Chapter Text
By some sheer miracle, Ruby and her group were able to make it to the hanger without getting caught. Robyn and May already had the airship ready to go. They start climbing aboard as Penny uses her maiden powers to blast a hole in the doors large enough for the ship to fly through. Qrow gently set Nora down on the floor between the seats. She still hasn’t woken up yet. Qrow checked her pulse again. It was starting to weaken.
Penny couldn’t stop staring at the unconscious girl. “I’m so, so sorry,” she said to no one in particular. Ruby placed a hand on her back and offered a smile. But it did little to make Penny feel better.
“Penny,” Qrow called out, getting the Winter Maiden’s attention. “This wasn’t your fault. This was Nora’s choice. I’m sure she doesn’t have any regrets.” He took off the headphones he was wearing and looked at them fondly. Like Nora just now, Agatha made the choice to protect Clover. And she had no regrets. “But she’ll be okay.” They’ll both be okay.
Everyone recognized the headphones Qrow was holding but Robyn was the one to say something about it. “Those are Agatha’s.”
“Yeah, Clover gave them to me so I can return them to her was she wakes up,” Qrow explained.
“She’s alive?” Blake asked hopefully.
“According to Clover. She’s still unconscious but stable.” Everyone was relieved to hear that. Penny’s face started to fall though when she heard her father contacting her. It was time for her to go. Ruby gave Penny one last hug, promising her that they would see her soon, and she flew off to join Pietro and Maria at the coliseum.
When she left everyone fell into uncomfortable silence. Qrow couldn’t bring himself to place Agatha’s headphones back around his neck yet. He kept staring at them, Clover’s words still playing in his mind.
Robyn noticed this and steel herself for what she was going to do next. “Qrow, I really am sorry for what I did on that airship. You and Agatha were right. It was stupid of me to start a fight with Clover. Especially in that moment. Agatha said she forgave us. That this was on her. But I still wish I could go back and change what happened.”
“Agatha thinks her injury is her fault?” Qrow asked.
“That’s what she told me and Clover when the doctors started to treat her,” Robyn explained.
Qrow threw his head back and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t seem to get her sometimes.” Robyn seemed confused by what he meant but before she could ask, he continued. “My semblance, it makes it real hard to form connections with people cause just being around me puts them in danger. But whenever it acted up when I’m with her, she would just look for a logical explanation to what happened or just laughed at my semblance ‘weird humor’ as she puts it. And Clover was like that too. When I told him what my semblance was he didn’t judge me or reject me. Instead, he saw me as his equal. His partner.”
“His romantic partner according to Agatha,” Blake jokes. The rest of the girls started snickering. Robyn and May were full on laughing. “Seriously? You two?” May asked. Qrow’s face went red as he grumbled at everyone to shut up.
Robyn calmed down and looked at her left hand. “I know what you mean though. When people are worried you’re gonna sniff out their secrets, they tend to push you away. It makes forming a real connection… difficult.”
Qrow looked down in thought. “Huh. I never thought of it like that.”
“But Agatha never seemed bothered by it. When she first told me about Salem she was the one to reach for my hand,” Robyn continued. “No one had ever done that before.”
Qrow nodded, a faint smile crossing his lips as he remembered Agatha's willingness to accept him as he was. “She just never let anything keep her from connecting to people. No matter how many times I tried to push her away or warn her, she’d always find a way to stay. I guess that’s why it hurts so much seeing her like that.” While the two talked, Ruby watched over them. Happy to know that her friend and her uncle would be okay.
May landed the airship in front of Weiss’ house. Said huntress knocks on the door and Whitley is quick to answer it, not happy that it’s his sister and her friends knocking. He started to mock her but was cut off when Weiss pulled Mytenaster on him. Whitley steps aside and lets the group in. Looking more annoyed than scared at the threat his sister had given him. “Things are already bad enough after what you did to father, now you want us to harbor fugitives too? Our family has a reputation.”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” Blake asked. “Your reputation?”
“I’m just saying that we’ve already lost the house staff, and mother locked herself in her room,” Whitley stated.
“Maybe you haven’t figured out what’s going on, Whitley, but we’re busy trying to save Atlas,” Weiss argued.
Ruby stepped in before the two siblings started yelling at each other. “Look, our friend is hurt. We just need a place to lay low while she rests, and then we’ll be out of your way.”
Whitley relents. “Fine. What do you expect me to do then?”
Weiss points at the staircase behind her. “Go to your room.” She orders in a mother like tone. Whitley sighs and does so. Weiss guides May, who is carrying Nora, to her room. Robyn follows them and Qrow and Blake start to follow suit before noticing that Ruby was standing at the doors, scanning around them.
“You worried about Yang kiddo?” Qrow asked.
“You know you could just call her,” Blake suggested.
“That’s just it. I’m trying,” Ruby said showing Blake and Qrow her scroll. It was trying to call Yang’s, but the call got disconnected.
Blake’s ears flattened. Qrow tightened his grip on Agatha’s headphones. After a seconded he said “Look Yang’s one of the most stubborn person I know. I’m sure she’s just caught up in thrashing some Grimm. She’ll be fine. Now come on, let’s see if Weiss will let us use her kitchen. I could go for some food.” Ruby and Blake nodded, and Ruby closed the doors before following the others.
Clover couldn’t believe it! He didn’t question why Ironwood asked for Penny’s sword. He figured Ironwood came up with a plan that didn’t involve using Penny against her will. He was dead wrong as he saw Harriet give the sword to Ironwood. Who, in turn, gave the sword to Arthur freaking Watts. Ironwood is seriously using Watts, trusting Watts, to hack into Penny’s systems using the sword the Ace Ops obtained.
Clover had to stop himself from shaking as Ironwood praised them for their work. Harriet scoffed. “Good work would have been capturing Penny.”
“Well, you know what they say,” Watts said as he observed the sword. “If you can’t beat them. Make them join you.”
“I don’t believe that’s how the saying goes,” Clover couldn’t help but say.
Ironwood couldn’t help but be concerned by that statement. “Is there a problem Clover?” he asked.
“No sir,” Clover lied through is teeth. But he had to make sure he stayed on the general’s good side. He couldn’t act out now. Not without putting his team or any of the others in danger. He had to be careful about this and wait until he was back in Agatha’s room. But before he could, he needed to take care of something first.
"Harriet, I'd like a private word, please," Clover said, gesturing for the speedster to follow him into another room while Watts worked on Penny's sword.
Once they were alone, Clover let her have it. "’Like you had Agatha's back'? What were you thinking, saying something like that?" Clover demanded of her.
Harriet rolled her eyes. "I figured that would set him off. If your opponent cannot control their emotions, then it makes it easier to take them down.”
Clover's eyes narrowed as he got in Harriet's face. "Qrow was not the only one in the tundra with her earlier. He is not the only one who didn't help her," he reminded her. "And if you bring up that incident around me like that again, I will write you up for inappropriate conduct. Is that clear?"
Harriet looked furious, but she stood at attention and responded, "Yes, sir."
"Good," Clover said as he left the room, but Harriet called out to him.
“Why do you care so much about her?” she asked.
Clover was taken aback by the question. “She’s my friend, Hare.”
“Friend?” Harriet scoffed. “We’re soldiers, Clover—not friends. Besides, if she hadn’t been injured, she’d have turned on you like Qrow did.”
Clover nodded in agreement. “Your right, she would have. But despite that, she tried to stop Robyn from attacking me. She tried to save me from Tyrian.”
“But she still would have fought you if given the chance,” Harriet pointed out.
“Even if they betrayed us, I don’t want them dead!” Clover shouted. “I don’t want Agatha dead. I don’t want those kids dead. I don’t want Qrow dead.” That last one made him choke back a sob.
Harriet couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’ve changed,” she growled.
Clover scoffed. “Or maybe you don’t know me as well as you think.” He brushes past her and leaves the room. He doesn’t spare anyone a glance as he makes his way out of the lab.
"Where are you heading, Clover?" James asked.
"Medical Wing, sir. I'll be on stand-by," Clover responded, not looking at his superior officer.
"Understood," James said, and Clover left.
Harriet returned, clearly upset. Marrow smirked, "You got in trouble for mentioning Agatha, didn't you?" She moved to hit him, but James intervened, telling them to stop. Harriet calmed down while James watched the door Clover had exited, wondering why Clover cared so much about that woman. She shows up out of the blue, acting like she knows what’s best when he’s been at this fight longer than her.
What’s worse, she seemed to have earned Clover’s trust so quickly, while James had spent years trying to build the same kind of loyalty within his team. It gnawed at him, that sense of uncertainty, the idea that someone from the outside could disrupt the fragile balance they’d all fought so hard to maintain. He had to make sure Clover’s loyalty still lied with him.
Winter, seeing the gears turning in Ironwoods head, started to leave the room herself. “I’ll go talk to him,” she offered before anyone could say anything.
Clover was already in Agatha’s room when Winter caught up to him. He was sitting at her side, but his attention wasn’t on her. It was on his open scroll. “What are you doing Clover?” Winter asked.
Clover, startled, quickly put his scroll away. “Winter! I was just checking up on some of the reports,” he said.
Winter easily saw through his lie. “Look, I know how you feel about this. Truly feel. Penny. My sister. I’m afraid of what Ironwood might do to them. What he might do to others if we try to do something he likely won’t agree with.” She cast her gaze to Agatha.
Clover also glanced at his sleeping friend. She was stable. Just comatose. But he knew that stability was a thin line, easily disrupted by the next piece of bad news or the wrong decision. Her life was currently in the hands of the Atlesian doctors. In the hands of Ironwood. One wrong move and he could pull the plug on her. Finish what Tyrian had started. He couldn’t be responsible for that. Not again.
He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to just sit here and do nothing though.”
“We’re not doing nothing,” Winter countered. “We’re waiting. Watching how this plays out and see where we can go from there.”
This put Clover at ease. “You’re right. Thank you, Winter. It’s comforting to know we’re on the same wavelength.”
“Of course,” Winter said and left the room.
Clover leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. His thoughts drifted to Qrow. Wondering what he was doing now. Knowing him, he was probably brooding in a corner somewhere while they recovered from their trip here. Yang and Ruby were probably trying to drag him somewhere to eat and take his mind off of things. He smiled as he pictured himself and Agatha joining the sisters as they ate and laughed together over small stuff. A brief bit of normality amongst the chaos.
He found himself wishing he could do that. Opening his eyes he looked over Agatha. More color has returned to her face and the beeping on the monitor indicates that her heart was still going strong. “I hope you wake up soon Agatha,” he said clasping her hand.
A few hours later, his scroll beeped and he opened it to see it was an emergency broadcast. Ruby appeared, looking rather nervous. He heard Blake somewhere off camera telling Ruby she could start. Ruby gave an awkward wave. “Um, hi. My name is Ruby Rose. I am a Huntress. And if we’ve done everything right, then I am talking to all of Remnant right now.”
And indeed, the message was playing not just in Atlas, but to the rest of the world as well. On televisions, scrolls, anything that had a screen. People all around watched tensely as this young girl told the world that Atlas was under attack and that a being named Salem is responsible for this as well as what happened to Vale and Mistral as she wishes to destroy all of the kingdoms.
Over in Mistral, a young boy was watching the television from his father’s lap. His arctic fox tail twitched slightly behind him. The huntress on the screen was talking about Atlas. That it was in danger. But that was where- “Daddy, is Auntie Agatha going to be okay?”
His father looked down at him and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m sure she’s fine. Your aunt is a tough one.” Though his own arctic fox ears were pressed down on his head. The boy knew that happened whenever his daddy was stressed out about something.
His mommy’s scroll rang, and he saw on the caller id that it was his Auntie Sammie. His mom answered the scroll and put it on speaker. “Pack your bags and find a sitter for Jay,” Auntie Sammie instructed. “We’re going to Atlas.”
At Weiss’s house, Qrow was watching the real Ruby watching herself on the recording alongside Weiss and Blake while Nora was resting in the bed next to them. While he was relieved to see that Pietro succeeded in getting the message out, his thoughts wandered to Tia and Glynda. How are those two handling the news? He hoped they were doing okay.
His relief was cut short though when the message cut out half way through. “Wait? What happened?” Ruby asked trying to call Penny. She wouldn’t respond. Weiss tried Maria and Qrow tried Pietro. Neither of them could be reached.
Thinking fast, Qrow texted Clover, figuring it wouldn’t be safe if he tried to call. Ironwood did something to the broadcast?
Clover’s response came quickly. I don’t think so. I’ve mostly been watching over Agatha. So I’m not too sure. Qrow grew tense with the uncertainty lingering in the air. They still haven’t heard back from Yang and her group yet. And while knowing Clover was keeping an eye on Agatha brought him some comfort (since it means Ironwood isn’t trying anything with her) not having eyes on the general means they’re still in the dark as to what’s going on.
Just as Clover finished removing any evidence of his conversation with Qrow, Winter came into the room. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“We’ve lost Penny’s signal. Ironwood’s ordered us to find her,” Winter said.
“What about Watts?” Clover wondered.
“He did something but I’m not sure what,” Winter admitted.
“Does it have anything to do with the broadcast?”
Winter shook her head. “Not even Watts knows why the broadcast was cut. He’s being thrown back into his cell now.”
Clover clenched his fists. He should have known something like this would happen. What was Ironwood thinking? “Alright. Let’s head out.” Winter nodded and the two made their way to the hanger.
They scoured the streets of both Atlas and Mantel but found no sign of the android so they expanded their search to the tundra. Elm was starting to lose her patience. “Did the hack just not work? How do we even know we can trust Watts?”
“We can’t,” Clover said. “I don’t know why the general placed his hopes on that man.”
“We do have visual confirmation of her leaving Amity,” Vine assured. “She appeared to be malfunctioning.”
Elm groaned. “This is why I don’t trust technology! Now we’re wasting out time searching for broken junk!”
“Enough!” Winter called out. “You’re Atlas elite, act like it.”
Clover, Vine, and Elm looked away sheepishly. “Sorry Winter. Guess everything is just getting to us,” Clover said.
Winter soften at Clover’s apology. He was right. Things have not slowed down since her father’s dinner party, and they haven’t gotten much sleep today. She gave the captain a smile to let him and the others know things are okay.
Marrow, who was piloting the airship, started hearing something on the comms. “Um, ma’am, we’re picking up an open broadcast,” he informed Winter.
Winter tells Marrow to play it, and Marrow switches the broadcast to the speakers. It was Jaune’s voice. “It’s headed straight for Mantel! I repeat, a large mass of Grimm is headed straight for Mantel! Please, anyone!”
Clover looked out the window. “Anyone see any Grimm?” he asked.
“Negative,” Harriet responded. “Though I am detecting a large fissure in the ice with unusual readings.”
Winter told Marrow to fly to the fissure. It was too deep for them to really see anything inside. However, along the fissure, they spotted Jaune along with Yang and Ren. Marrow landed the ship and Winter, Clover, and Harriet hopped out.
Yang wasn’t happy to see them. “Great, you guys,” she muttered.
Jaune didn’t seem to care as he gestured to the fissure. “Did you hear our message? It’s right there. We need to hurry.”
Clover rushed over to where Jaune was and looked down into the fissure. His breath caught in his throat. Inside the fissure was what, at first, looked like black ooze. But upon closer inspection, he could see the face of a Grimm in there.
“What on Remnant?” he breathed out.
“Clover! We need to focus,” Harriet called out to her captain before rounding on the kids. “Where’s Penny?”
“Are you serious right now!?” Jaune asked. “People are in danger.”
“There are people in danger because you kids are acting selfish and—” Harriet was cut off as the ground started to shake violently. Mantel starts to panic and the Grimm start to home in on their fear.
The Grimm river shoots up like a geyser high enough to reach Atlas. It forces it’s way through the Hard-Light shield and Centinels spawn from the ooze, burrowing it’s way underground. An airship tries to open fire on them, but the Centinels were able to take down two of the shield’s pylons. They fall to the ground below the city as the rest of the force field shuts down.
In the Schnee manor, everyone watches horrified on their scrolls. James is also watching this from Central Command as the alarms start blaring.
Inside Monstra, Salem’s eyes glow as she smiles. “It’s time,” she said and commands the giant Grimm whale to land on the farmlands of Atlas. The whale opens it’s mouth and starts spewing Grimm liquid which forms into various types of monsters.
While all of this is happening. A pair of eyes shot open. Their iris flash a bright grey before returning to the figure’s usual blue.