[If that title doesn't sum up Raven's role in most of the show, I don't know what does.]

Shine jumped, but then composed herself.

"I didn't forget about you," she said. "But I did wonder if you were going to show... So, how long have you been here?"

"Since earlier today," Raven said. "Followed you here after last night. Thought I'd keep a low profile."

"I'm afraid you might have missed it then," Shine said.

"Nope." Raven ran her hand along the desk. "Nice digs, I have to admit. Atlas doesn't skimp on luxury for its favorites."

"This is hardly that, but you're avoiding my question," Shine said.

"Patience, kid," Raven said shortly. She looked up. Boy, did she sound like Yang when she was annoyed.

"I saw a lot of things today that surprised me," she said. "Atlas and Mantle are a nightmare, Jacques Schnee is under arrest...and Pyrrha Nikos is alive."

Shine shrugged. "Which one of those was really surprising?"

"Touche," Raven said. "But the last one is a little hard to explain. Qrow told me she died...before our little falling out. Part of his guilt trip tactic, no doubt."

"As effective as it usually is, I'm sure," Shine said. "But she did die. However, it was temporary."

[Cue the "Did you die?" "Sadly, yes, but I survived!" reference from Ice Age 3.]

"That's impossible," Raven said.

Shine didn't have a lot of time to spend on this--and, on second thought, she realized that it would be much more effective with Raven to keep her guessing.

"You don't know everything," she shrugged. "Well, Raven, I'd love to chat, but I actually have somewhere I need to go. You're welcome to follow me, but, as you're somewhat shy, I'm not sure you will."

"What do you mean? Aren't you going to elucidate?" Raven said. "You called me all the way over here, and, I admit, this is something a little hard to explain, but I've known someone who can come back from the dead before. If this is spreading, I'd like to know why. What are you? Grimm are afraid of you. You killed a Wyvern in less than 2 minutes."

"All interesting items that I simply don't have time to go into," Shine said--maddeningly, she was sure. "You'll have to come back at a more opportune time. I need to go see what's going on with the Winter Maiden."

"The Winter... Oh no..." Raven said. "This again? When will they give it up? Those powers are nothing but a hassle... So who's the new sucker?"

"If you can't guess that, you've been out of the loop longer than I thought, or you're an idiot." Shine shrugged. "Bye."

She opened her door. "Oh, and you can put back whatever it was you stole."

"What makes you think I stole anything?" Raven said.

"You kept your back away from me this entire time," Shine replied. "And you ran your hand along the desk there, as if you wanted to act nonchalant about it. I put some extra copies of my books in there, just so I don't have to carry them everywhere. You're welcome to take one if you're into reading it, but if you took it just to find out our secrets, you'll be disappointed--also, not cool."

Raven frowned at her...then slowly she pulled the book out from behind herself.

What she'd hid it in was anyone's guess.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" she said.

"Not as much as you think you are," Shine said. "Did you want to see if I'd pick up on it? Is this some kind of test? Or did you want to find out if I can read your mind and that's how I knew things? Because if so, you're way off."

"That tongue of yours is going to press your luck too far," Raven said.

"I hang around your brother. I think I'm fine," Shine said, exiting the room.

Raven cautiously followed her.

"Look, it takes some guts to show up and say what you did and then put yourself out there," she said, in the voice Shine knew was her trying to flatter her into a false sense of security. "I'm intrigued, now, but I can't just hang around here, I have stuff to take care of, so if you'd give me what I need, I could move on, and you could do whatever it is you need to do."

"And where's the fun in that?" Shine replied archly. "Nice try. I'm not that easily worked on... The power is down in Mantle."

"Yeah..." Raven said, like "so?"

"So...if you want answers, I'm afraid you'll have to wait till we've found Watts and Tyrian... You remember Watts?" Shine said.

"Not sure how you do still...but yes," Raven said.

"Right, weird guy with a mustache."

"Hates Cinder Fall...hated, I should say," Raven mused.

"I almost forgot that," Shine said. "Yes...about the only thing we have in common is our mutual disdain for that woman. He's here. So, you know, I have different stuff to worry about than you right now."

"You came to me, Princess," Raven said. 

"So I did," Shine said. "And a fat lot of help you were at Beacon, too. I have no reason to think you're not a waste of my time right now. You wouldn't want to be seen here, would you? Ironwood would shoot you before you could even say 'dodge'."

"Don't try to work around me, kid," Raven said. "I'm the best in the business. I see what you're doing."

"Then you should also see that, while it may be transparent, it doesn't make it untrue," Shine said. "Why should I answer any of your questions about how we can bring people back to life? Or frighten Grimm or pose a threat to Salem in any way, if you aren't willing to do a thing to show you actually want to know? I won't let these secrets slip to someone who's just going to vanish and go who knows where with them. Maybe you don't work for Salem, but do I imagine you'd feel any sort of compulsion to spare us if she questions you about it? What are we to you?"

"You want to know where these fools are hiding?" Raven flexed the fingers on one hand. "That good enough for you?"

"I don't really care what you do," Shine said. "As long as I'm not seen talking to you."

She eyed the cameras. "Which is likely..."

"My brother is not to find out I'm here," Raven warned her. "And neither is my daughter."

"Not on me," Shine said.

"I'll think about it," Raven said loftily. "I may just decide to fly home and forget I ever saw this. Sometimes things are not worth knowing."

"Knowledge is power," Shine said. "The Lamp doesn't answer everything, does it? Well, best of luck."

"I'm not the one who's going to need luck." Raven turned into a bird and flew back towards the window.

Shine let out a long sigh. "If I have to keep dealing with these edgy people all day long, I'm going to get a paper cut."

How much time had she spent doing this? She took off.

* * *

But Shine needn't have worried about Winter and the Maiden--as of that moment, that wasn't what was on her mind.

However, it was about to be. She was in the school area, working on directing activities still.

Shine found her there and saw Ironwood's ship pass them.

"Where is he going?" she asked.

"To Amity," Winter said, shaking her head. "He thinks Watts will head there."

"And he wants to take him on alone?" Shine said.

Winter nodded.

"Go figure," Shine said.

"Things turned out better than you thought," Winter said, almost smugly. "Now the civilians have actually begun to unite. They believe the reports about Salem."

"You haven't heard what Oscar told James yet, have you?" Shine said.

"No..." Winter wouldn't have had the chance.

Shine lowered her voice.

"Salem and Ozpin were lovers," she said. "Then he died. When she tried to get him back, the gods were angry and cursed her to walk the earth's face until she understood the meaning between life and death."

And she had to thank Oscar for filling them in that far. No one else would have.

Winter stared at her.

"She responded by turning humanity against the gods," Shine said. "Then it failed, and they destroyed most of the people in the world. Must have missed a few, I figure, despite what they said. But the god of darkness was probably always a liar... Both of them are. As if to spite her, the older one sent Ozpin back, reincarnated, in order to try to unite mankind... The Relics will then summon the gods, if brought together, and they will judge this world."

Winter gaped at her in horror.

"I have this from the others," Shine said. "You'll know soon enough if Ironwood does, so it doesn't matter now. And I want to talk to you first."

"I... What..?... But what does this have to do with this now?"

"Yeah, that's our reaction too." Shine made a face. "To make a very long story short, Salem cannot be killed, not while the curse of the gods rests on her. She fell into the Grimm pond also... That's how she became obsessed with destruction...something that didn't kill her, but it killed the humanity inside her, over time. As all things tend to, she became corrupted over time. Yet there was a miracle... For a brief time, love was able to stave off some of the effects of the corruption...but love, as imperfect as it is in humans, isn't enough to save us. It just slowed it down...and here we are. What vestige of love Salem has now is only the fuel for her hatred, from the sound of it."

"Why are you telling me this?" Winter said.

"If Ironwood fails to capture Watts," Shine said, "or something else goes wrong, we both know what comes next...securing all the power."

Winter was silent.

"The Maiden power will not win this fight," Shine said. "I want you to know that. Magic does not beat magic, really. And they are lesser powers than her own. So do not do something desperate because you think it is the only way."

"But...we could still secure the Relic," Winter said. "She cannot get them...even if she can't..." She paused. "But why did Ozpin never--?"

"Why do you think?" Shine said. "Now that you know the truth, you have a choice to make, Winter. I don't trust Ironwood to tell you this first, so I am. Please, don't dismiss it."

"I still...have a job to do," Winter said.

"And you will play right into her hands." Shine was somber. "Who else will they suspect of becoming the Maiden? It would be you. Do you have time to hone those powers before they'll come? Is this really a good plan?"

"I have a better shot of doing it that she does." Winter meant Fria.

[Considering that Fria one-offed Cinder in, like, one move, and Winter lost to her, this line becomes hilariously ironic.]

"If I had time to let you think about this, I would," Shine said. "But there will be no time later, Winter. Salem won't limit her machinations to just doing this. It's just the set-up."

"I suggest you get back inside," Winter said.

"Don't do something you'll regret for the rest of your life," Shine said. "Don't try to win by doing the same things Salem would do. Is it worth it? What are we fighting for, if not humanity? And what is humanity, if we lose ours while fighting for it? There will be nothing left worth having if we sacrifice every consideration except victory."

"Enough," Winter said. "I said to get back inside. You're not authorized to help here."

"Winter..." Shine said slowly, "what about her life? Do I not have a responsibility to do what is right?"

Winter held her sword up. "Is that a threat?"

"I really, really don't want it to be," Shine said. "But if I do nothing, then I allowed this to happen in front of me. Am I not guilty then?"

A glyph appeared under her and suddenly slammed her into the ground, which hurt a lot...but not as much as normal, even so... The aura thing seemed to be working.

Winter walked up to her. "While I can respect your devotion to do the right thing, I'm afraid I can't allow you to interfere in this directly."

The gravity glyph held Shine down...and even her powers were hard to use under this much pressure.

"You're better than this, Winter," she strained. "I know you."

"You don't know me!" Winter spoke more sharply than she'd have expected herself to. "You're lucky I'm not formally arresting you."

Penny joined them at that auspicious moment.

"I'm here and ready to assist," she said.

"Penny, we need to restrain Miss Likstar for now," Winter said. "Until this is over."

"Yes..." Penny saluted, though she seemed hesitant. "Sorry, Miss Likstar." She plucked Shine off the ground.

"Penny!" Shine said. "Don't do this."

"I must," Penny said.

"You'll have to tie her to the wall," Winter said, not as if she was happy with what she was saying, "or she'll get away."

This was about the only effective way to keep Shine in a room... Dang it, Winter was too smart.

Penny flew Shine inside to one of the offices, while Shine struggled to break free...but of course she wasn't effective.

"I'd rather not have to hurt you." Penny's swords swirled behind her.

Shine stopped struggling.

Penny pulled some cuffs out of a cabinet for such things; this must have been one of the officer's meeting rooms.

She then hooked Shine to the heating pipes in the room.

"I'll come get you after it's over," she promised, remorsefully. "Sorry."

"Penny," Shine said oddly, "I don't fully understand how you're possible...but even as you are, can't you make a choice? Is Fria's life really worth nothing?"

"I..." Penny hesitated.

"You died before," Shine said. "Was it worth it?"

Penny stared at her.

Then she flew away.

Shine wasn't sure how to interpret that, but she wished she had a scroll... Of course Penny had thought to hook both her hands on the pipe so she couldn't pull her sword out.

* * *

https://youtu.be/07SGW8zRYbY

[AMV by Apotheosis, to "Save Me".]

About an hour passed of everyone continuing to do their jobs.

Finally, team RWBY was called back to Ironwood's office, with the news that he'd found and captured Watts, who'd gone straight to Amity Tower, as it turned out.

Wally, in this time, hadn't heard from Shine, and, thinking she might be in Ironwood's office, after what she said, found his way back up to Atlas with them.

They let him come, while Team JNPR stayed below.

They got a message from Qrow saying he, Robyn, and Clover had captured Tyrian and were flying him to Atlas now.

It might have been a bad sign that Ironwood was sitting in the dark in his office, and when he turned around, he didn't even acknowledge that Wally, someone without clearance, had come in. He didn't even seem to see him.

Instead he just put a glass chess piece on his desk in front of them.

"We have made a critical error," he said, in a voice that sounded worse than Batman's after a long day.

Wally's sense of danger went into high alert, and so far this wasn't even about him.

Ironwood continued in the same tone. "The Black Queen was the symbol Salem showed us before we lost everything. Her way of telling us that she was inside, that it was too late."

Team RWBY just stood there, transfixed.

"We stopped Watts. We stopped Callows. But someone was here," Ironwood went on, more upset now. "They put this in my office to tell me that--What if Mantle was just a distraction? What if it was just to draw us away from the academy, to--to...?"

"Sir," Weiss interrupted, unable to stand it, "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?" Ironwood interrupted her in turn. "How do we know they didn't want us to bring people into Atlas by the thousands?!"

At this point, Wally started really wishing Shine was there--where was she anyway?

But this?... He wanted to say something, but he felt like only a reasonable counter argument would help right now...and even that might not do it, and he didn't have a clue how to predict what Salem wanted. He stopped bad guys, he didn't analyze them! That was Shine's thing... In fact, Ironwood was kind of scaring him. What if he was right? Who knew what that crazy witch could do?

Vine spoke somberly. "In trying to save everyone, we left ourselves most vulnerable."

That didn't sound quite right...did it?

"Salem has been one step ahead of us this entire time!" Ironwood slammed his fist into his desk, knocking the chess piece askew.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at it. "It's...glass... Black glass. This was Cinder."

"She's alive?" Yang said. "And she's here?"

"Chalk one up for Shine," Wally said in a low voice. She was right...Cinder survived...crap.

[Yep, my thoughts exactly.]

"If Cinder's here," Ironwood said, "then for all we know Hazel's here too."

[When did he hear about him? I have no memory of this.]

"Sir--" Blake stepped forward. "--this isn't over yet. We're with you."

That was a mistake.

Ironwood suddenly straightened, looking grim.

"Are you with me?" he said in a tight voice.

Uh oh... Wally thought. Was he the only one finding this guy totally scary right now? Nope, judging by the girl's faces, they were too.

"Sir?" Vine said oddly.

Blake backed up uneasily.

"How did Robyn know about the Global Communications Project?" Ironwood asked.

"Huh?" Marrow shot them a surprised look.

Wally had no clue what they were talking about for a second, then he remembered what Yang had let slip earlier.

She cast him a look right then, like "did you fink on me?"

He shook his head.

So Ironwood had just put it together. Not good.

"We told her," Yang said, after a moment of deliberation, "the night of the ambush."

Otherwise known as yesterday. [Seriously, this all fell apart so fast.]

"You did what?" Elm cried.

"We were trying to help," Blake said.

"By going behind our backs?!" Marrow cried.

Harriet came over. "Wait, does that mean you let her escape?" she said angrily.

"Robyn is on our side." Yang didn't know when to quit. "She always has been!"

"We didn't know that for sure," Ironwood said sternly.

"None of this matters now!" Weiss cried...though she really might have been more surprised by her teammates' lack of confidentiality.

"Loyalty always matters!" Ironwood finally went to yelling.

Wally and the girls, and even Marrow, flinched.

But before anyone could really react, something even worse happened: A Seer burst out of the briefcase left on the desk, taken from Watts. 

Wally didn't recognize the big octopus-like thing, since he'd skipped so much of the last Volume, but it was ugly enough to freak him out anyway.

"Uhh!" He jumped back.

Everyone tensed up, but the worst was yet to come.

Suddenly, a sleek but somehow chilling voice came out of the Seer. It was Salem's.

"General Ironwood..." she crooned slowly.

Ironwood had his gun up, but, for some danged reason, he didn't shoot it!

The Seer's tentacles slowly shriveled up like a dead spider, and its globe head cracked. It fell to the floor.

No one touched it.

Black smoke began to billow out of it and take shape, with Salem's face at the top.

Wally had seen a lot of fricked up things, but this might just go on his top 5.

While this was happening, the voice went on. "The brave Huntsmen and Huntresses bested Arthur Watts... Congratulations."

Wally had a feeling that it wasn't that hard to best Watts...but what the heck was going on here?

"We stopped Tyrian too," Ruby began bravely. "And we'll stop Cinder and anyone else you try to send here."

"Dear girl," Salem said condescendingly, "their goal was never victory. It was merely to set the stage."

Wally thought that was probably a trick sentence...but for what? He really needed Shine here.

And he'd have hate to admit it, but actually he was pretty terrified right now and would have found her presence comforting... That wasn't the most macho thing to think, but Salem was just a little too freaky for him to care. [Relatable. Hey, men like to feel safe too.]

"For what?" Ironwood demanded...which of course was the most obvious question she wanted to hear.

"For me," Salem said.

Wally thought, That's kind of an underwhelming answer if you think about it. Like, we already knew that...

Salem started moving toward Ironwood.

Right...she was scary.

"Time isn't on your side, James. It's always been on mine."

Wally wanted to say "And it hasn't treated you too well," but he felt frozen... What was this? He never got like this at home.

"The people of Atlas have suffered enough." Salem was still creeping closer to Ironwood. "Surrender the Lamp and the Staff to me, and they needn't suffer any further."

"That's..." Ironwood had to pause as if to swallow. "...not going to happen."

Salem leaned in. "Simply accept the futility of your situation, and this can all be over."

She made it almost hypnotic, the way she said that.

Wally felt like this was a bad dream that he couldn't make himself wake up from. The others must have felt that way too.

Except...

"We've seen what you're capable of," Ruby spoke up. "The Lamp showed us. It showed us everything."

Why?! Wally wanted to yell at her. Why are you pushing that button with the scary Grimm lady?!

"We've seen that you can't be killed," Ruby went on. "But we've also seen you fail. We don't have to kill you to stop you. And we will stop you."

Kid had spunk, Wally had to admit...but Salem hated spunk.

Salem came to hover in front of Ruby.

Wally wondered why Ruby didn't just laser beam her right then with her eyes.

"Your mother--" Salem looked down at her. "--said those words to me."

[No cap, when we were watching this for review, my phone did one of those amber alert noises. It seemed like part of the soundtrack almost when put next to this scene. Made it ever freakier.]

https://youtu.be/lz7qh_SUJkk

"My...mom?" Ruby said oddly.

Wally thought it was common knowledge that Summer Rose got killed by Salem. At least Shine had said it must have been when they discussed the story. Had Ruby not guessed that?

[Good question.]

"She was wrong too," Salem said.

Tears came to Ruby's eyes.

She gasped like she'd been punched.

"But...no... You..." she said really fast.

Then she fell to the floor like she'd gotten dizzy.

Yang knelt down next to her... She didn't seem that bothered. Maybe she'd guessed this already.

That did it for Wally.

"Hey, spooky lady," he said, getting in front of the girls, "what's your deal, huh? You think it's funny picking on a little kid like that?"

Salem regarded him with utter contempt. "And who are you?"

"None of your dang business." Wally wasn't about to tell her. "But you're one sick psychopath, you know that? What, didn't you have kids once? You're okay with just traumatizing the crap out of them now?"

He shouldn't have pressed that button.

"What?" Marrow said at that last part.

Ironwood didn't know that either, and he shot Wally a look of horror.

Salem's eyes flashed red. "What did you just say?" Her voice turned into a hard growl almost.

Oops...

"Uh..." Wally began.

The smoke got thicker in the room.

"I'll kill you!" Salem said, in a terrible voice. "What's your name, boy?"

"Don't tell her!" Weiss squeaked at the others.

"Never mind. I'll know soon enough," Salem said. "Enjoy your final hours."

She vanished into smoke, and the red glow faded out last.

Silence.

"Shouldn't have said that," Marrow finally broke it.

"Uh...well...oops..." Wally said, shrugging.

"Ruby, are you okay?" Weiss asked.

"Uh...yeah." Ruby had been a little jolted out of it by Wally's outburst. "I just... She...but..."

"It's fine." Yang helped her up.

"That's Salem!?" Marrow returned to the real problem. "That's who we're up against?"

"Uh, she's not that tall in real life, if it helps," Wally said shakily.

It didn't.

"And she's apparently on her way," Harriet said.

Oh, was that what it meant?

The Ace Ops began to say that they should have gotten alerts from outposts located along the coast...but then Vine said they were offline... Watts must have shut them down.

"Or they've already been destroyed," Ironwood said in a dead voice.

Wally didn't pay attention to a lot of what was said next. He was looking out the window.

Shine...where are you?  He thought. How could she miss something this important?

But next thing he knew, Ironwood was saying he wanted the Lamp back.

"But you said we could keep it..." Ruby sputtered.

"That was before you lied to me about the Lamp, before you lied to us about Robyn, and before Salem was right on our doorstep. Before Mantle was nearly destroyed! And myself and my army were left exhausted!"

This was not good.

Wally realized he should probably get ready to run.

"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," Ironwood said, "always out of reach of whatever Salem may try to send our way."

That sounded like a bad idea to Wally.

"But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone," Blake protested. "You'll be leaving Mantle to die."

"But we have hope to reunite the world," Ruby added. "If we launch the tower, we can all work together again! We could call for help, if we could hold out long enough--"

"Sometimes doing the right thing means making tough decisions," Ironwood said.

Not good at all, Wally thought.

"Hey, guys," he said, "don't you think there's a compromise we could have here? If we put our heads together--"

"I don't recall asking your opinion." Ironwood looked at him. "What are you even doing in here?"

Oops again.

The girls all began saying they should stand their ground, while the Ace Ops said that trying to win one fight wouldn't change anything...

Wally actually couldn't follow their logic anymore--neither side was making sense to him. There had to be a way... Didn't they know anybody who could help? Glynda...but she didn't have ships...

They couldn't portal this many people either...

And did they have time to call for the reinforcements that they'd asked for? Wouldn't they be helped if they did?

He thought he should say this, but before he could, things took a sharp turn for the worse.

"We are saving who we can," Ironwood said, his eyes dead. "And you're standing in our way."

What?

Jaune called Ruby right at that unfortunate moment.

Wally's thought? That something about Ironwood was making him think that even suggesting his and Shine's solution wouldn't go over well... He'd just think they went behind his back.

They didn't, really--the back-up was just a fail safe. They hadn't told them anything special about what was going on...but he was going to take it that way, wasn't he?

And then Ruby jumped on the desk and yelled Ironwood's plan at Jaune before she got cut off.

Ironwood said that all of them were under arrest.

"We won't just let you take us," Ruby said.

The Ace Ops looked ready to fight.

"I know." Ironwood glanced at them.

[You know, Ren later said that they lost that fight because of Clover death throwing them off, but Clover hadn't died yet, to their knowledge, at this point in the show, so as usual, it was the writers being lazy and not checking their own content to be sure it made sense.]

Wally snapped out of his funk of watching this unfold in silent panic.

This was no time to wonder what plan to use. He couldn't let the kids get arrested--they were the main characters!

Well, sort of... Right, this was real. It wasn't a show...

But this wasn't right--they weren't doing anything illegal.

"Hey, guys--" he said.

"Are you with them or not?" Harriet asked him, interrupting. "Just say no and spare yourself getting arrested, punk."

"Can I be neutral?" Wally asked.

"No," Vine said.

"Then in that case--" Wally suddenly yanked the hammer out of Elm's grasp before she could see him coming. "--I think I'm just going to have to pass."

He tossed the hammer at the window, and it shattered it.

Cold air rushed in.

"Hey, you punk!" Elm swung at him, and he dashed out of the way.

"Kid, use your dumb Semblance!" he said to Ruby. "Get Ice Princess. I got Blondie and Cat Ears."

"Excuse me?" Blake said.

Harriet dashed up and knocked both of them down.

"You're fast, jackass, but you're not as fast as me," she said.

Wally had never used his full speed in front of her, since Shine had said not to show off. 

He smiled kind of smugly at Harriet.

She frowned. "What?"

She was shoved back before she could even blink.

"What the--?" Marrow began before Wally knocked him into the wall, ducked Vine's arms, grabbed them, and tied them around Elm and Harriet before they could get up.

Ironwood turned to shoot at him, and he dodged that too, then yanked the gun out of his hand and threw it across the room.

"How in the h---?!" Harriet cried.

"Go!" Wally yelled at Ruby.

She and Weiss and ran out the door.

Yang and Blake ran faster. Wally followed them, shut the door, and shoved Ironwood into the room before he could move, then snatched one of the drapes off a window and looped it around the handle to keep the door shut longer.

Grabbing the two other girls, he ran for it.

At least they were light.

He dashed past Ruby in no time and had to wait for her to catch up.

"Harriet's coming," Weiss cried.

"That didn't take long." Yang lifted her arms in combat stance.

"Are you nuts, kid? Get going," Wally said. "Harriet isn't that fast. We can outrun her. You can't take those guys."

"The rest are going to be right behind her," Weiss said.

"All the more reason to hurry the heck up," Wally said. "Come on, we can't waste time fighting them--they're the military."

He grabbed Blake by her jacket and ran forward again.

"I hate this!" Blake didn't like the G-force.

Ruby followed again, bringing her sister and Weiss.

"I just wish I knew where Shine was," Wally said, when he paused to let them catch up again.

Some voice in his head said, "Check the office around the corner."

He paused. "Huh..."

"What?" Weiss said.

"Uh...you kids run and get on one of the planes, all right?" Wally said.

"They won't let us--" Weiss began.

"We'll figure it out. We can't stay here!" Ruby spoke up. 

"What about you?" Blake asked Wally.

"I have to find Shine first. We'll be right behind you," Wally said.

"Okay..." Blake said.

"Who cares what they do? We have to run." Yang shoved her and Ruby ahead.

They took off.

"But he just saved us," Blake pointed out. "Aren't you worried about him?"

"I figure that guy can take care of himself," Yang brushed it off. "You saw how fast he was? Harriet can't touch that. We have to get back to Mantle."

Although, where did they really have to run?

[And this make so much more sense than them fighting the freaking Ace Ops and winning. That was so stupid.]