Losing Yourself
Qrow knew that every eye in Ozpin's office would be on him the second those elevator doors opened: being an hour or two late to one of their oh-so-important meetings tended to get you weird looks. Not like he really cared, considering what some of those people were up to. Or considering how they never picked up their damn Scrolls.
So, he tipped his flask back and basked in the chorus of annoyed shouts as the doors opened. Shouts that, of course, suddenly faded when everyone noticed the person beside him.
He capped his flask and strolled in. "You wouldn't believe who I ran into on my way up here!" he said with false enthusiasm dripping from his equally fake grin. Behind him trailed Winter, looking for all the world like she'd crawled out from her own grave. Bootless, a sleeve and a leg of her pants missing, her hair undone and matted down, and the front of her clothes stained with blood. Ozpin jumped from his seat, but it was Glynda who spoke first.
"Good heavens!" Glynda rushed past Qrow to the wounded Specialist.
"I'm fine." Winter kept her head held high.
"You're limping," she retorted, then glared over to Qrow. "What happened to her?"
"Great question. Hey, Jimmy, what did happen to her?"
While Ozpin's surprise was barely restrained, Ironwood hovered at his side, impassive as ever. Good old Atlesian stoicism? He doubted it.
Ironwood's gaze narrowed, but he didn't have the time to speak a single word.
"I take full responsibility for my actions," Winter loudly cut in. "It was a mission I pursued of my own acc—"
"Enough, Schnee." Ironwood kept his gaze squarely on Qrow. "That won't be necessary."
"I believe there are many explanations that are necessary," Ozpin stated. "One of which being why the first communication we've received from you in weeks happens to be this, Qrow." He placed his Scroll atop the desk. The glass flickered, then created a hologram: Qrow standing on a rooftop, giving a grin and a thumbs-up to the camera as, visible through a shattered skylight behind him, Winter's summoned Manticore tail pierced through clones of Adam.
No one looked particularly pleased. Qrow thought it was a good shot of him.
"Is that..." Glynda squinted at the blurry clones, then took a sharp breath and looked to Ozpin. "You knew about this the entire time?"
"I had believed it a better idea to wait until all parties involved were here to begin asking questions." Ozpin sat down and steepled his hands. "But it seems we're missing one."
Qrow shrugged. "Let 'im go."
That got a reaction from Jimmy. "You did what?!" he shouted.
"Watch it, James: I'm not one of your special operatives. Ain't my job to go dragging that Taurus kid back, but I thought you'd oughta know what's going on with your right-hand girl." He jabbed a finger at the group. "Great time to be tearing each other apart, by the way: did you know our enemy's right on our doorstep? Because I didn't go risking my life in Mistral just to have you people squander my info with in-fighting!"
"We're well aware of the enemy, Qrow!" Ironwood shot back.
He cocked his head to one side in disbelief. "You're 'well aware'? Oh, are you now! Well, it's a good thing you were so kind to inform me—oh, wait, that's right!" He snapped out his Scroll, scowling. "I haven't gotten a single message from you people in the last month! Seems all that Atlesian technology can't help you find the 'send' button. Right here, Jimmy," he growled and tapped the black Scroll. "It's right here."
"It's General," Winter said through gritted teeth.
Qrow scoffed: she wasn't worth his time right now. "So what's been so important that I needed to wait until now to find out my help wasn't needed. Better yet, why's the first thing I have to do upon getting here making sure your special operative doesn't get killed trying to take out Oz's pet project!"
Ironwood squared his shoulders. "Because I'm the one who told her to do so."
The stare Ozpin gave Ironwood was freezing enough to where even Qrow couldn't blame the general from keeping his eyes solely on him.
"I beg your pardon, James?" Words spoken so calmly, yet with all the weight in the world. Ironwood had the eyes of the room, now.
Ironwood looked around at the group with a level stare, then stood tall and folded his arms behind his back. "It was necessary to remove one of the enemies as swiftly as possible," he explained.
"You tried to have Taurus killed?" Glynda asked, shocked.
Qrow resisted the urge to snort: leave it to her to take umbrage with killing someone she was so ardently against even being here on account of being a terrorist.
"It's better than having others die because of him, and why none of you seemed to care, I don't understand." He began to pace. "The CCT is attacked by a Huntsman-level White Fang member who must have had perfect knowledge of the Academy's inner workings, one who coincidentally did not match the description of the perpetrator with the glass slipper. Then, Beacon itself is attacked by the White Fang, with one of the targets being Taurus' team, and another being someone that—despite my attempts to prevent—only Taurus' team would have known of as being important. The perpetrators? Students from his organization which already borders on military training." Ironwood turned to Qrow. "Shall I go on?"
He didn't get a choice. "The Breach in the Ildaite Ward was caused by the coincidental location of a train suspected to have been stolen by Taurus in the first place: a train that shouldn't have had the force necessary to break through as much ground as it did." Ironwood tapped his Scroll as he passed, and a single report replacing Qrow's photo flashed to life: one that mentioned the findings of an investigation into the Breach.
"So I found it very interesting that his aura signature was detected across the entirety of the entry point of the train. His Semblance's capability for concentrated destruction matches the force necessary to force a way open for the train used. The timing of his arrival and the rapid destabilization of the situation in Vale makes the evidence clear: if he isn't one of our infiltrators, he's an associate."
"Which is why he sent me," Winter followed up. "Personal matters aside, out of the two still-active Specialists who have had experience with him, I was the only one immediately available."
Glynda sighed, reading over the holographic documentation. "This... makes sense, I admit it. However, it doesn't explain why you never saw it fit to tell us."
"Not too fun when it's happening to you lot, huh?" Qrow grumbled and tilted his flask back. He sneered. Empty.
"And have this opportunity taken away?" Ironwood countered. "It was the only time there would have been few in the crossfire. Had I brought it to you, I know precisely what would have happened." He turned to face Ozpin and froze.
Truth be told, this was when Qrow started paying attention too, and the fury in Ozpin's eyes was enough to suck the air from the room. The man had a way of looking and sounding like there were a thousand lives behind his own. Well, now each and every one of them was pissed.
"Please, James, continue," Ozpin said without a hint of emotion in his voice, glaring into Ironwood's eyes from atop steepled hands. "What would I have told you?"
Qrow was happy he'd only seen him look like that once in his life, and frankly, he could've gone a couple more decades without seeing it again. He tugged at his collar.
Even Ironwood paused, but after a second, he steeled himself... and proceeded to keep digging himself deeper. "You would have continued to protect your project until the day he had a gun to your head. To the Schnee heiress' head. Or even to the current last silver-eyed warrior's head."
The silence after Ironwood's words was deafening. It felt like even the gears above them all had stopped ticking.
Ozpin took a slow, deep breath. "On the contrary, James, were I in your position with your information, I would have also come to the conclusion that you have. Of course, the benefits of being in a group is that others may have information you lack. Perhaps even information that you may find useful, such as the fact that not only is Mister Taurus not affiliated with our enemy, but I have good reason to believe Team RWAY stands against them just as we do. Information that may have given you pause, such as knowing that while he has information, our enemy has been keeping someone hostage to stop him, and that I have been preparing to get to the bottom of it."
What were once steepled hands were now clasped tightly enough to glow a faint green. "Preparations now undoubtedly moot after my ally tried to assassinate him," he hissed.
"So please, James, enlighten me: for what reason did you see fit to believe I would not trust you? For what reason have you eschewed informing your own allies? And for what possible reason did you see fit to send your soldiers to assassinate my students in my kingdom!" Ozpin demanded, fierce and imperious.
Ironwood, for all his credit, held his ground. "This isn't your kingdom any longer, Ozm—"
"That is irrelevant!" He slammed a fist on the table, and the occupants of the room flinched in unison as the air, tinted green by Ozpin's aura alone, pressed down on them like the deepest reaches of the ocean. Ozpin had risen from his seat, a scowl on his face and eyes flaring a shining gold. He raised a hand to Ironwood, ready to lay into him again.
Winter, with little aura having regenerated already, collapsed to one knee, panting. As if noticing she was there for the first time, Ozpin—or rather, Qrow dryly thought, 'The Last King'—looked to Winter. All at once, the pressure subsided, and the glow faded from Ozpin's eyes. In a single breath, his demeanor shifted from 'Last King of Vale' to 'Headmaster Ozpin': relaxed, yet no less stern.
"Miss Schnee, you may leave," he spoke a little too quickly. "I see now that you are not entirely to blame."
Even while catching her breath, Winter looked up to him. "But, sir—"
"Do as he says, Specialist Schnee," Ironwood said over his shoulder. "Recuperate on my ship: you need it."
Winter watched him for a moment, then sucked in a last breath, stood tall and saluted. "Yes, sir." Hiding her limp the best she could, Winter marched out.
The elevator shut, and the quiet dings of it going down the floors of the CCT was all that replaced her.
"For what it's worth..." Ironwood sighed. "I apologize. You're correct: I should have brought this information to you first, no matter my perception of your objections."
"You were right to have your misgivings," Ozpin admitted. "Just remember that we are all on the same side."
Qrow slid his empty flask into his coat. "I'm not sayin' it's not working, but what is your deal with our neighborhood terrorist, anyway? I had half a mind to come running back to Vale when you told me who was on my nieces' team."
"You never did tell me what made you think of that decision, either," Glynda added.
Slowly, Ozpin sat himself back down. He looked across them and, with a sigh of defeat, leaned forward.
"Salem created the faunus."
That empty flask was burning a hole in him already. Were it not for the severity of the situation though, Qrow would've been tempted to snap a picture of Glynda and Ironwood looking like fish gasping for air, though.
Undaunted, Ozpin continued: "We've known that she's preferred the faunus for her ends as long as I can remember, whether it be for sentimentality, familiarity or... perhaps some perverted sense of maternal feelings. However, she is still their creator. Just as long as she's been turning the world against itself, she's been using the faunus and humanity's conflict with them as her personal weapon behind the scenes. It's her modus operandi: to divide humanity, and even to turn members of this very organization against each other. I've decided it's about time we turn that very ideal against her."
Ozpin's gaze turned to Qrow. "I'm sure you're aware of what I'm doing."
Qrow shoved his hands into his pockets. "Didn't work too well for Raven."
"We allowed for Salem to control the narrative," Ozpin countered. "I won't make that mistake again: especially with Salem's subordinates having already made contact with Taurus."
Glynda furrowed her brow, then realization struck. "You're not saying to introduce him into this even earlier, are you? With all due respect, he hasn't exactly proven himself a noble soul."
"Not just him. Team Rua as a whole."
"Woah, woah, woah, are you crazy, Oz? Raven and I nearly spooked out of this place when you told us, and we were juniors. And you want to bring those four in right now as freshmen? Not to mention you know that might be the thing that tips Raven over into being an enemy: that's the last thing we need over in Mistral."
"Which is why we don't need a noble soul: we need a loyal one," Ozpin said. "If I can successfully pull Miss Belladonna away from our infiltrator's clutches, then he may reevaluate where his loyalty lies. His knowledge and influence over the White Fang should be more than enough to start breaking Salem's hold on the faunus and create a truly unified front against her. Additionally, I could not help but notice the team's rise in rankings: within a year, I anticipate them to have surpassed even your team in their Beacon days, Qrow." He smiled.
Qrow chuckled. "Good luck with that."
"It's the first step towards uniting not just humanity, but all of Remnant. I hold trust in their team: both in their strength and in their moral constitution. The goal of my 'pet project' as some of you have called it is simple: just as these Academies, this team shall be a beacon to all those in the four Kingdoms. Of hope and unity both. Much like our next Fall Maiden."
"Which brings us back to Amber," Glynda said.
As the conversation turned to candidates and conditions, Qrow let his shoulders slump. Oz was putting a lot of hope on his nieces' team. A lot of hope that this time, he'd get someone like him instead of Raven. Qrow hoped so too.
Groaning, Adam grabbed onto the dorm's doorframe and forced himself up after having been knocked flat on his rear.
"Yang! What was that for!" Ruby cried out.
"He knew what was gonna happen when he lied!"
Really, he should've expected that the first thing he'd see walking into RWAY's dorm would be a fist. Did he deserve it? Arguably. Would that have normally stopped him from decking Yang back? Usually no, but right now, with his aura still recovering and his body still aching, he would allow Yang to get away with it. Once.
"I assume you found the letter, then," Adam said through gritted teeth while he stumbled past the two sisters to his bed: no Weiss, it looked like. He was halted by something less expected: Ruby springing over and hugging him. The usual disdain he held for physical contact was absent.
"We were worried about you two: what were you thinking!"
Adam was prepared to brush it off: this was something he believed one couldn't understand without being in the same situation. Some vague, non-committal answer was already on the tip of his tongue when he looked down at Ruby. Her eyes were rimmed with red, watering even now. She'd been crying.
He let out a deep sigh. At least Weiss wasn't here. "Apparently, the 'good general' knew who I was already and sent Winter Schnee off to kill me."
Ruby let go of him to put her hands over her mouth.
"You didn't know the general had done that when you and Weiss' sister were glaring each other down," Yang said with her arms crossed.
"I had my suspicions that she would try to apprehend me on her own." Adam pulled open the closet, keeping his back to them as he pulled down new clothes: it was easier to lie this way. He didn't like it, but the truth of the matter was that he didn't even know how to explain his and Winter's situation, let alone make it palatable. "The letter was just in case my plans failed: I had another operative of the White Fang standing by to disable Winter if the battle turned lethal."
That was the first lie: he'd sent a message to Ilia to finish off Winter if he was killed. Fitting revenge considering her own brush with death Ilia had at her hands.
"I wasn't going to kill her, despite our... interesting history." Which made that the second lie: he had no intent of Winter leaving alive. Either she died, or they both did.
He heard Yang sigh behind him. "Doesn't explain why you would've actually agreed to some duel at the crack of... dusk, I guess. I doubt Ozpin would've just let another headmaster try to get one of his students killed or something."
"That wouldn't have stopped her. It was best to encounter her alone, rather than wait for Ironwood to do something harsh and get the rest of you involved."
Yang scoffed. "Like we'd let anybody try that: family or not."
He was waiting for that. "Leading to the two of you being labeled as fellow terrorists due to your assistance. And potentially forcing Weiss to choose between her now-fugitive team and her sister."
"And, uh, the last 'assassination' didn't go too well..." Ruby mumbled.
"Exactly." He turned and made his way for the bathroom, not hiding his victorious smirk. "Face it, Yang: you girls may have convinced me away from going alone before, but this time I was right." He got his hand on the doorknob when Yang asked the worst question.
"But why would Ironwood choose now to try and attack you? He's had months, and I'm pretty sure he was asking me to snitch on you back when Cinder broke into the CCT. I mean, if he knows something, he probably would've told Ozpin—"
"He's already aware."
"That makes even less sense, then!" Yang threw her arms up. "If the headmaster doesn't see anything wrong and we literally saved like over a hundred thousand people, what's his problem? You don't think he's actually racist or something, do you?"
Adam held back a bark of laughter, but his humor faded quickly. Weiss was with her sister: that was a given. Winter would no doubt tell her exactly what Ironwood had discovered, and probably with a few embellishments for good measure. Could he lie? Could he say he didn't know? Yes. But all that'd do is give Winter the advantage. Worse, it wouldn't be lying out of necessity but to save his own skin. After a couple moments of silence, he drew his hand away from the door.
"The Breach. That's his problem."
Yang rolled her eyes. "Really? He thinks you're evil because you 'let it happen', or something?" she said with finger quotes. Ruby, on the other hand, was quiet, brow furrowed in thought.
Adam sighed, but couldn't bring himself to face them. "No. It's because I'm the one who caused it... to it's current extent, anyway."
While Yang eyed him with suspicion and curiosity, Ruby kept her gaze locked on him. "It was when I pulled you down in the train, wasn't it? I saw you use your Semblance."
"Yes. On the wall ahead: it was likely the reason the train was able to get so deep into the ward."
The two of them flinched as if struck. Yang turned pale, and Ruby balled her fists.
Yang brushed a hand through her hair, having to steady herself before asking, "Why? Why would you even do that!"
Finally, Adam met her gaze, unmoved. Internally, he winced: he had planned to take that secret to the grave. "You haven't accused me of being the enemy: you know why."
Yang shook her head. "No, no... come on, Adam! We saved people out there! We helped save the city! We beat Cinder's plan: don't tell me all of that was just cleaning up your mistake! Don't tell me that it was..." She growled, then just shouted in frustration.
Ruby, however, looked hurt. Conflicted. Even as she glared at him, she was trembling. "Did you do it to save us?"
"It was only part of the reason," Adam admitted. "When I was standing atop that train, I couldn't let everyone on it die. Not you, not even the White Fang."
Ruby's eyes widened, but Yang turned that into fuel for the anger that so often shielded her. "You sacrificed over twenty thousand people for the White Fang? They're terrorists, or did you forget that because you were with them! A lot of innocent people died just to save a group of killers we were there to stop!"
Adam grit his teeth, biting back his words the best he could, yet Yang came closer. "Everything that happened, all the good we thought we did, and it was just to save the people who caused it? It was for nothing? Well, great job Major Taurus, because you've probably done more to help the White Fang here than you did when you were leading them!"
His resistance wasn't enough.
"We had nothing, Yang!" Adam shouted. "Our auras were drained, we didn't have a damn plan, and you were bleeding out less than five minutes ago! You were gambling on just making it out alive, but when I was atop that train, I saw a guarantee! The people on that train were just militia, people pulled off the street and given guns, and you know who was leading them? The faunus I trained! The faunus I taught! Faunus I knew by their weapons, their names, their history and the second I knew what could be done to save them, their lives were in my hands!"
It hurt his chest to even be this loud, but he didn't care, storming closer to Yang. "If I didn't break that wall, most of us could have died! I know what I did, Yang: I made that choice. I chose my friends, my family, my people over what would happen if that train hit the wall, killed us and let the Grimm roam free in Vale anyway! I didn't like that choice either, Yang, but I'd do it again. I'd do it a thousand times over!"
"Then you never changed in the first place!" Yang shouted back.
Adam flinched, yet his scowl only deepened. "You want to be angry? Fine! But what would you have done! If you were in my place, if those were people you cared about that you led down the wrong path, would you let them die for it? Would you let Weiss die? Even Ruby? Go ahead, Yang. Please. Tell me: what should I have done!" The two were left breathing heavily, standing only a foot away.
Yang searched for words to say, but the room stayed quiet. It remained that way, broken only when Adam slammed the bathroom door shut behind him.
Throughout all of Adam's life, he refused to look back. Throughout all his life, his choices were made with a clear conscience. His mistakes were owned. His eyes were set forward. His doubts were crushed as soon as they had arisen. So why now? What was it about Beacon that kept his heart rebelling against him?
He could see in the mirror the still-healing injury to his chest, little more than a flesh wound now. It burned like the decision to duel Winter did in his mind. He knew what it was: a desperate last attempt to decide, once and for all, who he was. Irrevocably. He'd have no choice but to look forward... at the cost of burning away everything else. Selfish. Self-destructive.
Leaning over the sink, he dragged his fingers through still-wet hair. He knew what this was: the consequences of his change, he was sure. It was easy to leave a White Fang he believed no longer fit his ideals alongside Blake. It was easy, even, to fight it in the hopes of slaying Cinder and taking control of his organization. Easy to create his new organization of defectors. Easy to save the innocents of Vale.
But to be left choosing between the lives of hundreds of his own or thousands of lives in the city he once despised? For even the duel he'd desired for the better part of the decade to stand in direct opposition to what he should do? To stand before Jacques knowing that, if anything, he was meant to protect his father's killer? Rightful justice traded away for this morality to now champion, where even his newer group of faunus within Ildaite may look upon him with suspicion for suggesting that devil be put down.
These were things a part of his very being was not willing to entertain. He cursed and slammed his fist against the sink. Damnit! This was not the time for things to be so difficult!
Adam gripped the edge of the sink and forced himself calm again. Yes, that's right: this was not the time. There was still a job to do. Once Cinder was dead, he could sort himself out. Until then, he would just have to do what needed to be done. He'd arrived here thinking that his stay in Beacon would be temporary: perhaps his mistake was forgetting just how likely that was.
He shrugged on his clothes and pushed open the door. Ruby was already in bed with her headphones on, watching videos on her Scroll. He could just catch the muted sounds of analyzed battles and rumors. Team FNKI("Funky") as they were called were quite the talk of the town after their surprise victory over JNPR. Over Pyrrha Nikos.
"Yang's off with Blake somewhere," she called as Adam grabbed a chair and looked through his own Scroll. "She stopped by while you were in the shower."
A number of texts and missed calls confirmed that. He held back a chuckle: not so funny when it happens to her, huh? From the most recent text asking him if Winter was still around, he supposed that either she figured it out or Yang was filling her in. He started typing a response, the only sound in the night air once again coming from Ruby's headphones.
"I get it, by the way."
Adam looked up. Ruby stared back, her headphones around her neck while she leaned over the side of her precariously-hung bed.
"The whole... 'Breach' thing. You didn't want to hurt anyone, right?"
Rather abruptly, Adam was reminded of an issue he'd preferred he forget: the knife in his heart that was Ruby. Or rather, how she seemed so eager to follow in his footsteps.
"You're not who I expected to 'get' twenty-thousand lives exchanged for theirs." Adam scoffed. "I appreciate the attempt to stand on my side, but you're more than allowed to be angry at what happened. Good intentions doesn't make Yang wrong."
To his surprise, Ruby rolled her eyes. "You do know that I know the world isn't a fairy tale, right?" She hopped down off of the bed. "I know that there's a lot of... really bad stuff that happens. Awful choices that have to be made." She fiddled with the wire of her headphones and looked away. "That's what I learned from you after Tacet."
Adam snorted. "Well, I'm the last person who you need to be learning from."
Ruby gave him a peculiar look, brow furrowed and gaze roaming across him as if searching for something. Recognition flickered across her eyes, and she crossed her arms.
"Nope."
Adam didn't bother holding in his groan. "This again? Really? This is ridiculous: you of all people should be upset. Be angry!"
"Nope."
"Ildaite was my doing: you only prevented further deaths, not saved people!"
Ruby tapped her chin and cocked her head to one side, pretending to think it over. "Mmm... nope!"
Scowling and with clenched fists, Adam rose from his seat.
"You're not a bad person, Adam."
But that took him aback.
"It took me a little to figure it out, but that's it, isn't it? You're afraid that if I listen to you too much, I'll magically become some evil person 'just like you'." She teasingly poked his chest, but he couldn't bring himself to respond, let alone refute it. What was she on about?
Ruby dropped down from her bed. "But all of that depends on you being a bad person in the first place. I think you're just... someone who wants to do the right thing, no matter what. If you feel guilty, that's a good thing! That means you still care!"
His first reaction was to try and brush it aside, but her words struck deeper than he thought they would. That was it, wasn't it? That war within himself was guilt. What he'd learned to ignore and cast aside so long ago rising up from the shallow grave he'd thrown it in. The price of deciding to align himself with what would be considered good.
Taking his stunned silence as permission, she closed the distance and hugged him. Ruby stayed like that for a couple seconds before taking a deep breath. "I... I don't know what I would've done if I were in your shoes, but I do know that it's not a choice I'd judge someone over." She looked up to him. "And it's not one you should judge yourself so harshly over, too."
A breath trapped in his chest finally escaped him, shaky and slow. Relenting, he brought his arms around Ruby. "You're a lot more wise than you let on."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!" She pouted.
Adam only laughed, a weight lifted off his shoulders. "Thank you, Ruby." He was lost. That much was clear, now. All that was left was to know how to deal with it...
"It's what pals do! Besides: you helped me when I thought I'd messed up, so it's only fair that I help you, right?" She skipped back over to the beds and leaped onto hers in a rush of rose petals. "Bu~ut I think I deserve some kind of payment, this time."
He waved it off. "I'll buy you ice cream tomorrow."
"Nope! One question: was the duel cool, at least?"
Adam shook his head and rolled his eyes. Of course that'd be on her mind. "Yes, I suppose it was."
She laid down on her stomach, a giddy, expecting grin on her face and legs kicking back and forth.
He raised an eyebrow. "A vengeful duel nearly to the death: truly a fitting 'bedtime story.' "
If anything, Ruby leaned over more.
"... Fine."
"I could've had Adam eliminated, but there was someone else there," Emerald reported to Cinder as they sat in their own dorm. "Looked like someone with a cloaking Semblance, because all I could make out was their aura signature. It spiked any time it looked like he was in danger: whoever it was, they were there to make sure either Adam made it out alive or no one did."
"Did you eliminate them?" Cinder asked, voice tense and eyes narrowed. She'd been on edge ever since the blonde pulled Blake away and none other than Ozpin himself pulled Mercury aside for something. They had their ways of contacting each other in emergency, even just an alert for if they were caught. But there had been none of either.
Emerald kept her gaze on the ground: she knew her failure. "I couldn't risk a fight, ma'am: even with Adam and the specialist fighting it out, we'd stick out like a sore thumb in an abandoned mall. If I wasn't masking myself from the spectator, I was focusing my Semblance on them to make sure they didn't interfere."
Cinder sighed across from her. She rose and began to pace. "A shame. Were they working with Ozpin?"
She shrugged. "Maybe. If I could sense them, the Branwen should've. He didn't even glance in that direction though, and I was only hiding myself with my Semblance."
Cinder clicked her tongue. "Were you able to record anything?"
Emerald nodded.
"Good. Ozpin's lapdog arriving may make our plans more... difficult. We need to be ready for anything."
The door flung open, and Mercury walked in with arms outstretched and a wide grin on his face. A swift kick to make sure the door was closed, and he was free to talk. "You two wouldn't believe this: Ozpin wants us to protect poor wittle Blake!" He guffawed and turned to Cinder, hands on his chest in 'honest' worry. "Poor Blake's being hunted down by the terribly mean villains who killed her team, and so we great heroes are charged with ensuring she's safe from the ne'er-do-wells lurking in Beacon," he dramatically narrated to a none-too-pleased Cinder.
Emerald rolled her eyes. "And you couldn't have at least messaged an 'all clear'?"
He shrugged. "Thought it'd be better to hear in-person."
"We were worried!"
"Oh please, you two weren't even worried when I had to crawl out of that tunnel and foot it to Vale, like you would've had good luck finding another guy who can afford to have his knees blown off. Besides, it's all good news! We're not only clear, we're trusted!"
Cinder held up a hand. Her brow was furrowed deep in thought. "No. This isn't good at all: either Adam let slip Blake's situation, or Ozpin's figured out Blake's the only thing keeping him from turning over our identities. The schedule's changed: we need to be prepared for the finale within the first two matches of the finals. That only gives us twenty-four hours to prepare."
"Doesn't that plan need Pyrrha Nikos?" Emerald asked.
Cinder crossed her arms and tapped her fingers against her arm, frowning. Then, she smiled. "Yes, yes it does. But I think we can solve our time and Pyrrha's problems at once. Mercury, I'll need you to contact Torchwick and get the best Dust we have: no bullets, only powder. Emerald, I'll need you to fit in with the tournament's inspectors."
"What's the plan, boss?" Mercury slipped his hands into his pockets.
With a sly smile, Cinder sauntered to the door. "Simple: I'm about to be Pyrrha's fairy godmother."
