to the table in front of him.

'We have made a critical error.' He placed the item clutched between his fingers down on the table, the obsidian glass making a loud clack against the desk. 'The black queen was the symbol Salem showed us before we lost everything. Her way of telling us she was inside. That it was too late.' He grimaced at the table. 'We stopped Watts; we stopped Callows but someone was here! They put this in my office to tell me that-!' The man's eyes widened in shock as a bout of hysteria started to reach over his mind, growing more and more panicked as he spoke. 'What if Mantle was just a distraction? What if it was to draw us away from the academy to…to-!'

'Sir!' Weiss interrupted, trying her best to calm the man down. 'It's going to be okay; we've got Mantle on our side now and-!'

'How do we know that wasn't part of their plan?' The man cut her off, the panic and hysteria rising in his voice as his mind started to speculate wildly. 'How do we know they didn't want us to bring people into Atlas by the thousands?'

'In trying to save everyone, we left ourselves most vulnerable.' Vine said, not helping the situation, but he had a point.

'Salem has been one step ahead of us this entire time!' Ironwood screamed, slamming his fist into the desk and cracking the wooden tabletop. The queen toppled over, rolling down across the surface of the desk. It made a peculiar sound as it rolled, sparking a burst of recognition from the girl in red. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the chess piece.

'It's… glass.' She murmured. 'Black glass! This was Cinder.'

'She's alive? And she's here?' Yang gasped in equal parts anger and horror. General Ironwood took his fist out of the crack in the wood.

'If Cinder's here, then for all we know Hazel's here too!' He panicked, and Jaye narrowed his eyes at the man as he continued to panic, getting a growing feeling of discomfort in his gut as the man seemed to only be getting worse. He felt his hand creep to his sword, and the act was not lost on the girls as they tried to placate the General. Blake stepped forwards.

'Sir it's not over yet. She said, with as much confidence as she could muster. 'We're with you.'

'Are you with me?' He breathed, his aura turning menacing as he stared at the cat girl. Blake shrunk backwards almost in fear, falling back in line with the girls until she bumped into the boy standing a little way behind them. He placed a hand in the centre of her back, stopping her movement and providing as much comfort and support as he could from there. The General paced around the table, pausing next to the bag he'd taken from Arthur Watts.

'How did Robyn know about the Global Communications Project?' He asked, seemingly calm, but the boy could sense the man boiling under the surface. The Ace Ops glanced across each other, feeling the suspicion rise in the room, and Yang squared herself up to the General.

'We told her.' She said. 'The night of the ambush.'

'You did what?' Elm gasped, staring across the girls in disbelief.

'We were trying to help.' Blake defended, flinching back in surprise as Harriet appeared in front of her face.

'Wait, does that mean you let her escape?' She accused, and the blonde stepped up to the rabbit girl.

'Robyn is on our side; she always has been!' She said, and Ironwood erupted in a burst of anger.

'We didn't know that for sure!'

'None of this matters right now!'

'Loyalty always matters!' He screamed, pulling out his pistol as something burst forth from the bag on the table. Jaye immediately drew his sword, leveling it at the creature in front of them floating leisurely in the air. He stepped in front of the girls, pushing them behind and away from the creature as it spoke in a cold and all too familiar voice.

'General Ironwood.' It shimmered, cracks running along the surface of its glass-like body as its tentacles curled up towards itself. It finally dropped to the ground, not quite shattering, but clattering down the steps until it finally rolled to a stop. A haunting black mist poured from the creature, swirling into shape as something began to take form in the mist. 'The brave Huntsmen and Huntresses bested Arthur Watts. Congratulations.'

Eventually a head rose up out of its midst, spreading its shadowy figure out beneath it and spreading its arms out as it faced the party. Recognizing the face, they could only stand in shock at the apparition as it glared at them. Ruby somehow found her voice amidst the silence.

'We stopped Tyrian too.' She said, only antagonizing the horrific woman further. 'And we'll stop Cinder and anyone else you try to send here.'

'Dear girl, their goal was never victory; it was merely to set the stage.' The apparition of Salem said, barely acknowledging Ironwood as he spoke.

'For what?' He demanded, hand shaking as the shadowy figure turned to him.

'For me.' She smiled terrifyingly at the man. 'Time isn't on your side James; it's always been on mine.' The specter drifted towards the man backed up against the wall. 'The people of Atlas have suffered enough. Surrender the staff and the lamp to me, and they needn't suffer any further.'

'That's… not going to happen.' The man managed to breath, staring unflinchingly at the apparition as it leaned down towards him.

'Simply accept the futility of your situation… and this can all be over.' She cooed, almost warmly, but only managing to send a communal chill down everyone's spines.

'We've seen what you're capable of.' Ruby said. 'The lamp showed us. It showed us everything.'

Salem's placating charade finally broke, the smile fading from her face as rapidly as it came. Undaunted, the girl continued to speak, gently pushing the boy out of the way even as he tried to shield her from the being before her.

'We've seen that you can't be killed. But we've also seen you fail.' She said, staring unblinkingly at the monster in the shape of a woman. 'We don't have to kill you to stop you; and we will stop you.'

The shadowy specter drifted in front of the girl, ominous and threatening, and Jaye's grip tightened on his sword as he watched it move. Salem raised an eye at the girl.

'Your mother said those words to me.' Salem said, finally earning a flinch from the girl. 'She was wrong too.'

Tears poured down the girl's face, and she covered her eyes as she began crying. As if in pain, she clutched at her face, shaking her head in a vain attempt to clear it. Her eyes flickered with light, bursting with a brief flash before immediately going out. She clutched her head in pain, dropping to her knees as she sobbed. Yang lurched forward to her sister, cradling her as the girl dropped into her lap. Salem gave her an almost satisfied smile, dissolving into smoke as the boy leapt at her. He slashed at her head, passing through the smoke without any resistance where her neck should have been, and he cursed as she vanished without a trace. The girls knelt down to their crying leader, as if unsure of what to do to comfort her, before Marrow burst out with the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

'That's Salem?' He gasped, the fear clearly still gripping him. 'That's who we're up against?'

'And she's apparently on her way.' Harriet cursed, folding her arms across her chest. Jaye spun his sword back into its sheath, releasing his breath in a slow hiss as the room continued to bustle with voices.

Elm shook her head. 'But we'd be alerted if any forces had approached the kingdom! We have long range proximity alarms along the coast and-!'

'They're offline.' Vine said, glancing at his scroll for the news. 'With all the chaos we didn't notice.'

'Watts must have shut them down!'

'Or they've already been destroyed.' Ironwood finally spoke, pacing back to his desk in an almost surreal state. He stopped by the window, gazing out over the horizon as he tried to find his worst fears before they found him.

'You said in your speech that Amity Tower was ready to launch.' Blake said. 'Was that true?'

A silence fell over the room at that question, barely a breath was even heard until Yang finally broke the silence.

'No. You just said that to lure out Watts.' Yang accused, and the General offered her not even a word of rebuttal. They already knew it was true, but none of them were willing to admit it, up until that moment. Jaye shook his head at the General, placing his hands on his hips.

'General Ironwood?' Weiss called, still seeking for an answer though it was hanging in the silence all around them, and the General finally spoke.

'I sent your sister to claim the power of the Winter Maiden.' He said, grip tightening on his revolver. Weiss's hands went up to her lips in shock, and Ironwood continued to stare out the glass. 'When I realized we'd been compromised, I knew we couldn't wait any longer. The staff and the lamp have to be locked away.'

'I thought… you said we could keep it?' Ruby said, finally drying the tears from her eyes.

'Well, that was before you lied to me about the lamp, before you lied to my about Robyn, before Salem was right on our doorstep!' He burst, turning back to the group. 'Before Mantle was nearly destroyed, and myself and my army were left exhausted!'

He swatted the bag off his desk in anger, placing his revolver down on the smooth surface. He picked up the glass chess piece from the table, turning it over in his fingers, and Jaye raised an eyebrow at the man.

'You know this is the reason we lied to you mate.' He said, and Ironwood ignored him.

'The timeline has changed, and so we must change accordingly.' He said, and Harriet stood to attention.

'What are our orders, sir?'

'We're going to take the our plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas.' He declared, crushing the glass piece in his robotic fist. Ruby shot to her feet in horror.

'What?' She gasped, and Ironwood let the pieces fall from his grasp.

'It was Oz's plan in a former life, but he didn't take it far enough.' He said. 'If we harness the power of the staff, and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed. Always out of reach of whatever Salem may try to send our way.'

'But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone!' Blake interrupted. 'You'd be leaving Mantle to die!'

'Yes. I would.' He acknowledged, his gaze not changing. Jaye fell silent, hand falling down from his sword as the General continued to speak. 'We can't allow Salem to capture the Relics. This is our best chance at getting the staff, the lamp and the maiden as far away from her as possible.'

Ruby shook her head in a desperate attempt to dissuade the General. 'But we have an opportunity to reunite the world! If we launch the tower we can all work together again, we can even call for help! If we can hold out long enough-!'

'Sometimes, doing the right thing means making tough decisions.' The man said, pacing to a stop in front of the girls, and Blake squared up to the man.

'You're right. And I think the right thing to do would be to stand out ground.' She said, and the girls chorused in agreement. A silence fell over the room again, and the red-hooded girl glanced back at the remaining members of the Ace Ops, who were clearly not joining in their sentiments. She met Harriet's eye, and the rabbit girl shook her head.

'We ran ourselves ragged trying to save Mantle tonight.' She said. 'We try that again against an even larger force-.'

'But you're huntsmen and huntresses!' Yang yelled, waving a hand in anger at the people down below. 'You can't just back down from a fight!'

'You can't focus on one single fight while trying to win a war.'

'What's the council going to say!'

'Nothing.' Ironwood glared at the girls. 'Once I declare Martial Law.'

'No…' Weiss nearly burst into tears at the man, and Blake whirled on the General turning dictator.

'What about Robyn?'

'Who exactly are you loyal to?' Elm asked, and Ruby burst at the woman.

'We are loyal to the people counting on us to save them!'

'We are saving who we can.' Ironwood said, and the small girl turned to him, horrified, as he spoke with unchangeable conviction. 'And you're standing in our way.'

'Jaye?' Yang whispered; eyes locked on the boy standing by the desk who hadn't said a word the entire time. He had his eyes locked to the floor; hands balled into fists as the argument continued, his breathing slow and even as his face remained impassive. 'Say something.'

'You know Jimbo, I think you're right.' The boy finally said. 'That's the decision that makes the most sense right now, considering all the factors involved. Stop Salem at all costs; that's what needs to be done.'

'So, you're with us?' Harriet asked, watching the boy quietly as he continued to stare at the floor. He glanced at the woman, turning his eyes back to the General still squared off against the small, red-hooded girl.

'No.' He murmured, and Harriet flinched away from the answer she knew was coming.

'Jaye…'

'This might be the right decision, from the most logical standpoint. But I'm not one of you. I'm a criminal and a street rat. Always have been.' Jaye cleared his throat, pondering his words for a moment. 'I've never been anything more than that. So, I know what it's like to sit, waiting in the gutter for someone to save you. But no one will come. No one ever comes.'

The boy paced around the General to stand beside his leader and friend.

'I've spent my entire life so far killing everyone just so I can survive. That's what you do as a street rat; you kill and steal, you betray and dishonor. You spit on the feet of the ones standing above you, overflowing with wealth, as they grind their heels into your head and your face into the dirt. You do everything you can to live because you deserve it. Because everyone deserves it. Everyone deserves a chance, and I'm done waiting for someone to become the savior. I'm going to save them myself; after a lifetime of killing I think I owe that much.' He narrowed his eyes at the General. 'And if that means going through you to do it, I damn well will.'

The two glared at each other for a long moment, distracted only by the beeping of Ruby's scroll as a call came in. Jaune's voice crackled to life over the comms.

'It's Jaune! We have got a serious problem!' The blond yelled over the radio, and Ruby's hand went to the scroll on her waist. Ironwood's eyes narrowed as she moved, his hand moving behind his back as well, and without a second thought she activated her semblance. Bursting around the General, she ducked underneath his desk, yanking the scroll out and activating her mic.

'Ironwood's declaring Martial Law and abandoning Mantle!' She yelled into the group comms. 'Salem is coming and he's going to use the staff to move Atlas! If we don't stop him then Mantle's going to be des-!'

Her line cut off with a beep, her screen turning red as her access to the comms was revoked. She stood up slowly from behind the desk, meeting the General's eye as he held up his own device. He put it away, pacing slowly past them and to the door.

'I'm sorry it's come to this, but until Atlas and the relics are safe, you are all under arrest.' He declared. 'I'm reopening the arrest on sight order for Jaye and his team; you're far too dangerous to be left running around as long as you're not on our side.'

'We won't just let you take us.' Ruby said, the girls taking position as the Ace Ops gathered to bar their way. Marrow had a look of hesitation plastered across his face but took his position anyway. General Ironwood paused, his hand resting on the almost blisteringly cold exit.

'I know.'

End of chapter 86