merendinoemiliano : I'm not sure what exactly you're asking, but in the show, Dust bullets are special bullets, meaning there should be normal bullets somewhere, and that is excluding the mechanism needed to fire any bullet, Dust filled or not.
The following days weren't great for Neo. While Roman getting arrested should have been good news, it was immediately soured by an announcement the following day saying that Roman would be executed as soon as he was brought back to Atlas.
That announcement caused Neo to stop in the middle of sending Rumpole a message. Now that breaking Roman out with a priority, she couldn't count on one of Ozpin's allies to help against another one of his allies, even if Theodore and Rumpole had went against Ozpin to hire her.
Another thing that happened after her little murder attempt on the blonde was that she now was officially wanted in Vale, making walking around in the open a lot more taxing on her illusion Dust - and her finances.
Finally, the last annoying thing was her current mission for Cinder. She was to secure a medical bullhead for the final round of the tournament, and that meant infiltrating one of the top hospitals in Vale, who would be big enough to be granted the right to heal the wounded on the Amity Arena.
So, after having conned Cinder for more money than she really needed for the job, Neo posed as one of the people injuried during the Breach she and Roman had helped cause and stayed there for a while.
The days were boring, the food was disgusting, and she had to keep faking injuries to not get sent back out of the hospital. Her only saving grace was at night, when she could freely roam the corridors to look for the information she needed in order to take a medical bullhead in and out of Amity without anyone asking questions.
Honestly, if it wasn't needed in order to save Roman, she would have never went along with this all summer long.
Yang was furious.
She had lost, and it wasn't even close. She had been completely obliterated, all while the girl hadn't used a single speck of Dust.
Miss Goodwitch had even said that Dust was this Neo's speciality !
For her opponent to not go against her seriously, that was humiliating. She refused to let that happen ever again.
So, while Ruby went back home for the holidays, Yang stayed at Beacon, spending most of her time training her body and getting stronger.
All so, when it was time for the two of them to face again, she would be the one to win.
The Vytal Festival came in faster than anyone realized.
Neo had left the hospital a while back, but was ready to go in and sweep that medical bullhead as Cinder wanted. For now, she was going to help them win a fight.
Not that she was needed in any way for this, however it was less suspicious if they fought as four rather than three.
While fighting this mock battle against four far weaker students, Neo found the little buttons she had helped make so long ago, now used as miniature cameras to film every angle of their fight.
The small devices put a smile on her face as she was reminded of all the fun she had once had while developping them, and seeing as she was supposed to stop Cinder from whatever she was doing, Neo decided to give Ozpin a little hint.
While everyone else was fighting, Neo found one of the small cameras on the ground, and she switched her eyes back to their original color before crushing it under her shoe.
The footage would never make it on any of the monitors, nobody in the mass will ever know there was a wanted woman hiding as one of the contestants. However, one person would know.
When trying to understand why one of the cameras had failed, Ozpin would watch its last moment, and he'll see that she was here.
Hopefully it'll be enough to make him understand her team was a threat.
In his office, Ozpin did notice that Neo was in the tournament, however before he could personally do anything about it he got a call from Shade.
"Ozpin, I have grave news." said Theodore on the other end of the line, "This C(ar)MEN team that fought in your tournament isn't in any of my files."
"And ?" asked Ozpin, not sure where Theodore wanted to go with this.
"And ?" asked back Theodore, "Ozpin, you know I have files of every single student in every academy since their initiation. If those four aren't in my files, then they aren't real students !"
"Theodore." calmly said Ozpin, "I believe I have already told you that I didn't trust you could maintain files on every single student. You are bound to miss a few."
"I've never missed anyone." objected Theodore, "And even if I did, I wouldn't have missed an entire team good enough to make it to the Vytal Tournament."
"Nevertheless, what do you want me to do about it ?" asked Ozpin.
"What do..." started Theodore, "Ozpin, you have to at least arrest them ! They're people posing as students, they can't be there for any good reason, they could even be working for Her !"
"Calm down Theodore." said Ozpin, "I know one of them is Neo Politan but..."
"Then all the more reason to arrest the three others !" practically shouted Theodore, "They have to be working for the Big One !"
"Theodore. I will not arrest those three students without proof." firmly stated Ozpin, "And before you ask, you not knowing of them and the fact that they were seen in company of a criminal known for impersonating others do not count as proof of evil intentions."
"Ozpin ! You can't protect your Kingdom with wishful thinking alone !" objected Theodore, "Threats won't wait until you decide you have enough proof before they strike !"
"They won't indeed." admited Ozpin, "Which is why we must do our best to gather enough before they strike."
"But..." started Theodore.
"Theodore." interrupted Ozpin, "Do you have any idea how bad it would be if we arrested a team from the tournament without a proper explanation ? One sent by Haven with all the proper forms ?"
"They were what ?" asked Theodore.
"They were sent by Leonardo himself, and all their paperwork about their two years at Haven are in order." explained Ozpin, "Now you understand why I am so sure that you missed those four students ?"
Theodore slumped back on his chair, looking hagard.
"Leonardo betrayed us..." he muttered.
"I believe this conversation is over." said Ozpin.
He shut down the call, and as soon as Theodore was off screen he turned towards Ironwood and Glynda, who had been in the room the entire time.
"What do you think ?" asked Glynda.
"I believe it has become even more likely that our mole is from Shade." sighed Ozpin.
"You think Theodore betrayed us ?" asked Ironwood.
"I'm not sure." answered Ozpin, "I do trust Theodore wouldn't help Salem ever, however, I do not share his trust in his right hand. We've never been able to find anything about her, not even her first name."
"She is a complete mistery." agreed Glynda.
"Are we going to ignore Theodore's advice about that team ?" asked Ironwood, clearly not agreeing with that idea.
"Not entirely." said Ozpin, "We will put them under surveillance, but do not question them about their fourth member. We do not want for them to get suspicious."
"I'll put my best agents on it." said Ironwood.
"What about Neo ?" asked Ozpin.
"I couldn't find her." said Ironwood.
"As far as I'm aware, the girl she posed as only came for the match itself. No one had ever seen her outside of it." explained Glynda.
"That is concerning." said Ozpin, "We'll send Leonardo a message telling him that girl went missing, and we'll initiate a search of our own as well."
"Ozpin, if Neo has been seen with Roman, then wouldn't she be working for that half maiden ?" asked Glynda, "If that is the case, then maybe that half maiden is part of this team."
"Or the one you fought was Neo in the first place." pointed out Ozpin, "Although we would then have to figure out why Neo would want to infiltrate the CCT."
"I hope she isn't the one planning these attacks." said Glynda.
"I hope so as well." said Ozpin, "That would be far more troublesome."
After his call with Ozpin ended, Rumpole entered Theodore's office, where she found the headmaster still slumped and hagard behind his desk.
"I take it your call didn't go well ?" she asked.
"Rumpole, tell anyone that want to hear it that Mistral isn't safe anymore. Vale won't be for long either." said Theodore.
"That bad ?" asked Rumpole.
"He doesn't want to hear anything about that team we know nothing about, even though apparently Neo was a part of it." explained Theodore, "Worse, that team wasn't simply there because Leonardo wasn't vigilant with the paperwork, which can happen, but was actually sent in by Leonardo himself."
"You mean..." started Rumpole.
"It looks like Leonardo betrayed us." somberly said Theodore.
"I didn't think he would be the type." said Rumpole.
"Me neither." said Theodore, "I didn't think anyone in our group would be the type."
"What are we going to do ?" asked Rumpole, "If Vale truly isn't safe, then the students will be in danger."
"Yes." agreed Theodore, "You'll go to Beacon get our students back home. On the way, try to figure out why Neo is with those imposters. If she's stuck, try to get her out."
"And if she's not ?" asked Rumpole.
"Then I trust you'll do what needs to be done." answered Theodore.
The day after, Qrow came back after having gone dark for a while, with a message. The queen had pawns, and most importantly, those pawns were the ones that had attacked Amber.
Moreover, those pawns were the ones currently threatening Vale, meaning Neo shouldn't be the one behind it, to Glynda's relief.
That being said, it also meant the threat would be far more dangerous now that they knew Salem was involved.
Qrow was immediately sent back on another mission, this time to scour Vale in search of the one that had used Roman to create the Breach and was now most likely using Neo to infiltrate the tournament.
He was to confirm they were the same ones that attacked Amber, and if possible eliminate them or ask for back-up.
They needed to be stopped before it was too late.
To be continued on July 24th
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 16
Level : 16 (18%)
Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]
Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]
Title : The Gamer
HP : 10/10
AP : UNUSABLE
STR : 11
CON : 10
DEX : 18
INT : 21
WIS : 12
CHA : 16
Semblance : The Gamer
Status effects :
Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Fighting for your life [Your aura behaved in the only way that would let you survive, and will continue to do so until you overcome your trauma. You cannot use aura, but you can will any item you wield for it to reflect 100% of any attack that hits it]
Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]
Defenses :
AC : 26(30)
For : 19
Ref : 25
Will : 23