The Intriguing Case of Ruby and Red

Chapter 20

Plans and the Art of Conversation

I don't own RWBY. Still getting back into the swing of things with a new chapter.

"Well, Perry, that's the plan," Torchwick said, slamming a chair into the wall of the room he was using as an office to make a loud, violent noise noise. "Your thoughts?"

"There are a lot of potential issues, sir," Perry replied, slamming a mannequin into a crate to make it look and sound like someone had been knocked down into it, "But the real issue will be Ms. Neopolitan."

"I'm well aware of that, Perry," Torchwick noted, tossing Perry a theater makeup kit with a built-in mirror while he continued to destroy things methodically, "Which is why I need you to really sell this."

"What sort of wounds are we looking at?"

"At least one cut above the eye, dealer's choice, bit of a limp, and a few bruises, and favoring your right shoulder, since you're left-handed but I wouldn't know that. As far as they're going to know, you will absolutely despise me after we're done here."

Glynda Goodwitch was not a common sight in Junior's bar, but she had been there in the past, and the memory of that visit was the reason why Junior silently pointed to the end of the bar, where Qrow Branwen was swirling a glass of whiskey that she could tell by the scent as she approached was the cheapest that the bar had.

"Would you like to tell me why you're here?" she demanded, coming to a stop a few feet away from him.

"Cheap booze and tolerable music?" he quipped, but he did not raise the glass to drink. He didn't even seem to have started drinking, yet.

"I can think of at least one better place for you to be," she noted pointedly.

"I can't," he replied, "The place that you're thinking of is better off without me being there. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a good luck charm."

"She wants you to be there," Glynda snapped, "You've been there for so many years now. You're going to leave that glass untouched and you're going to..."

"To what, Glynda?" he asked flatly, "Make her odds of getting through this lower? Make her more likely to die?"

"You have to accept that not every bit of bad luck in the lives of the people you care about is your fault someday," she stated flatly, "Right now, you have someone who needs her father figure there with her."

"What she needs is the best people in the medical field to not be distracted by their equipment shattering in their hands or the doses of medicine getting mixed up."

"Alright," she sighed, "If that's how you want to go about it..." With that, she pulled out her scroll, flipped through a few pages, and stopped on a document. "Sign here, please."

"What is this?" he asked.

"I promised Ozpin that I'd try to talk you into coming back," she said, adjusting her glasses, which caused Junior to quickly and wordlessly pressed a button that lowered the bottles behind him into the secured cabinet below, "This is you saying I tried."

"I'm sensing a 'but' in that sentence..." he mused, nonetheless signing and dating where she'd indicated as Junior pressed a button that illuminated the entire bar in a golden light, which caused the patrons to all quickly make their way for the door.

"Now that the formalities are out of the way," she said, sending a copy to Ozpin before putting her scroll away and reaching for her weapon, "I'll be handling this my way."

"Those sound like fighting words..." Qrow noted with a slight smile, his hand going for Harbinger as theoretically ballistic-proof glass rose to separate Junior, the Malachite twins, and the DJ from the fight that was about to ensue. After the last brawl, Junior had determined it was easier to write off the tables and chairs as a loss and replace them regularly with cheap, but well-made furniture.

"A fight implies there's a chance that you'll win," she responded, "This is a reprimand."

"Big talk from the second-best team leader of our year," he smirked as they both drew their weapons.

And with that, the fight was joined.

Despite herself, Winter was legitimately fascinated by the introspection and the philosophical stances of the members of Team RWBY that she was allowed to witness. They seemed to agree upon the fact that, regardless of where they started, they were determined to become Huntresses in order to help people. All things considered, she wondered if that was why Doctor Oobleck had interrogated them throughout the day. To get them to think on the question through the day. If so, he was much more shrewd than she'd initially presumed him to be.

Idly, she wondered if he had been like that his whole life, or if being a Professor for so long had given him the understanding to plan his lessons in such a way. It was irrelevant, in the grand scheme of things, but it was something she found herself curious about, given her time spent training Soleil and Polendina. It was when Amitola had begun talking with Belladonna that she found out more about the group that they pair had worked with.

"So, when you and your mentor went to go handle that problem with the supplies...?" Amitola prompted.

"There was a dispute with the suppliers," Belladonna remarked, "And we had an argument. He wanted me to do things I wasn't comfortable with, so I decided that I was done with the organization. What about you?"

"At first, I was happy with the direction the organization had been going, but as things went on, the work didn't feel like it was really doing enough quickly enough. I started wondering if we were actually doing things the right way. Some time later, I wound up finding out that you'd... quit, and I realized that I wasn't going to find the answers I was looking for there, so I decided to try my luck as a Huntress. Since Mantle had all my school records, I figured I'd go there to try my luck with Atlas. I've got to say, the vetting process takes quite a while."

"I'll say," Fields noted, "Took almost two months to get the answer back."

"Strange," Soleil mused, "It only took two weeks for them to approve of me."

"What about Penny, Specialist?" Fields asked, "How long did it take for her to be vetted."

"Due to her father's work with the Atlesian Military," Winter stated, going with a half-truth, "She did not need to go through the same process as most Atlesian students entering the Academy."

Despite having said that, she did find it to be strange that this was the case. Perhaps it was just because Soleil was already on a shortlist, much like herself, so her paperwork was fast-tracked.

Before her thoughts on the matter could be fully formed, however, Polendina and Ruby Rose returned with Doctor Oobleck, having secured the perimeter.

"Were there any issues?" she asked.

"Nothing to report, ma'am!" Penny replied with a salute.

"There were no Grimm in our vicinity," Oobleck remarked, "I can assure you that the perimeter is quite secure at this time! Nonetheless, diligence is necessary to survival in any situation, so we shall need to keep watch in shifts through the night, as we all need rest so we can investigate further tomorrow!"

"You know," Professor Polendina noted as he took Amber's measurements, "This is the most sophisticated armor I will have ever devised."

"Really?" Amber asked curiously, "How so?"

She expected a wordy response, as that seemed to be his standard method of talking. Port and Peach had both left to discuss her efforts at creating the blend of Atlesian steel that Peach had suggested for the frame and the armor, leaving her in the room with her uncle Taiyang, Professor Ozpin, who had seemed to be checking for various news articles on his scroll, and Professor Polendina, who often spoke at length, but it was better than silence.

"Well, you see, this one will have a... what is the word... skeleton," he said, "But, unlike the one on another powered armor I designed for someone else, this one is not only to ensure that your armor does not damage your spine, it is also to ensure that your body is protected from various attacks of similar nature to the damage you took to your back. On the whole, it is designed to be a middle ground between the Paladin and the armor in question. It even has an additional shielding system made of Hard Light Dust, which was much easier to procure than you would expect thanks to an acquaintance of mine, who is still the greatest at finding practically anything for the right price. I recall one time when..."

"Nice to know old Silver's still running around," a familiar raspy voice chimed in, causing Amber to gasp and turn to see the man she considered her father enter the room, battered and walking with a slight limp, but clearly sober, "He still have that wooden leg, or has he finally asked you for an upgrade?"

"If he had, would I not be prevented from answering one way or another by Doctor-Patient Confidentiality?" Polendina grinned cheekily as Professor Goodwitch entered the room, looking incredibly smug despite having clearly taken a few blows in the fight, herself. Given that, between the two of them, she was not the one walking with a limp, it was very obvious how they had gotten those injuries.

"How you feeling, kid?" Qrow asked, switching his focus to Amber as Polendina put away his measuring tape and wrote the last of his notes.

"Better," she replied, "You look like you were hit by a truck, though."

"Thrown through ballistic-proof glass, actually" he replied, "But, I'm here for you. Might be in the hallway or somewhere else on the castle grounds if things start to look like luck's going to factor into it, but I'll be hanging around, I promise."

"Glad to hear that, dad," she smiled as Glynda pulled out her scroll to show Ozpin some sort of document saved on it, "Professor's building me a power armor."

"He's what?"