Ruby could not sleep her first night in New Meridian. She looked left and right at the small living quarters that she and her sister managed to procure in Panzerfaust's house. If she recalled correctly it was a room called the drawing room. Though it was not a studio as much as a cramped corner room with a bar and a few chairs with several windows covering the more hexagonal shaped section of the room. She decided to sleep close to the table after moving the chairs into the surprisingly spacious hallway. Yang who was out cold fell asleep at the bar drinking what she hoped was the concoction she talked about called a strawberry sunrise. It looked like the alcohol bottles were not touched so it was likely Yang did not drink any. She snuck out into the hallway passing a private study that Blake and Wiess bunked in. she eventually made it to the stairwell where she descended toward the first floor. The living room a luxurious battlement of sorts looked as if no one had touched anything there. Filia advised sleeping in here since Blitzer, Panzerfaust's pet tank often patrolled the first floor in a circular motion not minding where it places its treads.
She turned to look toward the house's small dining room where in her shock Filia was already awake though instead of the school uniform she wore she seemed to be in a blue bathrobe she had tied tightly to her waist. She was sitting at the huge table listening to the radio.
"In recent news, no new sightings of the Skullgirl have been reported." The male news caster announced as He cleared his throat. "While this may be a good thing we advise extreme caution as of this time. Current estimates have her estimated strength to be close to full power." Filia turned the radio of before it could continue.
She tilted her head curiously noticing that Ruby was standing at the archway of the room. "Couldn't sleep?" She asked as she looked toward the clock for a second. Ruby nodded still having sleep in her eyes. Filia giggled a little as she got of her chair and made her way to larger arch gesturing for her to follow. Ruby did without hesitance following her into the kitchen she moved a small stool and climbed onto it so she could reach the counter better. "I can't say I blame how you slept. I was like that my first night on Remnant." The tone showed a lot of sympathy. She grabbed a bunch a brown dirt looking substance as she placed it into a white tissue paper. She then placed it into a strange looking device.
Ruby looked at the machine. It looked like a mixer that had the auto whisk replaced by a glass container. On the side two more containers where there on glass cylinder held the white tissue paper as it was placed on top of an empty pitcher looking pot. Filia began to poor water from the sink into one of the pots as Ruby looked at the strange contraption. Eventually the glass jar Filia was filling with water was full and she placed the lid back on moving the nozzle of the machine over the two pots.
"Normally it is less of a hassle to do so I buy it at a diner generally. of course, that was back with the Vacuum brewers not these auto drip ones the rich can afford." She said as she plugged in the machine as she left it alone.
Ruby looked at Filia intently with surprise. "Wait is this thing a coffee machine?" She asked which Filia nodded as she grabbed two ceramic mugs from the cupboard. "This thing is so weird how does it work." Her enthusiasm seemed welcome for the most part.
"WHO THE HELL IS YELLING!?" Samson erupted angrily as he became agitatedly active. He scanned the room noticing Ruby. "Keep it down Red." He growled angrily as he fell back to sleep.
"Sorry." Ruby whispered looking at the device work.
"It's my fault." Filia responded. "I never warned you he can be grouchy in the morning." She leaned in closer to Ruby. "On top of that he was listening to radio reports all night trying to catch a lead to any of our targets." Ruby looked at the sleeping mop she had on the back of her head.
"Must be tough having him around all the time." She said melancholic.
Filia looked back at Samson or what hair she could see of him. "Not always." She responded looked back at Ruby. "True he can be loud rowdy and quicker than Peacock to start a fight. He can be a complete softie. He has watched after me and even protected me from several very dangerous situations. I think he was showing less of a façade on Remnant than here in New Meridian."
Ruby looked at her in disbelief. "He did?" Filia nodded as she heard a buzzer. Filia turned around and grabbed the pot now full of coffee. She filled it to the brim as she handed the cup to Ruby. She took a sip. It tasted terrible, nearly gagging as she quickly took it away from her lips. To her shock, Filia was drinking it straight black. "How?" Her curiosity got the better of her.
Filia looked at the cup in her hands. "Well he was out of sugar and creamer." She responded looking back out toward the distant skyline of the downtown area. She sighed as she looked back at the clock. "The others should be waking soon." She stated as her gaze never left the clock on the wall. "Today I'll take you to a good training area though I have a few small things to take care of I should be back at three."
Ruby looked at Filia curious as to what she must take care of. She generally had an open schedule on Remnant but here she seemed to be stressed as if heading to classes still. "Then I'll join you." She declared with a surprising amount of enthusiasm.
Filia's eyes widened in complete shock at her remark. "I don't think that's a good idea." She began to stammer quickly trying not to slip up on her words. Unaware that a new presence was behind her.
"Why is that?" Yang's voice came from behind with both Blake and Wiess were behind Yang still in their night time clothing. Samson must have woken them up when Ruby began getting excited over seeing the new world's technology.
"It's something a little more personal." She responded having even more defensive stances. Most of the team have not seen her act this way since they first meant her on their first day at Beacon. "Common, were your friends. You can trust us, right?" Yang's voice as loud as it usually was trying to be very outgoing as usual. Though her way of comforting could be equated to the passive aggressive tendency to some Skull hunters she has meant.
Filia's mental barriers she had not had to put up for a while were not ready for the bombardment from her team. She grabbed her arm in a defensive position. "It's because." The others began to crowd her a little "I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL!" She shouted accidently waking Samson in the process.
Samson grumbled as he began to animate. "What now?" He gurgled under his breath as He tried to regain his sight. He glared at Blake and Yang who were in his face still blurry but given their hair color they were easy to make out. "Oh, they are up." He yawned unamused. "Guess it's close to leaving, Kid the coffee still fresh?" Filia nodded as he looked at it. He lazily wrapped his hair around the whole pot as he moved it toward himself dropping the contents into his mouth. "That should hold me till the classroom. Try to keep the volume down later." He said fully awake suddenly.
"Sorry Samson." Filia spoke up calmly. She looked back at her group to her shock Ruby was missing. "Where did Ruby go?" her concern was clearly on the intent.
"Here." Ruby's voice echoed from what seemed to be the guest room marked for Filia. The group chased the voice to the room. Yang barged into the room first in complete surprise. The rest entered only for their eyes to widened dilated on their leader now out of her usual huntress clothes and finishing putting on what seemed to be a New Meridian High School uniform. It was a little big for her given she was slightly smaller than the dimensions the original wearer had. The dress was being supported by a belt that had to be tied in a knot since it did not match Her waist line. She put on her signature cloak as she looked at her team. Enthusiasm seeping from the mouth like a rabid dog. "How do I look?" She asked extremely happy with her decision.
Filia could not keep her eyes away from what she did. "Ruby, I'm warning you know school here is different from the monster hunting training Remnant provides." Concern for her own chances of not getting expelled were showing as fear.
"So?" She seemed very unopposed by this fact. "You saw our schools how bad can this one be?" She began straightening the tie that was mandatory for the uniform. The other members nodded their heads in agreement.
"Let'em join, you tried to warn'em." Samson spoke up finally rather uncaring about it.
Filia sighed in defeat as she slowly gestured for the other three to raid her school wardrobe to be somewhat presentable to the new experience. For the most part it did not go well. Wiess when wearing the uniform looked superficial. She seemed to fit her the most in comparison the others wearing it. Blake surprisingly looked as if she had it on correctly though the clothing did not go with the bow that she often wear to hide her Faunas traits. Yang the uniform was not a comfortable fit on what so ever she was bigger than Filia mean her clothing was going to be a very tight fit on her. The shirt creased a lot and she could not button the top row of buttons. The cuffing sleeves were too tight as the shirt clung to her muscles meaning it had a hard time moving from side to side since it was required to belt the skirt. The skirt was barely usable to a point Yang strapped part of her usual adventure gear on the outside to help hide it a little.
She looked at the four of them. "(How am I supposed to explain this?)" Was going through her mind in annoyance. She sighed heavily as she looked at the clock. "Crap we're late." She shrieked in surprise as she made it toward the door. The other four chased after her in unison since she knew where this place was.
Dashing down the street Filia stopped at crossroad waiting for the other four. "I hope Ms. Fortune is having better luck."
"Honestly, I somehow doubt she is." Samson grumbled as he looked back at the four teammates following them.
New Meridian High.
Ruby looked at the strange three story building that Filia called a school. The place was nothing like Beacon in appearance in fact it looked as if it were just a primary school before joining the huntsmen academy. It was surrounded by maple trees that were missing leaves being close to the winter. Filia took a deep breath before getting Her attention as well as the rest of her team.
"This is New Meridian High." She spoke looking back at the strange building she seemed to be in a state of nostalgia for some reason. "It's not exactly the best school in the world but it is worth seeing."
Yang walked past her as Filia tried to warn them that this place is not like Beacon Academy. In fact, it was the exact opposite of Beacon Academy. It was a large three story building with concrete and brick support. The grass while green was mostly surrounded by an unsavory amount of tarmac most notably on the back of the building. Yang took a step back as two students fell onto the ground fighting each other. One of them swung her bag as a weapon as the other swatted it off course with a tennis racket.
Yang turned back to Filia in shock. "Guess they wanted to become skull hunters." The group looked at her in confusion. "Um, they are what those who hunt the skull girl are referred to." She explained as she approached the school's front doors.
The inside of the school was a very dull looking. Its walls were lined with lockers that looked as if they could barely hold much to begin with. The floors were covered with a monotonous white linoleum that reflected the lighting from rectangular like structures that were in the ceiling. A lot of the students were in the same clothes though each one had a different way of trying to represent themselves despite being in a simplistic uniform.
Yang turned to look at the rest of her team. "Um fellas." She voiced hesitantly "I think we made a mistake." As she gave her thoughts Wiess rubbed her temples in annoyance as Blake and Ruby kept quiet while averting their gaze of unsurprised.
"I tried to warn you." Filia spoke up "Class begins in a few minutes, I tried warning you but at least you can try to book it." She continued as she turned around "You need to hurry before Mrs. Victoria" She was cut off when she accidently bumped into a surprisingly tall woman.
The woman in question was a lot taller than the party she encountered. The most noticeable thing for her was her hair style done up in an upward drill cone and a ponytail. She was wearing a pair of oval shaped eyeglasses that sank low on her nose. The rest of her attire could really be summed up as school teacher. She wore a Gray dress shirt with two sets of buttons going up the clothing hugging tightly to her body. At the shirts collar a bow of sorts was placed elegantly at the center of the restrictive looking uniform. Her skirt seemed be the school's standard length given it looked as if she took dress advice from Filia. The mystery teacher wore very long stockings that went up the entire length of her legs. She looked down with disdain at the parasite infected tour guide for team Rwby. "Before I what?" She asked eyeing Filia to intimidate her.
Filia turned literally a shade of red as she stammered for her words. "MRS. VICTORIA!?" She began to stammer realizing who it was.
"And where have you been?" She closed in on Filia's face so the dead eyed glare would get directly into her eyes. "Missing for an entire quarter? No alerts?" She looked up at the four behind her. "And four strange people that clearly do not attend this establishment. You have some explaining to do missy?"
"Can it Iron Gavel. We ain't done nothing wrong." Samson spoke up only to receive a hard blow to the head by a teaching crop. "OW! Why You" She slammed it down again.
"Detention, Filia for disorderly behavior." She stated as she eyed the other four. "I'm sorry can I help you?" Her military like behavior from nearly a second ago changed. "You must be new here. Come this way" She gestured for them to follow.
Blake, Wiess, and Yang followed without thinking much as Filia slowly got up with Ruby's help. "You okay?" Her tone held a lot of care in it. Filia Gritting her teeth as she got up as Samson spat out a canine like tooth. She nodded as she looked toward a small mirror to restraightens Samson. Ruby stood there watching her do such. "What was the sudden violence surge?"
"The curse of being infected." Filia spoke as she stared coldly into her own red eyes, One of the multiple signs of an infected individual.
"Why was it that way?" She asked still confused.
"I don't know." Filia sighed as she turned to face Ruby. "it was like that before I was infected so I knew the risks doing it." She looked at Ruby's uniform she borrowed and then toward the classroom. "We need to hurry." She said as she began to move toward the class room. "Just follow the fight club to the meeting area. You can't miss them."
ASGL headquarters.
Avian stepped into the lab eight laboratory. His head throbbing from last night. It figures Peacock somehow managed to get more trouble what so ever. He grumbled to himself as his Dragonian friend, Stanley delivered a new pot of coffee to his office. He was hesitant to leave however.
Avian sighed annoyed looking at him. "What is it Stanley?" He grumbled his focus more on his notes.
"It's about Peacock's guests." Avian tilted his head up at him. "Can we trust them?"
Avian shrugged as he leaned back in his chair. "They are a strange bunch." He concluded "Painwheel apparently had help that green haired nut read through the world history." He looked at a monitor that they installed into Painwheel's den as the called it. Surprisingly she was talking to the one named Ironwood. "As for this general well, he looks to bureaucratic for his own good." He the leaned back again looking at the cameras noticing that the third one was missing. He suddenly shot forward looking at the camera feeds. "Where's the third one?" His voice was concerned for the most part.
"You mean Ozpin?" Stanley asked. "He left to track down the quarter jar gang. He seems like a tricky guy."
Avian tilted back in his chair yet again. "The sooner these cads leave the better." He mumbled looking back over Project Shamone. "Hey does something seem off about this one?" He asked handing the file to his shark made friend.
Stanley looked at it curiously before his eyes widened a little. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded answers as he examined the papers. From his reactions, Avian could tell that he was having the same thoughts when he read over the file.
"Makes me kind of wish we did not can Project: Exile." Avian chuckled as he poured coffee into his mug. "All I know if this file tells the truth we are looking at a parasite that can literally alter the infected mentality to such an extreme they become a different person."
Stanly nodded in agreement. "Orders are orders but this is one we will need under extreme lockdown. It's just too dangerous."
"Agreed." Avian concluded looking at it. "Keep it under wraps for now. I am not wanting this project to see the light of day upon completion. Keep it delayed for as long as possible." He ordered as he began running through a list of parasite DNA to find the correct strands. Stanley nodded in agreement as he turned around and returned to the synhedrion.