Weiss had buried her head in her hands as she quietly sat at the edge of her bed.
The mysterious attack in their house just a few days ago had left everyone shaken. Her father, unsurprisingly was furious that someone had sneaked past their defenses. "How will this affect Schnee name" was his natural response, not even showing slight concern for either his daughter, his faithful butler or his esteemed guest general Ironwood.
The general in question had remained around the mansion just in case the attacker had returned. Ironwood was almost certain it had been Nirvana for a fact, since he is the only person that could have known Ironwood was in possession of the portal device, being that he was the one that took it from him.
Weiss sighed as she thought of everything that had occurred just the last few days.
Having Ironwood around certainly made her feel a lot safer, from both the mysterious attacker as well as her father's wrath, who was not too keen on being viewed unsavorily for yelling at his daughter. Ironwood may have helped the Schnee company but it was all in Atlas' interest, not in the company. It was just a symbiotic partnership.
A knock on her door broke Weiss out of her thoughts.
"Come in" she said shortly.
The tall imposing figure of James Ironwood entered through the door, with the same stoic and serious expression as always. "Apologies for intruding Miss Weiss, but I have some news I feel I need to share with you."
Weiss stood up and Ironwood walked towards her, taking his scroll from his belt as he spoke "a few days ago one of my scout ships took this photo of a group of people travelling towards Mistral, Nirvana was among them but I think you'll be shocked who he seems to be travelling with."
He showed Weiss the photo on the scroll and she recoiled in fear.
On said photo she saw indeed the face of the man she had once tried to seduce, Alector Nirvana accompanied by none other than her teammate Ruby Rose and the three remaining members of what was formerly Team JPNR.
Weiss' face was a mixture of shock and betrayal as she looked agasp at the photo on the scroll in complete disbelief.
"What! Ruby…and even Jaune….why are they with him? What is the meaning of this" Weiss asked almost furiously.
"I do not know Miss Weiss all I know is that for some reason he is with them and I do not know the how or why" Ironwood replied.
"He has to hold them hostage, that has to be it" Weiss argued. Ironwood nodded in agreement "very much possible but we do not know for certain. What we do know is where they are heading, which means I can make plans to rescue them and capture Nirvana again. But this however does prove one other key factor which worries me."
Weiss thought for a moment until she realized what the general meant.
"He didn't steal the device…he wasn't here" she said quietly looking down.
Ironwood solemnly nodded.
"Yes it would be impossible for him to be here and already be this close to Mistral. So someone else attacked us…the question then remains who? Who else could have known about the device."
"I don't know general. As far as I know only Nirvana and us" Weiss answered.
Ironwood nodded and turned around "I plan to leave as soon as possible…I will keep you informed off…."
"I'm coming with you!" Weiss yelled interrupting the general.
Ironwood turned around with a surprised expression, seeing Weiss there, as usual the epitome of defiance. "You know I cannot allow that. This could get dangerous" he noted.
"Dangerous! I don't know if you noticed general but I deal with dangerous things on a semi-regular basis. Also….," she said drifting off slightly, looking at the ground.
"Nirvana is personal…he put me through a literal nightmare, I won't allow him to get away with it. Plus my friends are in danger so I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."
Ironwood sighed, placing his head in his hand while keeping his eyes on the ever defiant Weiss Schnee. He knew he had no choice, but also knew that keeping her from anything she wanted meant she would find other ways to get to the bottom of things.
"Fine but I'm not explaining this to your father" Ironwood finally said.
Unknown location…
Fighting through the pain, Leana stood up from her bed, hearing the sound of her body cracking as she tried to stand.
The ever resilient warrior had been hit hard by the hammer of that redhead, and it showed, having been put into the medical bay for two hole days because of the amount of damage she sustained. And now she was here in her room, ordered to be on bed rest until further notice.
"If I see that girl again I will ugh…" Leana winced in pain as she tried to move, her hand instinctively going to her side as the pain stirred through her side.
Even with the extensive medical expertise of the Conduit even Leana had to deal with the resting periods that comes from sustaining injuries the way she did.
A knock on the door, followed by a guard clad in dark grey armor entered.
"Ever heard of asking permission first to enter" Leana scoffed angrily.
"The Supreme Chancellor wishes to see you Miss Incisor" the guard said.
Gritting her teeth, Leana nodded and slowly stepped past the guard as she took the ever familiar road to the chambers of her boss, the ever loving Supreme Chancellor of the Supreme Conduit. Walking past a metal walk bridge overlooking the training grounds below she walked silently, only receiving looks from the many passerby's.
In a few minutes she stood in front of the chambers, two guards stationed outside.
"Leana Incisor reporting, the Supreme Chancellor wished to speak to me" she told them. "Proceed" was the only thing the guard said as he and his colleague stepped aside as the doors opened.
In front of her was a giant tank filled to the brim with steam, as Leana stepped inside of the room and walked towards the giant tank she was greeted with another figure standing there.
"Ah Leana, looking delightful as always" the polite voice spoke. Upon fully entering she saw the source of the voice. Markos Price, one of the newer recruits who had undergone the special training of the Conduit. He was tall, slicked back blonde hair, pronounced cheekbones, green eyes and wearing the standard Conduit outfit, showing off his muscled frame.
"Don't call me that Price" she said angrily, giving him close to a death stare and silently hoping the man would literally drop at the moment.
"Leana, my dear, be polite" a soft voice suddenly spoke.
Leana turned towards the giant tank in shock, in it she saw the silhouette of a figure. A somewhat chubby looking shadow covered by layers of steam. But that voice was unmistakable.
And immediately the woman despite the pain dropped to one knee.
"Supreme Chancellor my apologies…I…did not expect Price to be here" she said, her once vulgar tone now meek and submissive.
"Dear Markos and I were discussing what just occurred on your mission, which reminds me. Markos dear you may leave, I have something to discuss with Leana, privately" the voice from within the tank spoke, the soft almost motherly voice of a woman.
"As you wish Supreme Chancellor" Markos spoke, bowing towards the figure covered by steam, then silently leaving but not before winking at Leana, causing her to frown.
"Such a handsome boy wouldn't you agree?" the Supreme Chancellor spoke lovingly.
"I'm not a fan of….men" Leana replied, still keeping her head down.
"Your mission," the woman spoke up, completely ignoring Leana's remark "it seemed to have ended in a quick and humiliating defeat. Tell me how did this happen my dear?"
Leana looked up towards the figure hiding behind the layers of steam, she could see a hand moving across the women's face, through what seemed to be her puffy hair. She gulped, a feeling of disappointment was seeping through her, the fear of having disappointed her.
"Nirvana has found new allies, people with very powerful weapons and abilities. They caught me off guard, but it won't happen again I assure you. Once I return to that world I will…"
"I have already decided to send Markos to that world instead of you" the Supreme Chancellor told.
Leana's eyes widened as she looked up, quickly standing up, the pain in her side intensifying as she winced. But her eyes were red with fire and disbelief could be read from her expression.
"What? Why? I do not understand Supreme Chancellor."
"Your injuries are too fresh to allow you to attempt to enter that world again my darling Leana, plus considering your recent failure which happened in the span of less than a few minutes I am beginning to doubt if you are the right person for this mission" the woman spoke, almost completely devoid of emotion.
Leana was in wild disbelief. She had never failed the Supreme Chancellor before…not like this, and now she had to be replaced by that walking male model stereotype. Her anger and embarrassment shot through the roof.
"Supreme Chancellor you can't do this. Put me back on the mission I promise I will not fail you again," Leana said as she dropped to her knees in front of the tank "I swear I will not return empty handed, I will find Nirvana and make him pay for abandoning you."
For a while it was silent. Eerily silent. All that could be noted as a sound was the amount of steaming flowing through the tank housing the Supreme Chancellor.
"Well if you insist my dear. Very well I will allow you back on the mission, it just so happens we have gotten some unique Intel" the women spoke.
Leana looked up and smiled "thank you Supreme Chancellor. If I may ask what kind of intel?"
"A signal from that world. Someone contacted us, someone you might know?"
Leana looked at the figure hiding behind the steam layers "who?" she asked. "That information will be provided for you when you return to that world. This mission is off upmost importance Leana, you cannot fail again, do you understand."
Leana nodded and stood up, placing her hand as a salute over her heart.
"I promise Supreme Chancellor Belrus, I will not fail you, I will not disappoint you again" Leana said proudly.
"I know you won't my darling, now continue your mission" the voice spoke, softly and motherly.
Leana nodded and turned around, leaving behind only a mysterious shadow within the confines of the steam that had been building up inside the tank. A dark and eerie shadow of the evidently powerful women in charge.