Chapter 53
Unexpected Adjustments
"You want me to what?"
He wasn't too sure whether he had misheard his boss's orders, or if she had suddenly forgotten why he was on board in the first place. Either way, Roman Torchwick couldn't help but frown at his Scroll, annoyance clearly visible on his face as he stared at the device. In spite of his reaction, however, the criminal kept his attitude in check. On the other end was his illustrious boss, a certain black-haired maniac who was bad news for... pretty much everyone, really. Himself included.
The woman in question was someone outside of Vale, an unknown element in the city's criminal underworld who just decided to show up one day and break their collective legs in a single show of power. Not that he had been present for that demonstration, as Torchwick was hardly someone who drew attention to himself.
Well, he hadn't been, until he was forcibly brought into Cinder's little group. How long has it been now?
Admittedly, he had had worse jobs in the past, and she was passable as far as employers went. Cinder had all the things you could really expect from someone who had strong-armed Vale's underworld: a mysteriously deep bank account, ties to some silly terrorist organization, and even her own band of moronic children. Oh, there was also the whole shadowy plans that she had going on, as well as the 'kill you without a second thought' thing she seemed so fond of, but Roman tried not to think about that so much.
At least she had enough capital to keep him content, which was why he reluctantly did as he was told. And what he had been told to do for the next few months or so was to steal as much dust from the city as he could, and stockpile them in warehouses for some undisclosed plan that she didn't bother explaining. Still, a person like that only had a few uses for that much dust, and since she had the White Fang at her beck and call, Roman had a few educated guesses.
Speaking of the White Fang...
"Why don't you get your mutts to do it, instead?" The orange-haired crook turned his attention back to his boss. For all her covert planning, she wasn't the best at delegation. I mean, when you have an entire group of stupid fanatics at your fingertips, why would you choose to send your only specialist—who, by the way, is your only source of dust at the moment—to scout Beacon of all places? What was he? Chopped liver?
Logic was lost on the woman, as she chose to respond to his quip with a simple glare.
"You have your orders, Roman. Or do I need to reconsider your place in our little organization?"
"Oh, don't worry about that. I already know my place." His voice was sarcastic, but Roman wasn't one to ignore a threat from someone like Cinder, so he quickly gestured behind him, bringing the Scroll up so that the woman could see the rest of the room. Unmarked crates lined the back wall, each container filled to the brim with dust. "And in case you forgot, you already told me to rob half of Vale. You're welcome, by the way."
Cinder's eyes narrowed, but she kept quiet as her gaze shifted to the warehouse floor. She didn't seem that irritated by his tone, which was a win in his book, so Roman merely stood still as he waited for the woman to speak.
"... Yes, I did. Last week." Oh, sure, so his orders are weekly now. Roman resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "However, I've been hearing some odd rumours about Beacon lately, and as 'helpful' as the White Fang have been recently... I believe you're more suited to the task."
"Yeah, I guess those animals can get pretty loud." The criminal was deliberately brazen with his statement, his voice carrying through to the rest of the room. Really, taunting those people was one of the few joys he had in his little assignment, so he always appreciated the chance to get on their nerves. "But I've already got a job, remember? And from what little you've told me, you're on a tight enough schedule as it is. So, unless you've got yourself another thief who's as good as I am—which is impossible, by the way—you're gonna end up behind. And if you do, I'd rather you not blame it on me."
Well, time to ease up on his attitude. The moment he had finished his little statement, Roman noticed his conversation partner's expression darken. You know, with the head-tilted-forward, the sudden scowl, the barely perceptible flare of dust rattling behind her... All that usual stuff.
"I am aware of the consequences of my 'request', Roman... as I hope you are, as well." Her eyes fixed themselves on the rogue, obviously not amused with him. "I'll say it again. You are to investigate the forest near Beacon, not the school itself. If you find anything out of the ordinary, let me know. That is all."
"Alright, alright... I'll get it done. Just don't blame me if you don't have enough dust for whatever it is you're planning."
No point in arguing about it anymore, especially if she was going to get into one of her moods. Resisting the urge to shrug, Roman simply gave the woman a slight tilt of his head, a single affirmative action as she finally closed the call.
Affirmative. Yeah, sure, that's a word. He was not looking forward to this.
The security at Beacon was nothing like the half-baked junk used by stores in Vale's commercial district. Sure, he had gotten passed it once before, but that was in the past. Back then, his name wasn't plastered on the news, and the crazy headmaster wasn't using a probably-illegal amount of hidden cameras. And even then, all he had managed to steal was some stupid pocket watch or something.
But now? Well, let's put it this way. It would be easier to slip into the nearest police station, swap their dust munitions with powdered sugar, and pin it all on the janitor than it would be to get into Beacon undetected.
Huh. Actually, he should probably try that as practice or something.
Either way, it didn't matter. What mattered was that he'd have to find a way to do it anyways. With a sigh, Roman Torchwick turned his attention back to his scroll, slowly flipping through his contacts as he tried to find someone suitably competent enough for him to use as a patsy.
"Hey Ren!"
The sound of his partner's voice broke the young man from his thoughts.
Not that it wasn't a welcome distraction, as the events of the day had long filled the young huntsman-in-training's mind with no small amount of worries. Ren honestly appreciated the solace that his partner's words gave him, as he slowly turned his eyes up to face the young Valkyrie. "Yes Nora?"
"Do you know where Jauney is?" She almost bounced as she asked the question, never one to hold still. As she spoke out, part of her attention was settled on their dorm, her head constantly darting about as she glanced around the room, trying to find their missing leader. "Kali was looking for him, and I promised I'd help her find him!"
Kali... The ghost that their leader had found in the Emerald Forest. It was no surprise that she just one of the many things that occupied Ren's thoughts. Even now, he wasn't quite sure what to feel with regards to the ghost girl. Her arrival was sudden, to say the least, and while she did help out his leader, Ren couldn't help but worry about her presence.
It was understandable, given the fact that she was a ghost. He couldn't even begin to guess what her motivations for sticking around were, and while he couldn't detect any malice from her actions, the green gunman had always felt a sense of... reservation whenever she talked with them. She wasn't exactly keeping them at arm's length, but more than once, Ren had noticed her facial expression shift mid-conversation, suddenly choosing to quiet herself or draw attention away from her words. Still, these awkward pauses might simply have been the result of a difference in culture or conversational habits, since they seemed subconscious moreso than overt.
And even if they weren't, Ren had one more guess on the matter. After all, those shifts in conversation always seemed to occur whenever their blonde leader was within earshot.
Shaking his head, Ren tried to clear himself of those thoughts. Honestly, if his guess was correct, he didn't really need to worry about anything. Well, anything that wasn't related to wondering why an alleged Knight of an ancient kingdom had the same emotional maturity as a teenage girl... Was she a teenage girl in the first place?
A sigh escaped his lips. Better to just stop speculating and be prepared for an actual problem. Pushing the rest of his thoughts aside, Ren turned back to Nora, giving her a slight nod.
"I believe he said he'll be in the Library?" At least, that's what their leader had said an hour or so ago. It was surprising, to say the least, as Jaune hadn't shown much affinity to the idea of independent study. Still, that was where he said he'd be, so Ren simply relayed that information to his partner. "Perhaps you should message him on his scroll."
Ren wasn't too surprised when Nora rejected the idea, shaking her head with exaggerated motions as she shrugged at his words. "Nah, it's fiiiine. I'll just go get him, instead! Library's not too far away."
He could do little but nod, so Ren simply accepted Nora's plan of action, watching with slight bemusement as the spot his partner had been standing at was promptly replaced by a Nora-shaped dust cloud. That visual oddity only lasted for a few moments, however, and Ren soon turned his attention back to his previous thoughts. Well, the subject of his previous thoughts, as he physically turned himself to look at the ghost in question.
"Why are you looking for our leader, if I may ask?" Ren's voice was soft but firm, quickly drawing the ghost girl's attention, pulling her away from current task of examining his team's collective book collection.
"O-oh. Well, I was just... worried about him." He didn't miss the young woman's expression as she broke eye contact, suddenly finding interest in an empty spot of wall. However, Ren wasn't convinced, his gaze not leaving Kali's as he raised a single curious eyebrow. Silence lingered for a moment longer, but whether it was because she noticed his little gesture, or because she actually wanted to speak her mind, the ghost finally continued. "He fights a Crusader, right?"
That... was not what he had expected. At all. The term 'crusader' was definitely not something he would've associated with anything in modern society, let alone his blonde sword-wielding leader. Confusion was evident on his face, as Ren voiced his question. "Pardon? A crusader?"
"Yeah. Slow, deliberate, defensive. He's suited to that sort of combat, right?"
"I suppose so?" Ren wasn't quite sure where the ghost was going with this. He didn't disagree with her analysis, though, as slow and deliberate did seem to describe their leader's fighting style. "I'd also add straightforward and unpolished, though. Why do you ask?"
The ghost nodded at his additions, her face now thoughtful as she stared back at him.
"Actually, that is why I brought it up. I was a concerned with his fighting style. When he was fighting with that bear in the forest, he looked like he was struggling. And during the fight with..." The woman's tone went soft, her eyes suddenly shifting to the floor, no doubt recalling the incident that had rekindled doubt in the Hall monitor.
At least, it had rekindled his doubt, as well as Pyrrha's. He wasn't quite sure how Jaune felt, and he was certain Nora trusted the man so long as he continued to provide her with lightning. Normally, he would've shuddered at the thought, but there were more pressing matters. Ren turned his attention back to the ghost, waiting for her to continue, giving her whatever time she needed to sort through her thoughts.
She took in a deep breath, an action whose curiosity wasn't lost on Ren. Still, he remained quiet as she slowly turned her eyes back up to meet his own.
"... Sorry. During the fight with the other ghost, he didn't look prepared. That's why I wanted to help him, since I still remember my own skills and techniques. But... " Kali gave another slight pause, her voice lingering as her eyes turned away once again. "I don't know too much about the culture now. That's why I wanted to ask: do you think it'd be rude of me to offer to train him?"
Of all the things she was going to ask, Ren certainly hadn't expected the ghost to ask that. He settled his eyes on the translucent woman, unease evident on her face as her blue eyes stared back at him. Was that really all she was worried about? He was good at reading people, and while he wasn't sure how much that applied to ghosts, Ren heard nothing but sincerity in her voice.
Which made Ren think... Would Jaune appreciate something like that?
He tried to be an approachable leader, sure, but the blonde swordsman seemed to think that he had to settle everything on his own. Jaune kept everything to himself: from his struggling academic scores to the bullying from Cardin, his leader had chosen not to ask his team for help with anything. They kept the offer open, of course, with Nora threatening to break Cardin's legs on a regular basis, while Pyrrha and himself offered to listen to any worries he may have had. Yet, he refused it all.
"I'm sorry, but I believe Jaune will take it the wrong way if you offer to train him." The green-robed teenager shook his head, his voice soft as he finally gave his answer. "It's not a culture issue or anything. He just doesn't seem to want anyone to help him."
"But why? Aren't you all friends? You're all supposed to help each other, right?" It was understandable that Kali was confused. Ren couldn't help but nod in agreement as he turned his gaze away from the ghost, settling on the bed of his stubborn team leader.
After all, they were all wondering the exact same thing.
"Yeah..." Ren's voice trailed off, leaving the room in silence for a few moments. Unfortunately, it fell to Jaune to take the first step and open up to them. Until then, they had no choice but to wait. The huntsman-in-training let out a sigh, pushing those thoughts out of his mind as he turned to face the ghost once more. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll open up eventually."
"Alright... If you're sure."
"I am." And he was. Jaune might've been foolish at times, but he was ultimately sensible... as odd as it sounded. Ren knew that he'd eventually open up to them, so he pushed that problem out from his mind. After all, there were a few other things that needed to be cleared up, first.
And a certain floating spirit was one of them.
"... Do you mind if I ask you something, Kali?"
"Not at all! Seeing as how we're team members now!" Her mood brightened considerably as she spoke out those words. The smile she wore reminded Ren of Noram back when his partner had found out that they had been accepted into beacon. "At least, I think that's how it works? That's what the headmaster meant by 'hologram mascot', right?"
Yep. Definitely a few things that needed to be cleared up.
The life of a teacher is one filled with stress.
That much, Glynda Goodwitch could attest to. Not only did she need to balance work for students on an academic level, she was also the responsible for ensuring that those who struggled had an opportunity to improve.
It wasn't that she disliked this particular responsibility; far from it, as she appreciated the opportunity to assist in the development of any student. However, the problem was that there simply wasn't enough staff to even tend to the first year students, let alone the entire student body of Beacon. Not only that, what precious time she had to teach was often cut short by external factors. Some factors were understandable, such as huntress duties, medical emergencies, or safety concerns, but others...
Well, to put it bluntly, Ozpin needs to stop fooling around.
The instructor brought a single hand up to her head, letting out a tired sigh as she massaged her temple, trying to will her growing migraine away. Just what was Ozpin thinking? Passing off the presence of Ms. Kali as a holographic digital assistant? Of Team JNPR, no less? She was quite certain that the headmaster was not ignorant of the mood of the current student population, either. The polarizing public images of Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos was already a source of discontent among the students; couldn't he see how much worse 'assigning' a digital assistant to Team JNPR would be?
And the worst part was that it had to be referred to as an assignment. Holographic digital assistants aren't a real thing, after all, so a state-of-the-art huntsman school was the only logical source of such a device... And even that would still bring up questions. Really, couldn't Ozpin come up with something better?
Rather than consider alternatives, however, the Headmaster had simply chosen to delegate the task of Kali's integration to Glynda. This only worsened her workload, which was compounded by the fact that she no longer had the hall monitor to assist with more mundane tasks. Marking by itself was a taxing job, especially now that she had no teaching assistant; a fact that was lost to Ozpin. Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if Ozpin had completely forgotten that her class had a theory component to it.
To say nothing of the rest of her work. Her other tasks were no easier, varying in terms of effort and scope as the things she dealt with ranged from revising her syllabus for the fifth time, to hosting individual tutorials for struggling students.
So why was it that she was the one in charge of settling Ms. Kali in as well? Couldn't Ozpin take the time to...
...Actually, now that she thought about it, the best course of action for everyone involved would be for her to settle the issue.
Another sigh escaped Glynda's lips, slowly gathering her documents. At least she had a visible course of action; all she needed to do was to convince Ozpin to drop his foolhardy idea, then somehow find an alternative to the ghost girl looking like a ghost.
It was a shame that visible and viable had two different meanings.
A sudden buzz from her Scroll shook the teacher from her thoughts. Just as quickly as she gathered them, she set her papers aside, immediately setting her sights on the small device. After all, the buzz she had heard was reserved for messages from the Academy's security, which meant that this was an important issue that she needed to address... And judging by the message, it was something she needed to address immediately.
'We have a situation on the southern cliffs. Please mediate.'
The fact that the message was terse was already worrying. What made it worse was that it had originated from one of the more reliable people who worked with campus security. That was more than enough to motivate Glynda, and with a speed rivaling Bartholomew, the blonde-haired teacher departed from her office.
It barely took her two minutes to reach Beacon Cliff, which in itself spoke of her capacity as a huntress, given its distance from the academy proper. As she arrived, Glynda could clearly see the telltale uniform of the campus security, as well as the few security bots fielded by Beacon in times of emergency. The fact that they were deployed worried the woman greatly, and she wasted no time in her approach.
One of the security staff noticed Glynda, quickly breaking off from his colleagues as he jogged up to meet with her. She could see the look of concern on his face, his skin almost ashen.
"What's going on here?"
"It's the-... There's a-... We're not trained for this!" Rather than explain, he pointed towards the cliffside, drawing Glynda's attention to the focus of the security team. The teacher wasn't sure whether to be relieved, concerned, confused or annoyed.
"For the last time, I have no quarrel with any of you! I only ask that you bring forth your garrison commander!"
There, floating in the air, hovering two meters away from the edge of the cliff, was the ghostly Royal Guardsman from the Emerald Forest. Making no effort to obscure himself, completely throwing out any chance of keeping his existence a secret.
...Perhaps they had to use the childish hologram cover after all.
Her Scroll buzzed once more, wrenching Glynda away from the disheartening sight. Again, it was the notification sound reserved for urgent messages, so she pulled her attention away from the ghost. For now. Undoubtedly, she'll have to deal with the fallout of this little incident, and somehow convince the security staff to not mention anything to the students.
She'll worry about that later. At the moment, something far more pressing needed her attention. Glynda turned her focus back to her Scroll, her eyes narrowing as she read the contents of her new notification.
'Glynda. Mr. Hall's Scroll signal has reactivated itself. Please travel to the displayed coordinates to confirm. You may take any vehicle you deem necessary.'
It was a message from Ozpin. A very important message, as it contained the location of their latest source of trouble. Already, Glynda was formulating the questions she'd ask of the man, as well as the new list of restrictions they'd have to impose on him. At the very least, it was obvious that the Scholar would not to be trusted with his bag nor any of its contents, until he clearly explained each item and their usage.
The female instructor was in the middle of formulating an entirely new lesson plan for Hall when she finally took notice of the coordinates. Immediately, her previous thoughts were cast aside, replaced with a single overriding question as she read the numbers again and again.
She sent a message to Ozpin to confirm, and received said confirmation moments later. When the confirmation message said that nothing was in error, Glynda changed her methods, sending a a video call to Ozpin to confront him directly.
"Hmm? Yes Glynda?"
Glynda didn't even bother commenting on the fact that Ozpin was currently reading a pile of books that were unrelated to his job. Instead, she kept her gaze level, eyes focusing on the headmaster as she stared at him. "... Are the coordinates for Mr. Hall's scroll correct?"
The headmaster of beacon quickly closed the book, setting it aside as he turned his full attention to the female teacher. His eyes carried none of the usual mirth or lighthearted tone that seemed to permeate from him whenever he was lying.
"Indeed they are."
To say that Glynda was worried would be an understatement.
"And this is not an elaborate prank?"
"Believe me, Glynda. I would much rather it be a prank than truth."
After all, if the coordinates she had received had not been in error, then that meant Hall was no longer on the grounds of Beacon. The scroll wasn't even located within the City of Vale.
"... And you're certain that this signal is from his Scroll?"
"That's what I'd like you to confirm. I'm sure you can understand why."
Of course she understood. According to these coordinates, the Scholar and his Scroll was currently located west of the City of Vale. More specifically, between Vale and Patch.
Three hundred meters below sea level.
