
This is probably the most likely of the theories. It is possible that Neo went ot grab Oscar and the lamp while Cinder went after Winter to secure the powers of the Winter Maiden. At the end we see Team JNR standing outside the room Oscar was supposed to be with some Atlesian Paladins destroyed. We still don’t know everything that the two villains are planning though. So, the good guys now know that Cinder’s alive. The black queen was made of glass by Cinder and Ruby recognizes it. Of course, the final puzzle piece is Cinder and Neo. In addition, Ironwood has sent Winter to claim the powers of the Winter Maiden, so I guess she’s going to be a murderer now? The next episode is set ot be RWBY versus Ace Ops (minus Clover who’s on the plane with Qrow and Robyn as they transport Tyrion back). Thankfully, Ruby gets a message out to JNR and Qrow and Robyn about Ironwood declaring Martial Law. It doesn’t help that it comes out that Blake and Yang told Robyn about the Amnity Tower project either. This, somewhat understandably, pushes Ironwood over and he does exactly the wrong thing. She tells Ironwood that she’s on her way to Atlas to destroy them. It’s not just the calling card, but then there’s a Grimm that serves as a holoprojector for Salem comes out of Watts’ bag and ta-da, Salem.

All that trust that we’ve been working on this season is absolutely shattered with this episode. Ironwood finds a black queen from Chess that is apparently Salem’s calling card and it freaks him out.

Team RWBY starts wondering what’s going on with Ironwood as he’s called them all back to his office even though Mantle is still evacuating. In the end they get Tyrion though after he catches an exploding crossbow bolt with his teeth. It’s a scythe, a sword, a gun, a curved sword. The fight also reaffirms my love for Qrow’s weapon. We then see Robyn, Qrow, and Clover fighting Tyrion and it’s cool, but a lot less grandiose than I was expecting. This fight is really fun to watch in part because of the action and the weird way gravity works, but then the tension and drama behind the fight just take it to the next level. He then holds Watts over lava and we’re left to assume that Watts is incinerated. Have I said, by the way, that I love Chris Sabat as Watts? Anyways, Ironwood’s arm is trapped but then he sacrifices his arm to beat Watts.

The only problem is that eventually Watts traps Ironwood’s arm in some barrier thing with some of his (Watts’) rings. This is when the fight definitely shifts in his favor. However, Ironwood out thinks Watts for a moment and sneaks up on him. Watts is counting what I believe are Ironwood’s shots and it’s a bunch of cat and mouse chasing with guns. The episode starts with the fight between Ironwood and Watts and it’s so cool.
