The pure darkness that ensued for a moment was terrifying.

The Grimm snarled--but then they couldn't easily see either.

But then the air lit up with Shine's sword, which she was still holding onto.

The Grimm suddenly whimpered and then blinked at the light.

"You fool, you just trapped us in here with them!" Watts cried.

"No, Arthur," Shine said. "I trapped them in here with us. Wally? Time to go crazy!"

"You got it, babe," Wally said.

"Mind the ones with dust though," Shine added.

Wally became a human lightning bolt, at least to their eyes.

He zapped around the whole room and fried almost all of the Grimm.

Vara, watching this, suddenly felt her powers were back--it could have been that the water and the cake were countering Victoria's effects much faster in her.

"Well, can't let him have all the fun." She lifted into the air, and lightning crackled over her head and zapped the remaining Grimm.

Everyone else hurried to stand back.

"Careful," Tai cried. "Don't hit the ones with--"

A charge hit one with fire dust attached to it, and it exploded.

Tai and Raven ducked, and the fire went over his head, but Raven, with her low Aura, was still singed.

"Someone help, please!" Kip called, over the ruckus. "I'm not sure how long I can hold onto this ledge without bursting a gear."

Shine let go of her sword.

Both her and Watts sank to the ground.

Shine rubbed her arm. "I don't even know how I held on that long..."

Some of the Grimm turned to her.

"Don't even think about it," she said, eyes flashing.

They snarled.

Shine's sword appeared in her hand, and she cut a line through the Grimm--they turned into smoke.

"That packs a lot of destructive power..." Watts commented.

"Of course it does," Shine said. "Both Creation and Destructive are in the hands of God, aren't they? Though I admit it's easier for us humans to destroy than to create."

She warbled a different song, and her sword began to glow brighter.

"What a twisted web you weave
Inside a maze of mirrors
But you're afraid, you're false. I was deceived
You pull me in the fear
Better get behind me
Break the ties that bind me
Feel the fear rising
No more of that, I've been had enough. When my demons try to pull me under
Into the person I don't wanna remember, Destroying all the lies
See through your own disguise. I'm the destroyer, destroyer
I will not be your slave
It's over. It's over
I will not walk away 
This is no time for the faint at heart
It's time for war, war
I'm the destroyer."

https://youtu.be/ocexxOxylzA

"How does she have that much energy after before?" Raven wondered. "It's not fair."

"Can someone help me?" Winter called. She was still stuck over their heads.

Vara flew down and lowered her to the ground.

"Schnee?" she said.

"Sol," Winter replied.

"Yep." Vara brushed her hair back. "Well, you also look like death warmed up... Hey, Bright Eyes--" She meant Shine. "--you've trapped us in here. Do you have any idea how we're going to get out?"

"We could try using that door." Shine pointed👉.

No one else had noticed it yet, because it looked like a part of the wall. It was huge.

"She got them in here somehow," Shine said, dryly.

The few enhanced Grimm were the remaining ones now, and they were getting a little hesitant to attack after seeing what Wally did to their compadres.

"How do we get this open?" Wally ran up to the door.

"Allow me," Watts said, walking up to it.

Then he examined the door and made some adjustments on his remote--the door unlocked and slipped open.

"Wow," Wally said. 

"Feel free to applaud," Watts said.

"Idiot," Cinder said.

The Grimm seemed to take that as an incentive. They all ran for the door.

"Wait!" Wally cried.

But of course they didn't. They ran out into the maze.

Shine frowned. "But that's no good... What if they get out of the maze?"

"What if they find our team?" Tai said.

Kip slipped to the floor, with Qrow still in tow.

"Are you all right, mister?" he asked.

"Oh, sure," Qrow winced. "I feel fine..."

"Wally..." Shine mused.

"I know, I know, but we can't just go after them either," Wally said.

"No...but we have to warn everyone," Shine said.

"So, how's your plan going?" Watts asked Shine snarkily. "Was this part of it?"

"Hey, man, back off," Wally said.

"To make a plan, I need to know more about what I'm working with," Shine said. "But for now, I think we need to get back up there, unless we can destroy the lab from down here."

Vara looked up. "Where'd Theo go?"

"Did he even fall in?" Tai asked.

"I'm not sure he did..." Vara said.

"Unless he got eaten already," Watts said.

"That Minotaur thing ran out too," Wally said. "BTW, Shine, I'm so up on this Greek myth thing--I mean, it's not really useful, but I feel so sophisticated."

"Who knows? It might be useful," Shine shrugged. "Dracanae were not what I expected to see."

"Can I ask why she's here?" Tai pointed at Cinder with his weapon. "We should just leave her here."

Cinder made a fist.

"I'm ashamed of all of you for being so petty," Shine said. Her temper was fraying also after all the stress.

"Petty?" Tai said.

"Just go," Shine said. "Plenty of time to deal with her later."

"I cannot believe you," Raven said.

"Neither can I," Vara said. "But I'm not dying in a hole. So let's go."

She flew toward the door.

"Var, I think some people might need help," Shine said.

"Oh, you all are such pushovers..." Vara said.

"Excuse me?" Shine gave her a look.

"Fine." She took Winter by the arm.

"But..." Winter glanced at Qrow.

"Gotcha, buddy." Wally ran and helped Qrow up.

"I'm fine, West," Qrow said.

"Sure, dude, own it," Wally said. "But for real, it's not a problem. We need to get out fast."

"Always fast for you," Qrow muttered woozily. "What is that Aura-draining stuff? It's like poison."

"Speaking of poison, I didn't see Tyrian anywhere," Tai said. "I mean, I don't really know what he looks like, but a scorpion tail is hard to miss. Do you think he just ran off?"

"I wouldn't bet on it--but when was he even here?" Shine asked.

"Okay, we need to catch up," Tai said.

* * *

Several minutes later, with helping the people who couldn't move into the tunnel--which they found went uphill almost like a staircase and joined the other tunnel to the outside, as predicted--they had mostly filled Shine in on the highlights of what she missed.

"That is so whacked out," Wally said. "But I'm glad Weiss is okay."

"Meridian, huh?" Shine said. "He sounds nice."

"I didn't like him," Winter said weakly.

"Why not? He's a great student." Vara knew who he was. "His partner is no slouch either."

"Okay," Wally said, "so, Creepy Guy disappeared, and the school is under attack from Grimm... It's nice to know nothing has changed while we've been locked in here. You guys are still a hot mess without us around."

"Your plan didn't seem to stop it," Vara said.

"We don't prevent all problems," Shine said, "we get through them. We'll get through this."

"Likstar, your ability to still believe that after all this baffles me," Raven said.

"Nice alliteration, Rave," Wally said.

"Can it," she snapped.

"Raven, I do not stop believing because things look bad," Shine said. "That's not faith, that's just being upbeat because things are good. Nothing wrong with that, but it's nothing special either. God is not the God of the easy life, or the simple one. As Psalm 25 says:

"'Guard my life and rescue me;
do not let me be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope, Lord, is in you. [Vs 20-21]' "

"You're still on about that?" Watts said, incredulously.

"Guy-whose-associate-dropped-him-and-us-down-a-hole says what?" Shine shot back.

"I don't know what's worse, your unending reciting of that crap, or his lack of humility," Cinder said.

"Hi, pot," Shine said. "Do you know what listening to you is like?"

"Then why did you bother to free me?" Cinder snapped.

"With your response, it's a wonder that I did." Shine rolled her eyes 😒.

"Then why did you?" Watts said.

"I'm not going over it again," Shine said. "Either believe what I say or don't, but stop asking me repeatedly."

"I think you did the right thing," Wally said helpfully. "I would have too. It's more like the Big Man to forgive your enemies."

"Forgive them?" Raven spat. "Did it escape your notice that they are why we're here?"

"Well, Cinder really isn't," Shine said. "As for Watts, I can't explain how he's suddenly helping us again, but I'd say it has something to do with Victoria turning on him."

Watts winced.

"Bad luck with women, eh?" Wally said to him, comfortingly.

"I don't understand why everyone is so quick to discard my help," Watts said.

"We weren't," Wally said.

Silence.

"Because you don't matter to them," Cinder said nastily. "And, in your words, all you've ever been is a bloody migraine."

"Quiet, you witch!" Watts said.

"Shut up, all of you!" Raven snapped.

"Oh, for the love of Remnant." Vara covered her ears.

There was a rumble, as if the Grimm ahead of them had stopped suddenly.

"Shut up," Qrow said with difficulty. "You're going to get us all killed."

"I'm not sure that was just that..." Shine's eyes gleamed. "Salem is attacking Shade, right? But is it possible she followed you here also?"

"Why would she do that?" Cinder rubbed her shoulder where her Grimm arm had been.

"Because all the Maidens are here," Shine said.

Oh...right... That...

"Watts, were you supposed to take over the shop?" Shine asked.

"Well..." Watts said nervously, "there might have been a part of the operation that relied on that, yes."

"And you didn't say this before?" Tai snapped, slamming him into the wall.

"Well, I didn't think you'd like to hear it," Watts said. "And you're all escaping anyway, so I figured it was of no use whatsoever. She won't be happy, but it's not like we don't know where to find you."

"So you're just double crossing us again?" Qrow said.

"I don't work for you," Watts said. "Anyway--" He glanced at Shine. "--you said it didn't matter if I brought Salem here or not."

Everyone looked at Shine.

To her credit, she did not lose her cool even then.

"I did say that," she admitted.

"Then I didn't do anything we didn't agree on," Watts said. "Technically, trapping Cinder was also what you said I could do. Just because you think the way I did it was heinous doesn't give you the right to enact punishment, does it?"

"What about us?" Tai said.

"Well...isn't she your leader?" Watts said.

"She's not mine," Tai said. "And I think we should just kill you and Fall while we can. We'll never get a better chance than this."

"Tai," Wally said.

"You two got captured!" Tai said. "That means you're not any smarter or stronger than anyone else. Our plan's been working so far--I say we finish it."

"Not to be pedantic, but yours wouldn't have worked if they hadn't already been actively trying to escape," Watts said.

"Shut up." Tai slammed him into the wall more.

"Enough!" Shine said.

"No," Tai said. "Enough with this!"

He raised his weapon.

Shine yelped.

Wally grabbed Tai's arm before he could do anything.

"That is enough!" he said, yanking the weapon back.

Cinder backed up.

For a moment everyone just looked at each other. Tai glared at Wally over his shoulder.

"My daughters have suffered enough," he said.

"This is a temper tantrum," Shine said. "Not justice."

She frowned at him.

Tai glared at her.

The ground rumbled again, suddenly.

Then, out of the wall not that far from them, huge claws jutted out, cracking it.

And one of the ugliest creatures you'd imagine came out of it.

It looked like a mole, but with long claws and an oddly shaped snout.

[There's a movie like this, you know. City of Ember]

"What is that?" Winter asked.

"Looks like a star-nosed mole," Shine said. "Really, Salem? Really?... Can't just make a bulldozer?"

The mole turned toward them, sniffing.

"Uh...Shine?" Wally said.

"They're blind mostly, unless that one is different," Shine said. "So it can smell us, but I doubt it hears or sees us."

The mole sniffed again.

"I don't think it's targeting us all anyway," Shine said. "It's just makings tunnels, obviously looking for the Maidens."

It came towards them then. Clawing the tunnels.

"Just get out of its way," Shine called.

No one had to be told twice. They scrambled to get outside its reach.

The mole clawed after them.

"Get behind me, all of you," Shine told them, drawing a line in the dirt and the wall.

They obeyed, surprisingly, though Vara held up her hands.

"Put that out." Shine grabbed her arm and yanked it down.

The mole sniffed--then shuffled right past them and toward the bunker, making these big chunks of dirt to fall in its wake.

"Well...I don't envy that woman dealing with that thing," Shine said.

"I think my weirdness limit is about tapped out for today," Wally said.

"Can we just get out of here?" Cinder even sounded done with this.

Kip, who'd been silent this whole time, made a whimpering sound.

"Poor thing." Shine looked at him. "I'm sorry... This is no place for a child."

"Let's just get out," Wally said. He dashed them to the end of the tunnel.

No one argued.

"Salem is coming," Vara said, with an odd look. "It's too late... I think we failed."

"We have not failed yet," Shine said.

"She's going to destroy Vacuo if we don't get that Relic," Vara said. "I'll do it. That was part of the plan, right? Then we can be done with this."

She pursed her lips. "It's all we can do."

She took off suddenly.

"Vara!" they cried.

But she flew around a corner with ease.

"Is she always just going to run off?" Qrow asked.

Shine sighed.

"Watts, Fall," she said, "follow me. I'll take you to the exit. Wally, can you take everyone else and find the kids? They might need help. Then get out of this maze. Look out for Tyrian. I'm still thinking he's here somewhere."

"Okay," Wally said.

Tai frowned at Shine but motioned at Cinder and Watts to follow her, and they did, not anxious to stick around.

Shine found the exit easily enough. She just had to go upward.

Cutting through the lock on it, she shoved the door open.

The hot, Vacuo sun met them... It had been all night.

"So are you really letting us go?" Watts asked.

"Call it a head start," Shine said. "Salem is here now. I doubt the sight of either of you would appease her. You want to go back to her? Tell her we're leaving Vacuo and taking the Relic with us. If she wants to burn this place down out of spite, then I'm going to take that Sword and break it into pieces. Screw her."

She folded her arms. "Of course if you'd rather not deliver that threat, then feel free to stick around and help us save Vacuo."

"What a choice..." Watts said.

"You think I'd do that?" Cinder scoffed.

"If it got you what you wanted, I bet you'd do anything," Shine said. "But to get those Maiden powers, you'd have to go through me, Cinder."

Her eyes looked fierce.

"So, you think about it," she said, after a long pause. "And if you decide to abandon this insane course and are interested in stopping Salem, give us a call. I'll take all the help I can get. If you want to continue to fight over the power after Salem is out of the way, then that's a compromise we could look at. But I'll be watching you two closely. And this is the last time I will let you go. Next time you cross us, the others can decide what to do with you."

"You are so...strange," Watts said.

"I'm more honorable than you are," Shine said. "Or Salem. Keep that in mind. You idiots."

She shooed them.

Cinder took off. She had no intention of waiting for the others to find her.

"I'm not going with her." Watts made a face. "Well...this is awkward."

"Cry me a river," Shine said.

"If Salem doesn't get those Maidens by the end of today," Watts said, "I concede that you might possibly have a point. But if she does, then all this was moot. I'm not about to cross her, so... But I do have one little tip for you. Mercury gave her that book of yours."

"Did he?" Shine laughed. "Well, what a gem... I hope she enjoys it. I can't even picture her reading that... That ought to puzzle her for a while, if she can even understand it at all."

"So you're not concerned about it?" Watts said.

"About our own book being used against us? No," Shine said. "Why would I be? Does the Lord render evil to us? Evil might try to, but they'll just foil themselves. Let me tell you something that we believe, Arthur:

"'Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
3 'Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.'

4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.'" [Psalm 2]

She smirked  "I take that as my model... I laugh at you people when you try to scheme against us... What do I care? It all comes to nothing if God wills it to, and if He doesn't, it's only part of His bigger plan. You've not really won so far, have you? You just think you have. So I don't care. Have fun with it."

She walked back down into the maze.

https://youtu.be/Debe8T_H5rI

[Crane Wives, "Keep You Safe". Please check out their channel.]

* * *

Emerald and Mercury stumbled along the passages and didn't meet any Grimm. Either they'd all been killed, or they had found easier targets.

Mercury was straining.

"Just a little farther, I'm sure," Emerald said, wishing they'd find someone else already. Or that Hazel would catch up. Was he okay? Could he beat Tyrian?

"I don't think I can..." Mercury stopped abruptly and then collapsed.

"No, come on." Emerald grabbed his arm. "Get up! D--- it, I can't carry you--you're too heavy. You have to walk."

She yanked him a few more feet, but then he went down again.

"That b-----d's venom is working too fast..." Mercury winced, "also, really starting to hurt..."

Emerald pursed her lips and then pulled his jacket up to look.

"Not really the time..." Mercury joked, but it sounded weak, which wasn't a good sign.

"Shut up..." She looked at the place Tyrian had injected... It had gone all purple around it... It was spreading, too...

She drew a deep breath. "But Qrow survived it..."

The thing was, she didn't know this, but Qrow had been scratched by Tyrian, which wasn't great, but was less venom than a direct incision would have been--which is what he'd done this time.

Also, Qrow was older and more used to using Aura to defend himself...and he had a Semblance, making him stronger.

But most importantly, what Emerald didn't know because she knew nothing about medicine, was that Qrow had only walked briefly and then sat down for a while after being stung and then been carried, but Mercury had been active, which sent the venom through his blood stream faster.

"It doesn't matter," Mercury said, wincing. "He would have killed me either way."

"Not if you join us," Emerald insisted. "They could protect you."

"Oh, like they did with you..." Mercury said.

"I'm still alive, aren't I?!" Emerald shot back. "You moron! Couldn't just listen to me from the beginning. We could have run before Tyrian got there."

"He had to have been following me already..." Mercury winced. "He wasn't even supposed to be here... Should've known they'd never trust me to finish the job without some incentive..."

Emerald smacked him.

"OW!" Mercury said.

"I'm going kick your a-- later," she said. "I swear, if you take the easy way out right now, I'll...I dunno, I'll get them to resurrect you so I can kick your a--."

"I don't think that's how that works." Mercury almost thought that was funny. "But you should probably just go... Realistically, I'm dead weight here."

"No..." Emerald knew any Grimm that came along would make short work of a wounded target.

"You's so dumb, Emerald," Mercury said, before coughing. "All that, and you're still trying to save people... Just give up already."

"You didn't go through with it," Emerald said. "Why?"

"I don't know," Mercury said.

"Bulls---," she said.

"Oh, now you catch on," he said sarcastically.

"Come on...just tell me," Emerald said in a more somber tone.

Mercury looked at the ceiling. "I really don't know... I guess I just thought it didn't make any sense, you know? I don't want to think about it. I lost my mind..."

"This is my fault, really," Emerald said, her thoughts turning a different way. "For being so stupid. I should have known Tyrian would... If I'd realized they were planning this, I could have stopped it. Maybe then it wouldn't have happened like this... But there's still a chance...if..."

She rubbed her arms.

"If you're gonna fight Salem, you're really going to have to stop being so upset about her people doing their job..." Mercury muttered.

"You're not her people," Emerald said. "You're with us now. I don't think you get a choice after that. I'll tell everyone that you backed out! They won't let you leave."

"Oh, so now it's just that, huh?" Mercury said. "I'm your prisoner."

"Basically," Emerald said. "I mean, maybe I'll let you off for good behavior...if you hang in there..."

"Why do you care?" Mercury finally asked a real question. "It's not like I ever did anything for you. I was still going to kill you 10 minutes ago. I don't even know why I stopped."

"But you stopped," Emerald said simply.

Pause.

"So? I was an ass before that," Mercury said.

"Well, yeah...but it's not like I'm any better," Emerald said. "I was just kidding about all that before, trying to snap you out of it, but I know we're the same. And that's why, really. I need someone around to make me feel better about myself with all these heroes."

"Makes sense..."

"Or..." Emerald looked back for any sign of Hazel. "...it could be that you are the only friend I had, working for Salem. And you told me the truth. You might be a jerk, idiot, and just generally unpleasant to be around, but you're an honest all of those things. Once I realized that Hazel and you were the only people I even would trust not to stab me in the back out of the whole group, I knew that my reason to be there was gone once Hazel dipped. You pretended not to care, but I could see it in your eyes when you left--the whole thing was up, even then."

"That is so sappy..." Mercury complained.

"Once in a while it might be okay to feel something other than anger, you know," Emerald said, crossing her arms. "Just to shake things up. Or fear... I'm just...I'm sick of living the way I did. I was upset that Cinder was fake...she almost killed me, you know."

"Did she?" Mercury said. "I think you said that, actually..."

"Yes, but did I tell you that Pyrrha gave up the Relic to save me?" Emerald said. "She's crazy..."

"Yeah, that is crazy," Mercury said.

"Jerk!" Emerald said.

"For her," Mercury said. "I mean, what do we care about that stupid thing?"

"Yeah," Emerald said. "I didn't get it. But later she told me that she didn't want to be hung up on the past, basically. I guess we're kind of friends now... She's not mad over the Penny thing anymore. She said we were the same, that she did things she shouldn't have too, because of this stupid war, and because she followed someone she thought she could trust."

"Nikos is crazy," Mercury said.

"But she's right," Emerald said. "We're all the same... Earlier today, Blake...she even admitted it. She was, like, in the White Fang when we signed up with them. I guess she bailed, but she was just like us. It was like...I don't know, for the first time, people looked at me, and they didn't see just a killer or a thief, but they considered that maybe we all have reasons for what we do. It's not that they said I was right or anything, it's that they said we've all been wrong, so we all owe each other another chance to do it the right way. That made me want to think that way--because, honestly, doing what I've been doing, it feels like s--t. But this...feels right."

"Really, really sappy..." Mercury muttered.

"Yeah, I guess," Emerald said. "But sappy is starting to look better than...psycho."

"That's a hard one..." Mercury said. "Well, I don't think I've had any life-altering revelation because of all this crap--Miss Likstar was right. I have no idea what I'm doing or why... I still don't."

"She's got a way of putting things," Emerald said. "She told me that I wasn't wrong to love Cinder, but Cinder's the wrong person to love, because she just takes it and twists it. But that now that I know that, I shouldn't give up on caring about people, because there are people who don't do that. I guess that's what you told me...only she said it better."

"I don't think I said that," Mercury said.

"Yeah...but you know, I think love is why Likstar does this," Emerald said. "And Pyrrha, I think it's why she wanted to forgive... Can either live to get everything out of other people, like Cinder, I guess--and Salem, really--or you can live for something else. I thought, that's like Hazel. So he was always better than us, and we all knew it...but I wasn't...anything. I guess, though, Miss Likstar, and Nikos and Oscar, made me feel like I had something a little better than that. And...I guess I thought I saw that with you also... You tried to protect me, once...like Hazel... I wanted you guys to escape too. Maybe we all suck, but we're better than Salem."

"Oh, that's a high bar..." Mercury said flatly.

Emerald almost laughed. "Well...better than nothing..."

"I don't know what you're saying," Mercury said. "But if you think you're better than the other psychos on the team--well, duh."

"Duh?" Emerald said.

"Oh sure, we all knew that," Mercury said. He made this sound like an insult, but she wasn't really fooled by it. "No shock there. You were always too soft to be in that group. I was just shocked you had the guts to leave with Tyrian threatening us the way he did. But who knows?... Maybe that's going to look like the smarter choice now... Joke's on me, isn't it?"

"That doesn't make what he did okay! He attacked you because you did the right thing for once. He's evil!"

"And that doesn't matter, if he's tough enough..." 

"If you believed that, then you wouldn't have stopped," Emerald said. "Stop lying."

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway." Mercury fell back on his usual defense. "So--" He broke off, coughing.

"This is getting worse," Emerald said. "We can't stay here..."

And right then, a Grimm decided to find them.

It was like some giant badger, with long claws and long snout, perhaps easy prey for a huntsman but it would be a problem for them.

Emerald blinded it--but her Aura wasn't anything like back to normal, and she knew she didn't have that long.

And then she found she didn't have any time, because the badger just sniffed and waddled more towards them.

It wasn't using sight, it was using smell.

That wasn't something she could help.

Well...maybe she could scare it.

She tried to make loud clanging sounds.

The badger hesitated briefly, but that didn't faze it that much either, because it kept going after that.

Emerald held up her knives.

Mercury struggled to sit up and winced as he moved the wounded spot.

Emerald blasted at the Grimm.

Spines jutted out of its back that seemed to deflect the bullets... Crap...

She stepped in front of Mercury and slashed at it--while it didn't see her, it seemed to feel her coming almost, and it clawed upward, catching the chain of one of her knives and yanking her forward, throwing off her aim.

One claw scraped along her arm.

"Ah!" Emerald screamed, because that really hurt.

"Look out!" Mercury said.

She looked up and ducked before the other ones could catch her by the neck.

She managed to slash upward in the nick of time, and the Grimm disappeared.

But before she could be too relieved, she saw at least two more coming to join it.

"She's here?" she guessed.

"Looks like it," Mercury said. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I think there was more to this plan than I knew..."

"Oh, you don't fricking say--" Emerald held up Thieves' Respite again.

But she couldn't beat two of these things...

Just then, someone came zipping around the corner in a burst of rose petals.

Ruby!

She materialized and cut into one of the things with her scythe. They weren't anywhere near fast enough to stop her.

Yang came running into the tunnel after her, holding out her guns.

One of the things swiped at her, and she caught it on her metal arm, then pushed the Grimm back.

Ruby cut it in half also.

"Yes! Sister teamwork!" she said.

"Ruby!" Yang snorted. Then she grinned.

Then they looked at Emerald.

"Well, close call there--" Yang saw Mercury.

"You!" She shot a look at him.

Emerald moved in her way.

"Stop!" she said. "It's okay. He's not with Salem."

"But I thought he was..." Ruby said.

"No, he's not," Emerald said. "But Tyrian is here."

"We knew that," Yang said.

"No, he's here!" Emerald said. "Back there, Hazel was fighting him. I don't know if he's okay."

"We should help him then!" Ruby said.

"No, Ruby, Tyrian wants to take you," Yang said.

"It doesn't matter. I'm tired of people dying because of him!" Ruby cried.

"Same old same old," Mercury said.

"Tyrian poisoned Mercury," Emerald said. "I need to get him to someone who can help. You have to help me...please."

They looked at her.

Yang didn't buy that Mercury was really not working for Salem... They had too much evidence that he was.

"If he's not going, I'm not going," Emerald said firmly.

"I think we should," Ruby said.

"What?" Yang looked at her.

"I think we could be better than this." Ruby looked at Yang. "Leaving him to die...it's not right... I don't know if we can trust him or not, but he's in trouble, and the Grimm are around. Anyway, if Tyrian poisoned him, that's a good sign he's not working for him, right?"

"Unless he just did it for s---s and giggles," Yang said.

"Either way, he's not hurting us like this," Ruby said. "We don't have time to waste anyway. I think I should probably find Hazel. I'll catch up to you."

Yang gave her a long look. "You'd better," she said finally. "Fine... Emerald, you'd better be right about this."

"Thanks." Emerald was too relieved to be snarky.

"Careful--" Mercury said, as Yang pulled him up.

"Shut up," Yang huffed.

[Whew...]