Eclipse
Chapter 41
What Else Are Friends For?
"-I dunno, man, look, let's just wait-" "Nope."
"Sigyn, come on, don't pick the lock-"
"I have a key! OK?! LOOK!"
Reinhardt and Argent stared at their teammate briefly. Her eyes kept flickering, nonstop, as they had for the past week.
"It isn't breaking in when you have a key!" she tossed her hands up, card-key in hand.
"Bitch, look, I know you had a copy made," Reinhardt started, arms folded. "They don't know you have that! And I also know that Stabs McGee in there can yeet a sword like a fucking shuriken - do not break in . They're probably tired and I don't want to be Becca 2.0 ."
Argent wiped his bald head, glancing between Sigyn and Reinhardt. Sigyn's jaw was jutting stubbornly.
"They've been on campus all day, haven't come to see us yet, and they weren't in class! AND the King Service is still being extra shady on campus! I don't need to be Nat to know something is wrong!" Sigyn gestured sharply, concern coloring her typically bubbly voice. "This isn't like Summer! Or the others, it's not!"
"Speaking of, where is Nat?" Argent asked, looking around as if he expected the gunwoman to manifest suddenly. "She's been gone since class ended. Did she say anything to you guys or what?"
Sigyn waved her hand dismissively, turning back to the door.
"She's taking care of some business, she'll be back before midnight, don't ask questions - Anywho!"
"Sigyn, no!"
"Sigyn, yes !"
Reinhardt and Sigyn wrestled momentarily, cursing and pulling hair and poking eyes, before eventually, Sigyn emerged victorious. Argent merely watched, shaking his head in disappointment at his teammates.
She swiped the card key and the door opened with a quiet click. Reinhardt dramatically ducked out of range of the open doorway, expecting a flying sword or something dangerous flinging towards his head. After a long pause, the trio entered the still empty room.
It was clear that their friends had not entered the room that day, let alone that week. No bags on beds, no signs of living, no incense had been burned, no coffee had been made for Qrow - no one was home.
Sigyn tore around the room, hunting for signs of life or of other people entering the room and paused by her sister's bed, squinting in suspicion. She inspected the sheets suddenly as the boys watched their teammate, nonplussed. After a moment she pulled away, frowning.
"Someone tossed the room recently," Sigyn declared, her voice dropping into deadly seriousness. "But they didn't want people to know they did it."
"Really?" Argent stepped closer, trying to see what she saw. "How can you tell?"
"Dad taught us a trick," Sigyn pointed to the corner of the bed, before pulling the corners loose. "To leave little marks on the folded corners on a bedsheet and pillow cases. That way if someone flips your mattress and tries to go through your stuff on the downlow, you'll know. Cuz they won't fold it back exactly right. See these? They're supposed to match up."
"Why bother hiding it, though?" Reinhardt squatted to stare at the marks that Sigyn had revealed. "And maybe Summer was in a hurry and just folded it wrong-"
"She didn't. She didn't make this bed," Sigyn looked around, her eyes sharpening fiercely as she started to inspect the room further. "Everything in here is just baaarely off."
Reinhardt still looked dubious, but Argent was frowning as he stepped into the kitchen. After a moment, he spoke.
"They didn't put the hammock up right," he observed quietly. "See?"
Reinhardt trotted over to his partner and stuck his head into the kitchenette, which was leagues cleaner than their own; but Qrow's hammock had been turned around, and the small piece of old duct-tape he had used to support the anchors had been changed out for fresher tape. Above Qrow's hammock was a small panel that gave access to the air conditioning that cooled STRQ's room as well as their neighbors. The lack of dust build-up there indicated it had been moved.
Sigyn, meanwhile, was burrowing through the drawers in the dorm room.
"YUP. They folded the clothes wrong for sure."
"Yoooo," Reinhardt whistled, his eyes widening. "Did the Service weirdos search their room?"
"If they did? They didn't have a stinkin warrant," Sigyn dropped onto her belly to look under the beds. "Because if they HAD a warrant, they would have been, like, the opposite of sneaky-deeky."
"Well STRQ's still gotta be on campus though, right?" Argent pondered after a moment. "No one has seen them leave. Reinhardt, can you find them? Get some of the drones to help."
Reinhardt cracked his fingers, neck, and what was possibly his toes.
"I need to get back to the Battlestation then, it'll go faster-", Reinhardt spun around, trotting towards the door before slowing.
He cocked his head, listening to something in the hall. He held a hand up, and Sigyn and Argent stilled where they were.
Footsteps.
Argent frowned slowly. Whoever was coming down the hall was alone, but the way they were walking was making the hairs on his neck tingle. He glanced at his teammates.
Sigyn was looking particularly feral and already reaching for Skuld, while Reinhardt didn't have any weaponry on him. Argent looked at the window behind them; outside was a small ledge they could stand on, and a tree they could climb down if needed.
He tapped his partner, grabbing Reinhardt's attention and waving at Sigyn. After a second of hesitation, the trio quietly and quickly opened STRQ's window and climbed out onto the ledge. Sigyn shut the window behind them with her foot, clinging to the outside of the building with her fingers.
The door to STRQ's room opened. The teammates pressed to the side of the building in half dark, trying to keep their footing. They weren't high up enough to be in any real danger, at least with aura, but the ledge was definitely too small for comfort.
Reinhardt's head perked up as he spotted a drone, and the moment it came in range of his scroll, the technopath took it over. The drone sped over to the window and peered inside, transferring it's recorded video to Reinhardt's brain and scroll.
Argent's partner was still clinging desperately to the side of the building, but after a moment his curiosity overcame his fear of heights.
"Yo. Who the fuck is that ?" he whispered softly. "Shit, she's comin over here."
Argent cursed softly, still trying to maintain his balance. He couldn't even inhale deeply without pushing away from the wall.
Sweat beaded on his forehead.
Next to him, Sigyn looked ready to spider crawl through the fucking window and go on the attack. Argent tapped her and shook his head. She made a face.
No, he mouthed soundlessly. Maybe cops.
Sigyn frowned, her eyes amber and difficult. However, after a moment, she acquiesced.
After several tense moments that felt like hours, the person moved away from the window, and quietly moved away.
"Ok. Ok, I think she's gone," Reinhardt whispered.
"What was she doing?" Sigyn hissed, squirreling around to stare inside.
"I dunno, man, she was just… she was staring at me," he muttered slowly.
"You mean the drone?" Argent grunted.
"No she was looking AT me, like through fucking wall - oh shit, we gotta go! GO!" Reinhardt yelped, eyes widening in panic. "Bailout!"
"BAILING OUT!" Sigyn saluted and swan dived towards the bushes below. Argent dropped and rolled onto the lawn, avoiding the shrubbery and catching his less graceful partner out of the air.
"Run!" Argent barked and the trio sprinted away into the dark. When he paused to look back over his shoulder, he could see a figure staring at their scrambling figures in the dark. He whipped around and ran harder than he had in a long, long time.
They had classes in a few meager hours and still hadn't slept; but at this point, sleep wasn't on the itinerary. ARSN currently sat camped around Reinhardt's 'rig' - which he had affectionately dubbed the Battlestation: an impressive amalgamation of hardware that had been expensive and time consuming to construct. The technopath was currently plugged in and 'talking' with every drone he had access to in all of Beacon; which at this point was over two hundred and seventy.
Fortunately, the upper echelons of the tower had been populated by one of Reinhardt's sleeper drones, which he had used to induct the other available drones; and he and the rest of ARSN finally had access to what was going on 'upstairs'.
The King's Service was busy interrogating all of team STRQ and Professor Arc, relentlessly; apparently, they were convinced that the antics that had popped off in downtown the other day - antics which ARSN had heard chatter about. But, as they had suspected, it was more than just some rambunctious driving and lighthearted explosions.
Natalia had returned from her errand at midnight as predicted and was grimly watching the multiple video feeds on the Battlestation's screens, while Sigyn vibrated with nervous energy next to her, several clones roving around the room. Reinhardt focused on one of the people interrogating Summer at the moment, zooming in on her face. Then flipped his attention to Professor Arc's room, which was full of Service people, some of whom were armed to the teeth; and all of whom were desperately trying to pretend they weren't terrified of her.
They were accusing Professor Arc of destroying a secret government facility and killing dozens of government personnel while aiding and abetting an alleged terrorist, and her ex-partner, Nwyfre Donovan.
" Yooo, holy shit, Prof ," Reinhardt cackled electronically from the speakers, his body remaining still as his mind and Semblance darted about inside his equipment. " You fucking madwoman! This is amazing, look at her face! She ain't scared! Ya'll got nothinnnn, you ain't got shit !"
"Dude? Little inappropriate," Argent grunted, nudging his shoulder.
" Sorry, sorry, but look - see that lady? That was the one snooping around in STRQ's room, " Reinhardt focused on the woman again. " Tsk tsk! Bad scary lady !"
Sigyn scooted closer, focusing on the woman's face as she interrogated her sister with another Service person; Summer was, meanwhile, apparently content to draw and ignore the hell out of both of them. She seemed to be doing just fine, in fact, and it was visibly pissing the woman off. After a pause, the woman's eyes flicked up and stared at the drone bobbing in the corner.
"...Rein?" Sigyn started.
" Yea, hold on -"
"You said she was staring at you through the wall, right?" Sigyn continued. "When we were hanging out on, like, the windowsill?"
"... Yeeeess ?"
"Is she? Is she looking at you right now?" Sigyn squinted suspiciously at the woman's eyes. "Cuz I swear? She can totally see you."
Golden irises were focused with hawk-like intensity on the drone's camera.
" How the fuck would she...Uh ," Reinhardt paused. " Hullo ?"
"Aura-seeking Semblance," Natalia deduced, a toothpick hanging from her lips. "With unknown properties. Get out of there."
" I mean, it's not like she can do anything from that distan - FUUUCK!" Reinhardt suddenly screamed, slapping his palms to the side of his head. His aura sparked visibly, taking significant damage as he lost connection to the drone in Summer's room, then Arc's, then Taiyang's, and finally Qrow's.
"Told you," Natalia sighed.
"Shit man, are you ok," Argent checked his partner. "Rein? Buddy?"
"OWW! That bitch!" Reinhardt cursed, shaking his hands out as he readjusted to being slammed back into his physical body. "Ow! Bad lady, bad touch!"
"Did she boot you out of everything ?" Sigyn asked urgently.
"Nnn- No. No, just the drones in her range I guess," he wiped his eyes, having teared up. "Ugh! Talk about famous last words, though, that stung! Like she grabbed me by the nose-hairs and twisted my nuts off-"
Natalia passed him a red cup full of bubbling energy drink, having poured some vodka from her flask into it first.
"Drink."
"Mnnn, me no likey scary lady,-" Reinhardt chugged the beverage with a loud sigh. "Thanks Nat, sorry I'm a dumbass."
"It's ok. You alright?" Natalia inspected the computer screens. "Oh look. You've still got video, too. Not a total loss."
"Huh? Oh yea. Yeaaaa ok," he squinted, shaking it off. "Let's see. This is...outside Raven's room. Which is a little past Arc. Yea, we must be out of scary-lady's range over here. So she can only affect Semblance connections within her range - or maybe the drones are too small and too many to tag all of them. I bet if I was physically near to her, I wouldn't be able to see or connect to anything! But since it's just the drones, she can't hit my entire network - just pick them off when she detects them!"
Argent and Natalia exchanged serious glances, before refocusing on the lonely little drone's footage.
"Why doesn't Raven have a drone in room with her?" Natalia asked, pointing carefully at the screen. "When everyone else does?"
Sigyn made a noise, one of her clones bouncing on one of the beds in an attempt to burn off nervous energy.
"Well the drones are Ozpin's and the school's. I imagine they're in there to make sure that the King's Service doesn't act up and throw anyone around or use Semblance's to force out information," Argent muttered, rubbing his chin. "But why would he..."
"-Hang homegirl out to dry like that, yeaaa? Yea what the fuck, Ozpin? What's he thinking?" Reinhardt groused, taking firmer control of the drone. "There's no cameras in there, no mics, nothing. It's just her and that creepy dude."
ARSN stared collectively at the creepy dude, who was seated across from Raven, leaning on his forearms as the swordswoman apparently totally dissociated from the conversation.
It was….disturbing.
"Hey like, can WE get a drone in there?" Sigyn asked, scooting up next to Reinhardt. "Pretty please? That shit is sus, and I have bad vibes right now."
Reinhardt blinked, before grinning fiercely, already shaking off the pain.
"Oh yea! There will be no bad vibes in this fucking house! Scary lady can't stop me - let me see," he dipped below the surface and dove back into the drones, his body slumping a little in his comfy chair. Argent kept him from tipping over, carefully pushing him back up.
"We need to get you a better chair, man," Argent muttered.
" Yea, yea I know - alright! Let's take a look! In a book! Reaaaaading MOONBOW~ " Reinhardt sang to himself, taking the drone up into the ceiling tiles and into the cramped space above the hallway and individual rooms. " Ooh, it's dusty up here! Mmkay, wiggle wiggle. Wiiigggle wiggle wiggle, oop. Don't wiggle that way. Mmmmk. Vale, I am in position. Permission to launch? "
Sigyn giggled and saluted, sticking her tongue out.
"Fucking seeeend it, dude~"
"Oh my dude, I am sending it ~"
The drone rose up and then dropped through the flimsy ceiling tile and into the room. Dust rained down dramatically around the tough little drone as Reinhardt buzzed cheerfully into the interrogation chamber. The man at the table gave the drone a slightly startled look.
"Heyooo, what's up fucker? How we doing, what we talking about, what are we wearing? Don't mind me, I'm just housekeeping ! Here to, mhmheh heh, take out the trash! "
Sigyn and her clones giggle-snorted, while Argent chuckled.
The aforementioned 'creepy dude' had stopped whatever monologue or interrogation he had had going, his expression shifting from bewilderment to quiet, cunning appraisal. Raven hadn't apparently touched back down to Remnant, and was still staring at the wall across from her.
"Has he been using a Semblance to question her?" Argent asked quickly, his brow wrinkling.
" His ass better not be, cuz I'm about to whoop it - c'mere! I'm here to bully you! Put your fingies close to my blades, trash man! "
"OOoooh trash man! You better look out!" Sigyn cackled, wiggling her fingers. "We're gonna get those fingies!"
" That's right, they're my fingies now, trash man! " Reinhardt hooted, circling the creepy dude.
The creepy dude was watching the drone circle him, but had not lashed out nor offered his fingies as sacrifice; Raven was no longer trying to enter the void, apparently, and was now instead watching the drone cautiously.
Creepy dude smirked, sighed through his nose and stood slowly, collecting his paperwork. After a moment, he spoke.
"Looks like our times up for today," the creepy dude smiled.
He almost looked sad as he stared at her, but a glint of something in his sunken eyes made ARSN collectively nervous as his gaze roved their way.
"Mm. Dangerous," Natalia grimaced.
Sigyn glanced at her partner, eyes flickering a variety of shades.
"We need to be careful," Natalia insisted, as the dead-eyed creepy dude smiled hungrily at the drone, winked, and exited. "Purge all traces we tampered with the drones tonight."
An ominous quiet settled over the room.
"I'll call dad," Sigyn offered after a moment. "The Witchfinger's have to have something on this guy, and we can make preparations if needed. And like, I know dad has to have an idea about what's going on here, since I'm ninety percent sure he was involved."
Sigyn sounded frustrated that she had not been involved herself.
" Yooo, what did you guys do, huh? " Reinhardt chuckled nervously, buzzing closer to Raven, wobbling the drone expressively as he activated it's speaker to talk to her. " Look at the state of Stabs over here - you good, girl ?"
Raven blinked, her face shifting from emotional distance and into recognition at Reinhardt's voice; after a hesitant moment, she smiled in exhausted relief. It was an alien expression on the typically terse swordswoman.
"You alright? We need to come bust you guys out?" Reinhardt asked, his drone circling her. "He brainwash you or something?"
Raven smiled and shook her head looking unusually grateful, but still didn't speak; she gave a thumbs up, but jerked her head warningly towards the one way mirror, apparently concerned they were being watched.
The drone bobbed in acknowledgement. Raven mouthed a quick, silent thank you.
" Hey, what else are friends for?! See you on the flipside, girl, hang in there !"
Reinhardt squirrelled his drone back up into the ceiling and navigated to safety, before tampering with the footage, timestamps and various other sources that give away his antics that evening. Save for perhaps one man, no one would be able to prove they had messed with drones that night at all. However, ARSN still could not collectively dismiss the shroud of disquiet that would trail after them for the rest of the morning.