Volume 2 Chapter 16: Quicksilver

AN: No, not the ship.

So, uh… short chapter. I also want to apologize, as I was hoping that we'd be on the dance itself today. Why was I wanting to be that far ahead?

Well, it turns out it's my birthday today. Considering that I prefer giving to getting, I figured I could only reasonably add 'get a good chapter of RWKY' out to the celebrations. Besides, entertaining you lot is gift enough.

So again, my most sincere apologies for not being further ahead in the story than this. I really, really wanted to be on the Dance for today. If there was ever a need for a reason as to why daily uploads are a terrible, terrible idea… this was it.

(Perspective: Kassidy)

Kassidy could do naught but let out a low whistle at Pyrrha's continued domination of the entirety of team CRDL. I mean, honestly, I thought me trashing Russel a couple weeks ago was noteworthy? She's wiping the floor with the guy – literally, I think – while tearing his other three teammates a new rear. I think we can all agree her Semblance is bullshit, but still… I'm supposed to fight against people like her, if I go into the Vytal Tournament? Geez, between that skill, that weapon, that Semblance –

Okay, what the fuck?! Did she just backflip while in midair? Since when did the laws of physics not apply to her?! Almost as if to confirm that yes, she was watching the same thing as everyone else, she leaned over to whisper to Weiss, "Uh, we're watching the same thing, right? Wow, and I thought me beating only the one was impressive."

"Well," Weiss reasoned, "she's not the Invincible Girl for nothing."

Kassidy frowned. "Nobody's invincible." However, as she watched the current 1v4 slaughter going on in the combat arena, there was one nagging feeling she couldn't quite escape from. "Still, didn't I hold my own – for a little bit, anyway – against her during the first couple weeks we were here? I thought I've improved a lot… but I sure as hell wouldn't take my chances against her now."

"Don't forget your handicaps," Weiss reminded. "She'd be holding back quite a bit if she had to fight you. Let's also not ignore that you'd be holding back as well – no pistol, for instance, not to mention, well… when you get really mad."

"I wouldn't want to use the Colossus stuff against her anyway," Kassidy defended. "Still, I guess you're right. Maybe I have more of a chance than I thought?"

Obviously, Weiss had to shoot down her improving mood. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Kassidy," she replied, giving a small smirk. "You wouldn't stand a chance either way. I'm merely suggesting that you wouldn't lose so badly in a practice setting."

"Traitor," Kassidy accused, definitely not pouting in the process. It didn't change the fact that she was losing this argument, though, and there was only one way to make sure she won. Turning to her right, Kassidy entreated, "Ruby, Weiss is being mean to me!"

"And that's the match," Glynda called, conveniently ending the argument right as it had swung back into Kassidy's favor. "Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

While the professor got to work praising and critiquing the match – and oh boy, were there some pretty harsh critiques of team CRDL – Kassidy got to reflecting on the situation regarding the combat classes as of late. With the Vytal Festival so close, the Combat Training class had been relegated to more or less nonstop spars. With anywhere from seven to ten fights per day, everyone who showed up, including the foreign students, was sure to get plenty of experience in a very short timeframe. Well, anyone other than her, obviously. Kassidy hadn't fought ever since her last bout with Russel, using 'recovery' as her excuse thus far. Everyone who knew what had happened understood, and anyone who didn't know what had happened didn't ask any questions. It's been a long week and a half since the time that Councilman Winchester tried to make her disappear, and even if not all of it was nice, Kassidy's pretty sure that she's finally at the point to get back into the swing of things.

"Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match," Glynda announced. "Any volunteers?" Everyone's attention was drawn back to the stage, and Kassidy couldn't help but notice how the professor almost instantly went seeking her out. Her fears were confirmed when Glynda called out, "Miss Smith? You've been rather docile for the past few classes."

Okay, maybe I'm not that ready to get back in the swing of things. Was hoping I could spar out of class for a little –

"I'll do it," a voice called from over her shoulder, unintentionally saving her from having to fight already. Kassidy turned around to find one of her team's new acquaintances putting up a raised hand.

Glynda adjusted her glasses to get a better look. "Mercury, is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent."

Kassidy would have been thankful for the distraction, but then he stood up. She wasn't even sure what him standing up had to do with things, but all of a sudden her instincts started blaring warnings in her mind. Alright, is he too smooth? All this show of trying to pick who he wants to fight… why is this such an issue? Do something, Smith. Don't find out what he wants. Do something do something do it now do it right fu-

"Actually," Mercury had managed to get out, "I want to fight –"

"I'll take him," Kassidy interrupted. Standing up and stretching, she didn't miss how Mercury's eyes widened before he managed to clamp down on his reaction. So he did have something planned. But why make it look like a spur of a moment thing, then? Popping her back, Kassidy added, "You're right, professor, it's been too long. Don't want to get rusty."

"Very well," Glynda said after a pause. "If you two will make your way down here, I can review our… special rules when it comes to Miss Smith's spars."

Before Kassidy could make it out of the row, however, Yang caught the sleeve of her jacket. Poor girl hadn't gotten a break ever since that fateful day, but she's still obviously remained as sharp as ever somehow, and Yang must've figured something was up. "What gives?" she hissed.

"Call it a hunch," Kassidy whispered back. When Yang cocked an eyebrow, Kassidy merely nodded, nonverbally letting her know that yes, it was one of those hunches, the hunches borne from her everlasting battle with her paranoia. Of course, the interaction ended there, as Kassidy had to make it to the dueling stage.

She was about to pick out a training sword, if it weren't for her habit of watching her opponents as they got ready. In this case, it was Mercury taking shotgun rounds out of his boots. Martial artist, huh? Focuses on kicks. Actually, I've been meaning to work on my unarmed some anyway… eh, why the hell not? Should be fun. Deciding against picking up a weapon, she instead strode to her starting spot. Glynda raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't question her decision to go into this unarmed.

"Gotta admit," Mercury commented as he got to his starting spot. "I'm kinda curious what made you jump up like that."

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "I remember a saying along the lines of, 'the best way to get to know someone is to fight them'. And to be honest, even with the amount of time our teams have been spending together, I still don't know you all that well."

With this answer, she earned a shrug of Mercury's own. "Fair enough, I guess. Though… who was it that said that, again?"

"I have no flipping clue," Kassidy admitted.

Mercury actually snorted at that. "Well, I like him anyway." Glynda stepped between them, halting their pre-match banter. After checking to ensure that Mercury was indeed familiar with the rules, she made sure both were ready. Then, she called the match.

Mercury sprinted forward instantly, jumping into a high kick intent on putting a new, boot-shaped imprint on her face. Probably just testing her, from how slow and telegraphed it was; hell, she'd watched him go way, way faster than that when he was sparring with other students. Proving that yes, she could indeed keep up, Kassidy batted it aside with a forearm before ducking and sweeping his leg out from under him. Mercury rebounded quickly, back flipping himself to a safer distance, and they both resized each other up.

When it was clear that he wasn't going to make the first move, Kassidy obliged, initiating the charge herself. Mercury's left leg – definitely favors that left leg of his – came spinning around to pound her stomach in, but she pulled back at the last moment. The followup right roundhouse was caught on her arm, and then Mercury threw a punch at her, obviously still simply toying with her. Alright, you little smug prick. If you don't want to take me seriously, let me give you something to take seriously. Working on the counter she'd developed with Yang, her right arm snapped out to catch his wrist before dragging it further in, pulling him off balance. Her left hand straightened to a knife edge, and she thrust it at his neck, making him lose a fair bit of his breath. Pivoting around, Kassidy put her back to the boy before grabbing his wrist with her other hand and slamming it onto her shoulder as hard as she could in a maneuver that would've snapped the guys' elbow effortlessly were it not for his Aura. Finishing the maneuver off, she pivoted back around, folded his arm over his shoulder, and drug him to the ground, capping things off by driving her knee into his solar plexus.

By the time she backed off, though, he was already back on one knee, coughing his lungs out but otherwise looking more annoyed than anything. However, as if the universe was trying to prove to her that her ability to read emotions wasn't infallible, Mercury shrugged and gave an impressed hum before commenting, "Not bad. Got military in the family?"

"Something like that," Kassidy grunted in return.

"Figured," he replied. "How about I kick this up a notch, then?" Not waiting for her reply, he quickly leapt up into the air and followed through with a drop kick that Kassidy happily danced away from. Despite her ability to dodge that, however, she was woefully unprepared for, upon diving back in to take advantage of his opening, him instantly leaping back up in a veritable cyclone of kicks. She was pushed back a good few feet, rubbing her arm tenderly and being thankful that she didn't catch that boot with her ribs. Mercury was relentless in his pursuit, however, and Kassidy quickly found herself backpedaling from more hurricane kicks. He followed up by leaping into the air and sending a few quick kicks more at her head, which she rolled under. Whenever she'd gotten back on her knees, however, the sight she was greeted to was about the worst she could've gotten. Mercury, having just landed, had shoved his boot right in her face, obviously just about to cock it back for a strike all but guaranteed to knock her out. However, that was literally the least concerning thing about her current situation.

I thought that boot was a bit hard and heavy… forget the boot, though, his whole damn leg is metal! Prosthetics? And why does that –

Kassidy's though process was ended abruptly as her fears were confirmed. Yes, that was indeed a shotgun shell she had spied, and yes, it was indeed currently being chambered into the firing mechanism in his artificial leg. Guessing that it would be fired whenever his kick shot forth, Kassidy took the hilariously short amount of time she had when his leg coiled back to throw herself backwards on the ground. The result was Mercury's leg sailing harmlessly not an inch over her face. Of course, the other result was a very loud bang, and a shotgun shell of what seemed to be wind Dust screamed across the stage before putting a hole in the pillar across the room.

The room was silent for but the briefest of instants, before the match abruptly ended. Kassidy continued to backpedal away from the guy, but was quickly scooped up in a shimmering purple telekinetic grasp. Getting over her surprise quickly and glancing across the way, she could see Mercury, wide-eyed and with his leg remaining extended, with a still smoking boot, held in a similar grasp. The woman behind such a thing stormed in between the two of them, immediately hushing the cries that had rapidly grown in the room.

"Mr. Black," Glynda seethed. "Did I not make it explicitly clear that you were to not to bring loaded firearms of any kind into the arena?"

"I didn't mean nothing, honest!" Mercury defended, hands held up and his voice almost pleading. "You watched me take everything out! There must've been one that had gotten left behind – maybe in the chamber or something. You know I didn't do that intentionally!"

Kassidy made a few quick mental calculations, then decided to take a gamble. "He's right," she said, interrupting Glynda before she could verbally (and probably physically) tear into the boy. "I got a look before it went off. He left one in the chamber by mistake. He didn't do it on purpose." She didn't miss how his eyes locked on hers instantly, which narrowed slightly in the process. There, consider yourself bailed out. You know you owe me one, now. Hopefully a bit of an explanation on that very intentional shot is part of the debt.

Glynda's eyes were searching her in the meantime. After evidently having found what she was looking for, the professor let them both down. Considering them both for a few moments longer, Glynda reluctantly let out, "… I see. However, considering the very reckless, inappropriate, and dangerous breach of the rules, I have no choice but to disqualify Mercury Black from the match. In that case, Kassidy Smith is the victor."

While the professor went over the fight the two had, Kassidy took the opportunity to step next to Mercury's shoulder, who was just a couple steps short of glaring at her. When they were standing side-by-side, she whispered, "If you want, I know a thing or two about improving efficiencies. I could smooth out your microprocessors' code, if you give me the opportunity to work on your legs some."

Unexpectedly, Mercury actually laughed softly at that, and it took him speaking up to realize why. "You do realize what you'd just said, right? About working on my legs?" While she blushed, he hummed in thought for but a moment. "Sounds like a plan. How about after classes are through for the day? My dorm?"

With their agreement made and class having been called for the day, Kassidy elected to wait on her team to come down. Yang found her way to her instantly, and once again they found themselves immediately joined at the hip. With not a small tinge of anger in her voice, her girlfriend asked, "So what the hell was all of that about, K?"

"My hunch bearing fruit," Kassidy answered. "Something's up with Mercury. Not sure what, but I think I've got leverage over the kid, and got myself a way to get more." Deciding to risk broaching the topic, she added, "By the way, Mercury and I are going to be meeting up this afternoon."

"… because?" Yang prompted, almost dangerously.

Kassidy defended, "Nothing like you're thinking." Ensuring that absolutely nobody was close enough to hear them, she whispered in Yang's ear, "His legs are prosthetics. I'm going in on the excuse that I can make them more efficient."

"Why would he hide…?" Shaking her head, Yang turned to face Kassidy fully. "I don't like this, K. I'm coming with you to make sure everything's alright."

Kassidy thought about it for a moment. She couldn't lie; that offer was really tempting. If he was willing to try and take her head off in front of the class, even as an 'accident', what was saying he wouldn't try again when it was just the two of them? But would she be able to grill him as effectively, or even at all, if she brought someone with? In the end, she settled on a compromise. "I think it might need to be just us two if I want to get him to say anything. If… if you don't mind me asking you to stay available, though? Like, wait outside his room or something? If you have stuff to do with the dance –"

Yang cut her off by way of shaking her head. "Consider it done. I have work I can do over Scroll, anyway. But I'm serious, K, this has something rotten written all over it."

"Agreed," Kassidy sighed. "Which is why something needs to be done. At least this way, I'll have you watching my back. I feel safer already."

(Perspective: Cinder)

Cinder watched as that frustrating blonde, the computer genius that was seriously too stubborn to know when to quit while she was ahead, left the room, arm in arm with that other blonde girl. Kassidy, she decided, is quickly turning out to be more effort than she's worth. Deciding to vocalize her feelings, she tersely remarked, "Your little pet project is starting to consume more time and resources than she could offer us, Emerald."

The girl looked appropriately chastised. Keeping her head bowed, she answered, "My apologies, ma'am, I thought she'd be more similar to the Rosettes than she's proving to be."

"If you recall," Cinder interrupted, "We only got the one at the end. We had to kill the other three."

"No thanks to Mercury," Emerald defended.

"Hey, the big guy was gonna sell us out and you know it," Mercury shot back.

"Children," Cinder interjected, causing them both to duck back down. Having quite effectively established that she was not in the mood, she continued, "We're beginning to run low on time and opportunities to change the plan in order to bring her in. I'll give you one more chance to win her over. If you fail to do so, then we will plan for her demise along with everyone else's."

"Yes, ma'am," Emerald responded.

"Meanwhile," Cinder continued, gaze lingering on Mercury. The boy winced automatically, already knowing what was coming. "I would very much like to know what you were possibly thinking with that stunt. You nearly blew the whole operation, you know. How many meetings I needed to have to convince the professors to not have you kicked out. And now, she knows about your legs." Pausing for dramatic effect, she added, "Please, do enlighten me as to your grand scheme."

"W-Well," Mercury stammered. "I knew that she'd be interested in my legs. Either I could take her out then, claim it to be an accident, and have a… somewhat reasonable chance of getting away with it?" He winced again when she simply glared at him. "A-And even if that didn't work, I knew she'd want to find things out. She'd have an excuse to work on my legs. She'd know how to get into them wirelessly, so she'd probably leave herself a backdoor back in. Y'know, to hold over me or something. I… I thought that if we had an example of her code… maybe we could use it ourselves? Or even figure out how to beat her computer?"

Cinder gazed at the wall, content to let Mercury squirm in his chair as she thought. Certainly, the boy's plan had more merit than she had initially thought. Not that it was anything other than the basest and most monumental of foolishness, mind you, but enough to actually be viable. She was actually impressed that he managed to think of that. Still, it had to be impressed upon him the magnitude of his error; they could not afford to take such risks, even for this.

Having made her decision, Cinder returned her attention to the boy. "And this is why we do not let you make the plans. Still, I suppose something can be salvaged from this. Copy the code onto my Scroll, then leave me. I have much to work on, in order to clean up after your mess."

He followed her orders quickly, then both he and Emerald scurried out of the room as quickly as they dared. Her eyes roved over the lines of text briefly, before quickly deciding upon a course of action. Mercury was more right than he let on, after all: that computer of hers – Bob, was it? What an asinine name. – was by far the biggest threat to their continued presence within Beacon, and any advantage they could leverage over it had to be seized upon. Not that it was anything other than almost impossible, as past attempts had shown… the first couple times, their breaches were defeated so quickly that Cinder had wondered if the computer had even noticed, or even if the attacks had occurred in the first place. In fact, loathe as she was to make use of him, Cinder knew of only one person that could even hope to break its security. She absentmindedly wondered how much she would regret this, even as her Scroll made its call.

"Ah, Cinder, come to grovel again?"

"Doctor Watts," she bit out. "I'd have hoped that you would be more mindful of addressing me, especially considering what I have to offer you."

"Have you found something more of that exquisite computer of yours that keeps giving you problems?"

Cinder rolled her eyes. Ever since she had first explained the problem to her colleague, the man had been positively enraptured by the mere idea of such an advanced AI, and had been all but begging her to find out more about it. "As a matter of fact, I have," she purred, working on her Scroll in the process. "What I'm sending to you is a sample of some of its code I managed to… acquire. Now, I'm pretty sure it –"

"Yes, yes, you don't know how computers work, we've already established this, Cinder," Watts interrupted. Cinder had to force down a growl. As satisfying as it would be, she did not want to be on the receiving end of Salem's ire should the good doctor have an accident. After a short moment of thought, he breathed out, "… fascinating. I assume you want me to break its security, still?"

"Naturally," she replied.

"Hmm… this sample you've shown me both should make it easier, and give some hint as to the magnitude of that task," he mused. "I make no promises, but if I can, I shall. I might even be able to modify the Program using just this alone. Thank you, dearest Cinder, for this. I promise it shall be put to good use, no matter what comes of the security issue."

"Of course," she said. Immediately hanging up before the man could irritate her further, she sat forward further, returning to weaving the dress she was working on before the three of them were interrupted. Of course, since she wasn't allowed to simply have a single quiet moment to work in peace, her Scroll gave another notification. She was no longer annoyed, however, when she saw that it was a status update from the Program, informing her of a new point of access.

An android, huh? Well, this just became even easier…

AN 2: Also, Skyrim is fun.

Also also, we have the one-year anniversary of Team Rookie coming up in two months almost to the day. I estimate... about nine more chapters in Volume 2? And... oh boy. Oh boy do I have plans for that. Let's see if I can make things happen now that I've given myself a bit more time to make said things happen.

Coming up next: Preparing for the Dance

Right after these Reviewer Responses.

AgentDraakis: Glad to hear you approve of the chapter. Do not worry, with the material I have planned, while Team Rookie is past the halfway point by now I am nowhere near the end of the RWKYverse. As of right now, I currently have planned: a sort-of prequel, volume 4, sequel, and… a surprise for post-sequel material.

EWR115: Well, as of right now, the Dance is what's in store for the future.

FloriteFlower: Actually… yeah, I can see the need for an M rating for that. Consider it put up. Do not worry, my friend, the Dance is coming up over the course of the next two chapters!