Volume 1, Chapter 11

Escalation Part 3


M: +5 D: +6

(14 days later)

Afternoon

"All call-signs, this is Sky: I have possible eyes on the target. Moving in to confirm."

"Acknowledged, Sky. Keep us posted."

"Copy that, Queen. Sky out."

Lee clicked the button to the microphone under his shirt, cutting the transmission, before letting out a soft sigh; he and Neo were once again seated on the patio of a small cafe, this time in a village about a day's drive (or a few hour's flight) out from Vale, near one of the CCT support towers. This allowed the military to station a small garrison here in order to protect both the town and the tower... But the fact that it was so near yet so far away from Vale meant that not many Hunters chose to settle down here, hence why their target had come in to town; the local garrison had several large dens of Beowulves nearby, enough that they couldn't possibly take them on without taking more casualties than the town's defense could sustain. So they had put out the call for a team of Hunters to deal with the issue, to which Summer Rose and two other, relatively unknown Hunters had responded to. That last fact learned just now, as he spotted her signature white cloak traveling in a group with them down the town's main street.

"You ready, Neo?"

Across from him, Neo shot him an amused look, with both eyebrows raised and the corners of her lips pulled just a little bit upwards. She didn't 'say' anything, but in this instance, she didn't exactly need to; her expression clearly said 'are you seriously asking me that?'

"I'll take that as a yes, then. After you, my dear."

"If you insist..."

Of course, Neo's amused tone completely cancelled out the put-upon expression she had donned. And Lee felt comfortable in saying that he knew her well enough to know that she was actually excited for what was about to come... Chiefly, a chance to act like the hyperactive, adorable little girl she appeared to be. Neo's current outfit consisted of a blue tank-top with the X-Ray and Vav logo, and green short shorts. Combine that with her hair, currently pulled into pigtails and dyed so that both sides were brown, her wide, innocent eyes, and her diminutive stature, and it became rather easy to believe that she was about 13 or 14 years old, at best. Lee himself was wearing a pink shirt, this one with 'Donut' stenciled in white across the chest (and oh did he find himself the butt of many a joke a la Mercury), and a pair of brown pants, making himself seem like just another casual teenager. And both were wearing contacts in the same shade of blue. Perfect, for the ploy they were about to deploy.

After their little by-play, Lee turned his gaze back towards Summer, who was now drawing level with them on the opposite side of the street, and forced his eyes to bulge as if in surprise. Neo, playing along, adopted a curious expression before following his gaze... And proceeded to bounce up and down in her seat with barely repressed excitement. With a happily excited grin, she turned back towards Lee and placed her palms together beneath her chin, making a pleading expression.

"You... Want to go say hi?"

Frantic bobbing of the head yes.

"Well... Okay. Go ahead, I'll catch up after I pay for our drinks."

Neo promptly proceeded to squee... Directly into his mind, before taking off at high speed down the road.

"Unnnnnh..." Lee kneaded his temples with his knuckles as he stood up, hoping to alleviate the slight headache he now had while he headed to the cashier to pay their bill.

"She certainly seems like a handful, that one. Ye alright, there, laddie?"

Lee flashed the woman with the Celtic accent the most charming smile he could manage. "She may be a tad excitable, but I can never seem to stay annoyed at her for too long. Could you seriously resist something that adorable?"

The lady behind the register chuckled. "I've two wee ones of my own, ye know, and I cannae help but smile at their antics most of the time. Speaking of which, ye'd better be off laddie, before ye lose track of 'er!"

"Oh crap! Thanks lady!"

And with a genuine panic, Lee shot out of the cafe at top speed, not wanting to lose sight of his 'cousin.' If he seriously lost her, and she had to resort to actually speaking in order for him to find her, he would never 'hear' the end of it. Especially considering she was already planning her revenge for dubbing her Soft Serve over the radios... Fortunately, he managed to just catch Summer's group, now one half-pint larger, heading in to the local inn. Lee double-timed it over there.

.

..

...

"Sooooooo. I'm guessing that you don't speak much."

A quick shake of the head no.

"Neo!"

Half a year ago, Lee would have been panting for breath after even that short run. But half a year ago, Lee had been just another average guy, made lazy by technology and the lack of time to do much else outside of work. But now he was the very picture of fitness, managing to make the trip far quicker and with much more energy left over. More than enough to let out an annoyed shout towards his partner that he didn't even have to feign, seeing as his brain still hurt a little from her earlier mental squee. But he quickly shifted his expression to include relief as he marched over, wanting to convey to all watching that he was simply concerned for her.

"I'm so sorry, Ma'am, I hope my cousin hasn't been causing you too much trou-" Lee froze when he finally saw her face, feigning shock. "-ble? Oh my gosh, you're Summer Rose."

Summer, for her part, seemed a little taken aback, but quickly recovered into a friendly expression, letting loose a chuckle at the situation.

"Yup, that's me! But please, only my students call me Ma'am, and even then only because I have to let them call me something other than my name. But I still don't like it, 'cuz it make me feel old. Either 'Rose' or 'Summer' will do just fine." If Lee hadn't known better, he'd have pegged her as being no older than Cinder based on her appearance and the sheer peppiness she exuded; mid to late twenties at the latest. Hard to believe she was actually in her mid thirties. "Which means you've got me at a bit of a disadvantage, Mr..."

"Sky. Caerulean Sky, Ma- Er, Ms. Rose. But I prefer to go by Lee."

"Lee it is, then. To answer your... question? Nah, your cousin wasn't bothering me at all! In fact..." Here, Summer's expression morphed into a mischievous grin, as she leaned forward to whisper: "Between you and me, she actually sort of made my day. She's been a refreshing change from dealing with Mr. Stoic and Ice Queen over there."

"Hmmph." "Hey!"

"Oh, shush, you know you can't deny that one, Winter."

Lee blinked a little bit in surprise at the sudden proximity, but soon found himself smiling as he took it in stride; he could see why the common people liked her so much, if this right here was a common occurrence when she traveled. Not to mention, he could relate to that last statement almost perfectly, when applied to Mercury and Emerald; sometimes, Neo's unique brand of mute peppiness was the perfect remedy to the migraines some of Mercury's and Emerald's antics could induce... But of course, the opposite ran equally true.

"I know exactly what you mean, Ms. Rose. But don't let her innocent appearance fool you; she is very much an accomplished mischief-maker."

Stood beside him, Neo pouted at the comment. "I'm so going to get you back for this."

Neither of them noticed Summer's other companion, a large man carrying a large axe, suddenly shift his hitherto uninterested gaze from Lee to Neo, now curious.

"Tell her I'd like an autograph, then make an excuse to leave after you've gotten it."

And again, both teens missed the man's gaze narrow in suspicion.

"Oh, I totally get what you mean, I've two girls of my own and while the younger one is just the sweetest little thing most of the time, she just loves to blame things on her sister... Who actually is the culprit often enough that sometimes it's difficult to tell if she's lying. But everything's all good so long as nobody gets hurt, right, Neo?"

To that, Neo beamed, nodding enthusiastically while bouncing on her toes. Lee and Summer both chuckled.

"She's a huge fan, if you hadn't already guessed; absolutely loves anything vaguely resembling super heroes, and according to her you're about as close to the real thing as one can get."

"Oho? The way you speak, it's almost as if you're implying that you don't agree?"

Lee smirked. "Eh, I'm more a Taiyang fan myself. But you're still pretty awesome."

A swift punch to the ribs a la Neo, followed by a pained grunt from Lee, had Summer and her larger companion chuckling... While even the Ice Queen couldn't help but crack a smile. Though, Lee suspected that was more due to his comment than Neo's abuse.

"Well, at least you didn't say Qrow."

"I would still love an autograph though. Not quite as much as Neo here would, but still." Cue the polite smiles and proffered pen and autograph books.

"Yeah, sure, it's the least I can do for you two after brightening my day a little bit.

.

..

...

Alrighty, there ya go. And as much as I'd like to stick around and chat, I had better get going before my companions here resort to dragging me away by force. Stay out of trouble, you two!"

"You too, Ms. Rose! Good hunting out there!"

"Thanks!"

And with one last smile and wave, Lee and Neo turned and walked away, vibrating with an energy that made them seem for all the world like a pair of teenagers who had just met one of their idols. And they maintained this facade all the way down the town's main street and beyond the municipal limits, making their way into the tree line of the surrounding forest.

Once there, the facade abruptly dropped. In Neo's case, she went from being a hyperactive little ball of energy to... A slightly less hyperactive little ball of energy. Neo was Neo, and Neo tended to be amused by just about anything... Bonus points if it was something that someone else would find amusing as well. And, Lee had to admit, her behavior for the last little while had been entertaining. But he himself was frowning; he had confirmed their target, so he now had to report it in. He stifled a sigh while reaching for his mic.

"Queen, Sky. Come in."

"I'm listening, Sky. Go ahead."

"It's her, no doubt about it."

"Good, good, that means we can proceed with the plan."

"Aye, ma'am. Soft Serve and I are headed in right now."

"Very well. I'll see you when you get here."

"You got it, ma'am. Sky out."

Click.


After that, it was a decent walk to our camp in the woods, which probably took us about an hour to complete. Which, I know, seems stupid when Neo could have just teleported us there, but teleporting actually causes a significant drain on her Aura (which is why, after using it 4 times in quick succession, Neo didn't join us for the fight against the Xiongs), and we were in Grimm infested territory; it wouldn't do for her to be tired if the Grimm showed up. It also wouldn't do for me to attract the Grimm with all the negative thoughts I was having, so I forced myself to think of lighter topics, such as planning my next prank on Mercury, or the designs for a new weapon I was working on; my gauntlets had served me well against the Xiongs, but I had quickly decided that it would be a good idea to become proficient with something other than my limbs, allowing me the opportunity to potentially surprise an opponent by switching between fighting styles... But, that's not exactly relevant to the episode I'm detailing now; while that is what I was thinking about, it wouldn't become important for quite some time, so let's move on.

After we returned to camp, we spent a little bit of time filling Cinder, Merc, and Emerald in on Summer and her two companions... But after that, it was just a matter of waiting. At least two of us were on watch at all times, since Cinder had purposefully parked us near one of the Beowulf dens Summer and her companions were here to eradicate. And because we were so close to the Grimm, she had also ordered us to keep things as lighthearted as possible... Which meant we were, rather uncharacteristically, I might add, playing games to pass the time. And it seemed to work, our collective mood seeming to disguise us from the nearby creatures of Grimm... For an entire week. Unfortunately for us, we had chosen what would become Summer and her group's final target for our ambush...


A short chapter, I know, but I couldn't really add too much else to it without it needing to turn into a really long chapter. And I know that some readers find it difficult to keep their attention span on a single subject if it drags on longer than expected, so I figured it would be better to split this chapter. Which, I'll add, has been an absolute blast to write, albeit somewhat difficult; the main challenge has been trying to write for Summer, whom has never appeared except in that one photo, while keeping her believable. This means modeling her personality into someone you could believe raised both Ruby and Yang, and passed on at least some of her personality traits to both. For those of you who decide to review, please please please let me know what you thought of my take on her this chapter, I need to know!

On another note, I've finally reached the point (at least as far as planning the story goes) where Cinder needs to establish herself at Beacon if she's going to become a professor. And since that's what you guys voted for, that's what's going to happen. However, there are still a few variations of how I could have the remaining four get in, which I have created a new poll for, accessible via my profile. It basically comes down to whether or not all four of them will enroll together, or if Cinder will decide to split them up two and two, and in the case of the latter, whether I'll use OCs for Lee and Neo's teammates or the Malachites.

Also, since a certain threshold was both passed and quite frankly blown away with the amount of response I got from the last chapter...

"Vegeta, what's the tracker say about this fic's view count?"

"IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!" *crushes tracker*

You guys are awesome. 2.5k views (in addition to all the follows, favs, and reviews) in less than 48 hours. Thanks fam! xD

-CS