Tick...tick...tick...
Ozpin's office was silent, save for the constant ticking of Beacon Tower's giant clock. The headmaster stared at his three guests over steepled fingers; Ruby, Sable and Sun sat across the desk from him. It was Saturday morning, and the three team leaders found themselves summoned for judgement before the man in the high tower. Last night had been rather stressful for everyone—Ozpin included, going off the dark shadows under his glasses. The VPD had eventually taken notice of the blocks-long trail of destruction, the emergency calls about a giant robot running around, and the highly visible Penny-laser, arriving as they tried to fish a wet, hysterical Neptune from the bottom of the bridge. After a bit of back-and-forth, Miss Goodwitch had been called to the scene, taken one look at the mess, and nearly dropped dead of an aneurysm on the spot. Once she recovered, Beacon's deputy headmistress had sternly ordered them to go to their rooms, and stay there until told otherwise.
"Uh...sorry we're late." Ruby offered meekly. The silver-eyed girl was trying very hard to fuse with her chair. "I have no idea how that happened." The glow from the mysterious spheres above bathed the entire office in green light, making it look as if everyone were about to vomit. The white-uniformed six-foot-six giant off to the side didn't help matters. Even when trying to look inconspicuous, leaning against that clockwork monstrosity Ozpin called an office decoration, General James Ironwood was difficult to ignore.
"Ruby pushed all the elevator buttons." Sable said bluntly; he sat ramrod-straight and stone-faced in his seat. Ruby began to stammer some sort of denial, before Ozpin raised his hand for quiet.
"You know..." The headmaster took a sip of coffee. "The Vytal Festival is meant to foster cooperation between the schools, but this isn't quite what I imagined." He paused, massaged his temples, and took a larger gulp. "I will admit, it was impressive how you assembled fourteen students from three Academies. Even if your increasingly spectacular acts of property damage are a rather concerning trend."
"So..." Sun tugged at his shirt buttons. At his team's insistence, his abs were fully covered for the meeting, much to the monkey boy's discomfort. "Are we in trouble?"
"That, Mr. Wukong, is what we are here to discuss." Ozpin drained the rest of his cup, poured himself a fresh one, and continued. "There were no civilian fatalities, you'll be glad to hear, thanks in large part to Miss Nikos, Mr. Ren, and Mr. Ayana. And the medical staff informs me that Mr. David will suffer no, ah...long-term impairment." Ironwood grimaced and crossed one leg over the other. "The King Oswald Memorial Bridge took extensive damage, and it'll be closed for repairs until Monday. Traffic is going to be bad this weekend, the Vale Council's not too happy about it..."
"That's the Council for you." Ironwood spoke for the first time. "Sometimes, you've got to make sacrifices to get results, and they—" he stopped himself. "Pardon me." The general turned to the students with a nod of acknowledgement. "Your actions provided us vital information, and for that, you have my personal thanks. It is highly concerning that a criminal was able to obtain prototype Atlesian technology, and I assure you, there will be a thorough investigation." He rubbed the metal plate in his head. "Though, I must ask, was there anything else that stood out last night?"
"Patience, James." Ozpin poured a third cup down his throat. "I confess some curiosity, as to how you were all in the right place at the right time. I recall warning some of you about reckless endangerment last time." He gestured at Sable with the empty mug. "But I don't believe students as bright as you would simply forget that, would you? I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all this?"
"Is this really necessary?" Ironwood interrupted. "Collateral damage is always regrettable, of course, and perhaps they could have been more careful, yes. But it seems your students merely recognized a threat, and acted on it. As Huntsmen ought to." He looked right at Ozpin. "If only more people had such initiative." he added pointedly.
Ozpin ignored his fellow headmaster, sipping idly on cup #4. "As I said, I'm sure you can explain this. I do so dislike punishing promising students, you know."
"Yang and I were at a club..." Sable began.
"Just the two of you?" Ozpin offered him a raised eyebrow and a small smile. Sable's glower might have incinerated a lesser man, but the headmaster was unbothered. "Well, it's none of my business. Go on."
"We got a message about the Paladin, and rushed over to help." Sable continued through gritted teeth. "Same for Jaune, he was working on an assignment, with Weiss. And Blake, uh...she was walking around town with the others and—" he shrugged. "I suppose they just got lucky. Or unlucky."
"Yep!" Ruby nodded along. "There we were, minding our own business, then a robot just ran through a wall, like bam! We had to do something! It was totally wrecking up the street like pow, crash, whrrr...krrr..." The sound effects sent her into a violent coughing fit.
"How fortunate." Ozpin said drily. He poured himself a fifth...or maybe sixth cup. "Doubly so, seeing as few students choose to spend their leisure time in the industrial district." Ruby gave him her best innocent face, though the sweat dripping down her brow somewhat ruined it.
"Oh, that was my idea!" Sun leaned forward, his usual cheeky grin back in place. "Team SSSN just got here from Haven, so Ruby and her team decided to show us around town! Since, you know, they're nice people. And I wanted to check out the industrial district, 'cause I heard it was a real run-down piece of shi...crap, and that reminded me of Vacuo." Ozpin's eyes twinkled, though his mouth was hidden behind his mug. "I tell you what, it looked a lot nicer than Vacuo. You've got a beautiful city, man. Ow!" Sable kicked him. "I mean, Professor Ozpin. Sir."
"What are you doing, Ozpin?" Ironwood walked up to the desk, brow furrowed. "We questioned the White Fang members from that warehouse, you know perfectly well—" Ruby squeaked like a dying chipmunk. Ozpin grunted softly and twitched his right hand; the commander-in-chief of the world's largest army fell silent like a chastised schoolboy.
Sun's grin only grew wider. "Well, I've got no idea what they told you, but I wouldn't trust what a bunch of terrorists have to say. Besides, they've probably got head trauma." He knocked on his own head for emphasis. "Uh...they might, anyways. Not like I know what happened to them."
Ozpin let out a series of loud coughs that sounded suspiciously like laughter. "Well, that satisfies my curiosity. I see no evidence of anything besides a happy coincidence." Sun threw up the finger guns; Sable facepalmed; Ruby's head smacked the table in relief. "I think ought to put the matter behind us, since it's unlikely to happen again. Wouldn't you say?"
"Of course." Sable said stiffly. He locked eyes with Ironwood. The two Atlesians tried to hold a nonverbal conversation consisting solely of incredulous head-shakes and disapproving looks.
"Yep!" By this point, Ruby looked fresh out of the shower. "Don't mind me! It's just really hot in here! Must be all that glowy green stuff above...haha."
"Excellent." said Ozpin. "I defer to General Ironwood's question, then. Is anything else...important we should know?" He quaffed expectantly from his seventh mug.
Sun snapped his fingers. "Sure is! That Torchwick dude, he said the White Fang were going somewhere southeast of here!" He pointed in a random direction (northwest, as it happened). "It was, uh, sort of hard to make out since he was in a giant robot and all, but I've got really good hearing! You know, monkeys are known for their...ears, yeah!" He gestured at his entirely normal human ears, then adopted a sinister grin. "He was all like 'muahaha, these meddling kids will never figure out we've got a secret evil base in the southeast!'" Sable's forehead hit the desk right after Ruby's. "Not those exact words, but you get the drift."
"That's very interesting." Ironwood rumbled, a vein pulsing in his temple. "I'll be sure to send a—"
"A discreet scout force of modest size." Ozpin said hastily. "You may go. Enjoy the rest of your weekend." The leaders got up to leave, but Sun turned back at the elevator doors.
"Uh, General Ironwood? Sir?" The monkey faunus asked. "I know Penny's one of your students...she's not going get in trouble, right? She didn't do anything wrong, she was just trying to help us out. I mean, it wouldn't be fair if she was the only one who got punished and, uh, she seems like a really nice girl..."
"Ah." said Ironwood. Ozpin gave him a sidelong glance; the general seemed very interested in his guns all of a sudden. "No, I suppose not. Rest assured, I see no reason to punish Miss Polendina." The headmasters remained frozen in place, pleasant smiles on their faces, until the elevator doors closed with a ding.
"Ozpin!" The moment the three leaders were gone, Ironwood whirled on the older man. "What was the meaning of that?!"
"Later, James!" Ozpin got up from his desk and sprinted for the bathroom. Seven cups of coffee was a mistake. His bladder capacity wasn't what it had once been; that was one of the annoying things about living to middle age.
"How'd it go? How'd it go?" Neptune asked frantically, when Sun returned to their room. "Oh gods, are gonna get deported, are we? Don't worry, bro, I'll tell my mom about this, she'll take them to court—"
"No! Nothing like that!" Sun shook his head vehemently. "Ozzy man was chill. He did that whole 'I know what you did but let's pretend like I don't' thing. Kind of fun, actually." He was sure he'd been this close to cracking Ozpin's poker face with his ridiculous cover story, though the others hadn't been so amused. Poor Ruby had looked ready to pass out...oh, that sweet summer child.
"Well, I'm bloody glad you enjoyed yourself." Scarlet groaned. He lay flat on his bed, a large ice pack between his legs. "Now can we never do that again?"
"Oh gods." Neptune shuddered. "When I went off that bridge...it felt like I fell for a hundred years and I saw the river coming the whole time and I couldn't do anything about it..." he dropped to his knees, hyperventilating. "...and then I was engulfed in that hideous dampness that penetrated my very soul and I knew I was damned to eternally wander the lightless deep..." Neptune curled into the fetal position. Sun patted his partner awkwardly on the head, and the other boy's breathing slowly stabilized.
Sage shook his head in disappointment. "Get some help, man."
"Come on guys, was it really that bad?" Sun said. Scarlet gestured furiously at his crotch. "Okay, okay, stupid question. But, uh...at least it wasn't boring right? And we got some swag for the room!" He pointed at the spoils of their victory. A gleaming toaster, freshly liberated from the clutches of the White Fang, sat in place of pride on his desk.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Scarlet exploded. "Every time, you bugger off to get your adrenaline fix, and the rest of us have to clean up the mess! Do you know how bad it was, being a man down half of last semester? And don't get me started about this time!" He jabbed a finger at Sun's nose. "You got to party it up with those terrorists, and we had to run in and save your arse! You got to play doctor with that Penny girl, and meanwhile a giant robot damn near blew my nuts off! And Neptune...got a bit wet and was a baby about it." he added dismissively. Neptune whimpered in protest. "A leader's supposed to look after us, mate, not the other way round. Quite frankly, we deserve better."
"Oh. Sorry?" Sun couldn't think of a witty comeback. When you put it like that, he had to admit he hadn't been the most responsible team leader. Maybe Lionheart had made a mistake—like, literally made a mistake. There were three S names on their team, and he wouldn't put it past their bumbling headmaster to get them mixed up. "Look, I didn't mean for you guys to get wrapped up in all this. Blake needed my help, and I figured I'd just do a friend a solid, you know?" Did Blake count as his friend? Come to think, did Blake actually have any friends? Sun was pretty sure knowing the other person's species was some kind of minimum bar, which would mean he was the closest thing she had...that was a depressing thought.
Scarlet scoffed. "So some girl tells you she needs a faunus to do something dangerous, and you dive right in? Really not helping your case, here."
"And don't you have Penny already?" Neptune chimed in. "Don't tell me you're going for the harem route? Oh gods, I'm a bad influence!" He shook Sun's by the shoulders, wild-eyed. "I know I act like a player, man, but it's all talk! You know what they say, you should only have one waifu, because more than one waifu will destroy your laifu!"
"Waifu? Harem route? What are you talking about?" Sun blinked in confusion. "No! It's not like that! You've been watching too many Mistralian cartoons, bro—"
"Neptune, shut your gob. I'm trying to run an intervention here." Scarlet rolled his eyes. "This has got to stop, Sun. We need our leader with us, doing...leader things. Not running around with the cool kids and treating us like a bunch of bit characters."
"He's right." Neptune said. Sun gave his old friend a betrayed look. "We might be best friends, man...even if you've been two-timing me..." he wiped away a fake tear. "But don't pull something like that again. Ever. What if we hadn't figured out what you were doing, and then something happened to you in that warehouse? How do you think I'd feel?" Neptune got on one knee and clasped Sun's hand. "I'm begging you, dude."
"All right." Sun nodded and swallowed hard. "I get it. I haven't exactly been the best leader to you guys—" Scarlet muttered something that sounded like 'understatement'. "—but I'll try and do better. It's a promise...uh, Neptune, can you let go of my hand? This is getting really weird."
"Gah!" Neptune withdrew his hand as though burned. They fist-bumped the awkward moment away. "Okay, good talk! Here's to a semester without any more giant explosions, or hammers to the face, or horrible injuries, or...drownings." He shuddered. "Maybe we should stop hanging around those Beacon guys. They're kind of a hazard to our health."
"That's a bit drastic. You're just bitter because you struck out with those girls, aren't you?" Sun snorted. "What about you two? Scarlet might still have a chance with—"
"Eh." Sage shrugged. "They're a bit loud for me. That Ren fellow's all right, though."
"I'd rather not give you the temptation, Sun. And honestly, he's not worth this." Scarlet winced. "My gods, nothing was worth that!"
The buzzer sounded. Glynda blinked once, blinked twice, briefly wondered if Peach had put something strange in her tea earlier, then shook it off and snapped back into professor mode. "Sky Lark's Aura has dropped into the red. The winner is Jaune Arc." Crocea Mors hit the floor with a clang; Jaune sank to his knees, hands over his face. What a difference a semester made. Solid defense and a few well-placed counterattacks had just earned the Arc boy his first combat class victory, one she had once been doubtful of ever seeing. Sky remained sprawled on the floor, clutching his groin.
Scattered cheers and applause came from the stands, mostly from two certain teams. The sight of RRWN and SJBY still made Glynda's head throb. Their Haven partners-in-crime sat on the opposite side of the classroom, for some reason. Team SSSN's leader let out a whoop, but his red and blue-themed teammates elbowed him, and Sun fell silent. The Rose-Xiao Long sisters rushed the arena; Ruby and Yang each lifted one of Jaune's arms in the air. "That's our boy!" Yang hollered. "You like that? You like that?" She winked at Team CRDL's bench. Winchester, Bronzewing and Thrush all flinched in unison.
"Sportsmanship, Miss Xiao Long." Glynda warned. Poor Cardin and his team had never been the same since the...incident at Forever Fall. She'd seen plenty of their type before—a clique who'd dominated at some minor combat school, and came into Beacon expecting more of the same. Beacon always burst their bubble, though usually in a less traumatic way. Perhaps being overtaken by the bottom student of the year would light a fire under them; if not, Glynda didn't see them lasting much longer.
"Well fought." Blake Belladonna said warmly. The black-themed half of SJBY followed behind. "I see you put my suggestions to good use." Hmm. That would certainly explain some of Jaune's more pragmatic moves. Glynda had an inkling of what suggestions a former White Fang member might have, not that she necessarily disapproved. As her own combat teacher had told her, when a Huntress was miles behind Grimm lines, with no backup or evac, she did not fight dirty, she did things that made dirty look good.
"Jaune, stop that. You're embarrassing us." Sable Schnee scolded his partner, but couldn't keep the smile off his face. "You're not going to cry every time you win, are you?" Jaune hiccuped something about sap...she had no idea what that was about.
"Class is dismissed. I'll send your evaluations by end of day, as usual." Glynda announced. "Team SJBY, if you might stay for a moment?" With some parting words of congratulations, Ruby left with her team. Glynda prepared to hand down the headmaster's directive, against her better judgment. "The Vytal Festival dance is coming up, as you know, and it is traditional for a student team to organize it." she began. "Team CFVY had been in charge, but they've been dispatched to southeast Vale on an urgent mission." Why Ozpin couldn't have sent a different group was anyone's guess. For all her boss's wisdom, he had a tendency to pick his favorites early and sign them up for everything of importance. Sometimes, she wondered if he even remembered they had third and fourth-year teams. "Professor Ozpin has decided to bestow the honor on you, in their stead."
"What?!" Sable exclaimed. "Why us?"
"A good question, Mr. Schnee." One she'd asked repeatedly herself. "The headmaster believes you well suited for the task, as you've shown the ability to balance schoolwork and extracurricular activities." The four of them clearly got the message. Sable's lip curled, Yang chuckled sheepishly, and Blake and Jaune looked shifty. "We expect you to represent Beacon well, understood?" On the one hand, Glynda saw the wisdom in keeping Team SJBY busy; on the other hand, now they would actually be organizing the dance. The dance that Beacon only hosted once every eight years, and that was bound to leave a lifelong impression on Remnant's next generation of Huntsmen...was in the hands of those four. Gods help her. It wasn't like she hated the team—they'd make fine Huntsmen and Huntresses one day, assuming they didn't kill each other first—but Glynda didn't particularly trust them to plan anything, except maybe a demolition derby. Beacon was looking at some hefty insurance premiums for the next three years.
"Uh, Professor Goodwitch?" Yang asked. "Something wrong? You're just standing there muttering."
Glynda blinked. "Pardon me. No, you are dismissed." Perhaps she ought to have more faith in Ozpin, she mused. He usually had a method to his madness. If the dance taught them to channel their excess energy towards creation rather than destruction, then...
"OZPIIIIN!" A muffled scream came from the hallway, one that a certain Hazel Rainart would have been proud of. Or maybe this would all end with the ballroom catching fire and exploding. That also seemed distinctly possible.
"Look, dude." said Yang. "I get that being unreasonably mad all the time is...kind of your thing, but I don't see what's so bad about this. I mean, yeah, it's obviously a punishment, but better than being in detention until we graduate." Their trusty team whiteboard had a map of the ballroom stuck to it. 'BEACON DAN' was written at the top, followed by a massive red blot where their leader had crushed the marker in his fist.
"It's a waste of our time!" Sable complained. Red liquid still dripped from his clenched left hand, making for a rather disturbing visual.
"Lighten up, you fun sponge." Yang sighed. "There's more to life than beating people up and doing your hair, you know?"
Blake gave her partner a questioning look. "Isn't that most of what you do, Yang?"
"Seriously! Why are we throwing a party for all the other schools?" Sable continued his rant. "What's the point? We're going to crush them in the tournament anyways!" He threw his arms out in agitation, nearly grazing Yang's hair with his stained hand, but stopped just in time. "Eh..." The leader sheepishly lowered his hand, while the blonde shot him a warning look.
"You hate making other people happy, we get it." Yang eye-rolled. "Geez, you're a piece of work."
"Hey!"
"I kind of agree, actually." Blake said. "It just seems a bit, I don't know, frivolous to be planning a party. Or anything else? I mean, Torchwick's still at large, and the White Fang's doing gods-know-what with giant robots and—"
"I think that's the point, Blake?" Jaune spoke up. "I mean, from what Ozpin told Sable, it really sounds like he wants us to leave the White Fang to him, and do...normal school stuff instead. Not like we could do much without Sun." he bowed his head. "Man, we kind of owe Team SSSN an apology, huh?"
"Why? Because the mission they forced their way onto turned out too scary for them?" Sable's eye twitched. "We don't owe them a thing. Not our fault they never learned to dodge."
"Even so." Blake pressed on. "We could still—"
Yang groaned. "Not you too. It's always White Fang, White Fang, White Fang with you these days!" She palmed her forehead. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but could you...could you be more like Icy-Hot here? Like, the White Fang literally wants to kill his family but I don't see him acting this single-minded."
"Indeed! Believe me, Blake, I understand how you feel." Sable said earnestly. "You know, I used to be a bit obsessive too. When I trained, I'd imagine each practice dummy was a White Fang soldier. I dreamed about stabbing them every night..." Blake turned paler with every word of his pep talk. "But Win—someone told me I shouldn't let them take over my life. That's how the terrorists win! 'Living well is the best revenge' is how she put it." Yang nodded along, looking surprised and impressed. "A reset might not be the worst thing. We'll go to class, train...plan a dance. And when we get our next chance, we'll kill more terrorists than ever before!" He suddenly slammed his hands onto a desk, leaving a red handprint behind. Blake fell off her bed. "Oops. Better clean that."
"Gods damn it." Yang smacked her forehead repeatedly. "That was almost wholesome, man. So close."
"Guys? Not to interrupt, but should we, you know, actually start the planning?" Jaune said, pointing at the near-empty whiteboard. "I mean, we've kind of got to do what Ozpin says, right?"
"Thank you, Jaune. I realized that!" Sable growled. He picked up a fresh marker. "Okay, so we've got to handle decorations, music, and food—"
"That's the spirit!" Yang chuckled. She adopted an overdramatic impression of Sable's voice. "We'll make this the greatest dance in the history of Remnant! A dance so good, every other team will tremble in fear at our name! And surrender rather than—"
"Shut up!"
"Wait, we're picking the food?" Blake picked herself off the floor. "Seafood bar. We need a seafood bar! With tuna...and salmon...and swordfish, sturgeon, marlin, cod, pollock, trout...!" her voice grew steadily faster and higher-pitched.
"Blake, the whole ballroom's going to smell like fish!" Jaune objected.
"Not negotiable!" Blake hissed. "Seafood bar or I'm not going."
Drunk Patch man crashes hoverbike into police station
Patch man accused of hitting bird with golf club
Patch man wrestles 9-foot Beowolf in swimming pool
Umm...okay then. Apparently, Ruby and Yang's home island was quite the interesting place. As oddly fascinating as the misadventures of Patch Man were, Blake should probably get back to reading about Torchwick and the White Fang. Yes, it was good that Ozpin was acting on their tip about the southeast, but she still felt the itch to do something. Surely there was some tidbit floating out on the web that would go unnoticed to anyone without inside knowledge. So far there wasn't much beyond 'Roman Torchwick is a wanted criminal', and 'the White Fang are faunus', but she just had to keep digging.
"Blake? What are you doing here?" Blake jumped out of her skin at the unexpected voice. Literally. She left a shadow clone sitting in her chair, which she dispelled with some embarrassment.
"Oh...hello Weiss." she babbled, turning around. "I could ask you the same...both of you?" This was awkward. Of all the people who could've come across her in the library, it had to be the SDC heiress and the...spare (she was unclear where Sable stood in the line of succession). The black-and-white twins both held thick stacks of paper, and identical coffee mugs bearing their family's snowflake.
Weiss shrugged. "We were just looking over the SDC data I got. Seeing as I was...interrupted last time." She waved the sheaf of paper in her hand, covered in neatly written calculations. "Honestly, it's nothing we didn't already know. The spike in robberies is particular to Vale, and, well, it's a lot of Dust. At least enough to fill a standard cargo train."
"Maybe two." Sable added. "A whole train went missing near Forever Fall last year. Might be related to all this, might not."
"A train?" Blake said nervously. "Forever Fall?"
"Yes. Quite disturbing, I know." Weiss misinterpreted her anxiety. "A group of White Fang destroyed the security robots guarding it, stole the Dust, and blew the train up. It was a miracle the crew wasn't killed—the front car somehow detached at the last second."
Blake balled her fists to stop her hands from shaking. For some reason, she'd never drawn the connection between the train carrying lots of Dust they'd hijacked, and the White Fang's current need for lots of Dust. If the Dust she had personally helped steal was part of this master plan...
"I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it." Sable guessed wrong as well. "Our father, he had it all covered up...bad for consumer confidence, he said." he scoffed. "What are you doing here, Blake? More White Fang research? I had a feeling—"
Weiss sighed. "Really? I understand the sentiment, of course, but don't you think you're trying too hard? It's not as if the White Fang posts their evil plans on the web for everyone to see!"
"Well, did you find anything?" Without invitation, Sable sat in her chair and peered at the computer screen. "'Drunk Patch man tries to use taco as Huntsman license'? That doesn't seem relevant!" He clicked the article anyways. "Gods, what an idiot. Stupid name, too. Who spells crow with a Q?"
"Qrow Branwen?" Weiss read over his shoulder. "Wait, I think that's Ruby's uncle! You know, she always talks him up as some sort of perfect Huntsman, but I don't see it. He sounds more like an alcoholic."
"Y-yeah." Blake stammered. "Uh, like you can see, I didn't find much! Guess you were right about that one, Weiss." She yawned loudly. "Goodness, it's getting late. I...I think I'll get some fresh air, then go to bed."
Blake walked out of a library at a deliberate pace, barely hearing Weiss's confused 'good night'. Once she was out the door, she ran, down the hall and up the stairs and out onto the rooftop. Palms sweaty, knees weak, past weighing heavy, Blake stood alone in the pale moonlight. For sanity's sake, she normally avoided thinking too hard about her situation. It was mentally easier to pretend she was hanging around her friends, friends who she trusted and trusted her in return. To remember that she was always a thin layer of cloth from getting tarred and feathered...that way lay madness. Some days, though, the illusion was impossible to keep up. Yang and Jaune and the rest were not her friends, and never could be. Friends didn't lie to each other about their species. Despite all the good, kind people (and Schnees) that surrounded her, Blake had never been more alone than she was at Beacon.
"Yo, Blake!" Okay, not literally alone! For a second time, an unexpected voice made her jump. Sun Wukong emerged from the shadows. "You all right? You look stressed." He looked curiously at the two Blakes standing there. Damn it, this day really was getting to her.
"I'm fine." Blake lied, dispelling the clone. "I thought you weren't talking to us?"
"Oh, that." Sun rubbed his head. "I don't have a problem, personally, but the team's sort of pissed about the whole mess. Especially Scarlet...you know why." Blake winced at the memory. "So yeah, I'm in the doghouse right now. Well, monkey house. Got to smooth things over, you see?" He lowered his voice. "They actually think I'm taking a dump right now. The rooms here are a lot smaller than at Haven, and Neptune always complains about the smell—"
"Too much information!" Blake flattened her ears. She could guess what the rest of Team SSSN were thinking. In hindsight, the optics of a 'human' girl on a Schnee-led team luring a faunus boy on a life-threatening mission behind his team's back were not great. It wasn't the first humiliating misunderstanding she'd been subjected to at Beacon, but being mistaken for some kind of SDC honey trap was a new low. "I suppose that's understandable. The situation with your team, I mean, not the bathroom thing. Thanks for the help, and sorry for the trouble."
"No worries. There was something I wanted to ask you, actually." Sun looked around the rooftop once, twice, three times. "The White Fang. You were one of them, weren't you?"
"What?" The ground suddenly seemed to wobble under Blake's feet. "How could you tell?" she blurted out.
"You just admitted it, for starters." Sun grinned. Blake faceplanted onto the roof. "And you called them brothers back at the docks. And you knew exactly how to find their secret meeting, And you seem kind of obsessed with them in general, even for a faunus."
"Oh..." Blake said weakly. "Sun, I...I can explain. I'm not with them anymore, you see—"
Sun chuckled. "No shit, Blake. Kind of figured that, considering how they tried to kill you twice."
"Right." Blake pushed herself up onto her knees. Part of her mind was telling her to break out the trusty Belladonna Secret Technique again, but she ignored it. Hadn't she learned her lesson about running first, and asking questions never, last time? "So...what are you going to do now?" She reached out with a shaking hand and grasped the boy's wrist. "Please, Sun. I know I haven't exactly been honest with you, sorry, but I promise I'm trying to—"
"Could you stop that? It's sorta weird." Sun said awkwardly. "And I don't care! Really! You're obviously not a terr—uh, stupid holier-than thou creep anymore, and that's good enough for me. Sun Wukong ain't no snitch. I didn't tell anyone about your kitty ears, did I? Not even Neptune!" Blake let herself breathe again. There was something wet on her face. "Wait, are you—oh, allergy season? I'll give you a moment." He looked away, whistling.
"Yeah, allergies." Blake hastily wiped her eyes. How embarrassing. The air at Beacon had never tasted better. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. You've been sitting on that all year? No wonder you're always so broody and shit." Sun helped her back up. "Were you ever going to tell someone?"
Blake shook her head. "I can't." Perhaps she should've just pretended to be a normal, non-terroristic faunus from the beginning? Jaune and Yang would not have cared, she now knew. And her leader...well, Sable would've been a jerk no matter her species. He hadn't treated Sun all that badly, by his standards, and trusted him to look after Blake in the warehouse...too late now, though. "If they even knew I was a faunus, they'd notice out the same things you did. I'll just have to deal with it for four years. It's not like teams have to stay together after we graduate."
Sun shook his head. "We're less than a quarter of the way there, Blake. You already had a close call last semester. How long can you keep it up? Especially if you keep fighting the White Fang?" He sighed. "I'll keep your secrets, don't get me wrong. But funny thing about secrets, the bigger they are, the harder to keep. And the longer it goes on, the worse it is when it comes out. Even after you graduate...what are your teammates going to think, if they see you on the news and you've suddenly got cat ears?" Blake had no answer for that.
"Just think about it?" Sun lowered himself off the roof's edge. "I better go. They're going to think I've got the runs, or something." Blake wrinkled her nose in disgust. "But hey...if you ever want to...you know, be yourself for a bit, give me a call. I'll listen."
Blake thought about it. 'Hi, I just wanted to tell you I've been hiding cat ears under my bow. And until last year, I was in a criminal organization that wanted to kill your family but I'm really sorry and I won't do it again—ow! Stop stabbing me! My spleen!' Yeah, nope. Maybe she could write a letter after their fourth year, and hide out somewhere far away until things blew over. A graduation trip to Menagerie was sounding pretty good.
'...fifty-six bottles of beer on the wall, fifty-six bottles of beer, take one down and pass it around...'
'Please shut up.' Coco thought at the voice in her head. No, that wasn't her split personality talking, just her teammate Fox Alistair's Semblance. Telepathy could be quite fun in the right situations—she wasn't sure how they would survive Grimm Studies without taking the piss out of Port's stories in real time—and a downright lifesaver in battle, but it had its drawbacks.
'I'm just trying to lighten the mood here. Sheesh.' Fox's mental voice sounded sulky. Team CFVY was partway up a derelict watch tower, on Mountain Glenn's perimeter wall. It was day eleven...maybe twelve...of their glorified camping trip. So far, the forests and caves of southeast Vale had been full of dirt, woodland creatures, and the occasional Death Stalker, while being conspicuously empty of any secret bad guy bases.
'It is rather irritating.' Yatsuhashi thought at them. 'Silence can be a source of great strength, Fox.'
'Where the hell did you read that, Yatsu? Off a fortune cookie?'
'Um, guys?' Even Velvet's mental voice sounded shy and hesitant. 'Mind the gap.' The last section of stairs had crumbled sometime over the years, leaving a twenty-foot gap between them and the top of the tower. Velvet bent her knees and leapt, grabbing onto the ledge of the viewing platform. A moment later, she threw a rope down for the rest of them. Damn, talk about a bunny hop. That girl never skipped leg day, and it showed. Fox and Yatsuhashi climbed up, Coco at the rear. Mountain Glenn lay before them in all its...whatever the opposite of glory was. She scanned the barren streets, but as usual, there was no sign of life. Except a shit-ton of Beowolves, but they didn't count. 'Nothing again.' she mind-grumbled.
'Yeah.' Velvet thought, sounding disappointed. 'Maybe...maybe it was just bad info?'
'I'm sure Ozpin wouldn't send us here on just rumors.' Coco frowned. If they'd sacrificed their one opportunity at the Vytal Dance just to go on some wild goose chase, she was going to be seriously displeased. 'Fox, you see anything?'
'Hilarious.' Fox deadpanned, pointing at his blind white eyes.
'You know what I mean.' Coco rolled her (perfectly functional) brown ones. Fox barely needed eyes, anyways, between his mystical Aura-sensing thing and the little sonar device in his ear. He beat them at Vytal Kombat often enough to prove it...she called hax.
'Lots of movement in the streets here.' Fox noted. 'Seems odd for so many Grimm to concentrate in a deserted city, if you ask me.'
'That is true.' Yatsuhashi agreed. 'And there was that Goliath herd we glimpsed, the other day. I thought nothing of it then, but now that you mention it...'
'You think someone in the city's attracting them?' asked Velvet. 'But where? We've been looking for days, and nothing!'
'Where indeed...' Coco thought. The endless expanse of gray was depressing as hell to look at, and knowing her history didn't help. Every graduate of Vale's combat schools knew the tragedy of Mountain Glenn, how its people of had retreated underground when the surface city was overrun, and the grim fate (or Grimm fate, rather) that met them down there. 'The tunnels!' Using Remnant's largest mass grave as a hideout seemed like really bad taste, to say the least, but criminals would be criminals.
'That...makes sense. Quite disturbing, but it makes sense.' Yatsuhashi thought. 'What now, Coco? Should we go down there and investigate?'
Coco rested her chin in her hands, thinking. 'No.' she finally decided. 'We're not prepped for that, and I'm not risking you all.' The tunnels under Mountain Glenn were a rabbit's warren (no offense Velvet) of unmapped passages and bunkers, and that was before they'd been abandoned for decades. If the White Fang were really down there, the faunus would have ample opportunity to launch a four-versus-a-lot ambush in the dark. 'We finish scouting the surface city, then we call for evac and report our findings. Sound like a plan?'
'Yeah.' Fox agreed. 'Can we get off this tower, Coco? I feel like we're being watched.' Coco looked in the direction he was pointing, but she saw nothing except more ruined buildings, and the burnt-out shell of an ice cream truck in the street. Still, she'd take Fox's word for it. More evidence something was wrong with this place. Team CFVY climbed down and headed for their next observation point.
'Fifty-five bottles of beer on the wall, fifty-five bottles of beer...'
'Shut up...'
"Wow!" Mercury rolled on the floor, laughing. "No wonder you wore that hat all the time!" Roman Torchwick's face pouted at them from Cinder's Scroll, uncharacteristically bareheaded. Sadly, his beloved bowler hat was fish food at the bottom the Vale River right now. "How much hair gel went into that combover, man?"
"Come on, Mercury, don't be mean. I think he looks pretty good!" Emerald smirked. "For an older guy."
"Fuck you." Roman mimed strangling someone. He tugged at the orange tentacle of hair that obscured his right eye. "My hair's a damn sight better than that dead possum you've got on your head, Legless!"
Mercury grinned, running a hand through his gray locks. "Hey, nothing wrong with keeping it natural. Why don't you show us that hairline of yours, eh?"
"There's no need for such...malevolence." Cinder said calmly. Roman really did seem emasculated without his hat, though; he looked a bit like his head was engulfed in flames...a sight she honestly wouldn't mind seeing. Maybe she could indulge in a celebratory bonfire, once the mission was done. "How is Mountain Glenn, Roman?"
Roman rolled his eyes. "It's a wonderful place, Cinder. No idea why more people don't visit." He panned the camera around his desolate surroundings. "Nice and quiet, plenty of Grimm to shoot at, no cops to stop you from stealing all the rubble you want! Impossible to find a decent tailor, though—"
Cinder ignited a fireball in her hand, shutting him up. "I didn't ask for your stand-up comedy routine." she said coldly. "The plan, Roman. How is the plan going? Any complications?"
Roman winked and gave her a thumbs up. "Don't worry about that. We're shipping on time, boss." He paused, his smile fading a bit. "And...well, it's not really a complication, but there've been few Huntsmen snooping around the surface. More Beacon kids by the looks of it." he scowled. "Specs, Bunny, Big Red, and the Jolly Green Giant, I'm calling them. But they won't find anything. I've pulled the patrols back just in case, and Neo's keeping an eye on the lot."
"They'd better not." Cinder said sharply. "Do take care to stay hidden this time." If push came to shove, Roman and Neo and the extras could probably take out four children, but a missing team was bound to draw unwelcome attention. "I understand you've had some difficulties with that, where 'Beacon kids' are concerned."
"Last time wasn't my fault, damn it! I swear, those animals have no operational security! They probably handed out flyers in the street, or something!" Roman threw up his hands. "And Little Red's posse somehow gets bigger every time. Someone needs to slap a restraining order on that girl. I can't tell if she wants to kill me, or if it's a weird foreplay thing—"
Emerald covered her ears. "Can you keep your sick fantasies to yourself?"
"Posse? Who exactly are they, Roman?" Cinder questioned. She discarded the thief's possible ephebophilia as irrelevant. "Need I remind you that we're at Beacon specifically to scout out potential threats?"
"Well, Neo caught Hippie and Tail Boy trying to sneak out of the meeting." Roman began counting on his fingers. "Then Anti-Aircraft ran through the wall, and Hammer Girl blasted in with Little Red and Pinkeye..." he held up a second hand, having run out of fingers. "...and Blueberry, Hoverboard, Buff Emerald—"
"Their names, you idiot!" The fireball in Cinder's hand grew larger. "How am I going to look for a Hammer Girl? Do you know how many girls with hammers attend this school?" Roman laughed nervously. "You have no idea, do you?"
"Buff Emerald?" Mercury whispered.
"We didn't exactly stop for a round of introductions!" Roman shot back. "I know what they look like, does that help?"
"Emerald, write it down." Cinder ordered. The green-haired girl pulled out a notebook and pen.
"Little Red first." Roman began. "I call her that because she's little. And wears red. About five-foot-two, black hair...or is it red? No, black but red at the tips. No, reddish-black. Maybe just dark red?" Emerald looked increasingly irritated, as she crossed out one description after another. "Your hand holding up all right there? Only thirteen more to go!"
Mercury slapped the pouting girl on the back. "Don't worry, Em. We can always get you a bionic hand." He propped his leg up on a table. "We'll be amputee buddies!"
Ozpin goes full troll mode, and Ironwood checks in! A hard character to write humor for. His reaction to the Paladin incident might be off...my take is that the guy is a stickler for discipline, yes, but also someone who likes to solve problems with blunt force. I can see him sneakily approving of the gang going behind Oz's back to go bust some heads (he does something like that post-Breach, anyways).
Junior Detective Sun strikes again. Basic Observational Skills is pretty much becoming his second Semblance...