Oscar couldn't help but feel a bit at fault right now, Glynda Goodwitch someone he knows quite well, or at least he knew quite well, it was strange with each conversation he felt more and more comfortable talking with her, Ozpin said that she was someone they could trust completely so he was going to put faith in that, trusting her to retrieve his cane was the first thing he had to do, having never learned much about combat she ordered him to stay behind, so he did. Looking around the city he eventually came to what seemed to be a bookstore something that he was actually interested in, many older books held useful knowledge, books nowadays mostly talked about heroes and amazing events that usually never happened, pulling the door open he entered and smiled, the smell of old paper and the silence of it all was something he could appreciate.
"Hello and welcome!" a voice sang from one of the aisle, walking over and leaning around he saw a girl she looked to be in her early twenties and had long black hair which was currently tied back into a ponytail, looking over to him she smiled "I have to say I haven't figured out a good name for this place yet, but feel free to look around."
"This place looks new... from what little experience I have." he said and quickly corrected with an awkward laugh
"It is, only got the place a few weeks ago, thanks to Vernal." she said with a rather bright smile "So, what are you here for? I got Fiction, cookbooks, comic books... and not much else, it's a... it's a little hard to get an inventory going when imports are so limited." she said with an awkward chuckle as she rose to her full height which was actually pretty tall... when compared to Oscar, he was always pretty short.
"Oh, well I was actually looking for anything related to Vales recent history." he commented earning a groan from the girl as she slouched a bit
"The one thing I dont have, non-fiction." she commented in a mock-serious voice, he chuckled a bit at that earning a smile from the girl
"Well, lets see, when I said all I got was fiction and cookbooks, that was in terms of bulk stock. If you give me a minute I'll go check and see if I have anything on Vale back there, behind like... a book case or something."
"That be appreciated thank you." he said with a bow which she returned and walked away into the back, walking the aisles he noted the small number of books, she was right not a lot of books are coming in but the small number did seem to be selling rather well, turning around he began to make his way to the front counter, turning the corner he felt a hand grip his neck and push him back preventing him from walking face first into another person chest
"I am so sorry!" he quickly bowing to the woman who was slightly familiar, her cold eyes were a dead give away, she just wasn't covered in muck anymore "What's your name kid?" she asked her eyes studying him closely
"Oscar... Oscar Pine." he answered trying to take a step back but found her grip on his neck tighten holding him in place so he just raised his hands
"Well 'Oscar Pine' I'm not sure why you've run into me twice now, but I'm not a fan of coincidence, and I don't mean to say you're a little perv just know I got my eye on you, you cause me any trouble you disappear. Got it?"
"Yeah, I get it, understood... ma'am?" he awkwardly agreed nodding a few times as she shoved him out of the way and walked around to the back of the building where the much nicer lady went
"Why didn't you help me?"
'Sorry, it looked like you had that handled.'
"Ha, ha." Oscar commented taking a few deep breaths to slow his heart, which was still panicking, after his final breath the back room opened up again and he nearly jumped a foot in the air but calmed himself upon seeing the nice lady and not the other lady
"Sorry for the long wait, but I did have a book on Vales' war strategies from the Great War and forward." she said as the boy moved to greet her at the counter
"O-oh! Thank you, I was just... no nothing, thank you." he quickly said with another bow as she scanned the book and passed it to him, she then watched with a smile as he quickly fought around his pockets to get his money and pay before quickly leaving.
"Vernal, did you scare that boy?" Victoria questioned turning around to the shorter woman who was still quickly shoveling the stew Victoria had made into her mouth as if she hadn't eaten in months
"Mighta, ran into him a couple times before, actual got spotted twice, and I don't wanna take any chances with lil creeps like that." Vernal answered attempting to sound like she was trying to stay safe and not that she was trying to keep the police from deciding that shes a person of interest.
"Vernal you cant- ugh... come on! Seriously?!" she complained with a slouch "You can't threaten everyone that comes a-waltzin' in our store, I can't help but feel that it makes people a little scared to come back, it's like for some strange reason threats of dying are a good deterrent!" she shouted then turned back to Vernal who seemed far smaller than before which quickly caused her to backpedal "... Look... I get it, you wanna make sure we're safe, but threatening a fourteen year old boy isn't the way to do that."
"Fine. Fine, I'll try being... nicer."
"Good because I invited him to dinner."
"You WHAT!?"
"Kidding. Come on, I got a few boxes in the back I need to get up front, and I need your big strong arms." she laughed brushing a hand through her hair, Vernal just sighed and followed after her grumbling about getting tricked.
(o)
Ryka was getting into a cycle, after her interview with General Ironwood she found herself a lot happier with working with him considering his ability to lie was nonexistent, not that he was big on lying.
She and Harriet sparred more frequently and she found a bit of a good relationship growing with Marrow, even if he was an idiot.
"Hey Ryka, I was gonna go out to get something to eat, want anything?" Harriet asked leaning into her room, Ryka was balancing on her hands having done a few push-ups like that
"Yeah, grab me whatever you're getting."
"You sure? I like my food real hot."
"Sure, all I'm used to eating are stolen MRE's or I guess just MRE's now." she commented lowering herself again and slowly pushed herself up
"Alright, oh and nice form kid." she added causing Ryka to paused before continued to push
"Thanks." she replied continuing her exercise as the woman left
"That kid." she muttered to herself as she walked out towards the exit of the barracks, Ryka wasn't allowed to go out into civilian hubs yet, she needed a few more months of probation before she was able to do that, and even then it would probably be only under supervision from one or two members of the Ace Ops.
(o)
Dropping off her hands and onto her feet she frowned quickly moving over to her computer she sat down and opened it up looking over the recent mission logs she found that the Ace Ops did try and arrest their hideout but were met with resistance, unfortunately they were caught unawares, five fatalities, three captured, one recruited... letting out a sigh she leaned on her arm rest and covered her eyes, she hated herself for what happened, but right now she needed to go see who was left, she couldn't sleep well at night without confronting this. They are being held in Cell Block C cell 3-1121
Rising from her chair she exited the room and began to make her way towards the prison wing, the blank white halls guiding her the whole way, her thoughts wandering a bit to old lessons with her friends, how Shera would punish her for tinkering with the training equipment, Antalor was always happy to share what knowledge of Atlas ciphers he got he even asked her to help him solve a few, it was a nicer time, a better time-
"Access Denied." the door said when she tried to activate it, blinking a few times she typed her number in again, and was greeted with the same message
"Hey kid, what are you doing?" Clovers' voice came from behind her, quickly turning around she noted that he didn't appear to have come after her but was just walking by
"Hey Clover, I was just... okay look, Harriet told me that you guys captured other White Fang members from my old hideaway, and I wanted to meet with them... nothing nefarious I just... wanted to make sure they were okay." she answered quickly crossing her arms and stepped away from the door, as Clover approached then looked her over, his eyes turning to the prison entrance, he then shrugged and pressed a few buttons causing the door to open
"Come on." he ordered walking into the prison soon joined by Ryka who was dumbfounded by his kindness, as they walked deeper he spoke again "I can understand why you'd be skeptical about trusting the Ace Ops but we're a team, your problems are my problems, so if you wanna see your old allies then I have no reason to prevent that." he explained as they eventually came to the cell block where White Fang prisoners are kept upon entering he leaned next to the door and gestured for her to go, following his order she walked in and looked into each cell where many members of the faunus glared at her, as she eventually came to the cell where her people were being kept, two of which were regular grunts from her group who didn't talk to her, the third though was a much greater surprise. Shera, she was sitting at the center of the cell staring at the wall of the cell
"Shera..." she said walking up to the bars and knocked on them causing the woman to jump a bit then twist around to face her
"Ryka..." she muttered walking over to the bars, Ryka smiled at her but was surprised when Shera reached through the bars and grabbed her by the front of her shirt then yanked her forward slamming her into the bars sending her flopping across the ground the quickly sat up staring at the woman
"Wha-"
"You dare to come in here after everything you've done! You betrayed us, you gave them the key, were you always planning to do that!? Or are you just that incompetent!?" she shouted in rage slamming her fist into the bars causing a dull thung to ring, Ryka slouched at the implication "You are a rat. You are a traitor and I'm proud to say that I told the rest of the White Fang of your betrayal, watch your back you little bitch, there will be nowhere for you to hide." she growled as she took a few steps back and glared at the girl
"I didn't betr-"
"You. Didn't. Listen." she growled each word with a frown she then leaned forward and stared the girl dead in the eyes "You. Didn't. Wait. You bloodthirsty dog." she added turning away, and dropped down in the center of the cell again, quickly standing Ryka slammed her fist into the bars of the cell and began to shout
"YOU CALL ME BLOODTHIRSTY! YOUR THE SADISTIC BITCH THAT MADE, ME." She shouted back earning no reaction from the older woman taking a few deep breaths she spoke again after calming herself "... I didn't betray you guys, but one thing I can say I'm happy about is I'm out here, and you're in there. I got out ahead, good luck. Bitch." she growled then stormed away over to Clover who was watching her the whole time
"You okay kid?"
"... Just handing in my resignation... I guess." she muttered as Clover rested a hand on her shoulder shaking her a bit
"No worries kid, we'll help you in any way we can, and if you wanna get back at the White Fang, that'll be even better, considering it's legal."
She stayed silent for a few moments but spoke after a few moments "Alright, there are two other White Fang hideouts, both in Mantle, we stopped contacting them after the attack on Beacon, so they should still be there, and if the message Shera sent got to them they may have moved on."
"Well... we should move fast then huh?" he commented with a small grin which she greeted with a far more serious look
(o)
Winter was starting to feel sick, she had no idea why but her mind began to pound, shaking her head she felt the pressure build within her mind, with a growl she shook her head but felt the darkness quickly over take her once more
The boundless expanse of darkness was endless, she knew that she was spinning but she couldn't see attempting to see through the boundless darkness yelled nothing her feet touched nothing and and hands grasped wildly and found nothing, her struggles found no true purchase
"Hello!" she shouted out into the darkness as it quickly ate her words and left her alone, closing her eyes she focused on her mind attempting to see if she can push the influence out, getting nowhere with that she couldn't seem to do anything. Suddenly the spinning became unbarably
(o)
Winter stood the shattered restraints resting behind her, rolling her neck she took a deep breath and began to walk towards the door raising her hand sending a wave of frost into it throwing the door of the tracks, upon exiting into the hall a whole troop of soldiers lined up on either side of the the hall facing her, raising both her arms she let loose waves of ice that ensnared all the soldiers and their weapons, preventing them from firing turning the corner she began to stroll through the frozen path towards the vault.
(o)
she had no idea what was going on, her stomach kept churning and she could feel her muscles tense and roar in denial, she couldn't understand why she was feeling this way, attempting to find anything anything at all that allowed her freedom from this darkness with all the metal pressure she was forcing across her own mind she felt that it was caused little strain on whatever was moving her body, her body seemingly moving on its own forced her mind to take a backseat, fear began to seep in, what if this was her last moments as a person? What if she was going to destroy everything she cared about? What if, what if, what if, those questions kept piling higher and higher never once stopping nor giving her any reprieve from the pressure and fear that had began to eat away at her heart, as the what ifs began to focus in on her sister and those she trusted more than anything else, she couldn't let this continue, she wouldn't.
(o)
Kicking Penny away Winter slid back placing a hand on the vault door causing it to quickly begin to open
"Winter, I'm certain you can hear me! Please f-" she tried but ducked under a powerful wave of blue energy as the Vault began to click and shift slowly opening, Winter looked at her and smiled, unlike her worried and somewhat happy smile it was fully of malice and a cocky sense of superiority
Quickly looking up where Winter was looking, her eyes widened at the lift, it was frozen shut quickly turning back to Winter she found her gone, quickly flying up into the air she stared into the vault where she found Winter walking out in her hand was the Staff of Creation, she smiled and dropped it to the ground and flipped her blade, before Penny could act she dropped to her knee and planted the blade into the the blue stone atop it's golden design causing a glowing crack which expanded and grew
"What?!" Penny shouted as she tackled Winter to the ground and looked over at the staff as it suddenly exploded in a powerful ocean of energy tossing the two away from it Penny bouncing off the arch of the vault and wall, Winter slamming next to her the both of them being held there as the area above was shattered and began to crumble, as the energy dispersed it left a massive hole in the structure above Penny dropped a short distance but quickly rocketed into the air catching Winter who's eyes were closed and her body limp, flying over and landing on the bridge she placed her hand on the side of Winters face
"Come on... wake up, please." Penny begged the girl stirred a bit but remained unconscious holding her eyes shut for a few moments she began to think, she needed to help Winter, she was her friend, and friends don't abandon each other, her father was quite insistent on that, hugging her closer she let out a bemoaned sound as she began to shake from the invisible tears in her eyes as she began to rock a bit as she attempted to see the best way this situation could be changed, but there was no right in this situation or correct action she could take, the structure trembled beneath her shifted and her eyes widened, without the staff Atlas would fall, if she left Winter here General Ironwood would obviously take out his anger on her which could prove fatal, but she needed to protect the people of Atlas, but how could she protect them all, pulling Winter up into her arms and rocketed off she needed to get to her father, she had no idea what to do now, and her heart couldn't take this.
A/N So this is the penultimate chapter before we reach the main folks again, it takes a while to go from one side of the planet to the other that and there are a few characters that I need to get over to Vacuo as well so that we can get things to go the way I want to, then we'll move onto the final chapters, which will take place in Vale as to keep thing going in a slightly poetic fashion.