Ever since Ironwood set up shop at Beacon Academy, Ozpin was amused to note how often the General would beat him to his own office each morning. Today was no different. The headmaster sipped at his piping hot coffee as he stepped out of the elevator and started walking. Glynda was present as well. Both were waiting at his desk. Beyond them, through the windows, dreary clouds muffled the sunrise. "A pleasant morning to you both. I hope our daily meeting isn't going to ruin that."

"That remains to be seen," Glynda said with a frown as Ozpin took his seat. "James, you may proceed."

The General started off with a mild shrug. "Security is holding up well, all things considered. I'd like to funnel more resources to Vale itself, but I'm honoring your request. The background check system appears to be doing its job. Have you heard anything further from Qrow?"

"Unfortunately, no." Ozpin rubbed his chin in thought. "I appreciate your restraint concerning matters within the city walls. You know how the King feels."

"I'm not here to show up His Majesty's army," Ironwood replied with a polite smile. "My priority is the safety of the festival and its guests."

"Indeed." The look on Glynda's face said she wanted to speak next. Ozpin regarded her expression with a tiny grin. "Time for the bad news already?"

"I think you'll have to decide whether it's good news or bad." Glynda tapped briefly on her Scroll. "Both of you should have the official police report now. Or, rather, the lack of one. All we have is an internal memo."

"Oh?" Ozpin blinked and produced his own device from a desk drawer. What he saw on its screen made his eyes narrow. "I see Mister Riese was busy last night."

Ironwood had his own Scroll in hand by now. His eyes scanned the confidential Vale Police documentation. "That fool was fighting in an apartment building?" Further reading eased his mind somewhat. "No civilian casualties. Good."

"Considering what we saw yesterday, I doubt he was giving it his all." Ozpin needed another sip of hot coffee to help him think. "Although I would like to know what started it."

Glynda tapped her Scroll again; this time it emitted a cheerful little beep. "Shall I round up a team to retrieve him?"

"No need." Ozpin already had Opher's Scroll number up on his own device. He tapped the screen to make the call.

Four rings passed before the man in question picked up. "What is the point of having this number unlisted if literally everyone seems to know it?" Opher muttered unhappily.

While Glynda and Ironwood didn't find his statement humorous, Ozpin chuckled briefly before mounting a reply. "Good morning to you too, Mister Riese."

"Oh, it's you. I guess you heard about last night?"

Ozpin settled back and stared off. "The event has come to my attention, yes. I'm curious to know what transpired."

Opher took a breath and rattled off his explanation. "I beat the hell out of some idiot in Indigo's apartment block. And before you even ask, yes, she deserved it, and yes, I tried to limit the damage. I didn't want to break the building with Indigo still in it, obviously."

"Your restraint is…" Ozpin needed an instant to find an appropriate word. "...appreciated. Is there anything we might be able to help with?"

His tone suddenly became amused, almost cruel. "Ha, no. This is personal. I'll handle it."

"Aren't you not concerned for Miss Stahl's safety?" the headmaster asked, his brow slightly raised.

"After what I did to that bitch? Nope." A few beats passed before Opher added, "Thanks for the wake up call. Anything else you want to know before I get ready for work?"

Unsure of how hard he could push, Ozpin decided to let it go for now. "I suppose not. Good day." As he ended the call, Ozpin looked up at his colleagues for their reactions. They matched his: dissatisfaction. "That did leave something to be desired, didn't it?"

Ironwood nodded his agreement. "No kidding. It seems like he's made an enemy. I'd like to know who."

"Team CFVY is beyond the wall at the moment, but I'm sure Team RWBY is up to the task. I'll just deploy-" Glynda stopped short when Ozpin shook his head at her. "Why not?"

The headmaster leaned forward and clasped his hands. "We know where he'll be. Let's think of a valid reason for him to end up here."

"Why?" Ironwood asked, bracing himself on the desk. "There's no need to be sneaky about anything. You just said we'll know exactly where to find him."

Glynda glanced at him before nodding to Ozpin. "I actually agree, for once. You're being surprisingly tactful. Even for you."

He gazed at her over the rims of his dark glasses. "Just because Mister Riese and ourselves know what the score is, that doesn't mean we shouldn't maintain some confidentiality." Ozpin brought up something else on his Scroll: a military personnel file with Indigo's picture. "There is the matter of his employer, for instance. I'm not sure how far we can trust her. Furthermore, the easier we make it for him to keep his secret, the more likely it is he'll stay here in Vale."

Ironwood dismissed his reasoning with a sharp wave. "Oh, please. Even if he ran, he wouldn't be able to stay out of sight for long with us looking for him."

A smile appeared on Ozpin's lips as he gently put the General in his place. "Of course. We were so aware of him already."

"You…" Ironwood squinted and looked away. "Point taken. Did you have something in mind?"

"Actually…" A few more swipes on the screen brought Ozpin to his inbox. Near the top of the list of messages was one from Weiss about dance preparations. The subject line, "Ice Dust Sculptures", made him grin faintly. "Perhaps I do." He glanced at the clock before replying to her message and setting the Scroll aside. "With any luck, our excuse will be here before classes begin."

"Message me if it works," Ironwood requested as he spun on his heel and started to leave. "I've got a meeting soon, but I want to talk to Opher again. We started off on the wrong foot."

Glynda rolled her eyes at his retreating form. "Understated as always, James." Once the General was gone, she looked over at Ozpin with a hand on her hip. "You know something. You always know something."

"I simply make informed guesses, Glynda." After shutting down his Scroll, Ozpin rose, mug in hand, and moved to the window to look out. "I believe Opher's Aura may be compressed," he added a few moments later. "I cannot be entirely certain, but what we witnessed is too similar for comfort."

"Certainly, but…" Recalling some history learned from her own time as a student left Glynda standing in concerned silence. "You don't think Opher is that powerful, do you?"

"It's a risk I'd rather not take." Ozpin took a longer-than-usual swig of coffee and frowned at the gloomy panorama below. "If we want to find out, we must approach things carefully. The peace is fragile enough as it is… and one world war was enough."


Three bullets were missing.

Ever since she'd gotten her precious rifle back, this fact continued to evade explanation. Three missing bullets wasn't the only problem she had with last night's adventure, but it was by far the largest. "He was right there," she murmured, tossing the magazine in her left hand as she stared out of the shop's front windows. "She knocked me out and had him at point-blank range. How…"

An encroaching ache in her skull let Indigo know she was overthinking the issue again. She took rifle and ammunition and set both in the back room. Opher would be there soon; all she had to do was ask him. Indigo returned to the main room and stared at her reflection in the glass countertop. The bandage above her left eye caused a scowl. "Damn her." Sudden, dull roaring above derailed her thoughts; she looked through the windows to see rain falling outside. "Great." And then Opher appeared on the sidewalk a second later. "Shit!" she hissed, straightening up with surprise.

"Don't yell at me," Opher said once he got inside. "I wasn't in it long enough to drip. Your floor is safe." His hat was a mess, though; he shed it and frowned. "Water-resistant my ass. The box lied to me."

"Uh, yeah," Indigo replied, nervously toying with her blue ponytail. "I hope you got a better night's sleep than I did."

"Eh. It wasn't bad." He opted to vault the counter instead of going around and disappeared in the back for a moment to deposit his hat. Once he came back, however, he couldn't help but notice Indigo's awkward countenance. "What?"

Here he was, right in front of her, but Indigo couldn't force the questions out. "Nothing. Your hat looked stupid," she said with a fidget.

"Wow. It's the same hat I've-" Opher fell silent and stared off as he realized what had to be happening. "There's something you want to talk about." Now it was Indigo avoiding eye contact. Opher bent down and leaned a bit to met her uncertain gaze. "Indy. Hello."

"Did she shoot at you?" Indigo's question sat between them like a block of ice, silencing and freezing both for several seconds. "I had a round chambered and it was gone. Two are missing from the magazine." Now that her mouth was open, Indigo was wholly unable to shut it. "She took my rifle. She had to shoot at you. How did… how are you not dead?" To punctuate her confusion, Indigo turned at stared up at him.

There was no way it would work, but Opher tried it anyway. "I guess she was a terrible shot," he quipped with a smirk.

"No!" Indigo exploded, slamming her left hand down on the counter. "This shit isn't funny anymore! Someone came after me and you could have died saving my ass! I need to know what the fuck is going on here!"

Opher slipped his hand into his pocket and found his coin. While glancing toward the front of the store, he frowned silently and made the choice to come clean. At least, to an extent. "A couple of idiots are after me," he began, looking down at Indigo. "Not the people that tried to rob the store, but a couple of pickpockets I pissed off a few days back."

She crossed her arms and pinned him with a stern glare. "And that means they're after me to get to you, right? What did you do?"

He didn't try to avoid her eyes, but he did avoid a great deal of the truth. "They tried to rob me and failed because I beat their asses."

Under normal circumstances, Indigo would have laughed at his assertion and made fun of him. Now, she wasn't so sure what to think. "They teach you how to do that shit in the quarry?" she asked, a suspicious frown on her face.

"I…" Opher broke eye contact and gazed at something a thousand miles away in his mind. "I was a Huntsman once."

"Once? You sound like you're fifty."

Squeezing the coin, Opher smiled at her a little. "Life travels fast, you know. You're gonna ask me why I'm not a Huntsman now, aren't you?"

Indigo still looked incredibly serious. "Yeah, 'cause I have a feeling you fucked up and got somebody killed." Her words made his face contort with displeasure; that expression took her breath away. "Oh, shit, did-"

Opher silenced her concerns with a cheeky smirk. "Calm down," he said. "No, that's not why. I just got made obsolete. Ironwood's pet androids do most of the Grimm hunting up north lately."

"So you got laid off? I didn't know that could happen to Hunters." Picturing this somehow made her feel a little less awkward. Thinking of last night brought her right back to being uncomfortable. "All the water was you, then? Dust?"

Opher raised his hands a bit, almost as if he were surrendering. "Yes, it was me." He blinked when Indigo leaned back against the counter and sighed. "What?"

"I can't believe your scrawny ass deflected bullets. Damn it." She was really fuming now. "So much for my present."

The change of subject was welcome. "Which was what, by the way?" he asked curiously.

"Ah, I got you a pistol. We were gonna go to the range. I was gonna laugh at you for being such a bad shot. Now you're a Huntsman and shit and it's not as funny anymore." Indigo entered full-on pout mode and glared up at him. "I should have known." Her attention went to his tattoo sleeve. "Nobody has that much ink without being a badass."

Opher cocked a brow and grinned. "Then where are your tattoos?"

Indigo cracked a smile at his remark. "Real smooth, new guy. I don't like needles."

Once he'd gotten done snickering, Opher leaned on the counter and glanced out the front windows. "I have a confession to make. I've never actually fired a gun."

Stung by surprise, Indigo said "Bullshit!" and straightened up. "You just said you were a Huntsman."

"Excuse me, but we don't all use firearms. I'm sort of old-school. Bladed weapons and stuff." His gaze became distant again. "'We'. I was more of a freelancer than usual. It's not like I had a team"

"So you didn't attend an Academy?"

A dark cloud settled over Opher's countenance. His mind's eye settled on that snowy valley once again. "No, I didn't. I had to learn the hard way."

"Ahhhhhh, fuck, I knew something happened to you," Indigo mumbled, kicking herself for crossing that line, unintentionally or not. "Forget it. Uh…" She paused to make him glance at her. "Thanks. For last night. Did that chick really get away?"

Unwilling to dampen the mood too much, Opher just shrugged at her. "Like I said, she really flew out of there."

On her way to the back room, Indigo reached up gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Oh well. I hope you made your point before she bolted."

Opher allowed himself a cruel smirk now that Indigo was out of sight. "Oh, I suspect I did." It had to leave fast; the door chime signaled that customers were walking in.

"Just because you were a Huntsman doesn't mean you don't have to say the catchphrase, by the way!" Indigo informed him loudly.

"I'm going to need another zero on the end of my paycheck." Opher coolly regarded the new arrival: Weiss Schnee, who stared back with equal iciness. "What in the world are you doing here?"

"Failing to convince Yang to run another errand for me, that's what." Weiss approached the counter just as Indigo stepped out of the back room. "Excuse me. How much ice Dust do you have in stock? Crystals, preferably."

Indigo came to a stop and stared at her for a moment. "Oh, wow. A Schnee. You here to buy out my shop, or are you lookin' to steal back my employee?"

A stunned Weiss glanced between them. "I beg your pardon?"

Opher shut up his boss with a not-so-subtle elbow to the side. "I dug up Dust in a Schnee quarry once upon a time, that's all."

"Hmm. Interesting." Weiss got things back on track with a polite, if forced, smile. "Now, about my inquiry-"

"Oh, yeah." Indigo glanced up as she took a mental inventory. "I've got some big ice crystals in the safe, depending on what you need. Might take a little while to weigh and pack 'em, though…"

"I'll take every stone you've got." Weiss checked the time with her Scroll. "Could you please deliver them to the Academy this afternoon, say, around 2:30?"

"Sure. I'll send the new guy out. You wanna pay now or do COD?" Indigo blinked when the heiress placed a purple Lien card on the counter. "And suddenly you're my favorite person in Vale." She looked up at Opher. "Take her money before she changes her mind. I'm gonna get to work."

While he followed her orders, Opher stared daggers at Weiss. "This isn't about Dust, is it?" he muttered once Indigo was out of earshot in the back room.

"It certainly is. Yang recommended this shop to me." The heiress cast a judgmental look around. "And frankly, I'm not impressed."

"Of course you're not." Opher finished entering her Lien into the register and pointed to the door. "Tell your team I said hello."

"Hmph. We've got our eye on you," she retorted, sneering at his tattoos and storming out.

The moment she exited, however, it started to rain. Opher chuckled as Weiss shrieked and darted out of sight. Once the silence returned, however, he peeked into the back room and watched Indigo, partially hidden behind the door of the open safe. The prospect of another trip to Beacon had him worried again.

In this instance, however, it wasn't for his sake.


Rain was still coming down as Opher prepared to leave. Beacon was only a quick airship ride away, normally, but Indigo had just found out that the runs were stopped due to the weather. "I forgot my umbrella," she admitted sheepishly. "Do you have one?"

Opher was less concerned with the weather. "Nope," he replied, hefting the heavy metal case onto his shoulder. "It's just water. I'll be fine," he assured her, tugging at the hem of his red shirt.

She tapped her fingers on the counter in disagreement. "Are you stupid? That's a long fucking walk in a thunderstorm." Her face suddenly went blank. "Wait. You were a Huntsman. You're probably used to this shit."

"You have no idea," he confirmed with a sigh. They both stared out the windows. "I'm not sure when I'm gonna get back."

"It's cool. I'll just use some of Weiss' money and call that your overtime pool for a while." A frowning Indigo watched him move to the door. "Uh… be careful, I guess."

"I'll be fine, mom." He shrugged with a smile and entered the deluge.

Despite a quick pace, Opher was soaked before getting two full blocks away. The spiraling path up the wall provided him some refuge, but at its summit he faced a long, empty road with little more than sparse tree branches for shelter. Happily, there were no people up here; he took the opportunity to start drying himself. To deflect the rain, he flicked up a conical wedge of air above his hat to act like a canopy.

Opher scaled the gradual slope until the path flattened out at the cliff's edge. He peeked down once or twice into the water below, then into the clumps of trees on his other side. As he approached, Opher debated whether or not to let himself get wet again to keep up appearances once he reached the campus. After a moment, he decided he didn't really care what Beacon's students thought.

Therefore, when Weiss saw him walking up the avenue, she couldn't figure out why he lacked an umbrella. "What on Remnant are you thinking?" she chided while walking over to meet him. Then she noticed how dry he was. "I… what?"

"You stay dry your way, I'll stay dry my way," he said with a smirk.

She had to tilt her umbrella to look up. Droplets of water fell around him, as if detaching from a circular edge above his head. It took a second before the sight clicked; Opher had an umbrella, she just couldn't see it. "How are you doing that?"

"Years of practice." Opher shifted his burden to his right hand and looked up at Beacon's immense tower. "I hope you're gonna show me where you want this stuff."

"Well, of course." Weiss turned her back and started walking. "Follow me."


While Mercury and Cinder were up with the sun to start their day as usual, Emerald was not. Hours had passed; while Cinder had been willing to cut her some slack, her patience was beginning to wear thin.

And as she often did, Cinder sent Mercury to do her bidding. he discovered Emerald in the same position they'd left her in: curled up in the fetal position on her bed with her back to the door. Despite being still, she wasn't asleep; she twitched a bit when he poked her on the shoulder. What she didn't do was swat or snap at him. Mercury had no idea what to do with the situation. "Emmy, come on," he urged gently. "Time to rise and shine. We've got combat class in a couple of hours. Cinder wants us to have some fun with Pyrrha Nikos."

"I'll be there. Leave me alone." Emerald's voice lacked all of its usual brassy confidence. A hoarse whisper had taken its place.

Mercury noted the three white pills on the table next to her bed. "You still hurting? Take one of these things."

"I'm fine, damn it. Leave me alone."

Clearly she wasn't, but Mercury found himself between two women that were, or were going to be, annoyed with him no matter what he did next. "Man, there were some real benefits to being a lone wolf," he muttered while stepping away from Emerald to think. His partner was too fragile for him to handle, he decided, so he produced his Scroll and sent the boss herself a message.

About two minutes later, Cinder opened the door. Before she could enter, Mercury intercepted her and moved her back into the hallway. "Of all the things I ask of you, this is the one with which you need help," she murmured unhappily.

Mercury leaned against the wall and frowned. "Oh, come on. I'm not cut out for this crap." His face dropped with concern. "I think he messed her up. Not like, physically, but, you know. I don't know what to say to her."

Cinder inhaled a long breath through her nose and sighed. "Very well. Wait for me in the dining hall." She entered their room and closed the door.

Emerald could hear the footsteps as Cinder approached, but assumed Mercury was their source. "I told you to get lost," she growled lowly.

"He did."

After jerking with surprise, Emerald rolled over and sat up to look at Cinder. Her eyes were visibly puffy. "Ma'am! I'm up. I'm…" A muted grimace stopped her from speaking. "I'm-I'm… totally fine."

With eyes faintly aglow, Cinder looked at her until Emerald started to squirm a little. "Really?"

"R-r-really," she nodded frantically. The motion caused a sharp pain in her neck; that forced out a hiss and a wince. "Yeah."

"Hmm." Cinder retreated and sat on the edge of her own bed. "Don't you usually brief me after an engagement? Share what you've learned?"

Emerald's face went blank. "I… well, yeah."

A faintly smiling Cinder crossed her legs and clasped her hands. "I'm waiting."

Wrangling with the memories again made her uneasy, but Emerald was more terrified of invoking Cinder's displeasure again. "I, uh… I mean, I…" Even collecting herself was a struggle; her fists clenched as if she were grabbing something to steady her nerves. "I got to Stahl's apartment and couldn't pick the lock. It was one of those stupid 32-bit code encryption systems and I didn't have all my tools."

Cinder nodded with approval at her suddenly business-like tone. "A mistake, but no matter. Continue."

"Stahl showed up and held me at gunpoint." Her red eyes rolled in thought as she tried to recall the weapon's type. "Assault rifle. Valesian Army standard issue. She backed me away from her door and… and…" Opher's arrival was too large a mental hill for her to climb. She clammed up and gazed into her lap.

"I assume this is when Riese appeared?" Cinder asked quietly.

The prodding was just enough to help Emerald speak. "Yes ma'am. He distracted Stahl long enough for me to take her weapon and knock her out. I turned on him and…" She couldn't figure out how she'd get through what was coming and fell silent again.

"I don't require a blow by blow, Emerald. A summary will do."

"He was…" she trailed off, searching for a way to distill her beating, "...extremely proficient in the use of Dust. I got hit with ice, wind, and lightning. He used ice and wind for movement, mostly. Not sure how he used it, either. Nothing on him glowed. I never even saw him holding a crystal or powder."

Cinder grew thoughtful as she listened. "Perhaps he has it embedded in his flesh? A rather classical method, but not unheard of."

"Couldn't really tell you. All I know is he was pretty damn good at whatever he was doing." Her eyes suddenly got wide. "Oh, yeah, I used my Semblance on him. It just… it didn't work."

"Hmm." Cinder rose and ran a few slender fingers through her hair to hide her surprise. "Well, it appears he was head and shoulders above you as far as ability is concerned." A cruel little smirk appeared as Emerald's shoulders slumped. "This is what you get for embarking upon your own little adventures. You two were lucky with Tukson. I suspect you did not find the same fortune with Opher Riese."

"No ma'am," a defeated Emerald replied.

Cinder's expression shifted from the vague shadows of anger to something a little softer. "Are you afraid of him?"

Her shoulders slumped even more. "Kind of. That idiot told Riese our cover story. I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking every time I closed my eyes would be the last."

"You're looking at the situation incorrectly."

"Huh?" Emerald looked up as Cinder bade her to rise. Getting to her feet required no small effort and a few hisses of pain. "I don't… ow. I don't understand."

"You view this place as your grave, when it is instead your shield. No matter how strong he is, attacking us on Academy grounds would be suicide," she explained, striding idly over to the window. Distant rumbles of thunder came and went as rain furiously tapped the panes. "Here, you are safe." Abruptly, her almost-motherly patience ran out; if Emerald's Semblance had failed her against this man, she needed to be sure he wouldn't become a problem. "And as I explained to Mercury, it is here you will stay. Unless I send or accompany you somewhere, you are not to leave this campus. Am I clear?"

Emerald stood as rigidly as her miserable aching would allow. "Absolutely, ma'am."

"Good. Get dressed and come to the dining hall." When Cinder opened the door, however, Mercury was waiting behind it. "What are you still doing here?" she demanded lowly.

He pointed past her and at his gray suitcase. "My umbrella's in here. Have you looked outside?" Then his attention went to Emerald. "Emmy! How you doing?"

"I really should have sent your ass to Stahl's apartment," she muttered with a glare.

"Ah, good. You're fine," he said with a snicker, and proceeded to get what he'd come back for.

He and Cinder departed so Emerald could get ready. The still-howling thunderstorm greeted her as she opened the double doors of their building. Fortunately, they were waiting for her. Huddled awkwardly under the black canopy, they dashed for the dining hall. Upon arrival, they found another, weirder sight: a series of increasingly unrecognizable ice formations on tables at the far end of the hall. Weiss and Professor Ozpin, along with Yang, were walking around and examining them. Only a few other students, most of whom wore Haven uniforms, were present.

The blonde exploded with laughter as Cinder and her associates sat nearby. "A swan?" she gasped between chortles. "Really?"

"This is absolutely a swan!" a livid Weiss fired back.

"It looks like a duck that got thrown into a woodchipper!"

"Of course you would have no idea what constitutes fine art." Weiss turned her back on Yang and smiled up at Professor Ozpin. "Ignore her, please. These sculptures are simply for proof-of-concept purposes."

Even after a sip of coffee, Ozpin couldn't figure out what he was looking at. To him, however, the quality was less important than the logistics. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I don't believe there will be enough room for more than one."

Yang was still immersed in her tour. "Dude, this one looks more like a swan than the actual swan."

Weiss turned away long enough to snap at her teammate. "It's a turtle! I-ugh. Just stop talking. Please." She put on a professional smile before addressing Ozpin again. "I'd be perfectly content with one sculpture, Professor, thank you."

"Come on, Weiss, all we need for this party to be awesome is loud music, fireworks, dancing, and balloons," Yang said as she walked over to them.

The last item on her list didn't jive with the other three. Weiss tilted her head. "Why balloons?"

"'Cause Ruby likes 'em," the blonde explained with a shrug.

Ozpin cleared his throat for attention. "I shall approve one sculpture. We can talk about placement later. Now if you'd be so kind as to clean up?"

"Awwwww, yeah," Yang said with a grin. She raised her Ember Celica-clad fists. A click rang out from each gauntlet as ammunition was loaded into their chambers. "Time to put these suckers out of their misery."

"Don't you dare!" Weiss objected shrilly.

Cinder and company only watched Yang punch one of the sculptures before covertly turning their attention to Ozpin's retreat. He didn't leave through the door they'd used to enter; in fact, he didn't leave at all. Emerald and Mercury were able to track him to one of the massive windows, where someone else was already standing. Both were looking out, and the headmaster's companion had their arms folded. "Not sure who that is," Emerald admitted lowly. "Brown hair. Awful taste in clothes, sheesh," she added, sneering at his sky blue jacket.

Mercury, rubbing his chin, ventured a guess. "No uniform? Eh, probably just someone from Vacuo."

Emerald glowered over at him. "What do you mean just somebody from Vacuo?"

"Qui-" Cinder started to say, only to be interrupted by the noise and chaos of Yang obliterating another sculpture. "Or perhaps it doesn't matter." She even sneaked a look back to see for herself.

"Whatever, I'm hungry." Emerald used her Scroll to check the menu while Yang continued to wreak havoc off to the side. "Glad somebody around here is having fun." She flinched at the shattering noise as another statue was obliterated.

"Yang!" Weiss shrieked, trying to stop the blonde. "Are you insane?!"

She was too busy lining up another punch to pay Weiss too much attention. "Hey, I stopped firing shots. What else do you want from me?"

"I want you to stop being you for five minutes!" the unhappy heiress screeched.

Yang, now finished aiming her fist, snickered heartily. "Why would I not wanna be me?"

Cinder idly watched as another sculpture met its end. "She certainly is... loud."

Mercury grinned at this. "Which one?"

"Take your pick," she replied with a ghostly smirk.

"There he goes," Emerald interjected quietly. Ozpin, apparently finished with his conversation, departed from the dining hall through the entrance at its far end, deploying an umbrella as he went. The person to whom he'd been speaking remained at the window. Her focus returned to the menu. "Oh, wow, they've got tilapia."

"They've got what now?" Mercury tilted his head at her.

"You know, the fish."

He couldn't pass up this chance to needle her with a grin. "How would you know about fish? You lived in the desert."

Emerald snapped her eyes toward him with teeth bared. "I will cut you, smartass." After a few seconds, she managed a tiny grin.

Before Mercury could reply, a blinding flash of lightning from the thunderstorm outside blinded them for a moment. Deafening thunder quickly followed. The lights above went dark. While the students chattered with surprise, Cinder and her team remained mostly quiet. "I wonder which tower that hit," she mused.

Yang, some distance away to their side, felt a need to shout, "I didn't do it! I mean, I think." A few of the students laughed.

The large windows allowed in enough gloomy light to see, but even after their eyes has adjusted, things were still fairly dark. People bunched together, using their Scrolls as light. The devices no longer had signals. A bored Emerald tapped her fingers on the table and sighed. "So much for lunch."

"No kidding. I wish I'd eaten breakfast," said a sudden and familiar, voice from behind Mercury.

Cinder looked up; Mercury had to turn to confirm the speaker's identity. Emerald did neither. Instead she froze stiff and stared ahead with an open-mouthed frown. She knew him by voice alone.

Opher grinned at the back of her head. "Aw, come on. Not gonna say hello?" He regarded Mercury's growing agitation with equal amusement. "Don't worry," he said quietly, indicating the case in his right hand, "I've got to get back to work. I'm just saying hi." Cinder's piercing gaze drew his eye next; he examined her face and tried to figure out her relationship with Emerald and Mercury. "Oh," he muttered, remembering the time Mercury ambushed him in his apartment. "You must be Cinder. Riiiiiiight. Well, you kids have fun."

That was it. Opher put on his hat and left them behind, not even bothering to give them a second look. A quietly stunned Cinder watched him enter the deluge. Given the public setting, she had to mute her reaction for now. "Terrific."

Emerald slumped forward, her hands clasped on the table. Whether she was relieved or in pain proved impossible to tell. "I'm sorry," were the words that came out first, even though she couldn't figure out why. "I mean… uh…"

Mercury gave her a few gentle pats on the back while looking at Cinder for guidance. "Okay. Now what?"

Cinder rubbed at her eyes for awhile as she tried to think. Once she was certain everyone's attention remained on Yang and Weiss, who were arguing again, she mumbled, "This is starting to get out of hand."