[Theme video to "Standing in the Storm", AMV made by EmoRoseAWBYStory]

Oscar and Shine were stuck waiting under Atlas for at least 2 hours.

It took the others that long to avoid Atlas patrols enough to circle around to find them, even with Oscar calling them on his scroll.

One kindly Faunus man gave them some soup while they were waiting.

Shine got less sleepy after she'd sat for a while and kept singing songs. She took this chance to explain to Oscar that the songs actually recharged her power.

"Like Flynt from team FNKI?" Oscar said.

"Sure, like that," Shine smiled.

"Okay, cool. Does the kind of song matter?" Oscar asked.

"Yes," Shine said. "Praise songs always are better. But for me, some Skillet tends to to do the trick."

Apparently the more rock-style stuff she was singing was from this band called Skillet. Oscar had never heard of it.

Still, it was cool, kind of like the music Ruby listened to--not that he'd ever overheard her playing it or anything like that...on purpose. [Hmm.]

"I see the clouds around me start to darken

Like searchin' eyes of serpents always watchin'
Tell me I'm still breathin' 
Tell me there's still feelin'
Resistance makes me stronger
It makes me stronger. Time for me to be defiant
'Cause I won't be silenced
When I suffer.
Slingin' shots to Goliath
Gonna call down fire
In rain and thunder."

Apparently the people in the trench were a bit hard up for entertainment, because Shine drew a small knot of them who hadn't heard music in a long time.

Then a couple of them began starting up with Remnant songs. [Time to Say Goodbye.]

https://youtu.be/E2aw1XI9FUA

For some reason, Shine knew the song and joined in. [As an aside, the older theme songs were so much better.]

Oscar noted an odd difference in the ones Shine knew and the ones the people of his world knew. Hers always has a note of hope and endurance in them, while the native ones, as it were, tended to kind of leave that open ended and uncertain.

Makes me wonder where our minds are, he thought.

"Indeed, Oscar," Ozpin agreed.

Oscar flinched.

Apparently, he was back for good.

Shine glanced over at him.

"Hello, Ozma," she said.

"Every time she says that it reminds me of Salem," Ozpin internally cringed. "Tell her to just use Ozpin."

"I heard that." Shine hugged her sides. "It's so cold down here... Anyways, fine, Ozpin it is. I just like to call people by their real name. Still, I could see why that might be triggering."

"At this stage, Miss Likstar, I no longer care much for names being real or not," Ozpin said.

"Can I ask, how do you hear him?" Oscar asked Shine. "No one else can."

Shine rubbed her arms some more. "One of my gifts has always been to discern between...well, entities, if you will. I can tell when people feel things, usually. I can tell where there's magic, where there's whatever you could call what we have. I use the term Insight because it's a little easier for people to understand than the old word for it, but it's more than that. It's just...knowing. I can't explain it. Something inside me tells me which it is. I can hear things that don't have a voice. At least not a voice that you'd hear with your ears. So I can hear Ozpin when he's...less present, the same way. I'm not sure I hear his exact words, or if it's just an impression of what he says that my brain translates into words. Clearly it's close enough, however. I can hear you when he's on also."

"Normally, I'd think that would be scary," Oscar said thoughtfully. "But it's kind of a relief to know someone around here can tell us apart. In case..."

"I have no intention of forcing you to do things anymore," Ozpin said.

"I'll hold you to that, as well as Oscar will," Shine spoke.

"If I can't use magic," Oscar said, "how am I going to fight? I don't have a Semblance yet."

"You could always learn our way," Shine said. "But for now, don't worry about it. We're here to protect you until you figure this out. And remember, there is no shame in not being able to fight dirty. Being weak in this way can be a type of strength, and you'll see that soon enough. Trust me."

Funny, Shine wasn't speaking in the most gentle tone, as she usually didn't, but she was still reassuring, at least to Oscar.

It was still strange for him, being treated like he was of principal concern by anyone, but he was starting to get more used to it. He was too awkward to know how to express this to her, however, but he was pretty sure he'd have lost it after what had happened in the last couple days if he hadn't had some kind of hope and outlet in her and Wally, and of course Pyrrha had also been kind.

He shivered.

"Here." Shine motioned him over.

He moved closer and leaned on her shoulder like he was a little kid--well, compared to her, he kind of was pretty little; she was tall.

Shine was silent for a while, glancing up at the sky, looking for the others. Her eyes gleamed gold. "Well, it won't be too long now..."

She privately wondered how they were doing. Was Fria okay? 

They pulled up about 10 minutes later, without her.

"Hey." Ruby waved them on.

Oscar got up, and they hurried on board.

"You guys okay?" Wally asked. "You scared the crap out of me just jumping out of the plane like that. Where did you go?"

"Mid air," Shine said.

Wally stared at her.

"But aren't you...scared of heights?" he said.

Oscar turned to give Shine a look of amazement again at this. So it was that bad?

"Yeah...it was good I couldn't think about it," she said.

Ruby shot Shine a look.

"I hate to admit it...but that was pretty gutsy," Blake said reluctantly.

"Where's team JNPR?" Shine asked.

"Pyrrha didn't want to, but we made them wait at the new shelter we're hiding out in," Wally said. "We found some of Robyn's Huntresses while you were gone. They said they'd let us crash with them since we did Robyn a solid. I guess that did work out for something."

"Small blessings," Shine said. 

"The Maiden is with them," Weiss spoke up. "Jaune boosted her Aura, and she's alive...but she's not as stable as she was before, from what we can tell. We really need a doctor. And a better hiding out place. And a plan."

"Now that we have Oscar, at least we should be able to come up with another strategy," Ruby said cheerfully.

"But where is Qrow?" Shine said.

Wally rubbed his head. "Qrow and Robyn were hunting Tyrian. We heard that they caught them, along with Clover--I mean, he was there, not that they caught him. But since then we haven't heard from them. They were supposed to take him back to Atlas."

"It's weird that we haven't heard from him," Ruby said. "Uncle Qrow would check on us by now."

"And we're all fugitives," Weiss said. 

"So maybe he was...caught?" Blake said hesitantly.

"Even if you were fugitives," Shine said, "Qrow wasn't there when you did that, or called Jaune, right? From what I heard."

"No." Yang frowned.

"So technically he hasn't done anything illegal yet," Shine said. "Would James immediately assume he would, or hear him out? He has been working with him much longer than you have."

"Uh...about that," Oscar said, "I kind of got...shot...off a cliff...by James...so..."

"Wait, what?" Shine turned to look at him sharply. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"I honestly was too worried about falling to think about what happened before it," Oscar said.

"That snake!" Shine was livid. "He shot you? A kid?!"

"He shot Ozpin," Oscar said. "And me...by default."

"Wait, Ozpin talked to him?" Yang said warily.

"No, no, but he still figures he's in here." Oscar decided that they were too mad at Ozpin for him to mention that he'd returned yet.

"Back off, Yang." Shine put a hand on Oscar's shoulder. "He's been yelled at enough today. And he almost fell to his death. This was your guys' decision anyway, he's just been roped into it."

"No one made him go talk to the General of Bad Ideas," Yang said.

"At least someone tried communication first," Shine shot back.

"It's fine, Miss Likstar," Oscar said. "It was a bad idea. And none of my ideas have worked... I failed."

Despite her words earlier, facing his actual team, he still felt guilty for it.

Ruby looked sympathetic. "You're safe. That's all that matters," she said.

"'Sides is not like anyone else is doing better," Wally said helpfully. "So you're really not failing more than them."

The girls all shot him dirty looks.

"More importantly," Shine spoke up more staunchly, "at least you tried to do what was right. Like I said before, you can't control how people respond to it. Right is right, whether or not people approve it, remember that. All of you."

"Oh, great, thanks for the pep talk," Yang said crossly. "Because that helps so much right now. We're all doomed if we don't stop Ironwood. So unless you want to portal him here right now so I can punch him, maybe save the speeches."

"Wait, can you do that?" Ruby asked, hopefully.

"I can, but I won't," Shine said.

"Why not?" Blake and Weiss both asked.

"Because this is beyond our jurisdiction," Shine said.

"It is?" Wally said.

"Yes, dethroning Ironwood is up to all of you," Shine said. "I'm happy to help, but doing it that easily would be too suspicious. Yes, I could theoretically drop him into the middle of the ocean or the tundra and solve all of this. But it solves nothing in the big picture. Only you can do that. We don't strike people down with lightning either, in case you were wondering. I can get you to him, if you like (I advise against that at this time, however). But I will not capture him for you."

"Wait, what are our rules again?" Wally said. "Fight is okay, but capture isn't?"

"Anything that can alter too much by just our interference alone is too much," Shine said. "Killing, seriously injuring someone, capturing them, and forcing them to do as we wish by threats and violence--except on a very personal scale--is all too much."

"Says who? The Council of Stupid and Ridiculous Laws?" Yang said.

"That would be the one that decides what acceptable behavior towards your team is," Shine shot back. "And for someone who hasn't wanted us around, you sure do change your tune fast when it's convenient for you, I notice."

Yang glared and made a fist. "Sounds like you're just refusing out of spite, to me."

"Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't do that," Shine said, so easily that Oscar was sure it was true.

"Okay, if she says they can't, they can't," he said quickly. "They have their reasons, same as we do. Let's just work with what we can do. Find a way around it. You can still take us anywhere, right?"

"Yes," Shine said.

"And we still have that backup plan," Oscar said.

"What backup plan?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"But it won't help us yet," Oscar said. "That would just be bringing more trespassers here. So when can we use it?"

"My advice? Wait till we need backup," Shine said. "Right now, you need to be invisible. More people would only make that harder--but at some point, you'll have to take action again or just surrender. Better to wait till then."

"Excuse me, what are you talking about?" Ruby asked.

They all looked at her.

"I guess we should fill them in," Wally said.

"Better to just wait till we have the whole team, then," Shine said

* * *

"You guys are all right!" Pyrrha exclaimed as soon as she saw them. She rushed up and hugged Oscar, Shine, and Wally all at once.

Pyrrha was a lot stronger than she looked, and that actually kind of hurt, but they didn't really care. At least someone was happy to see them.

"Hey, Oscar." Jaune was glad also.

"Oscar!" Nora came up--and actually hugged him gently instead of tackling him.

For some reason that made Oscar more sad than anything else so far, like he could tell Nora must be pretty upset for her not to be bouncing around like she usually did.

Penny was waiting there with Fria.

"The Happy Huntresses' medics took a look at her too," she said. "But she's just...weak. She used so much magic before. Even a little more probably would have been the end, but I guess you stopped it in time, Mr. West."

"Nice." Shine high-fived him.

To her surprise, he didn't return it that enthusiastically. In fact, now that she looked at him, he didn't look like his usual upbeat self.

"I'm glad something worked..." he said. "I mean, after Salem showed up like that, I kind of thought our number might be up with Cinder too."

"And there's that." Yang rolled her eyes. "Of course she's back."

"And she'll be looking for her." Ruby glanced at Fria. "We can't protect her forever."

"You don't have forever," Penny said. "I'm not a doctor, but according to my scanner and information banks on medicine...we might have a day at most if she stays this stable... If not..."

"You mean her vitals are dropping?" Weiss said.

"Slowly, but yes," Penny said.

[As a side, why the heck didn't Penny have medical abilities in the show? That makes perfect sense--she can scan everything else. I'm adding it here because duh.]

"So who will get the powers?" Blake asked. "One of us...or Winter?"

Silence.

"It doesn't matter,"  Ruby said finally, "as long as we do this the right way. Pyrrha was...telling us what you guys did."

"I hope that's all right," Pyrrha spoke up. "Since we're hiding her, I thought they should know."

"You're right," Shine said. "We should have said it before we took her, but there was no time. Of course they should know."

"You could have told us all before." Yang was mad.

"Don't blame them," Weiss spoke up, surprisingly. "I wanted to spare Winter any embarrassment about it, so I asked them not to mention this to you all. But now it won't matter--we have to keep Fria away from them."

Yang couldn't exactly keep railing against them now, but she wasn't happy even so.

"I get it." Ruby at least was rational. "I suppose I'd probably have not wanted to talk about it either. Especially now that we know...what those machines did."

Pyrrha looked down.

"I still can't believe Atlas invented machines like that," Blake said.

Penny looked up. "Originally it wasn't meant for that."

"Wait, you did know about this?" Weiss said.

"Of course she does," Shine said. "Where do you think Ironwood got the technology to put a soul into someone else from?"

They all stared at Penny.

"Not her specifically, but her father," Shine said.

"He did tell us already that Ironwood showed interest it his work," Ren recalled. "But I never would have thought it was connected to the Maiden."

"Me neither," Penny said. "Until now."

"To be fair, it was my sister who actually thought of it," Shine said. "Once she knew about Penny and the machine, she put it together."

"Which one?" Wally asked.

"Lu," Shine said. "She's pretty smart about this weird, magic, science stuff."

"Geez, I'll have to give her props for that next time I see her," Wally said.

"I can just tell her when I write home again," Shine said.

"I'd like to know how your sister also knows our secrets," Yang said.

"The same way I do, Yang," Shine said. "And also, leave it alone." She shot her a warning look.

Yang remembered and shut up, to the others' surprise.

"I'm still coming to terms with what Pyrrha was asked to do," Ren said. "It seems Ironwood was involved in shady things long before now."

"And you wonder why we never trusted him," Shine said.

"You don't have to gloat," Blake said.

"Who was gloating?" Shine shrugged.

"It does look kind of obvious in hindsight..." Weiss said.

"I should have shared all this from the start." Pyrrha was upset. "You would have known better than to trust him then. But I had hope that perhaps he had changed his mind--or he would, or we could do this without him getting angry, if Winter just... And I suppose I also wanted to spare myself further humiliation." She rubbed her arm. "I thought you all would be disappointed if you knew what I did. I mean, I thought you did know some of it, but once I found out that you didn't, I didn't try to correct it."

"That's not entirely true," Oscar said. "You admitted it to me."

"And me," Jaune said.

"And me and Winter," Weiss said. "I mean, this isn't your fault, Pyrrha. We all tried to get along with Ironwood, and knowing the past probably wouldn't have made much of a difference."

"It might have." Yang folded her arms.

"Yang," Ruby said reproachfully.

"What? I'm just saying, maybe she's got a point--she held out on us about just how bad it was in Beacon," Yang said. "I'm trying to understand how Uncle Qrow even went along with that. There was so much he didn't tell us about it, and Ozpin definitely didn't. Forcing someone's soul into someone else's body? That's worse than the bird thing and the Maiden thing originally were. And those were bad enough."

"I really don't see why the bird thing is bad," Wally mused.

"Well, it was voluntary," Shine said. "Probably the Maiden thing was too, before. But it's bad because it painted a target on their backs. Salem goes after everyone who Ozpin gives magic to as a way to spite him. Something he should have realized ages ago but has only realized once this happened several times."

Oscar felt Ozpin cringe and say, "I do regret that aspect of it...but I can't take it back."

Oscar wished they could take it back--not that he wanted more magic after earlier, but it seemed unfair to the others.

"I'm just saying," Yang said, "if we needed proof that Ironwood was out of control even before now, that would have been it. Then we wouldn't have bothered sharing the rest of the truth with him."

"I don't see how that would have changed it," Shine said. "That had nothing to do with him being rational and everything to do with you being fair to your professed ally. Might as well not have used his school, his weapons, and his authority if you weren't going to give him the full status as teammate that you have. You used him just as much as he used you."

Silence.

"You really think that?" Oscar said, not as if he was disagreeing, more like it was a terrible realization.

"Yes," Shine said.

Wally winced. "I mean...I think they were desperate."

"Maybe. Maybe I understand that," Shine said. "But it did not make it right."

"You could have said something," Yang said.

"Excuse me?" Shine was sharp. "I think I did say something. I think Oscar did too. Didn't matter. Do you think Pyrrha's vote would have had any more weight? You all made up your minds before even getting here, and you know it."

Ruby looked guilty.

"That's not the point--" Yang began.

"Enough," Jaune said. "Shine's probably right about that, but even if she's wrong, it's useless to argue about it now. It's not Pyrrha's fault either. We could have asked. It's on all of us. And...maybe Qrow a little bit."

"If it helps, he did try to dissuade Winter once," Shine added. "Though he wouldn't admit it upfront. But I could tell from what he said and how she was acting."

"Great," Yang said sarcastically.

"Okay," Jaune said. "So that didn't even work."

"At least he tried." Pyrrha brightened. "That's something. But then, it didn't do any good." She slumped again. "This is so frustrating."

"Welcome to my world," Ozpin muttered.

You don't get to say that, Oscar shot back.

"Are we sure it didn't do any good?" Penny said. "I was with Winter a few hours ago when this happened. She hesitated."

"Did she?" Weiss said hopefully.

"We were talking about it." Penny put her hands together. "And I was thinking about what you said, Miss Likstar."

Everyone looked at Shine oddly.

"About...what happened to me," Penny said. "I couldn't get it out of my head. Was it worth it? And I saw it that way, finally. And I said that to Winter, that we're doing the same thing as Salem."

"Can we say that's fair?" Ren interrupted. "We're trying to save the world. She's trying to destroy it."

"Ends do not justify the means, Ren," Shine said.

"Sometimes they do," Ren said.

"Not in cases like murder," Shine said.

Pyrrha shuddered as she remembered what that had felt like again.

"I'm not that good at reading people," Penny admitted, "but I've known Winter for some time now, and I think I know when she is sure. And she was not sure. We were talking about whether to not go through with it when Cinder interrupted us...and then, she kind of just let us go there at the end. So I think, in her way, she was trying to acknowledge it wasn't right."

"I concur," Shine said. "Though if she hadn't been so beat up, she might not have allowed herself to think it would be excusable. Things worked out weirdly, that's for sure."

"So our big consolation is that Winter maybe wasn't going to go through with this?" Yang threw her hands up. "Yay, that really helps."

"It's something," Weiss said sharply.

"The thing is, what do we do now? We have a defenseless old lady, like for real now," Yang said, "who some crazy killer is looking for. Qrow is missing or arrested. Mantle is getting hit hard... Could this get any worse?"

"Yes," Shine said. "Don't say that."

"And how could I forget that you two are here, while the adults we actually trusted aren't," Yang added.

"Yang!" Pyrrha was shocked. "Please."

"I trust them," Oscar said. "Shine saved my life earlier."

"Please don't remind me of that." Shine covered her eyes. 

Wally put an arm around her.

"The point is, we have no one else, and we need all the help we can get," Oscar said. "I say we just let them in on whatever our plan is."

No one else argued, and Yang had no choice but to give in, moodily.

"Okay," Ruby said. "So what are we going to do?"

Joanna re-entered at that point to give them the 4-1-1.

"All right, your friend is back now. You ready to work?"

Real sensitive, Shine thought.

Joanna sighed like maybe she knew she wasn't helping, but then she went on. "The largest Grimm we've ever seen is hovering over the tundra, and out there is a city full of people with no heat and, from what you've told us, no more military protection. And while we're happy to give you guys a place to lie low for a while, it's time to get those people some help."

"How?" Ren sounded really stressed, they noticed. "Ironwood is stopping all evacuations to Atlas, and we can't get them out of the city with Salem's forces surrounding us."

"The crater," Joanna said. "Beneath Atlas. It's not safe, but it's warm, and with everyone in one place we can do a better job protecting them. Mai can send you where you're needed most. We've got to get everyone down into that crater before nightfall. In the slums we might have a chance."

[My sister said at this point: "Oh my gosh, Ruby, you can be Crater Face for real!" And that made me wish the show had a callback to that in the script.]

"Of what? Getting boxed in?" Shine said.

"Do you have a better idea?" Joanna asked her.

"Perhaps if I knew all the options available, yes," Shine said. "It would take time to come up with a better plan--"

"We don't have time!" Joanna cut her off and walked away.

"We're never going to sleep again, I just know it." Weiss shook her head. 

Joanna paused to call over her shoulder. "Either you're helping, or you're baggage."

"Hey, lady," Wally called, "these kids have become criminals just to help save your sorry behinds. Try acting a little grateful."

She glared at him.

"We get it, you're stressed," Shine said. "Who wouldn't be? But they're kids. Stop pressuring them to solve your problems or do what you think they should be doing. They have more risk than you do right now going out there. Let them think about it."

"You have an hour," Joanna said, shutting the door.

"An hour?" Pyrrha said. "This isn't the kind of thing we can solve in an hour. We need a better plan than the crater. At most it solves the problem for a few days...which is pushing it, considering the weather and Atlas...and Salem..."

Yang stood up.

"We need to get out there and do what we can for Mantle," she said.

Ruby stood also. "We need to do what we can for everyone. What about Amity? And telling the world about Salem? We can't do this alone. We need help."

Oscar shot Shine and Wally a look.

"We may not need Amity," he said. "We have people here who can help us get messages all over the world."

"Yes," Pyrrha said.

"Right, that part," Wally said. "So here's where we tell them about how we got word in to some of your allies in Haven and Beacon and--"

Shine elbowed him.

"--and they said they'd help," Wally finished instead.

"Really?" Ruby said.

"Wait, did you talk to my parents?" Blake stood up.

"Yes," Shine said. "They said to give you their love, by the way."

"And you did this without telling us?" Yang said.

"We told some of you," Shine shrugged.

Yang glared at Oscar.

"What? They're our allies. Why does it matter?" Oscar said nervously. "The point is, they said they'd help us out."

"That doesn't help us," Ren said. "If they come here like that, sneaking, they'll be treated as trespassers also. We'd need to be able to communicate with them across kingdoms anyway, to work it out. We'd still need Amity, but right now, it's too much of a risk."

"But if it could help," Ruby said. "I mean, Miss Shine and Mr. Wally here, they could let them know to be on standby, and then if we got the tower up, we could coordinate directly with them. It would save us time waiting for them to assemble while we're getting it up."

"Or they could even be ready to take off," Blake said. "And once we got the tower up, we could send them to specific places we needed help by calling them directly."

"You still have Glynda's number, right?" Pyrrha asked the others.

"Sure, though it's been ages since I've used it," Jaune said.

"And I have my dad's," Blake said. "It could work."

"Or it could not work," Yang said. "We could fail, again, and be in the same place as before. Meanwhile these people are suffering. We need to help here."

"I agree," Ren said.

"But if this idea has a better chance of working out for all of them," Nora said, "then isn't it worth a shot?"

[At least that gives her a reason to switch positions between Volumes...show.]

"Yeah," Ruby said. "Salem will move on to the rest of Remnant anyway, soon. We need to warn them!"

Yang looked at her somberly. "Ruby," she said, in a pretty grim tone, "when we came here, we said we'd follow your lead, but things haven't exactly worked out."

Ruby and everyone else looked startled.

Wally saw Shine clench a fist and her eyes got a fire in them. He knew that look.

"I just..." Yang began.

"There are people who need us here right now," Ren said.

"Oh, no you don't." Shine moved over to stand next to Ruby. "Don't you gloss over that."

"Shine--" Ren began.

"No, I'm sorry, that was uncalled for," Shine said. "I don't care how upset you are, Yang, this is your little sister. You do not talk to her that way. You do not blame her for this. You chose to leave your nice house in Patch and join them. You chose to take the Lamp. You chose to come here. You chose to lie to Ironwood, and you chose, might I add, to blab to Robyn. You have more fault here than Ruby does by a long shot. And she followed your lead more than you followed hers."

Yang stared at Shine.

Ruby did also. "Uh..." she began.

"I will not stand here and listen to you blame the 16-year old for what you, the adult, were supposed to do," Shine said. "Who is taking care of who here, anyway? You have reason to be upset, Yang, but this is your family."

She put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Do not let stress make you treat her like your enemy. And she wouldn't have said that to you, for the record. No matter how many bad choices you made."

Oscar wanted to cheer almost. Finally someone stuck up for Ruby.

Yang was struck speechless by this and clenched her fists.

"Now," Shine went on, seeing she had the upper hand, "if you all want to handle this differently, then fine. But you can disagree without making it personal."

"Yeah, exactly," Jaune said. "Why don't we split up? Each group can do what they think is best. We can work together, but separately. Then we won't be divided."

Of course this wasn't really true--in spirit they were still divided...but at least this way maybe they wouldn't fight and get more angry about it.

"All right," Pyrrha rushed to support it. "That's fair. Who wants to do which?"

"I'm with Ruby," Nora said.

"Me too," Blake said.

"I'll go," Penny said. "I can get us clearance, with father's help."

Pietro shook his head. "I don't want you anywhere near that--"

"I'll go," she said firmly.

He sighed. "All right...be careful."

"Then I will too," Weiss said.

Yang frowned.

"So Yang and I will stay here," Ren said.

Oscar swallowed. "I...uh...the thing is, I support the tower idea, but I think if I go back up there, I'm a little too recognizable...and, unlike the rest of you, I'm wanted dead, not...captured...so maybe..."

"Of course you should stay here," Jaune said. "And...I will too. I can keep an eye on Fria...try to give her more time. And I can patrol with you guys, as long as we stay close. Then I can just rush back if she gets worse."

They looked at Pyrrha.

"Uh..." Pyrrha said slowly. "I do feel I'd be more helpful if I went to the tower..."

"Aren't you a fugitive also?" Shine said.

"Actually," Pyrrha said, "no. My name was never listed on the news...I think because I haven't officially been declared alive again yet."

"Then...you're actually the only one who could walk around that base and not raise any red flags," Ruby said. "I mean, people in Atlas love you. You have to come with us."

Pyrrha glanced at Jaune.

"I'm not so sure about that..." Jaune began.

"I'll do it," Pyrrha said suddenly. "I mean, you're right...I can give you an edge. Might as well start using this to my advantage, and who knows how much longer the General will keep it a secret. If I don't act now, it could be too late later."

"Sounds good to me," Penny said.

"What will you two do?" Oscar asked Shine and Wally.

"Someone will have to protect Fria," Shine said. "And I see no other way except to stay here, if you all go out. After all...this was my idea. I should take responsibility for it."

"Sounds fair." Yang was not helping.

"I think I'd rather look for Qrow," Wally said. "Maybe he's not in Atlas yet. Maybe he's lost out there--could have been an attack. Someone has to go look for him, and I'm the fastest. I have a better shot of finding him."

"And if he is on Atlas?" Shine said.

"Then I guess I find a way up there and find him," Wally said. "We can't leave him with Ironwood if he is there."

Then he hissed, "And if our other bird friend is still around, someone's gotta find her."

Shine nodded. "All right, seems like decent plan."

"Okay," Ruby said. "Well, let's go..."

"I have been working on a few toys to help some of you out," Pietro said.

[Here we go. My least favorite part of Volume 8 is coming up...but also the best part, in some ways.]