Winter left the General in the holding cell, with her father there.

"Are you just going to leave me here?" Jacques demanded when he heard Atlas was falling.

"No, we're going to come back for you, after we get everyone else out," Winter said in a clipped tone.

"Oh, Winter, thank you--" Jacques began.

"Oh, don't thank me, it was Weiss' idea," Winter said coldly, walking away.

Hazel heard this.

"You want me to stand guard till you're ready?" He asked.

"I hope it won't matter, but just in case we missed something," Winter nodded.

"I take it you and your old man don't get along too well," Hazel added.

"Stay in your lane," Winter frowned. "But no."

"Well, kin is kin," Hazel shrugged it off.

Winter wasn't one to leave her father to die, despite her relationship with him, but even so, she resented that being just because they were "kin."

"It's just not humane," she said.

"No one has to die today," Hazel said.

Winter couldn't figure him out, so she left.

Hazel stood guard outside the door in case anyone tried to get in.

It was then that he heard Ironwood speaking, and saw the lights flicker outside.

Something was up.

He went back inside just in time to see Ironwood taking his weapon that they'd thoughtlessly left lying next to the cell (figuring they'd just leave it there later) and pointed it at Jacques' cell.

"No!" Hazel said firmly.

Ironwood turned towards him at the last moment and the weapon blasted a huge hole into the wall instead.

It also brought down part of the ceiling.

Ironwood glanced back. Jacques' cell was now open and partially demolished.

He shrugged and walked away.

Jacques, smart enough not to make any sound till then, struggled out of the rubble that had just missed him since he moved.

"I think that big fellow just got murdered," he said. "Well...nothing I can do about it now."

He raced out of the room.

It was several minutes later, while other things were going on, that Wally came racing back into the room to get them while Qrow, Robyn and Marrow were in the ship hanger stopping the Ace Ops from taking the bomb...which didn't work out, since Harriet went mad and took off with it anyway, and they had to chase her.

But Wally didn't know this and thought he had time to get Hazel, Jacques, and Ironwood on that ship and then they could all fly to one of the portals, easy peasey.

Instead he found the wreck with Hazel in it and the other two gone.

He dug Hazel out.

The big guy was still alive--he was too much of a tank for the device to have killed him in one shot, his aura was stronger than that, but it had certainly knocked him out.

"Dude, wake up," Wally slapped him.

Hazel blinked and frowned. "Mad...man...escaped," he muttered.

"Dude, I know, but we gotta get you out of here first," Wally helped him up. He could lift up to 400-500 lbs thanks to his power and training, so Hazel wasn't too much for him to carry...though the guy had to be at least 300 lbs of sheer muscle.

He dragged him back out the hanger--only to find everyone was gone.

"Oh..." he said.

"We're dead," Hazel grunted.

* * *

Meanwhile...Winter was making her way to the vault, hoping to find everyone had left it.

She was satisfied to see no one else was there except Shine.

"You can go now," she said. "Everything is on schedule."

Shine nodded. "I can't portal from in here so close to that thing," she said. "So I'll have to go. But I'm going to wait and make sure I'm not needed first. Call me if something goes wrong and I can go help...I hope I'm good for a few more portals, it's been a few hours so..."

"All right," Winter said. "Just...watch out for any snakes hiding out around here." Pointedly.

Shine nodded and headed for the elevator.

She was only moments before Ironwood, and when she came out of it, he was standing there.

She looked at him in surprise and he caught her by her throat in one hand and flung her into the wall, then he blasted her with the gun.

Shine's enhanced aura protected her from dying, but the impact alone knocked her out.

Ironwood thought she was dead and went into the elevator.

Winter was so busy checking her scroll for updates and wondering why no one was letting her know what was going on that she didn't notice the elevator opened. 

"Did you forget something Shine--" she began before she saw Ironwood pointing the gun at her.

She barely had time to jump out of the way.

* * *

Oscar, Ren, Nora, and Emerald all ended up outside the city limits of Vacuo. In the midst of a sandstorm.

"I thought this was supposed to be the school," Emerald called over the din.

"Maybe something went wrong," Oscar said.

Hadn't Shine said something once about portals being able to be thrown off track?...Or was that a book he'd read?"

"Well Oscar," Ozpin spoke up. "The truth is, with interference, they can be thrown off a bit, but the same general location is still fairly accurate, it's just a walk across the city. Though inside the city walls would have been better because there would have been shelters and less grimm, but we can work with this..."

"Okay, Oz says this is normal," Oscar yelled. "For portals, I guess someone screwed up, but it's okay, we're still pretty close. We just need to figure out where the city is."

They heard growling.

"Uh oh..." Emerald said. Holding out her scroll. "I can't get a signal. And was that a grimm we just heard?"

"Not just one," Ren looked in horror.

Several grimm were already coming through the sand.

* * *

Cinder had left Watts to mess with Atlas technology in the office. 

"You deserve this," she told him.

He was having a ball.

Then she'd taken Neo and decided to use the lamp.

"I don't know how the staff works," she said. "But I want to know how they got Nikos back and what they've been doing."

Of course...Jinn could only answer one question.

"You have to phrase that one way," she said, no longer happy to see them.

"One way..." Cinder thought about it. "Okay...Show me all they've been planning from when Nikos was brought back, including how they did it, up till now."

Jinn sighed. But she began her visions.

However, it didn't quite go the way Cinder thought.

She and Neo expected to see the vault with the staff first...instead they saw something back in...Argus?

"Why are we in Argus?" Cinder said.

"Because this is where Pyrrha Nikos rejoined the team," Jinn said in her monotone. "Right here at this house in Argus."

Neo and Cinder exchanged a weird look.

"But that doesn't make any sense..." Cinder said.

They saw Pyrrha walking into the house door, and began to hear the conversation around it.

"This is just a lot of them blathering on about it, I want to know how it happened!" Cinder said.

Neo pointed at Shine and Wally. Since the kids were giving them the credit.

The scene changed to Pyrrha talking to them about it...

Cinder paid very little attention to what was said about that, her mind was reeling too much.

"But how, you didn't show us how!" She yelled at Jinn.

Jinn wasn't pleased but she answered. "I can't show you that part."

"Why not?" Cinder demanded.

"Because for some reason, I don't have access to it...it's like it's something beyond the gods," Jinn said. "There have been...few times when this has happened, but when it does, there is nothing I can tell you. Clearly it wasn't the staff. If you want to see the rest of their plan up to that point..."

The scene changed.

It caught them up to the current moment just fine..

But at no point was Shine or Wally's input included in that, though they saw them in the scene, when they spoke, it was...like it was on mute. Or like static broke into what they said.

"Why aren't you working?" Cinder demanded.

"I'm trying but something is preventing my power from fully accessing this information," Jinn said. "Only bits and pieces. Take what you can get."

Jinn had some kind of temper it sounded like.

Neo was freaking out as she was listening to this.

Finally Cinder saw up to the doorways, and then it ended.

Neo privately thought this was a waste of the lamp's question.

But she'd caught enough of what happened in the group to know that, in their mind, Pyrrha Nikos was really alive...and she was herself.

She'd stopped paying attention after that point.

Cinder hadn't though.

"All right, fine," she said. "I'll get them to tell me themselves. There's no way it's beyond the gods..." she frowned. "But I guess it'll have to wait. Stupid lamp doesn't even work right. Come on, we're going to go foil them once and for all. Don't fall right? Well, I'll make sure they fall...of course you can get Ruby."

https://youtu.be/2Lvs61cSxlc

[First few seconds of clip is the joke.]

Neo looked up. Ruby? Oh right...Ruby.

She tilted the hat on her head.

They snuck into one of the doors and went through.

Inside it was pretty chaotic, but Cinder just made a fireball blasting several people over the edge, getting everyone's attention.

The girls turned to look at them in horror.

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha were helping herd people to the different doors, since Ren and Nora had gone with Oscar to Vacuo.

"You think this is most of the people yet?" Pyrrha asked.

"Out of thousands?" Jaune said. "I don't know. I can't keep count but--" they saw Cinder.

"Oh no..." he said.

"She's going to kill people!" Pyrrha saw them falling.

"What does this even lead to?" Jaune wondered, looking down.

"I can't imagine, but maybe nowhere?" Pyrrha said. "I don't want to find out! Where's team RWBY?"

They were on another walkway, looking their direction in horror.

"We have to go help them," Jaune said.

They took off.

Cinder came flying overhead.

Neo came running over the catwalk towards Ruby.

"Stop!" Pyrrha yanked her back by her umbrella and over the chasm.

Neo looked down and then up.

Pyrrha lowered her to the walkway she was on.

"Leave them alone," she said firmly.

Neo stared at her.

Then suddenly she pulled out her scroll and typed something on it.

Pyrrha just let her for some reason.

 "Go on," she told Jaune. "I can handle her. Protect the others."

Jaune figured Pyrrha was a match for Neo at least, given her semblance and Neo's reliance on her weapon.

So he ran to back up the other girls.

Better to keep her away from Cinder right?

Neo held up her scroll to Pyrrha.

She'd typed: Did you really get brought back to life?

"Yes," Pyrrha nodded. "I did...you can hear right."

Neo gave her a look of scorn for a second then shook her head and typed out something else, she held it up.

:How?

"My new friends," Pyrrha said. "They have this power from above to do it."

Neo raised an eyebrow then typed out again: For anyone?

"I don't know...they said it depends on the situation," Pyrrha said. "Why do you want to know?"

Neo didn't answer that. Instead she typed out: And where are they now?

"Outside the doors..." Pyrrha said. "What do you want to do to them?"

Neo made some rude gesture at her and then suddenly she shattered.

She'd slipped the umbrella out of Pyrrha's grasp without her seeing it, and now she was running off.

Pyrrha ran after her--realizing now that there wasn't a lot of traction on these walkways.

"Jaune, look out!" She called.

Neo ignored him however and shoved Ruby aside, then motioned at Cinder for a time out.

"Get out of my way!" Cinder said.

Neo began to hold up her scroll.

"We'll talk later!" Cinder said. "Now move."

She blasted at Penny.

They were trying to keep her away from Fria.

Fria looked back at the doors they'd come out from.

"Penny," Pyrrha called. "Get Fria out of here."

Weiss and Ruby both got in Cinder's path, and Weiss summoned something to block her.

Penny took Fria up and flew towards the doors.

"Wait, this is the right one isn't it?" she paused. "We just came out of this one...which one...the color was..." she looked back.

"It's all right dear," Fria said. "I feel like this is the door for me."

"But it's not," Penny said.

Fria lifted up out of her grasp and flew through it.

"No!" Penny started to follow and Cinder blasted her aside.

She fell off the edge, but then righted herself using her rockets and came back.

* * *

Winter had dodged the blast only just barely, using a glyph also, but she still was knocked into the ground by the impact.

"I've chased a lot of shadows over the years," General Ironwood spoke grimly as he came off the elevator. "Always expecting betrayal. But never once did I think it would ever come from you."

Winter pushed herself up, her arms were still sore from the day before, but there was no time for caring now.

Even now his words made her feel ashamed--partially for betraying him--and partially for not seeing this all sooner.

After all, if you expected betrayal that long...could there be a reason people would have to betray you?

"I will do what's best for Atlas," Ironwood wasn't even sure what he was saying anymore, just some attempt to justify this. Really he was just livid. "And I'm going to do whatever it takes to get that staff also."

He paused. "So, consider this my last order: Step aside."

He didn't really want to kill her. But he was going to humiliate her either way.

Winter saw all this with the sharp agony of clarity that comes after a day like the one she'd been having.

And she wished she could tell herself that this would be acceptable.

But she couldn't.

https://youtu.be/dQIkpuvs1DY

[This is Why-- Paramore]

She got to her feet with difficulty, and he let her, waiting.

"I've never wavered in fighting the enemies of this kingdom," she said. Getting her second sword into her other hand. "And I won't start now."

In response, Ironwood attacked. Though with a single tear escaping his eye even so. [Not gonna lie, that kind of hurt.]

The fight went on for a few strokes.

Winter tried to gain some ground by jumping on top of a pillar. [Pause to note Winter could run up walls in her fight with Qrow, but we'll put down her fighting worse here to still being injured.]

Ironwood apparently still wanted to chat while they were fighting, maybe to make her have regrets.

"I've sacrificed everything!" he yelled.

Winter dodged another blast and ran at him at an angle. "No," she said. "You have sacrificed everyone else!"

Maybe she was hoping to snap him out of it, maybe she was just angry, but she went on.

"You closed the borders! You squeezed Mantle until it broke!"

They exchanged a few more blows in silence.

It felt kind of good to finally say what she really thought of these policies.

Of course, General, she thought to herself. I can't only blame you...I was the one who said that we let you make the tough decisions so we didn't have to. How could I have failed to see the naiveté of giving anyone that kind of power over a whole country!? [I got some of the idea for this scene from Crumbling Cube's What Winter Really Thinks of Ironwood video. We tend to have a similar take on these characters, but I recommend their vids also for a better edited version of this fight.]

The General brought the gun down and she caught it with her swords.

It started to charge up, right in her face.

"I've only done what's best for Remnant," he said, desperately almost. "And no one is grateful!"

There it became reproachful and angry again.

Winter managed to shove the gun away, but she was still weak from yesterday, and he was much stronger than her physically speaking.

He brought it back down and pistol whipped her in the face, knocking her over.

Somehow she managed to scramble away before he could kick her down again.

He had to wait for his gun to load, but she was basically spent and they both knew it.

At that inopportune moment, Fria, looking confused, came through the door.

What was she doing?!

"There's trouble this way," she said.

She looked at Ironwood.

Ironwood looked at Winter, then at Fria.

The gun was almost loaded...

"Get back!" Winter yelled at her.

Fria held up her hand as if to stop the blast and the wind picked up.

"What are you doing, James?" she said strangely.

The wind pushed him back a little, but it wouldn't stall him for long.

Winter realized he was thinking that if he killed her now, the power would either go to herself or it would settle on another host...and be lost to them for the time being.

Was it just spite?

She pulled herself to her feet with a last ditch effort and jumped at Fria.

"You have to go!" She said. "Before it's too late."

She pushed her back through the door and then made a glyph in front of it and ducked as the blast went over her head.

Heat still seared her from overhead, but she was alive...for now.

The General lowered the gun, it started loading again. 5 seconds...

* * *

On the other side of the door, Jaune had tried to follow Fria after Penny went back to fight Cinder.

Then she came back through and collapsed.

"Are you okay?" Jaune said.

"There's trouble," Fria said faintly. "But, I don't think I can stop it...not now. Too weak."

"It's okay," Jaune said, taking her hand. "I'll boost your aura."

Fria put her hand up. "No, young man," she said. "Your friends need you more than I do. Let me go."

"What?" Jaune said.

"I may not remember exactly how I got here," Fria said. "But I know, you've all been very kind to me...but you can't protect the powers forever, James. They're a gift. A gift is meant to be shared."

"Huh? I'm not James, I'm Jaune..." Jaune didn't like this.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha called, not that far away. "What's going on?"

Cinder looked toward her and Pyrrha held up her shield, but then Blake attacked her from behind.

Where was Yang?

Yang had been knocked over the edge while Jaune was distracted, and Ruby was crying over it, but he didn't see this from where he was. [Still more emotion than the show gave her.]

Fria took Jaune's hand weakly. "It's time for me to do what I need to do now," she said. "Remember, use it wisely."

"What?" Jaune said.

Fria looked up...and then went still.

Jaune swallowed.

Pyrrha came running over.

"Is she...?" she asked.

"It's over," Jaune stood up. "I really thought she'd make it to Vacuo at least."

Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder. "But at least she didn't get murdered, Jaune," she said. "This was...natural. It's better this way."

"Yeah--look out," Jaune pushed her aside.

Cinder blasted him off the edge.

He grabbed it just in time.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha reached for him.

Cinder blasted her and sent her skidding towards the door, but not all the way in.

Pyrrha got up, then watched as Weiss used a glyph to attack Cinder briefly.

She raced towards Jaune.

One of the weird screaming voids that Cinder used suddenly appeared on the bridge around them and exploded with a sonic blast.

Pyrrha was knocked aside again, and almost passed out from the close proximity.

Her head spun.

Jaune found his grip suddenly was lost on the bridge and he dropped off of it.

Pyrrha, reeling, pushed herself up and crawled to the edge to help him.

"Jaune!" She screamed.

Jaune was falling towards the black abyss.

He looked down.

Pyrrha reached out trying to use her semblance, but before she could get enough of a bead on him, he passed into the blackness like it was smoke.

Then nothing.

Pyrrha gasped.

* * *

Winter waited for death...well, she would have got up if she could have, but she was done.

But then time seemed to stop almost...

A new feeling of power surged inside her.

She saw Fria in her head for a moment.

"What?" she said. "No...why? What's happening. This...wasn't the plan."

"Plan or not," Fria seemed to be fading. "The power should go to people who protect. So I thought of you."

"But, after what I considered...I don't know if I'm the best choice..." Winter replied. "I've been...too much like him."

She could still see the General with her natural eyes, even if time seemed to have frozen for him--or her.

"If you were like him you wouldn't be fighting for us right now," Fria said. "Use it well...My time is done."

Then her voice faded out. 

[Sorry but I just wasn't going to kill Penny for such a stupid reason. Penny stans may rejoice that she'll be in the story longer.]

Time resumed, the gun was about to fire.

But Winter rose up off the ground, reinvigorated.

Her eyes were glowing.

Ironwood realized it even before he saw, like he could just sense the presence of the powers.

"So," he said grimly. "The destiny I chose for you has arrived."

The arrogance of that statement!

Winter had a few tears shed though...after everything, she felt Fria had deserved better than this. But she had it now, she needed to use it.

"You chose nothing," she said, firmly. Magic swirling around her so she rose into the air.

"This was a gift." [💯💥👏👌💣]

With one swoop she threw an attack that broke his aura and knocked him out.

Not caring to stay and gloat, Winter turned to the door. The others might need her help.

Of course she didn't expect what she found in there.

* * *

Cinder had managed to get Ruby cornered even after Neo had just decided to stop fighting.

"Neo!" She yelled. "Take them out already."

Neo just stood there and looked at her.

Pyrrha was crying, but she stood up, determined to still help.

She started making her way towards the others.

Cinder saw her coming.

"Neo, finish her off," she said.

Neo looked at Pyrrha, then pointed to her hat.

"The...man with the hat?" Pyrrha didn't remembered his name. "Your...boss?"

Neo nodded. Then pointed at Pyrrha.

"Me?" Pyrrha said. What did she mean...oh wait.

"Didn't he die?" Pyrrha asked.

Neo nodded.

"Oh..." Pyrrha saw her meaning. "I...Neo, I'm not sure if...we'd have to ask them."

"What are you waiting for?" Cinder was holding off Penny with magic, but even so this couldn't be easy on her.

Neo looked up at Cinder and motioned like: "Wait."

"What?" Cinder said.

Neo shrugged and pointed at Pyrrha, then made a questioning gesture.

"I think she wants to ask about her boss," Pyrrha called. "If that helps."

"Hello?" Cinder said. "Why would she..." then she seemed to guess what Neo must be thinking.

"What? You stupid little trickster," she said.

With her other hand she suddenly shot fire and blasted Neo right off the edge before she was ready for it.

Neo caught it with her umbrella.

Cinder, with fury, suddenly turned and shoved more using wind and lightning.

She zapped Penny, who wasn't ready for it, and sent her hurtling into the door leading to Vale.

Pyrrha realized that no one was coming back through the doors. Did that mean...they couldn't?

She didn't know that Weiss had said it was a "one way ticket" to the kingdoms.

Cinder had Ruby and Blake down already, though they were trying to get up, so she took a second to land in front of Neo, disregarding Pyrrha.

"You never should have threatened me to begin with," she said, taking the lamp off Neo using her arm. "Now you think you deserve something in return? I have a better idea, how about you join him."

She kicked the umbrella off the edge.

"No!" Pyrrha reached out.

This time she was close enough.

She yanked the umbrella upwards and pushed it towards the door at the end of the walkway, taking Neo with it.

Neo cast her a surprised look before Pyrrha got her all the way in the doorway.

Cinder snarled in rage.

"When will you all stop getting in my way!?" She smacked Pyrrha with one of her glass swords.

Pyrrha fell onto her hands and knees.

"Oh, this looks familiar," Cinder said.

Pyrrha rolled out of the way before she could stab her.

She stood up, stepping closer to the edge than she realized.

Cinder's eye burned with flames.

"I won't...give up that easily," Pyrrha said. "I didn't come back just to let you kill me again like that."

"You picked a fight you couldn't win with me," Cinder said, not even bothering to step closer. "And you still are. Bye so-called-invincible-girl."

Suddenly lightning zapped out of the clouds Pyrrha hadn't noticed gathering overhead and blasted her off the edge.

No one was close enough to get to her.

Ruby tried and Cinder sent her off the other side.

Blake jumped after her, using her weapon to swing and Cinder sliced through the line, and they both fell.

[Falling inside the black--Skillet]

https://youtu.be/tfY4OfUXiYU

Winter came in just in time to see all this.

She flew at Cinder and attacked.

Cinder was already too tired to hope to win against Winter if she really fought in earnest--but she looked down at the staff that Weiss still had.

Smirking, she blasted the place where Weiss was standing instead.

Weiss went flying off the edge.

"Weiss!" Winter screamed going after her.

Weiss dropped the staff before she even went over, but Winter didn't go for that, she dove after Weiss, but the blackness swallowed her up first.

Winter should have tried a glyph but she lacked the time to do this.

Cinder snatched up the staff and then flew toward one of the other doors, back to the one Ironwood was in.

Winter fell onto the walkway, sobbing.

The hallways were dissolving now...for some reason...

Shine's prediction had been true, they didn't last forever.

"Hey!" One of the only people left inside--was it Maria? Winter didn't recall her name, yelled from one doorway. "She's not worth it. Come on, don't waste your life trying to catch her."

Winter knew she was right.

Maria ducked through the door.

Winter stood up.

"You'll pay for everything you've done!" She yelled at Cinder, then she flew through the yellow door to Vacuo.

Cinder left, not caring in the least for Winter's threat.

* * *

Atlas was falling. Shine could feel it.

She had come to a few minutes after Ironwood hit her, and she could feel the descent slowly getting worse.

She rushed into the elevator and made her way down.

It lost power right as she reached the level. She had to use her sword to cut it open.

Now how would she get out?

But then she found it wouldn't be an issue, because the portal was gone from this room, and even the aura of magic had faded without the relic or the maiden there.

She also found James Ironwood there.

However before she could step onto the walkway, she saw Cinder walking over the stones.

And black smoke coming in...

Shine slipped behind a pillar.

The smoke formed itself into Salem.

Cinder started talking before Salem could even say anything--and Shine could tell she was lying.

She spouted off something about how the others had gotten away, and that Neopolitan killed Ruby, and they used the final question of the lamp.

Which they wouldn't have done, Shine thought.

She started sneaking closer.

The General was slowly stirring and looking up.

Salem let Cinder finish with her bullcrap about how she'd failed her again.

"In pursuit of a new world," she said, as Cinder held out the relics. "No price is too great. You've done well, Cinder." They both started to walk past Ironwood. "You said they used the staff? I assume then you rid the world of their creation."

Ironwood reached for his gun slowly.

"I merely added more flames to the fires of Atlas," Cinder said.

She'd really locked Watts in a room and set it on fire so he couldn't escape...but Shine was not to find this out till later.

Salem raised an eyebrow that told Shine she probably didn't buy it, but clearly she didn't care.

Ironwood cocked his gun at them.

Cinder looked back at him.

"And that's checkmate," she said smugly, eye blazing.

Ironwood knew he couldn't beat her, and lowered his gun.

That was enough for Shine.

"Actually," she stepped into view. "It's more like a stalemate."

Salem, Cinder, and Ironwood all looked at her with equal expressions of bewilderment.

Shine held out her sword.

"You?" Salem said oddly.

"If you were smart, you'd hand over those relics now and broom out of here," Shine said.

"Show some respect, you waif," Cinder stepped forward, eye blazing.

"Stand down before I remove what's left of your arm," Shine said, deadly calm.

Cinder paused.

"Leave her," Salem held up her hand. "Why would we do such a thing, girl?"

"Don't call me girl," Shine said. "And you'd do well to listen to me, girl in the tower."

Salem frowned.

"Hey, I'm with you," Shine gestured at the relics. "The gods screwed this planet up bad. You're not wrong. But you're a fool. Your plan will not work. They'll spite you again, as they always have. For you they will never do anything. "

Salem glared at her, and started coming closer.

Cinder just watched.

Shine didn't flinch.

"I don't know why you're here, girl," Salem said. "But if you think I'm going to heed your meaningless babble, then you've grossly overestimated your own importance."

Shine just smiled at her...which seemed to throw her a little.

"Well, if you say so," she said easily enough. "I seem to recall running you through not that long ago. Does that still hurt?"

Salem suddenly winced and put a hand to her torso, then looked up at Shine oddly.

Cinder looked from Salem to Shine strangely.

"You'll feel that one for a while," Shine's eyes gleamed suddenly. "You know, Salem, you can frighten the kingdoms, you can frighten those children, you can frighten that sad man over there, you can even frighten your pathetically, selfish little minions." She nodded at Cinder who looked insulted. "But you don't frighten me."

She stepped close, right in front of Salem, to her surprise.

"I am not someone you can frighten," Shine said very clearly. "I do not fear the darkness anymore. Or cursed, spoiled, overly confident, petty, vengeful, grimm infested, immortal hags."

Salem's mouth dropped open and she raised her hand.

Shine side stepped her instead of just waiting for it.

"What are you going to do?" She said moving to stand in front of Ironwood's line of sight instead. "Atlas is falling. You want to waste time fighting me and get buried with it? Or do you want to go off and gloat."

Salem frowned at her.

"She'll die anyway," Cinder said. "If we leave her here. What are her fine words then?"

"Quiet," Salem said.

Cinder shut up.

"Anyway, if you kill me, you'll never learn how to defeat the gods," Shine added casually.

Salem stopped just as she was about to blast her.

Shine smiled. "Well, that got your attention did it? But you know, given what you've done to this kingdom, I'm pretty pissed at you right now. So, I don't think I'll share. Get out of here."

Salem frowned at her.

"Go," Shine thundered suddenly, making Cinder flinch.

"I will not take orders from you." Salem said.

Shine shrugged. "Fine."

She walked up to Ironwood and kicked the gun out of his hand.

Cinder smiled.

But then Shine drew a line across the floor.

"We can stand here till Atlas falls then," she said. "I'm not leaving him here with you, that's for sure."

Salem glanced at her then at Cinder then at Ironwood, who seemed speechless.

Cinder shot fire at Shine.

It fizzled out when it hit the line.

Salem raised an eyebrow.

"Let's go," she said to Cinder.

"What? Why? We have her," Cinder said.

"She's trying to stall till the kingdom caves in on all of  us," Salem said. "And I don't relish the idea of digging myself out of here, and you won't survive at all. Farewell, James."

She nodded and turned. James frowned at her and looked down.

"See you in Vacuo," Shine called.

Salem ignored her.

Shine tilted her head.

"Oh, and Cinder," she said.

Cinder looked back.

"Screw you." Shine narrowed her eyes.

Cinder just turned and flew off after Salem who was rising out of the cavern.

Shine waited till they'd gone.

"What was the point of that?" Ironwood said, looking down. "We're finished."

Shine smacked him really hard with her sword and he fell over.

"Sorry, General," she said, grabbing his coat. She motioned and a doorway opened.

"But we're not finished at all."

https://youtu.be/P92pPTc8P4E

[Glowing--The Oh Hellos[

* * *

From the air, Qrow, Robyn and what was left of the Ace Ops were watching Atlas fall into the ground and water burst out of the valley and flood it.

Vine was dead, he'd died stopping the bomb after Harriet's idiotic move to try to drop it.

Qrow tried to call Ruby, Yang...anyone.

Robyn looked concerned.

Sure...they were supposed to have left already, but...had they? Was it a good sign if they didn't answer?

Meanwhile in Vacuo, Winter had to face her mother, Whitley and Klein without Weiss.

But no time to explain, there were grimm to fight.

She charged.

[Which was awesome.

And thus marks the end of pretty much all the adapted part of this fic. From here I'll be taking my own approach to it.]