A New god of Remnant
Chapter 13
-Percy-
"Anything?" Ozpin demanded, pacing back and forth, mug held in a tight grip as the Beacon Physicians looked over Pyrrha, both to make sure Percy and Jaune's healing had been effective and to figure out why it had been necessary to begin with.
"We've checked three times." The Physician snapped at Ozpin asked for the fourth time, "Her aura is full, with no signs of having broken recently. There were no drugs in her system or the porcelain shaft so if there was some sort of toxin it's already been dissolved into her system. Added to that, the person who shot her has no aura, given Mr. Arc blew off one of his legs with a single bullet with no resistance met. So, unless her aura was down, she shouldn't have been injured at all."
"It was up, I swear!" Pyrrha, rubbed the new scar on her stomach, the small, raised circle the only sign of her near-death experience "I was using my Semblance and floating the weapons when it…when it hit me."
"Wait…" Percy held up a hand before Ozpin could ask another repeated question, gears turning in his head "Pyrrha, you said that you were using your semblance when it happened yes?" as he thought, he remembered what it looked like whenever his student used her power over polarity. "Pyrrha, do me a favor and float that metal tray over there." Percy nodded to the item "I want to test a theory."
"O…okay?" Pyrrha looked confused but did so, the metal tray showing a faint black outline around it that grew more distinct the longer she the polarity.
"Now, hold out your hand, I'm going to try and prick your finger again." He held up the little tool they'd been using to test her aura's durability earlier, the small needle bouncing off easily with every prior test. This time, as he took his pupil's hand, it brought a tiny drop of blood up to the surface.
"Ouch!" Pyrrha yanked her hand back, a small pout on her lips as she shook the hand, only getting one motion before Jaune took it and checked the small prick.
"I don't get it." Nora leaned in to look at her teammate's hand, head tilted like a confused puppy "The nurse lady just said her aura was fine right now."
"And there isn't anything wrong with her aura." Percy confirmed as he set the small needle aside "It seems to be a facet of Miss Nikos' semblance. Whenever she's using her polarity, her aura shield is gone. Quite possible her aura is now surrounding whatever she's lifting which is why it can't shield her."
"So, I can't use my semblance anymore?" Pyrrha looked displeased at that.
"That's one option." Percy admitted "Or you could train so it won't be an issue in your combat style. Train to try and overcome that part of your semblance so it no longer occurs. Or, and I do suggest this, get actual armor." He pinched the bridge of his nose "You have shown yourself to be a front-line fighter. While you're more agile than your tankier partner, you can still get armor that covers more than a bloody corset."
"You said before your agent made you use that armor set." Jaune stroked Pyrrha's hand, the two likely needing to talk about that kiss when they didn't have their teachers around to cramp their style "Maybe this would be enough of a reason to get him to not raise a fuss?"
"I…wouldn't count on it." Ozpin sighed with a grimace, "I was more concerned about Miss Nikos' health but now that we are seemingly more aware of the situation, I suppose it's best to inform you. When Miss Nikos was checked into the infirmary with her injury, a notice was sent to her family as is standard. They apparently informed her agent who is pushing to get the Vale Council to force a press conference, wanting Beacon held accountable for a student getting injured."
"Are they trying to give Pyrrha more credit and fame or discredit Professor Jackson?" Ren asked, eyes narrowed, and arms crossed.
"Yes." Ozpin gives the emerald monk a flat stare as all of Percy's personal pupils slapped palms to their faces.
"So, what we gonna do then boss?" Coco asked, cocking her hip as she lowered her shades to give him a questioning gaze.
"Simple. We agree to a press conference." Percy shrugged as all his students gaped at him, even Ozpin blinking in stunned confusion.
"…Teacher person say what?" Nora scratched her head as Percy chuckled.
"They expect us to dig in our feet and fight or delay as long as we can. This would give them more time to try and dig up information, construct more dangerous or damning questions, and paint us in a bad light for 'hiding the truth'. By agreeing quickly, we get the conference to happen before they can get the full amount of intel they would want, they don't have time to construct their questions to the careful extent they'd have wanted, and we have the upper hand. Think of that as a lesson when dealing with any opponent that can think. If you can pull of something they don't expect at all then you've just gotten a dangerously effective upper hand to capitalize on."
"Yes sir!" the eight students saluted him with a grin at his little nugget of wisdom, something Annabeth had pounded into his head years ago when she decided to have him use his hyper developed ADHD rather than fight against it.
"Don't salute me, I'm not in the military." Percy rolled his eyes.
"SIR YES SIR!" the eight students, plus the two snarky staff members in the room, all saluted harder.
-Ruby-
"Wathca doin Weiss?" Ruby tilted her head as she sat on her partner's bed, the White haired Atlesian pulling something up on her scroll. On the other side of the room, Yang and Blake were sitting on their own beads, Blake ignoring them all by reading a book while yang was doing…something on her scroll. Given her sister's expression, Ruby was pretty sure she didn't want to know the details.
"I overheard that there was going to be a press conference about a mission some Beacon Teams went on." her prim and proper partner explained, adjusting the Scroll so Ruby could watch too "I was curious who went and what could have possibly warranted the necessity of a press conference"
"Laaaaaaaame!" Yang heckled from her bunk "You really need a life Weiss-Cream!"
"And you need to see a barber for a new dye job, your roots are showing." Weiss shot back, cool expression remaining in place as Yang gave an angry glare for the dig at her hair.
"Hey, the conference is starting." Ruby tilted her head as she saw some of the school faculty step up to the conference table, the curtain being kept open for the yet to come students "Wait team CFVY?! Team JNPR?! Even Professor Jackson's there!"
"Uuuuuuugh, turn that crap off!" Yang scowled, throwing a pillow at Weiss's scrolls only for it to hit a mid-air glyph and fall to the floor with a sad little thud.
"You force us to constantly listen to that utter trash you call music Xiao-Long." Weiss' palm glowed with aura as her Glyph remained in mid-air in case Yang tried stealing Blake's pillow to throw.
"The Achieve Men is not trash!" Yang pointed a finger at Weiss "And at least it has personality instead of that boring Opera stuff you listen to!"
"I'm tryin ta listen!" Ruby yelled before Weiss could retort and continue the argument, wanting to actually hear what sort of mission the group could have gone on to warrant something like this.
"Professor Goodwitch, Professor Goodwitch!" one reporter's voice rings out from the scroll, waving a microphone at the seated Beacon residents "Our source has told us about how you sent students on dangerous missions where injuries took place. What do you have to say to that?"
Ruby would swear that she heard crickets as Professor Goodwitch gave the reporter the single most judgmental stare Ruby had ever witnessed the intimidating professor give "You're asking why students learning to be Huntsmen, accompanied by a Master Huntsman, would be on a mission where potential injuries could and do occur. Students who you happily watch fight in intense arena matches every year with the Vytal festival. Have I missed anything in your…'query'?"
"…No…" the reporter's voice was meek, likely having never been on the receiving end of a Glynda Goodwitch dressing down.
"To give the unclassified specifics of the mission, we were taking down an illegal blood sport ring." Professor Jackson spoke up, "The gang running it were kidnapping random civilians without aura, giving them a single knife or a pistol with a few shots and sent them to fight the Grimm until death." Ruby felt sick at hearing that, revulsion bubbling up into her stomach. She'd been training for years and knew how strong Grimm were, how durable a huntsman or huntress had to be. Someone with no training and not even a drop of aura would have been torn to shreds. "The two teams here in question earned extra training so I selected a mission that complemented their various skills and abilities. We successfully captured the leader for interrogation and arrested the various people who came to enjoy the blood sport while gambling."
"But the injury-" The reporter tried to protest only for Pyrrha to speak up.
"Was healed before we even left the location of the mission." The red haired Mistralian cut the reporter off "I went to the Beacon medical wing as a standard precaution afterwards, to make sure everything healed up correctly. The fact that you people would try to vilify my school, my teachers, over this disgusts me." ouch, given how popular the celebrity was that had to hurt "A sentiment I'll be sharing with my soon to be former agent for doing all this."
"Any other questions?" Professor Goodwitch asked the stunned reporters with a terrifying fake sweetness that made Ruby shudder even through a screen.
"…We definitely need to start training with them again." Weiss declared.
"Not happening!" Yang and Blake snapped in tandem.
"We should also offer areas we can help them too." Ruby nodded to her partner, ignoring the other members of her team "Only fair."
"I said you aren't spending time with them." Yang glowered, eyes flickering red.
"Yang, you aren't in charge of me." Ruby gave a flat unimpressed stare.
"I'm your big sister!"
"And I'm team leader." Ruby's smug response shut Yang up, for now anyway.