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XXX The Delay in getting this chapter is due to my work schedule. I am looking for work elsewhere. If fifty of my fifteen thousand sign up on P Reon, I won't have to and can get back to weekly or better releases XXX

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Six left the shiny sword and shield, wrapped in his cloak, inside the first storage locker he found outside a classroom down the hall he'd been hiding in after leaving the group in the first place, spending minutes quietly wrenching it open while he stared at his radar and then minutes more making it as invisible as possible, smoothing the dented meta in his hands where he'd pulled it open enough to slide a hand into the locker and use his forearm like a crowbar, The weapon was useful, but it had a shine to it as well that could give him away, and he was unused to the cloak so moving around in stealth in that was a dangerous idea.

His choice in armor coloration at the medical center had been as much pragmatism as stylized, the black and dark red serving well in stealth missions. Which he favored over outright confrontations. The red was more for breaking up the black, so that people didn't see a solid black mass moving out of the corner of their eyes.

Unfortunately that mainly made itself useful against men and aliens, not against the machines that he saw patrolling by as he leaned against an empty classroom's doors, frowning to himself lightly. "Dot, set a VISR ping and look for anything that looks like a networking hub of any sort."

"Of course, Noble Six. One moment, please." He grunted, turning his head slowly to look in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree radius, watching multiple VISR pings go off as he sank to a kneel. Four locations lit up on his HUD, and Dot spoke again, tagging each in turn, "The first location has multiple weak signals coming and going to it, but none appear to be networked to either the cameras you have been avoiding thus far or the droids. The second only has ten signals, all received from outside the premises, however this is likely the call junction being used."

"Meaning that if we're forced to go loud, the alarm might route through there." Six confirmed, the AI agreeing politely. That meant that it had to be a primary target after the droids were disabled. The authorities showing before he'd completed his objectives and exfiltrated could be… annoying, especially when dealing with Ruby later. Killing bandits and killers was one thing. Soldiers and police officers, though?

Not a good idea.

"The third is the largest network, and situated directly above the Headmaster's office. Caution is advised when moving as I am detecting multiple forms with the room that match the analogues of the droids we have seen." After a second, another ping on his HUD came up, this time at the gates, "I am also detecting movement here."

"Bodies?" He asked quietly, turning to look at the wall through which the gate was.

"One, Noble Six." She brought up a zoomed in, and admittedly pixelly, picture. "The analogue appears male and Human, however he does not stand as Qrow does. Likelihood of being an unknown is high."

"Tag it then, and monitor its movements as a possible threat." The zoomed in picture vanished, the distant highlight turning orange - indicating a threat, but one that wasn't actively pursuing him according to his helmet's HUD settings - and he turned back to the door as a trio of drones marched by, "Dot, can you evaluate the level to which these are networked currently?"

"Negative, Noble Six. Were I to interface directly with one of the droids, I could likely ascertain that. However, it is highly likely that they are networked via electronic signals, so there is a significant chance that they lack a direct interface point that would serve our needs." Damn it, if Kat were here she could splice one of their skulls open and do it that way, he was sure of it.

Sighing, he spoke again, "Tag the network junction for the drones then, and make the outbound systems a secondary objective. If we disable the drones, we should be able to move around without concern of raising the alarm in the time it takes to disable that as well."

She accepted the orders, tagging the objectives as Alpha and Beta as he stood, and he ordered another ping on his VISR. Waiting until the next set of white-and-gold armored passed the door, he slowly opened it and slipped out. The halls were punishingly bare of furniture, decorated mostly by small cabinets with display weapons on show and lights hanging in small mini-chandeliers, far more opulent and decorative than hanging candelabras would have been.

Information Dot offered when he had taken note of it, and which he was curious how she knew. The UNSC didn't exactly program their AIs to know about interior decorating, and while ship-bound ones were welcomed to expand their knowledge as they were interested, he doubted she was a ship-bound AI.

The cabinets were too thin to hide behind, and the lighting sources were hanging from the ceiling, so he couldn't hide very easily, from the kindly sparse cameras or the roving droids. The lack of the former was almost certainly thanks to the latter, but it still complicated matters. His HUD lit up as another camera was pinged around the corner, luckily facing away, and he sighed before sliding around the corner tightly and continuing down the hall, ducking into an abandoned and unmonitored closet when several droids popped up on his VISR behind a wall.

This continued for almost an hour, moving at a snail's pace in a crouch, dodging in an out of closets, rooms and so on to evade droids and cameras, and at least once being forced to open a window and climb up onto the next floor. Not even a real difficulty for him, and a short enough route, so he was thankful to Dot for her support in finding a route.

Finally reaching what they had assumed was the drone's control room, he was reaching for the door when Dot spoke, "Noble Six, the office below you has two bodies in it. One is the stranger, and the other the headmaster."

A meeting, then? But what could it be about, if the man had already been present for an hour? He had arrived only a half-hour after Qrow's own meeting, so he doubted sincerely they here agents from the 'Council' here in Mistral.

On a hunch, he knelt, "Dot, sound sensors."

"Yes, Noble Six. Working."

After a moment, his VISR pinged out from himself yet again, bouncing in small circles around the two below him. Then it highlighted their bodies, followed by their skeletal frames and then, last, their hearts and brains popped up in small windows on the left side of his visor, tagged for targeting automatically. A moment later names cropped up up, Lionheart behind the desk and a question mark across from him, sitting in a seat languidly.

"-him that our Huntsmen were too occupied for me to get Council approval, which is true enough. He accepted it for now, but he won't for very long." The headmaster was saying, Six's eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Was that a lie then when he said that to Qrow? No, he just said that was true. But why the worry about Qrow?

"You did very well, considering, Leo." The name changed from Lionheart to Leo Lionheart, adapting new information for him as he received it, and he silently ordered her to start recording the conversation. "Salem will be quite pleased when she finds out, I assure you."

"There's more, Watts." He said nervously, stroking his beard. The question mark replaced itself with 'Watts', in quotation until it could be verified. "Qrow thinks he knows where the Spring maiden is, and if he does-"

"Then we can send someone to retrieve her." 'Watts' stood, clapping his hands, "I take it back, you have done exceptionally well. Your improvisational skills need work, yes, but you managed to get a call out to me and find out some very needed information."

"So the Queen will be pleased then?" He asked nervously, the other figure striding around the desk in a few long strides.

"I believe so, yes." He laid a hand on the headmaster's back, gesturing at the wall to their right, behind the comfortable sitting area, "Shall we? A report must be made immediately, and hearing it from you is best."

He ended the recording, smiling thinly to himself and backing away from the door, "Dismiss the drones, the security network is enough for now." Dot did as ordered,and he began making his way to Beta point in much the same way as he had before, dodging between drone patrols and cameras alike.

Once he reached the room, he walked over to the camera system and drew a small chord from his armored helmet, just above the rightmost camera on his forehead, and jacked it into the computer. "Go to work, Dot. Monitor channels and transmissions, and set up a loop system."

"Understood. Working." After a long minute, she spoke again, "Done. As long as you're in range, we can monitor outbound signals. I am setting a dumb copy to the task, and ordering it to delete footage of you as it is sent out to the monitors. Only the droids are a threat now."

"Are we ready to move?" He asked lowly, receiving a crisp affirmative and yanking the cord free. He returned to the place he'd stashed his weapons far faster, taking the items and leaping over the gate with the aid of his armor's pack. Outside, he settled into an easy and fast lope down the path, away from the Academy and back towards Mistral proper.

He had to get the recording to Qrow.

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Hope you all enjoyed, sorry for the wait, I'll try to get some out faster as Supporters trickle in.