It had been a particularly slow day of work for Ozpin. Not because there wasn't much to do, far from it, but because he himself was distracted. All because of one name on one report about the security nodes. 'What are the odds that he of all people would come up over this?' he thought as he tried to push through some paperwork. He made barely any progress when a notification came up on his desk, a message from the Council. With the paperwork now forgotten, Ozpin tapped the hologram and read the message.
'RE: recent reports
We have discussed the reports sent to us about the Beacon Defense Grid and the involvement of stolen Merlot technology. We share your concerns and have decided this warrants further investigation. Look into this however you see fit with General Ironwood's support. Let's all hope for a swift and satisfying conclusion.'
'So we're to see this through,' Ozpin thought as he reread the message once more before closing the hologram. He stood up from his desk and walked over to a window to look down at Beacon. He thought over everything that has happened in the last few months, successes and failures in equal measure, and closed his eyes in thought. 'No doubt James wanted to see this through personally, but this is ultimately a Beacon matter. Especially if he's involved.' He hummed and opened his eyes, nodding to himself as he walked back to his desk.
"However I see fit then? I'm glad they gave me that freedom." Not that he wouldn't have done that anyway, he just appreciated the official excuse. He grabbed his cane off his desk and walked to the elevators, a plan already forming in his mind.
Jaune was incredibly nervous as the elevator climbed up to Ozpin's office. Though he would have been more surprised if he wasn't feeling nervous, since it isn't every day the headmaster walks up to you and calls you to the office. At least Ren had been more optimistic about this than Nora had by suggesting it probably wasn't because Jaune had been found out and was being expelled.
Thanks Nora.
Jaune didn't have long to be stuck on that particular annoyance though as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. He exited into the office and was a little surprised to see Coco there leaning against one of the pillars. She turned to look at him and pushed off the pillar as he approached.
"Hey Jaune, fancy seeing you here," she said and held up a fist to him, which Jaune clumsily fist bumped. "How have you been doing?"
"I'm doing alright. I got my first actual mission the other day, so that was fun."
"Nice. What'd you end up having to do?"
"Fixing one of the security nodes. We… didn't really get to do that though, we mostly let Team MRGD do that."
"You had to work with Maribelle? You poor sucker." Coco chuckled and Jaune crossed his arms.
"She's not that bad," he said seriously.
"No, she isn't. It's just fun giving her shit, like we do with you." Coco punched Jaune lightly on the shoulder, which he rolled his eyes at, and laughed for a few more moments before she grew quiet and crossed her arms. "Hey, your node didn't happen to have a box on it that was messing it up, did it?"
"Something like that. I mean, I don't know if it was the problem, but…" Jaune paused for a moment, "Did yours?"
"Yup. And considering what I heard about it, that may be why we're both here."
"Is that bad?"
"A lot of the things went over my head, but I did understand 'hacking' and 'Grimm poaching', so it's probably bad." Jaune grimaced at the implication. The elevator took that moment to open and Coco and Jaune looked at Professor Ozpin and, surprisingly, Summer.
"Good, everyone is here. We can get started," he said and walked past Coco and Jaune to his desk.
"Everyone?" Summer asked just before she saw Coco and Jaune. "Oh."
"Hey Sum," Coco said and fist bumped Summer when she walked over to her and Jaune, "How you been?"
"Well enough. We finally managed to drag Qrow to his session, so we all have a clean bill of health."
"Really?"
"Well, clean for us." Summer shrugged and walked over to Ozpin's desk with Coco and Jaune following behind her. "And you certainly didn't waste time calling me with another mission."
"I wish I could give you more time to recuperate, but we've found ourselves in a dire situation," Ozpin said and folded his hands in front of him.
"Oh wow, we've got another situation that threatens the safety of the Kingdom as a whole? Stop the presses," Summer said with a roll of her eyes.
"Is this about the security nodes?" Coco asked.
"Indeed it is," Ozpin answered and brought up a holo-window of one of the Beacon Defense Nodes. "Mr. Arc and Ms. Adel already know this, but we've recently been having trouble with several security nodes around the academy. Thanks to their teams securing them from the Grimm, we've discovered that it was the result of outside sabotage." He brought up another window showing the box that had been attached to both nodes.
"Sabotage? For what?" Summer asked.
"Our team found Grimm cages at our node," Coco said and crossed her arms, "so my team were thinking it had something to do with poaching. Still feels too small a reason to risk the attention of a Huntsman academy."
"Well what else could they be doing?" Jaune asked.
"Whatever the case may be, it was still enough for the Council to want to see this taken care of. Especially when an old name came up." Another window was pulled up showing the insignia that was on the box along with a name.
"Merlot Industries? Never heard of them."
"They were apparently some old science and tech company from a long time ago," Coco answered and adjusted her beret, "I'm still not sure why it's so important. Couldn't it just be a mislead?"
"It isn't. We looked into it when the name came up and this," Ozpin pointed at the picture of the device, "is the exact same signal amplifier that they were making before they closed down. The lead is real, which is why this is so concerning."
"What do you mean?" Summer asked as Ozpin closed out all the windows and stood up.
"When Merlot Industries closed, most of its assets including its technology were acquired by Vale or sold off to competitors in Atlas. I think a few odds and ends went to Mistral, but all in all everything the company owned was accounted for. Except for anything that happened to be in its headquarters."
"Because it's in Mountain Glenn, right?" Coco asked. Ozpin nodded and picked up his mug.
"It's in…? I guess that explains why you grabbed me," Summer said and crossed her arms, "So you want my team to look into this?"
"Wrong. I want all of your teams on this." Ozpin took a drink while his words sank in. And when they did…
"What?"
"Excuse me?"
"Uh…"
There it is.
"Of course, I'd like to have professional Huntsmen on this, but with the Vytal Festival so close and Kingdom defense on everyone's mind there aren't enough hands to go around. I believe the three of you should be enough for this."
"I'm sorry, can you go back for a second?" Summer asked.
"I'm glad for the vote of confidence," Coco added, "but two second year teams and a first year team on a recon mission feels like overkill."
"Very overkill," Jaune added.
"Normally that would be true, but this situation is big enough to warrant it." That and recent history has shown Ozpin has made underestimating situations into a bad habit. If nothing else, he liked to consider himself a learner. "Of course, if you think your teams aren't suitable for this mission, you can back out no questions asked. You will be the ones pulling the weight after all."
"About this sabotage… does it have anything to do with other things?" Summer asked and crossed her arms.
"As far as we're aware, it's a self-contained situation."
"I see." Summer thought for a moment before nodding and uncrossing her arms, "Well, they might not be too happy getting thrown out there so soon, but they'll get over it."
"Leader of the year," Coco muttered with a shake of her head, "and my team has been thinking a lot lately. If you think it'll help in the long run, my team will be ready to go." Ozpin stared quietly at Coco for a moment, his eyes boring into her. Of course it wasn't the only reason she wanted to go on the mission and, for a moment, Coco thought that he had managed to psychically know that. Thankfully Ozpin didn't push it and instead took another sip of cocoa and looked at Jaune.
"And you, Mr. Arc?" Jaune fidgeted at the question, his feet scraping against the floor and his expression thoughtful.
"I… don't know if we're ready for a big mission like that," he said and looked at Summer and Coco, "But then again, would we ever be ready?"
"No," Summer answered.
"Nope," Coco added.
"It's something you never really get used to," Ozpin said, closing his eyes.
"…Great. Well, I guess there's only one way to find out right? It shouldn't be too bad if we're with both of you, right?" Summer silently knocked on Ozpin's desk twice while the headmaster gave a small smile and tapped something on his desk. A second later the three student's scrolls beeped.
"I just sent the mission details to your teams. Go over the details with them and prepare as you must. The airship you'll take will be at port 3."
"When do we leave?" Summer asked.
"As soon as possible."
"Then we'll get our stuff together. We'll figure the nitty gritty on the way over, ok guys?"
"Fine with me," Coco said and turned to lead the war to the elevator. "We need to get everyone together and explain what's going on first."
"Good luck students," Ozpin called. The trio waved at him and got into an elevator. Once the doors closed Ozpin sighed and shook his head. "And let's hope he's not involved."
"So I'm not the only one who thought that was weird, right?" Coco asked once the elevator was on its way down.
"No, it definitely was. Ozpin's spooked by something," Summer answered.
"But… what could spook the headmaster of Beacon?" Jaune asked.
"Nothing good." Summer sighed and added, "But maybe it's just us. Let's hope it's nothing and just focus on the mission ahead of us." The elevator dinged and the trio exited with Summer leading the way out of the elevator and toward the tower's exit.
"So, how should we prepare?" Jaune asked. "Since it's just a simple recon mission I guess we should pack light?"
"That's what I figured," Coco answered, "No need to overburden ourselves right?"
"Screw that," Summer said, stopping at the tower exit and turning to face Coco and Jaune, "Nothing is ever 'simple', especially not lately. We should all be carrying as much ammo and Dust as we can along with a day's worth of rations. Just to be safe."
"Really? Isn't that overcompensating a little?"
"Like this mission?" Coco could only shrug in response while Summer crossed her arms. "I'll admit it's sounding a little paranoid, but that place left a bad taste in my mouth. I just don't want another breach to happen because we were careless, you know?"
"I guess, but it'll take a while to get everything together for my team."
"What about the lockers?" Jaune asked. The looks Summer and Coco gave him caused him to shrink a little as he added, "Wouldn't that solve the supply thing?"
"...You know, I always forget those are there," Coco said.
"I do too, and he is right. We can shove any extra stuff we'll need in them and probably be out before sundown. Good thinking Jaune." Jaune couldn't help the small smile that came as they started walking out again. Summer stretched her arms out and looked up at the clear skies for a moment before turning back to Coco and Jaune.
"Let's split up here and see to our own teams. We'll message each other once we're all ready and meet up at the Huntsman statue. That sound good?"
"Yup, it'll give me time to round up enough ammo," Coco said with a nod.
"I really hope this mission goes well," Jaune said nervously and crossed his arms, "Because now I'm thinking of what kind of things could happen."
"Don't get bogged down by that stuff. It… really hurts in the long run."
"She's right, just focus on doing your best," Summer added and placed her hands on her hips, "After all, you know what they say-"
What they say would go unsaid as Summer vanished from view thanks to an orange, tan, and green blur. Coco and Jaune both blinked for a second before they looked down to see Summer try to fight off yet another bone crushing hug from an excited Penny.
"Summer! I finally found you again! It only took two tries this time!" Penny shouted through her giggles.
"Two?" Coco asked and heard labored breathing coming from her left. She and Jaune looked to see Ruby stumbling over to them and nearly collapsing against a hand railing.
"Too fast… I don't know how she is, but she's too fast…" she gasped out in between breaths.
"Hey Ruby," Jaune said with a wave.
"Hi… whoever you are… sorry, my brain's not working right now."
There was a small shout and Penny went sailing through the air and landed in a roll at Ruby's feet, never once losing her smile. Summer picked herself up and dusted herself off and said, "Hello Penny. Good to see you're doing well."
"You as well!" Penny replied from the ground.
"I didn't know you knew Ruby."
"We just met today actually." Penny shot up to her feet and leaned against Ruby, who was still trying to catch her breath. "I thought she was you at first, but once I realized my error we became quick friends and have been looking for you ever since!"
"No we haven't, you've been dragging me all around looking for Summer. Summer… why do you know so many weirdos!?" Ruby gasped out as she straightened up and massaged a bit of lingering soreness out of her back.
"Hey, I don't try to get to know weird people, okay? They come to me," Summer said, putting her hands on her hips.
"Hey-" Jaune started only to get a look from Summer.
"Weird isn't bad, Jaune. And even if you are weird, you're still one of the most normal people I've met. Take it as a compliment."
"I mean… ok…"
"Wait a minute, are you saying I'm weirder than Jaune!?" Coco shouted angrily and stomped a foot onto the ground, "What is that shit!?"
"Uh…" Thankfully Summer didn't have to explain her reasoning as the music of her ringtone filled the air and she was all too keen to answer it. "Hey Qrow oh buddy! How are things where you are? Oh, you saw the mission huh? Yeah I didn't really have any say in that." She waited a few seconds and crossed her arms. "So she found out huh? How bad is it?"
Her eyes widened after a moment. "Really, again!? Goddammit, I'm on my way." Summer hung up and sprinted away from the group into the academy.
"Er, what was that about?" Jaune asked and looked at Coco for an explanation.
"Raven's probably pissed and trying to burn the dorms down again. It's no biggie," Coco said with a shrug.
"Burn down!? Again!? My stuff is in the dorms!"
"Well so is hers. Relax, she won't get far. Now if she was in the guest dorms, that might be a different story."
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," Ruby muttered.
"Being a team leader must be harder than I thought," Penny mused, which got the rest of the group to simultaneously say 'You have no idea!' "Hm… well since everyone is here, why don't we all do something fun? I've always wanted to 'hang out' with friends again! We can paint our nails and talk about cute boys and-"
"As fun as that sounds," Coco interrupted, "we actually have some preparations to do. Big mission, but it shouldn't take long if things go well."
"Oh… well, I suppose it can't be helped. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"For the mission, nah. It'll be both our team and Summer's, so we should be good. If you really want to help, then just keep an eye on Beacon while we're gone. That shouldn't be too hard right?"
"Negative! As a good friend I will do my best to protect the academy with my newest friend Ruby!"
"Wait, what?" Ruby asked and found herself pulled into a side hug by Penny.
"So don't worry, we're combat ready and willing to handle anything thrown at us!"
"Why am I suddenly being included in this!?"
"Just accept it Ruby, you're trapped now," Coco said and moved closer to pat Penny on the head. "I appreciate your spunk Penny and I know you'll do a great job. When we get back, I'm sure Summer would love to have that hang out with you."
"I'd like that." Coco couldn't help but smile Penny's eagerness and looked at Jaune.
"Lockers?" he asked.
"After you. Let's get our teams to meet us there." Jaune nodded and started walking down the steps to the academy while Coco gave Penny's head another ruffle before following after him.
Ruby could do nothing but watch as her only true means of escape walked away from her. She weakly raised a hand to them only for it to be grabbed by her captor and made to face her as she grinned down at her.
"So friend Ruby, what should we do first? Should we paint our nails first?"
In this most hopeless of situations, Ruby decided on the path of least resistance.
"Sure Penny, but let's go get my team first. I'm sure they'd love to meet as well."
"Really, new friends? I can't wait to meet them!"
"Follow me then." Ruby, with her wickedest grin, took a firm grasp on Penny's hand and led her to the guest dorms. 'If I have to fall under this bus, I'm going to drag the others down with me,' she thought while Penny just wondered what kind of new friends she'd meet.
A few hours later Team STRQ were waiting next to the Bullhead that would take them to Mountain Glenn. Summer was getting the specifics from the pilot while Taiyang and Qrow were trying to calm down Raven.
"Stop being pissed off," Qrow said.
"No," Raven replied as she sat cross legged against the airship with her arms crossed and the most petulant look on her face.
"It's starting to get annoying Raven. Stop it," Taiyang said.
"I don't want to."
"Is she still mad?" Summer shouted from inside the airship.
"Yes I am! I can't believe you guys aren't either, having your vacation cut short by yet another bullshit mission."
"Oh, we are mad about this," Taiyang said and crossed his arms, "Especially after having to go through 'mandatory' therapy only to get thrown back into the same shithole again. But acting like a child isn't going to solve anything."
"Tell me about it. That therapy didn't do shit, I can still hear that poor bastard that got caught under a train wheel." Raven sighed and rubbed her eyes for a second before dropping her hands back into her lap. "Whatever, maybe there'll be some Grimm to kill so I can work out this aggression."
"Yeah, that'd probably be for the best," Qrow agreed and glanced to the right at a newly arrived Team JNPR, all of whom were giving Raven odd looks. "Hey what's up?"
"Nothing, just… got here," Jaune answered and looked at Raven. "Are you ok?"
"No," she answered.
"Is that Jaune? Hey get your ass in here, we need to talk shop!" Summer shouted.
"What? Uh, okay!" Jaune replied and gave his team a nod before hopping into the Bullhead. Now left to their own devices, Nora and Ren started going through their respective packs to make sure they had everything while Pyrrha joined Taiyang, Raven, and Qrow.
"So, our first mission together. Pretty exciting huh?" Pyrrha asked.
"That's another thing I'm pissed about, why are we babysitting for this?" Raven asked in return while ignoring the look Pyrrha gave her.
"Well, we won't be the only ones babysitting," Taiyang said, getting another look from Pyrrha, "Team CFVY will be with us on this too."
"And that's another thing! Why are they sending three teams for a recon mission? That's too weird even for Ozpin. He's hiding something, again."
"Why would he?" Nora asked.
"Oh, you poor naive bastard. He always hides stuff."
"No need for name-calling," Nora replied with a glare.
"The curse of the eternal rebel, can't keep her mouth shut when she needs to," Qrow said, giving his sister a look. When all she did was shrug, he turned to face JNPR. "Just be glad your first 'hand picked by Oz' mission is this and not what we had to go through."
"Dammit, why did you have to remind me of that?" Raven asked as she buried her face in her hands.
"Was it bad?" Pyrrha asked.
"No, just pointless," Taiyang answered. "He wanted to be sure we could 'recognize the importance of our tasks,' so he sent us to get some things."
"I remember that!" Everyone turned to Coco as she walked over with her team behind her, "you were running around the school all day. Next time we saw you, you were pissed off because it was just finding some stuff he misplaced after a staff party."
"...Seriously?" Nora asked.
"I should have smashed his glasses," Raven muttered.
"At least Sum managed to save those party pictures. Those were good for a laugh," Taiyang said with a chuckle, which got a little louder when he saw Raven quietly laugh too.
"Speaking of, where is she?" Coco asked.
"In the ship with Jaune."
"Alright, I assume she wants to talk to me too." Coco walked through the group toward the airship and climbed inside. Once she was out of view Raven looked back at JNPR.
"Back on topic, be glad this is your first mission like this. You actually get to do stuff instead of finding worthless shit."
"Yeah, but we're also going to go to Mountain Glenn right?" Nora asked, "That's going to be a problem right?"
"Maybe," Velvet replied, "but if you keep a cool head and focus on the mission, you should be ok." Fox and Yatsuhashi nodded in agreement.
"And let's hope that this is as simple as it sounds. Just a simple snatch and grab with no twists or bullshit to keep us from coming home," Raven added.
"Won't complain about that," Qrow agreed. The engines of the ship started getting louder and Summer leaned out the sides to wave at the assembled teams.
"We're ready to leave! Everyone get in, it'll be a long flight!" she shouted over the engines. Raven picked herself up and followed Taiyang and Qrow as they boarded the ship. Team JNPR and CFVY were right behind her and slid the doors closed behind them. Soon the airship was in the air and on its way.