Chapter 28

"Well, I think I look ridiculous."

Qrow muttered under his breath as he fiddled with the SDC maintenance uniform tie he was trying to put on. Winter sighed and tied it on for him.

"Shut up. If you mess up, you will cause the deaths of hundreds of people." She then grabbed him by the tie and pulled him forward, glaring at him. "If my brother gets even a SINGLE hair on him different from when he went in, you WILL suffer the consequences, painfully."

"Ok, ok. Sheesh." Qrow raised his hands in surrender.

Winter nodded, before letting him go. She turned away to gag from his breath, but Ruby and Whitely saw and started laughing. They were both in casual clothes, Ruby in a white and black dress and a winter coat with Whitely in a black jacket and blue jeans (which he admitted weren't so bad after a few minutes).

Neptune was also wearing an SDC maintenance uniform, which he was styling in front of the mirror. Weiss just sighed at the spectacle, wearing a normal blue dress with a light blue cardigan on. "Just… get over here. Too much and they won't believe you're an employee."

"So the plan..." Ruby spoke up. "Qrow and Neptune will pose as maintenance fixing a broken server. Weiss and Winter will be in the van guiding Nep and Qrow through the building through the microphones while Whitely and I keep watch from outside. "

"Then, after we locate the files with the info, we'll download it to a flash drive, and then get out of there." Neptune took the hat from Weiss and put it on his head.

"Rendezvous at the van on the other side of the block. Whitley and Ruby will cause a distraction in the front if things get hairy." Winter finished. "Let's go."

As they headed out, Whitely turned to Ruby. "How, exactly, are we supposed to create a distraction?"

She shrugged. "Hopefully, we don't have to. Qrow and Neptune have it under control. I think..."

Whitely sighed. "That is a very convincing argument, Ruby Rose."


"Excuse me, sir? I'm going to need to see your ID."

The Business and Management Center guard, an old man with greying black hair, took it from the teenager in the SDC uniform, looking it over. "Jacks Woodburn. That's your name?"

"Yup. I just graduated and this is my first job! Just started last week."

The guard smiled. "I remember my first job as well. Alright, everything's in order. Who's your buddy?"

"Don't mind him." Neptune pointed with his thumb at Qrow, who was leaning on a cart full of equipment. "He's my friend's uncle, actually, and he's the one who recommended this job."

"Alright, you both can go through. Ninety-seventh floor, server room is at the end of the corridor on your right, impossible to miss. Good luck with your new job."

"Thanks." Neptune signalled to Qrow, who pushed the cart to the lift. As the doors shut, they both sighed in relief.

"Thank god that guard was so lazy." Qrow muttered, his voice low in case of voice listeners.

"Or that my powers of persuasion were so awesome?"

"...I'll say the first one."

"You just had to go say that, you old-"

"Shut up." Winter's voice sounded through their earpieces. "Once we get into the server room, you must locate the right port and put in the flash drive. We can't find the information in there, so we're downloading the entire list so we can look it over in base."

The doors opened and they walked through to the server room. Two Steel guards stood at the door, both armed.

Neptune showed his ID. "SDC. We have a fault at one of the servers and we need it fixed by tonight."

The first guard looked over it. "Ok. We'll just check it in."

The second checked with the radio, but nodded them through a minute later. Winter's contacts had scheduled a fake booking for repairs. The two guards opened the door via two key cards at opposite ends of the door, the one on the left purposely a half-second behind the other. He nodded as the door swung open. "Fifteen minutes, we'll check in."

"We'll be done in five." Neptune grinned as he and Qrow wheeled the cart through the doors.

And both their jaws hit the ground.

Half the entire floor had been transformed into a labyrinth of ceiling-high computer servers. Hundreds, if not thousands, were spread out, all beeping and hissing as they generated and saved all the information across the kingdom as well as the rest of Remnant. They could barely see the end of the room, with glances on either direction revealing the same.

"Umm... Winter." Qrow whispered into his mike. "Can you tell us where it is?"

"Line S, fourth row, right side, the server on the bottom. Hurry up."

Neptune looked down the corridor. They could just barely make out the letter S in the distance. "Let's go then..."


The flash drive was inserted and they were halfway through the files, only three minutes to go. Neptune and Qrow had to pretend to be fixing the server because of a security camera located at the end of the row they were working on.

"Just a little more..." Neptune muttered as he merely ran his hands through the inside. Every now and then he'd gesture to Tai, who'd hand him a random tool from the cart.

"This is going too well..."

"C'mon! You should be happy! We're almost done with our mission and one step closer to getting Bronze."

"I just have a bad feeling that things might go to hell soon."

"What are you, the bearer of bad news?" Neptune turned back to the flash drive. "Got it! Let's go."

They packed up the gear while Qrow pocketed the flash drive. They nodded to the two guards outside, and as they opened into the lobby they pushed the cart through the doors.

"Too easy..." Neptune smiled.

"You know, maybe you're right." Qrow relaxed a bit as they walked through the doors towards their van. "We did it-"

"Freeze!"

They both looked up to see three Steel soldiers and ten Steel robots aiming their rifles at them.

"Me and my big mouth..." Qrow muttered as he raised his hands.


"Oh no..."

Ruby and Whitely stared at the scene in front of them.

Qrow and Neptune were being lead towards a van by several Steel guards, while a crowd had gathered, wondering what was going on. Qrow was loudly protesting while Neptune was silent, head down.

"Ok… Ruby, stay back." Whitely pushed his way forward through the crowd, but was stopped by a soldier.

"Sorry, sir. This area's restricted." A soldier told him.

"My name is Whitely Schnee, and I would like to know why two members of my father's company are being detained."

The guard looked back at another soldier, who walked forward. Unlike the first who had an orange armband, this one had a bright red one, indicating he was a sergeant.

"Mr. Schnee, these two snuck into the server room of the SDC files and were rooting around. We're currently investigating what they could have done."

"I would like to personally interrogate them."

"...we can do that for you. Please step to the van, you have one minute."

"Thank you."

"What are you waiting for? Your minute's already started."

Whitely stepped up to the van. Qrow and Neptune were sitting inside, but they looked up when the doors closed. "What are you doing here?" Qrow leaned back.

"I came for what is rightfully mine. What did you take, and I want it back." Whitely opened his palm at them, but he winked.

"Nothing at all." Qrow spoke up, going along with the acting. "Jacks?"

Neptune opened his mouth and spat out the flash drive, before handing it to Whitely. "Nothing else."

Whitley clearly didn't want to take the saliva-covered drive, but he threw away his dignity and grabbed it, putting it in his jacket pocket. "Very well. I hope a more proper questioning with my company will lead to better answers." With that, he opened the door and stepped out.

"They admit to anything?" The sergeant asked.

"No. But if anything has been tampered with, I bet we'll find out soon enough." He replied, before heading off. "Thank you, sergeant."

Whitely went through the crowd to a shocked Ruby. He reached into the jacket and pulled out the flash drive with his finger and thumb. "Take it. You're friend had it in his mouth."

"No way!" Ruby stepped back. "That's gross. You keep it!"

"I can't believe you." He made to pocket the flash drive, but at that moment a hand reached out and grabbed it.

"HALT."

The two turned to see a Steel Robot standing over them, holding Whitely's fist in it's metal hand.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELVES."

"What is this?! Unhand me at once!" Whitely pulled, but the robot's fist just tightened, making him wince. It lifted him up so that he was hanging in the air.

"YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO STEAL STOLEN INFORMATION FROM THE BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT CENTER. YOU ARE HEREBY DETAINED AND THE STOLEN ITEM IS TO BE TAKEN FOR EVIDENCE." The robot then reached for the flash drive in Whitely's hand.

Ruby then sprang to action. With help from her semblance, she shot forward, kicking the robot in the head. It lost it's grip with Whitely and stumbled to the road - before being smashed by an eighteen-wheeler truck.

Said truck lost control. The connector between the cab and the trailer broke. The cab harmlessly span to a stop in the middle of the road, but the trailer flew down the road, over the pavement...

Straight at the van with Qrow and Neptune.

The trailer smashed into the back corner, sending it spinning wildly. Ruby saw Qrow and Neptune flung from the vehicle through the doors, which had been broken from the impact. Qrow grabbed a stunned Neptune, gave Ruby a thumbs up, before running around the corner and disappearing.

The two barely had time to enjoy their small victory when shouts rang out from the soldiers. Ruby grabbed Whitely's arm. "C'mon!"

They ran down the street, while police sirens started to wail across the city.


"You are joking."

Winter was breathing heavily with the radio to her ear while Weiss stared at the screens. Two Atlas soldiers manned the banks of screens and cameras, watching the scene go by.

"Look, your brother's got the drive, pick him up and get him out of there. We'll be back in Atlas territory tonight." Qrow answered.

"This was supposed to be QUIET! How in the world did they find out?!"

"Ma'am." One of the soldiers looked up. "Subjects Rose and White are heading to fifth avenue, they're being chased by several Steel troops."

"Can we get to them?"

"Negative, but if they can lose the soldiers they'll be able to rendezvous at the LZ."

"...fine. Continue surveying their progress."

"Yes, ma'am." The soldier saluted before turning back to the screen. Weiss looked at her sister.

"Can we not help them?"

"No, we were both barred from entry into this territory in the first place." She looked at the screen again.

"But Whitely's out there!"

"He has Ruby Rose with him, they'll be fine."

"...if you say so."

They fell silent as they watched the scene unfold. "Damn it Ruby..." Weiss muttered. "Look after brother for me..."