"I dont know Steven, I think you look better in yours."

The teenager and the ferret were standing before a glass window, observing themselves. It was a rare sight to see both of them in business suits, particularly the faunus. Perhaps switching the black ties for silk black bowties was a bit much, but yet again? Bowties are cool.

"How does one even use this thing?"

The suited teenager was holding a scroll, a brand new device that he never had to use. The only system he ever had to interact with was his more traditional, if not archaic interface for the beefed up computer he mainly used for running calculations and checking his work.

"Have you tried pushing the yellow button right in the middle?"

A girl wearing hoplite ancient Greek looking armor, carrying a similarly styled shield on her back had raised the question. Partially caught off guard, but mostly startled, the dark haired youth turned to the speaker.

"I thought that was ornamental..."

Sure enough, the device holding the gears into a locked position released their hold, and with ease the rectangle opened up to form a holographic tablet.

"Damn. I never knew that they made them like this... Wait, identification?"

"Yes, it appears that it is your first time using this scroll. At first it only asks for your name, and later on you go to city hall you get your credentials loaded up. it does act as a form of personal ID, this device."

"My... Name? Uh, its Drexel..."

"And mine is Pyrrha Nicos, a pleasure to meet you."

It had been years since he thought of it last. Drexel had discovered a major milestone in science and technology: liquid dust. He build an exo-skeleton that had replaced his need for a weapon is his palm to focus his aura and exponentially increased his strength (provided that he didn't run out of argentum or burn off his aura too quickly). Only to lose his name. The irony. Drexel's hand seemed to glide along the surface as he rapidly input his first name, when his sleeve slipped back, revealing the bracer of the exoskeleton he had hidden underneath.

"Drexel, your arm..."

Silently cursing under his breath, Drexel saw the revealed portion of the exo-skeleton: something which he preferred to keep secret. This stranger was clearly a huntress, and this morsel of information would suit him best if the element of society he had clashed with previously remained ignorant of the weapon system. Steve, sensing a disturbance in her ride's balance, poked his head out of Drexel's breast pocket.

"Thanks Pyrrha for the help..."

The sentence was divided into two, as Drexel bolted down the street. Finishing the remainder nearly under his breath, he whispered:

"...I appreciate it."

Sneaking Steven into a place where animals are banned? Easy work for Drexel. Not burning a handful of childish dust and weapons engineers from the Schnee Dust Company just needs practice. But sitting at the same table just feet away from the individual who formed a scar across Steven's belly without launching a suicidal rain of fury? Not exactly easy, particularly when the same fool contemplating the plan is wearing a potent weapon capable of even healing the worst wounds. Even then, proper presentation and cool mindedness may be the difference between a massive sponsorship and the end of a piss poor workshop hidden in the middle of the city.

"And you mean to tell me, that this... argentum, the product of some teenager's madness outperforms this company's best refineries?"

But yet again, even the attempt to separate Weiss's head from her neck would sound attractive to a deaf man. Drexel knew that he would receive no moral support from the lab coated engineers and developers that filled the seats around the boardroom table. Perhaps a gut full of dust shot from the armed guards stations around the room that certainly were not there earlier had been the true deterrent to such an impulse.

"Only for the reason that impurities are easier to separate from a liquid rather than a sand. With the systems that the Schnee Dust Company no doubt already possesses, we would be looking at the concept of liquefying crystals, and re-pouring them into any mold an engineer sees fit, without any loss in waste dust, and increasing purity by at least 500%."

The Heiress may come to levels of disgust when looking at the very questionable chemist, but even she, a warrior and schoolgirl knew the insane profit increases that just this new refinery process alone may offer. Not to mention the fact that dust could kept in smaller containers at higher concentrations of energy. Drexel attempted another route.

"I could take your sword and apply the same energy multiplier to it. Something that could even cut through another thing I am developing: I call it the exo-suit."

The engineers were now clearly jittery in interest. Yes, the same boyish enthusiasm could even be seen in the faced of the older engineers around the table if but masked.

"As if a weak little frame of carbon steel can stop my blade already!"

"Oh, damn right it can. This sucker emits an energy shield that not even the post potent dust grenade can shatter. Mind you, it does have a small battery life due to the fact that it sucks power like a mosquito sucks blood, but that's the inefficiency of its builder and designer not being able to afford better parts."

Even if Weiss was opposed to the entire concept, the engineers would beyond question inform her father to overrule any negative decision made to this new technology.

"Name your price."

"Enough cash for a humble chemist and metallurgist to be comfortable and continue his insane designs and schemes, with a real laboratory. The same schemes, which I would turn over to this company at no extra cost."

A reasonable offer. If, the same research base that Drexel would live within was not the same place that Weiss would spend her summers away from beacon at.

"I'll lend your proposition some thought."

The same lofty attitude and voice was identical to the method at which she left the room. The engineers followed her lead, obediently behind the heels of the heiress. Once the guards also followed suit, Drexel removed Steven from his pocket.

"Do me a favor?"

The fire ferret nipped one of the mad scientist's fingers in acknowledgement.

"You know how to use the company's database."

He then slipped a small high capacity universal datachip with a cord long enough to fit around the animal's neck around it's head.

"I want answers."