Interlude 1 Chapter 4: A Patchy Situation

AN: Fun fact of the day, original plan was to have Klein come take Weiss. But after thinking about it a bit, I decided that the interactions would be more humorous if Winter came onto the scene.

Speaking of whom, it's time for Weiss to get ferried away to Atlas. From there, Kassidy has a perfectly normal and boring summer vacation as she spends the next three weeks alone in the dorms. Weiss goes home to a loving and caring father, and Ruby and Yang don't cause any trouble at Patch.

… yeah, I couldn't write that with a straight face either. I think you all know the drill by now. Get ready for the only action chapters during this interlude!

(Perspective: Kassidy)

Padding at her face with a hand towel, Kassidy trudged up to the dorm. Normally, she'd shower at the gyms after her workouts. But since she didn't have to compete with Ruby or Yang for the showers, and Weiss was always finished before Kassidy got back, she'd taken to using the dorm's bathroom over the summer.

"Hey," Bob spoke up, "is there still the ban on-"

"Yes, there is most definitely still a ban about lewd and incorrect comments about me and Yang. Seriously, why are you of all people so convinced I'm dating Yang? Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

A dull roar passing overhead drowned out Bob's reply, and Kassidy looked up to see a peculiar airship moving to one of the school's landing pads. Well, that's certainly different. Definitely lacks any sort of aerodynamic features that would actually help it fly. Guess Dust makes these people beyond lazy when it comes to designing things. It's almost like… wait. All white and blue, those are Atlas colors. Gigantic Schnee crest plastered on the side. Big old streamers trailing behind it. Does that mean… Weiss said that she'd be leaving today, but already?! Damnit, I even promised that I'd help her pack, too!

She would've taken off running back to the dorm, but her cardio work that ended an hour back put a damper on those plans; she had just recovered enough to make the walk back. It still didn't stop her from trying to hurry up to the room, and in but a minute she already had Bob unlocking the door as she burst in.

"You dork, what's taken you so long?! Winter called me, she just landed! She's going to be here any minute! And have you not showered yet?!" Weiss was frantically shoving clothes and other effects into suitcases as she paced about the room, all while trying to look as prim and proper as possible. The whole situation was quite amusing, if Kassidy did say so herself.

"Yeah, I just got back from my workout. I don't think either of us expected her to be here so soon. Here, let me help with that." Dragging another suitcase out of the closet, Kassidy was about to reach for the far too many blouses and shirts her teammate had before Weiss slapped her hand away.

"Don't touch my clothes with your dirty, sweaty, stinky hands you dork! Go take a shower, now! She could be on her way here already!"

Kassidy pursed her lips and started to glare at Weiss, but then shook her head and sighed. C'mon, Smith. Weiss obviously looks up to her sister, and with her upbringing of course she'd be high strung. Can't blame her. "Look, Weiss, things are gonna be fine. You're gonna give yourself an aneurism stressing out this much, and that's gonna do Winter a fat load of good."

Weiss planted her hands on her hips and looked at the door. "That doesn't excuse me from having things absolutely perfect. I'm sorry, I don't mean to snap at you, but I need things at their best and you're definitely not at your best by now. If you could just-"

Weiss was interrupted by a knock at the door. Kassidy watched as she went pale before clearing her throat and practically strutting to the door. It opened to reveal what could've passed as Weiss' twin, if the age difference wasn't so obvious. A saber rattled at her hip, and her hair was pulled up in an off-center bun that was nowhere near as tight as her own. Even so, the raw amount of confidence she carried herself with, doubtlessly assisted by a healthy helping of what could only be a genetically-imparted ego, gave off an aura that made Kassidy feel woefully inadequate. For what, she didn't know, but she still felt that way.

Fortunately, Winter's attention was immediately drawn to her younger sister. Or what was her younger sister, as Kassidy was convinced that Weiss somehow got replaced by a Ruby dressed in all white. "Winter, you came! I'm so glad you could make it out here!" After being fixed a glare, however, Weiss shrunk back down and curtseyed. "I mean, you honor us with your presence. Although I must admit you were here earlier than I thought."

"And why is that?" Winter walked around her younger sister and looked around the room, eyes narrowing at the sight of the bunk beds. "I am to bring you back home today. We would need to leave early if I am to do that." Stepping in front of Kassidy, she remarked, "This must be one of your teammates. Miss…"

"Kassidy Smith," Kassidy supplied. "Sorry for the smell, and if I don't shake your hand. Just got back from a workout."

"I see. Greetings, Kassidy Smith. I wish to thank you for taking an interest in my sister. And I do believe I have a gift for you." At these words, a butler that must have been waiting out in the hallway came into the room bearing a white and blue box with the Schnee crest on the lid. Winter took it and handed it to Kassidy. "As payment for assisting us in developing the SDC Heavy Pistol, I've been instructed to provide you with our first operational prototype. I trust it will serve you well."

"Wow… I dunno what to say. Thanks." Taking the box, Kassidy opened it and lifted out the enclosed pistol... well, hand-cannon might be more appropriate. As much as it took from its unintended inspiration, it truly did look like a bigger Desert Eagle. Eleven inches long and nearly weighing five pounds, it was clear the days of hiding her sidearm in the small of her back were gone. The Atlesian white and blue paint job would make concealing it a chore also. Removing the magazine also included in the box, she counted eight Dust-infused rounds. Inserting the magazine and pulling the slide back sent a spine-shivering click through the dorm. There was no mistake about it – this was not a weapon for stealth and subtlety. This was a weapon designed for the express purpose of blowing your head off, and probably the head off the guy behind you.

"I trust it meets your expectations?" Kassidy looked up from ogling her new toy to see Winter taking a bemused interest in her.

"It's certainly different from my old sidearm." At seeing Weiss and Winter's face fall slightly, she hastily added, "That's okay, different is good. Don't get me wrong, the M1911 was and still is an awesome gun. But it wasn't exactly designed to kill Grimm. Boy, once I make some more ammo for this I need to take this bad boy to the range and find out just how badly my wrist breaks."

"Oh, you shouldn't need to procure additional ammunition for at least a little bit." At this point, the butlers had started dragging in luggage carts, and one of them already had a couple boxes on it. Winter explained, "Seeing as you're a Huntress in training, it seemed only natural that you would be using said firearm. Thus, you also have two hundred rounds of ammunition to work with."

"Geez. You guys spared no expense, did ya?" Finally remembering what she agreed to help Weiss with earlier, Kassidy replaced the gun into its box and set the box on her bed. "Alright, what did you need me to pack up for you again?"

"Actually…" Weiss looked down and shuffled her feet. "I appreciate your offer, but I was hoping to spend some time with my sister, if that was okay."

Kassidy got the message immediately. "Oh, kicking me out of my own dorm, I see? Alright then, enjoy your summer if I don't catch ya again. I'll be at the shooting range if you need me."

Kassidy scowled at the target across the range. After blowing through two magazines to get a feel for her new weapon, she could tell that she could maintain pinpoint accuracy to twenty yards. Not great, but it'd have to do. Ensuring everything was properly safed and taken care of, she replaced the gigantic gun on the holster on her hip (which needed slight modification to accept the larger package) and threw the box of ammo into her bag. Wrists are pretty damn sore after just sixteen shots. Not to mention my ears. Gonna take some getting used to… and I'm definitely not shooting this thing one-handed anytime soon.

"Is it safe to assume that your new weapon performs to your satisfaction?" Winter came strolling into the range just as Kassidy was packing up to leave, the clacking of the heels giving her away. Looking up, Kassidy could tell that Winter's shoulders were slightly more relaxed, her posture slightly less forced.

"The gun performs well. My wrists and ears, on the other hand… yeah, I'm gonna need to get used to this."

Winter frowned slightly. "Might be hard to do without Aura." Kassidy perked her head up at the statement, prompting Winter to explain, "I asked Weiss about you. Heard that your Aura is damaged and you can't use it."

"Now that's putting it lightly." Prompting Winter to walk with her, Kassidy left the range and headed back to the dorms. Suddenly, Kassidy split into a grin. "Although, given how much trouble I give her, I sincerely doubt that's the only thing she told you about me."

"She also mentioned that you're infuriating from time to time, and that your Scroll is the bane of her existence."

"I'm sorry, did Weiss 2.0 just call me a Scroll? I swear-"

"Stuff it, Bob. Actually, be polite and introduce yourself."

Winter raised an eyebrow at the proceedings, but Bob interrupted her thought processes. "Greetings, Winter Schnee. I am Bob, an artificial intelligence program. Well, that is actually a bit of a misnomer seeing as I've yet to achieve full sentience, but my conversational matrices should prove more than sufficient to assist you as I can." Her computer missed a beat, then Bob added, "And for the record, I'm not a Scroll, I'm a computer. Sorry, that's a bit of a sore spot for me, but I will not allow myself to be compared to such inferior devices."

"An interesting companion you keep," Winter remarked dryly. "At any rate, I wanted to stop by to ensure that you were pleased with your design, and to thank you for being a friend to my sister. I know that it must have been difficult, what with her upbringing prior to her arrival at Beacon."

"To be honest, I didn't make it any easier." When Winter again cocked her eyebrow – Just how strong must her eyebrow muscles be? – Kassidy stopped and thought how best to explain. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Weiss, that I don't care how much money you have or how powerful your family is. I'll treat you the same as anyone else. You want my respect, you earn it. Now, that being said, Weiss has earned my respect."

"I'm glad to hear it." They came upon the dorm building, and stepped inside. Winter suddenly had a smirk, and there was a twinkle in her eyes. "I believe I also heard how Weiss has been training you in the use of a blade."

Kassidy snorted. "Trying to, at any rate. Not to say that Weiss is a bad teacher, she does a great job. It's more like I'm a terrible student."

"Yes, that was her interpretation as well. It's a shame I can't stay for longer, perhaps you would learn a thing or two from a true swordswoman. Ah, there you are, Weiss. Are you ready to depart?"

"Of course, dear sister." Weiss stepped into a small curtsy. Her butlers drug her luggage racks behind her.

Obviously, Kassidy couldn't let Weiss go without one last ribbing. "Your Dust vials are properly sealed this time, right?"

"Hey, that was Ruby's fault and you know it!"

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night." Kassidy offered a grin to Weiss, who backed down from the argument. Stepping forward to shake her hand, Kassidy said her farewell. "Take care, Ice Queen. If you ever need to be aggravated, I'm sure Bob will be more than happy to accommodate you."

Weiss rolled her eyes with a smirk. "I'm sure he will be. Take care, Kassidy, we'll meet again in a few weeks."

She watched the Schnees leave the building, then trudged up to their room. "Alone again, Bob. What're ya gonna do, not bein' able to antagonize Weiss for a few weeks?"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll manage somehow. If nothing else, aren't Ren and Nora also staying on campus for the summer?"

"Sure are. Alright, I still need to hop in the shower, so I'm gonna to do that. And I swear to god, if you put disco back on…"

"I'm sure it won't – one moment." Kassidy stopped in the middle of peeling off her workout shirt. Bob didn't just interrupt in the middle of his sentences for nothing. If he did, then something came up that required his full resources. Such things never did bode well. "We have a problem. Playing news now."

Letting her shirt fall back on, Kassidy walked back to her desk and picked the tablet back up. The VNN logo played across the screen, then cut away. "This is Lisa Lavender, live on VNN. Breaking news – the island of Patch has just come under attack by the forces of Grimm. The formerly peaceful settlement, which had not seen the presence of Grimm in years, is being besieged by an alarming amount of the monsters. Eye-witnesses report that legendary Huntsmen Taiyang Xiao Long and Qrow Branwen are on scene, along with Huntresses in training Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose, but continue to be pushed back. At this rate, the main village will be threatened in a few hours' time. Reports of Geists on the island have been made, but are yet to be confirmed. Please stay tuned for more info."

Bob snapped off the news report. "Are we going to intervene?"

"Is that even a question? Course we are. Get ready." Going into a full-blown panic, Kassidy threw her combat clothes and effects into her large bag, including all the ammo Winter gave her.

"I might be able to hijack a Bullhead given time, and we could be there in about four to five hours. Unless you have a better idea that I don't know about."

Kassidy couldn't think of one at first, but then she remembered that a friend of hers that should be boarding a larger airship right about now. "Get Weiss on the line. Now!"

"Establishing connection with Weiss Schnee."

"Kassidy? What is it-"

"Stow the pleasantries! Have you taken off yet?"

"No, we haven't, but why-"

"Stay grounded for now, I need a lift!" Weiss started stammering about what in the world was going on, but Kassidy cut her off. "Do you not watch the news, woman? Patch is under attack, and Ruby and Yang need help. You're the fastest ride I've got there."

"Give me a moment." The connection fell silent for a few seconds, though she could overhear a debate occurring in the background. "Get your butt in here. The sooner you get on board, the sooner we can get there. Landing pad three."

"You're helping, too? Actually, you know what, forget it. On my way!" Going into a full sprint, Kassidy made it to the ribboned airship in record time, and leapt aboard to find Weiss and Winter waiting on her. "Got somewhere I can change?"

"Back room, first door on your left." Weiss took a sniff of the air and sighed. "You still haven't showered?! There's one back there too, I'd advise you take advantage of it. We should arrive at Patch in two hours at full speed."

"Alright, Weiss, Kassidy, we're almost there." Winter's saber rattled at her side as she marched to the rear of the craft. "Are you two ready to apply what you've learned?"

"Damn straight," was Kassidy's quick reply. She was entirely focused on fitting her vest with her new ammunition. Her goggles pressed into her forehead, her grappling bracer rested on her forearm, and her new pistol weighed on her hip. With it weighing twice as much as her old sidearm, it would definitely take some getting used to.

"No need to be so crude, Kassidy. But yes, we are." Weiss filled the last dial on Myrtenaster with Dust, then sheathed it at her side.

"Since we've never met before today, I'm afraid I have no idea what your fighting style is, Kassidy." Winter looked at Kassidy, arms firmly folded behind her. "What can I expect from you?"

"She thinks I have a fighting style, how cute." Looking up and seeing Winter's arched eyebrow, Kassidy appended, "Victory by any means necessary. No rhyme, no reason."

Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Don't listen to her, Winter, she doesn't give as much attention to the principle as she should. She likes keeping her distance if she can help it. Hammers enemies with her firearms at range, values stealth and mobility. If things get close, then not only is she not above fighting dirty, that's usually her go-to. Her paranoia also lends herself to paying close attention to her surroundings, so she usually serves as our sort of early warning system."

"I see. Some valuable skills there… and some glaring areas for improvement." Winter tapped at a screen on the wall. This was a luxury airship, after all, so it would stand to reason that there would be monitors for the passengers' viewing pleasure. Now, however, it was showing a top-down view of the main village on Patch. "Your two teammates have been all but pushed back to the village borders. You should focus on assisting them and easing the pressure the Grimm are exerting. Meanwhile, I need to head deeper into the infestation. Taiyang and… Qrow… have managed to get themselves caught in the middle of things, so I'll need to provide them a way out."

The pilot's voice rang out throughout the aircraft. "Madames Schnee, we're approaching the village now. Are you sure this is wise? Our ship isn't designed to be near the Grimm, and you both need to remain safe."

"I assure you, Ferdinand, neither your safety nor our own will be at risk. Just be ready to open the side hatch whenever we tell you to." Walking over to the hatch in question, Weiss flipped her hair and turned to Kassidy. "You can hook up here to descend safely. Considering your complete lack of a landing strategy and all."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up princess. Not all of us have superpowers."

"No, but you do." Weiss smirked at her, then looked out the window. "I can see Yang and Ruby… they're not in good shape. They're being surrounded, and it's obvious they're tired."

"Think it'll be a good time to try out our new idea?" Kassidy hooked up her grapple and stood next to Weiss. Winter stood behind them both.

"You two will do well, I'm sure of it. Now prove that you're Huntresses! Ferdinand, open the hatch!" At Winter's order, the door opened before them. Weiss leapt out first, using a glyph to slow her descent. Kassidy took a deep breath, then took her own leap of faith as the cable trailed out behind her. Winter jumped after, using her own glyph to propel herself deeper into the woods around the village. Kassidy came down to Weiss' side front and center.

"Weiss? K? What are you doing here?"

Weiss didn't even bother to face Yang. "Helping you, you obnoxious oaf! Ready, Kassidy?"

Weiss spun Myrtenaster's dial to ice Dust, and Kassidy nodded. "Snowblind!" Weiss plunged her rapier into the ground, then started slowly releasing Dust even as a glyph spun up under her. Snow started fluttering into existence. Then more snow. Then even more. Then wind started whipping up, and before the Grimm were able to close the gap the four Huntresses were in the center of an artificial blizzard.

Ah, perfect. White-out conditions, can't see my own hand in front of me. Sub-zero temps is making the Grimm slow down. Time to put my new gear to work. Pulling her goggles down over her eyes, Kassidy began to see the world in shades of green, with the Grimm clearly illuminated against the driving snow. Unholstering her sidearm, Kassidy took her stance and braced her arms. A Beowolf had managed to stumble right in front of her, and it was her new pistol's first victim. The gun thundered as a forty-five caliber round travelling at one point three times the speed of sound made the Beowolf's head explode, then continued onward as it painfully lodged itself into a Creep's leg. Kassidy smiled even as it bucked hard against her wrists, trying to fly from her grip. Tightening her fingers around it, she then proceeded to clear out every Grimm in visual range of her goggles.

"I can't hold it anymore! Bringing it down!" The ice storm quickly dissipated as Weiss stopped pouring Dust and Aura into maintaining it. Pulling her goggles back up, Kassidy looked behind her. Ruby was leaning heavily against Crescent Rose, panting and shivering like mad. Yang's eyes began fading from their red hue as her jaw dropped at the display she saw. Weiss was breathing heavily, clearly taking a minute to recover from the exertion.

"That was awesome, guys!" Ruby declared from where she stood. "Phew, thanks, I don't know how much longer we could have kept up. But… what are you doing here?"

Kassidy shot a trio of Beowolves charging at them, then shook her wrists out to try and recover slightly from the soreness. "Bob caught wind of the news. Weiss was on her way up to Atlas anyway, so I decided to hitch a ride and get here fast as I could. We're a team, and I'm not about to leave you two high and dry when I can step in and help."

"Knew I liked ya for a reason, partner." Yang stumbled up and clapped a hand on Kassidy's shoulder. "Been at this for a few hours. Don't think I've ever fought so long before. Seriously, where are all these Grimm coming from? We haven't had an infestation here for nearly a decade, and now there's thousands of these things…"

"We'll work on that later." Weiss had recovered by this point, and twirled Myrtenaster into her signature guard. "Much as I hate to interrupt the reunion, our job's not done yet."

"Weiss and I can hold the line." Kassidy reloaded and aimed down at the approaching wave of monsters. "Grab five, get a breather, take a leak, the usual stuff. We'll cover for you." She was interrupted by some gray-haired dude with a rather peculiar broadsword flying through the clearing and tearing through the line of Grimm. "Or not."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby waved weakly at the newcomer. Winter was quick to strut out of the woods after that display, with a large blonde guy following behind her.

"Heya, squirt, you still doing okay? Sorry for splitting off like that, but we needed to keep the bigger ones off of you."

"Yeah, but you left out how you kept getting yourself into trouble," the blonde guy jabbed. He looked over the two women standing in front of Ruby and Yang, and reached out a hand covered in a gauntlet similar to Yang's. "Taiyang. I'm Ruby and Yang's dad."

Weiss took his hand and curtseyed. "Weiss Schnee."

"Kassidy." She looked over his shoulder and pushed past him to blow out another Grimm's brains. "Sorry if I keep the introductions short, but I've still got a job to do."

"You have no idea," Qrow muttered. Kassidy was about to ask what he meant, but got distracted by the sounds of something tearing through the forest. Something big.

Her jaw would've hit the forest floor if it could, as some strange… thing came bursting out of the trees. Kassidy quickly deduced that this must be a Geist, and she was not happy about it. "Oh, what the fuck is this?! What, the Grimm weren't violating the laws of biology enough already, so we have to deal with magicked-together rock monsters now?"

Everyone behind her traded glances, then Winter shrugged. "As a Huntress, you must be ready for any and all possibilities." Stepping in front of everyone, she drew her saber and stared down the multi-story behemoth. "Weiss said you liked fighting dirty, Kassidy. Show me what you can do."

AN 2: Yeah, right, because Kassidy is TOTALLY going to stand a chance going solo against a walking boulder without Aura, even with her badass new gun. I think Winter is trying to kill my OC off. Also, firearm name confirmed and selected, will show up in I1C7. Surprisingly, I got talked into different names. Yup, the sword's getting a name too.

Anyway, Reviwer Responses, coming right up.

AgentDraakis: Kassidy got tired of his crap.

James: Deductive reasoning is spot on, but wrong on the timescale. Haven't written that far ahead yet, but I'm certain it'll be only a couple chapters before the end.

Matt Cyr: Oh, look, someone else who has access to the Team Rookie Road Map™. Yup, that's gonna happen. By the way, congrats on getting in the 200th review. For such an auspicious occasion, I bequeath… a boot to the head. And another to Jenny and the wimp.

Callahan guy: Unfortunately, no further firearm designs are in the plan. And I do have the plan set for a long while. But I approve of the tracking chip idea (Ren does too). Oh, and thanks for making my research efforts on firearms look like a paltry and wasted effort. Jokes aside, awesome ideas. I do happen to have some ideas in the pipelines I might ask for some insight on, oh thee who is so educated in the ways of things that go boom.

Tykene: Denail ain't just a river in Egypt. Thanks for the compliments. If you don't mind me asking specifically which parts felt stiff, it would really help with future chapters (and there are going to be a bunch of chapters like this).

Baconlord53: Plot twist confirmed.

Nemasis Demarini: Yeah, "Rouge" is a shade of red. Glad to hear you're enjoying the story so far, thanks for the compliments. And don't worry about the long reviews, the more feedback I have to improve the story, the better.

AndJrew76: At that point, I'm pretty sure Weiss was just like "Yeah, you can keep denying it, but we all know the truth." I'll be sure to keep up the good work.

mcd3424: Current plan is 13-15 chapters in total.

ThatTrickyTrickster: Welcome to the madhouse, man! I gotta admit, there's not too much talent to speak of; I like to pride myself on mechanical accuracy, but beyond that it's just knowing where I want to take my story and people apparently liking it. If you don't mind me offering a couple pieces of advice, it would be having an intimate knowledge of your characters (how they react to situations, their thoughts on any subject, etc.) and paying attention to mechanical accuracy. Those are the two big pieces of advice I can offer anyone going into writing; consistency and accuracy is key, at least for me. I'll do my best to keep up the good work, and I wish you the best in your own work.

Chilltexan: Yup, Molotov Cocktail is happening (insert "it's happening" gif here). Thank you for the compliments, I do try my best. And lately kaiju has been keeping me honest with accuracy and making sure I don't have shit ideas. It also helps that I have you guys to call me out on any bullshit that manages to escape.