RWBY: The Dragon's Rose

RWBY Vol. 8 Part 1

I spot Ruby and Weiss entering the room with Oscar, Maria, and Joanna. Nora walks up to him as he winces, but she surprisingly didn't tackle hug him to the ground.

Blake: When we heard you went off after Ironwood on your own, we... | Y/n: How did you end up down at the slums? | Oscar: It's a...long story...I get the feeling there's been a few of those tonight.

We look toward William as he looks at his hands, now being the Winter Maiden.

Oscar: Where's Qrow? | William: Last I saw him was with Clover and Robyn... | Joanna: (comes in the room) Alright, your friend is back now. You ready to work? (everyone replied with silence...) The largest Grimm horde ever seen is hovering over the tundra and out there is a city full of people with no heat, and from what you 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.

Ren: How? Ironwood is stopping all evacuations to Atlas, and we can't get them out of the city with Salem's forces surrounding us. | Joanna: The crater, beneath Atlas. It's not safe, but its warm. With everyone in one place, we can do a better job protecting them. May 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. 

Weiss: We're never going to sleep again, I just know it. | Joanna: Either you're helping, or you're baggage.

Joanna leaves the room while Yang stood up.

Yang: We need to get out there and do what we can for Mantle. | Ruby: 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! | Blake: Ruby's right. The Happy Huntresses are handling the evacuation better than we could, and there's a bigger picture. | Yang: But Amity isn't even finished. It was still under construction. 

Jack: Doc, what would you need to launch Amity now? | Pietro: Uh, we've made decent progress on construction and fuel collection, all potentially manageable, but...hm, Amity was designed so that it couldn't launch itself without first being granted clearance from General Ironwood's terminal. 

Yang: Jack, there is  no way Ironwood will cooperate with us. | Jack: He doesn't have to. | Ruby: Yeah, we just need the green light from his terminal, right?  | Yang: You want to go back to the Academy? | William: There is more than one terminal. One in his office and the other in the main Atlesian Military Compound, at the base of the city. | Pietro: You'd have to get into the compound somehow, and then get inside the operations room, and then...hoo boy...I might need to think about this some more.

Oscar: And just to clarify, this is the easy option? | Yang: What you're saying is it can't be done. It's pointless, and even if you got the message out, there's no guarantee help would come. | Ruby: It's not pointless! Atlas is only Salem's current target. She's not hiding anymore, and once she's done here, she'll move on to the rest of Remnant! We need to warn them!

Yang: Ruby...when we came here, we said we'd follow your lead... but things haven't exactly worked out.  (Her words hit hard, and in their way, everyone reacted by it) I just... | Ren: There are people here who need us right now. That's something we can actually do. 

Nora: But this isn't about just Atlas. Ruby's right. It's about all of Remnant. They need to know in Vacuo, in Mistral, in Vale, what's coming so they can prepare. | Jaune: (gets in between them) Okay, okay, let's go for both then. Get Amity up and running, and evacuate Mantle. | Ruby: But that's how Salem got this far, by dividing us! We have to stick together! | Y/n: No no no, we wouldn't be divided. We'd still be working together! | Oscar: What Salem wants is to turn us against each other. Just like this.

Oscar: Jaune and Y/n has a point. We can work separately and still be united.  | Penny: Or...let William take the relic to Salem...and maybe she will call off her attack on the Kingdom. | William: What? Penny, no. She'd never actually do that. The moment she uses the staff to create anything else, Atlas falls onto Mantle. | Yang: I think the one thing we can all agree on is to not turn in William.

Ruby: ...Okay, then I guess we're going to Atlas. Can you help us get to that terminal? | Pietro: I...suppose someone needs to help you bypass security. | Penny: I'll go. | William: Me too. | Pietro: William, we can't risk-- | William: No, its okay. I'll come with (he looks at Pietro with a soft expression as the edge of his eyes bursts orange and blue flames.)

Yang: *sighs* Do what you've got to do. I'm going out there to see what I could do. (she walks toward the door until Pietro calls her) | Pietro: Yang. (he throws her a pair of keys on a chain) Go by the pharmacy. I was developing some new tool for you all before...this happened. You're going to need them.

Ren: Nora? | Nora: I'm going with Ruby. | Ren: But what about Mantle? | Nora: Oh, I'm saving Mantle! Because I actually believe we can do this!

So, everyone head out of our shelter and went on our separate ways. Jack and Niko grouped up with Yang, Ren, Oscar, and Jaune while I, Weiss, Blake, Penny, and William stayed with Ruby and Nora.

Y/n: *puts my hand on Ruby's shoulder* Hey, we're still united. | Ruby: I hope so. | Maria: *radio* I can get Pietro out to Amity to prepare, but that doesn't answer how we're getting all of you up to Atlas. | William: Me and Y/n can't do anything, they'd detect us immediately if we flew with our wings. | Weiss: I might actually have an idea for--

A ringtone rang out from William's scroll as he looked at it with a serious expression. It was Ironwood. Against what I thought he'd do, he answered it anyway.

Ironwood: *call* Hello, William. I'm worried for your safety. Tell me where you are and I'll have you picked up right away. Atlas needs you and Penny, William. Salem is here. | William: With all due respect, General. I'm not going anywhere until you change your mind about Mantle. | Ironwood: Mantle...you're also worried about Mantle?! Remnant is doomed, William! Unless we leave, Salem will destroy Atlas and with it, any hope humanity has left! We need to think about the future. If she makes it through our defenses, everything that follows will be on your hands. | William: I'm willing to take that risk, General.