"There are ways of boosting Aura - training is the most common, but I've also heard some Semblances can do it. In a pinch I can throw everything I've got into the eyes, but I don't know if I could do it perfectly without fail, up against whatever the hell Salem is. She's bound to have countermeasures. I sure would, if I lived forever and had basically one weakness."  

"Yeah... I think the best bet is to find a way to replicate it, if that works we can dump enough energy to level a few cities into it and hope that's enough. If we can't do that then there's a few routes we could take, maybe we can store it or maybe we can channel energy through you."

"You found me once, so I suppose you can find me again if you need to." 

"We can." She carefully doesn't mention that now they'll know precisely where she is until she dies. It's not that secret but it's not something they're supposed to advertise.

She makes her goodbyes and goes back to a workspace in one of their bases on Remnant. Copying the effects of the Silver Eyes takes work but it's not the most complicated magic she's copied. Making it scale to take in larger energies is harder but she does that too. And then she sets to closely examining their scans of Salem, Siobhán is sent with one excuse or another to take additional scans several times. They'll only get one chance at this so they plan very throughly. They also develop a backup plan. They've been building backups to keep Atlas afloat and if nessecary they'll try to use the Staff of Creation to contain Salem indefinitely if their first plan doesn't work. It takes months of meticulous preparation.

And then Siobhán makes another visit. The first step of their plan is a full mind backup. It's not too different from the many scans they've already run. And then without any warning the ten grams of antimatter Siobhán is carrying inside her body are channeled into a carefully designed artifact that floods Salem's body with Silver light both outside and in. Enough energy to glass a city floods out. Even Starlight's unreasonably capable sensors are temporarily blinded.

Nine out of ten Grimm in the vicinity of Salem's palace are instantly vaporized, along with all but the deepest nearby Grimm pools. 

She had taken precautions, of course, having suspected that silver eyes might negate her immortality. Magical layering ensured that the light of silver eyes would only petrify an exterior shell, protecting the rest of her Grimm-infused body from harm. 

And Ozpin had guessed how she'd do it, once consulted. Which is why Starlight's artifact didn't simply aim for the outer layer, but generated the light from everywhere. 

Powerful Salem may be, but she was not prepared to be nuked from the inside out with godkilling light. Her body vanishes utterly, and doesn't come back. 

Interestingly, the energy doesn't leave a crater. Or even so much as a scorch mark. 

She doesn't like this part of her job. She's not eager for what comes next either. She feels she owes it to Salem to at least try though. She waits a week to ensure Salem doesn't reappear on Remnant before loading up a copy of Salem in a virtual world.

Where is she - they transported her against her will - counterattack - 

- her Grimm aren't responding - 

- her magic isn't responding - 

- her body is wrong - 

"What have you done?" 

"We destroyed your body and your previous means of immortality. This is one of our virtual worlds."

"How?" Silver eyes, it must have been, but she never sensed anyone else nearby - and her defenses - 

"We replicated the effects of the silver eyes. To be through we manifested the effect throughout your body."

"...I see. I take it you didn't summon my shade into this prison merely to gloat." 

"We don't consider you a substantial threat at this point so we don't see any advantage in you being dead. Hopefully with time and therapy you can recover from what exposure to the pool of darkness did to your mind. As for broader matters, we're curious what your plan for removing the gods was. Our best guess is that it involved the Silver Eyes effect."

Not a substantial threat. 

She grits her teeth. Over the millennia, she's seen many reactions to her presence, from the frightened to the calculating to the outright mad. But it's been a long, long time since she's heard such condescension. 

It's true they displayed a staggering amount of power by undoing her so easily. But appearances can be deceiving. And she's played the helpless damsel before, much though it pains her to remember. Her goals have not changed, she will simply need to use new tools to achieve them. If anything, she now has even more powerful tools than before. 

"Why do you want to know? Planning a little deicide of your own?"

She still has a purpose to accomplish. 

...doesn't she? 

"Contingency planning. If the Gods become a threat having a way to counteract them would be helpful."

"If you think the gods are not currently a threat then you haven't been paying attention. At any point, they could decide that your interference with Remnant is sacrilegious enough to merit punishment, and they won't hesitate to wipe out your entire civilization to end the annoyance you pose. Do you honestly think your toys can prevent that?" 

"If they truly outclass us by that margin it's unclear to me how a preemptive strike would improve matters. We're not even certain where they're located at this time."

"The gods are powerful, not omniscient. They can be fooled, can be surprised. They can only guard against a threat they know about. If they find out about a weakness before it can be exploited, the weakness vanishes, do you understand? A preemptive strike is the only way to stop them, the only way to end the existential threat they pose to anyone and anything that interferes with their demented games." 

"How do you imagine they would know to expect the Silver Eyes? Also, do you know where they're located or is your plan simply to summon them with the relics and hope and a single surprise attack suffices?"

"They might know to expect them if, say, a member of your organization decided to go and talk to them to get their side of the story, thereby drawing their attention back to Remnant, a world they have been content to ignore for eons, and for all we know about their powers, mere curiosity may suffice from there! I know for a fact that you would do that, because Ozpin - " her voice catches, trembles, firms - "because Ozpin told you I was a dangerous monster and you came to talk to me! I worked with the tools I had, and against overwhelming odds, any plan with the barest hint of a chance at victory must be considered. If the gods somehow foresaw my attempt, the world ends, which was going to happen anyway so the only question was whether anything else was more likely to work!"

Her face contorts in a bitter snarl. "And now you've as good as doomed us all. If you don't have the guts to end the gods before they learn about you, then it's only a matter of time before someone in your organization lets their curiosity override their sense and tries to contact the Brothers Grimm, at which point your entire civilization is subject to destruction at their whims. And before you tell me they wouldn't dare, you'd better be confident that in a billion years not one single person would take the risk, for any reason. Unless I've badly misjudged your holier-than-thou empire, you don't have that kind of control over your people." 

They could, of course, if Siobhan's testimony about mind alterations is to be believed, but they don't seem to have the will to actually use that power. 

(Deep down, a part of her is screaming in horror at the thought. Why? The stakes are too high to worry about such trivial details, she made her peace with that long ago - sacrifices must be made, only the final victory matters -)

"Ozpin was not quite that definitive in his advice. I don't think the situation was fully comparable anyway, you were known to be actively involved with things. Our presence would have become known to you in short order. We may have accelerated that timeline but I don't think it was actually that risky and it allowed us to safely collect information that was ultimately crucial in our planning. Also you might be interested to know that he was actually supportive of us bringing you back like this.

As for approaching the Brother Gods, I can't deny we might eventually reach in that direction, billions of years is a long time. Neither of us has lived that long. As for how much control we have over our members that's.... a complicated question. My working group has broad emergency powers in your realm for the moment that grants us a great deal of latitude but those won't be renewed indefinitely. Even separate from that there's currently an injunction against contacting the Brother Gods. That could also be repealed at some point, I can't offer guarantees on that point, but while it lasts people will be watching to make sure nobody breaks it. That's a significant part of how Starlight works. Somebody is always watching when it matters."

Ozpin wasn't - he supported - then what did he say? The smart thing to do would be to make her look insane or evil - it wouldn't have been hard, would it - didn't he always?

Wasn't that why so few joined her cause, in all those years? Ozpin's lies?

Is Siobhán lying now? 

She waits. The answer will come to her, as it always does. She knows the shape of it, the outline, knows it so well that she can trace its exact contours in her mind. Of course Ozpin would want this, so he could feel superior...Of course she lies, she wishes to manipulate me, how droll... But the shape is a void, an absence, a suggestion of itself. Once, it would have thundered in her mind. The absence feels like falling. 

She was certain, once. Answers came easy. What happened? 

The gods. She must contest Siobhán's claims. Emergency powers won't last - the watchers grow weary, the eyes must blink - they could not react quickly enough - 

She opens her mouth to protest. Instead, she whispers, "...what have you done to me?" 

"The only thing we've done," she says in a low gentle voice, "is to undo the transformation you underwent all those years ago when you were exposed to the pool of darkness. I imagine it's quite the change and you had a long time to get used to living like that."