I'm looking for editors by the way, so if you think you can help improve the quality of the story and want to decrease the time between updates, feel free to message me.
I'm also posting this story on Space Battles. com, feel free to look it up there since I'm more active in the comments section over there.
"Sir! You're back! I see the security I sent for arrived on time," Schwarz said with a smile as they entered back into the office, the whir of robotics limbs filling the air as two sentinels followed the group in and Weiss returned a look of contempt for the secretary.
"How is everything coming along?" Mr. S responded, not bothering to think of any pleasantries at the moment.
"Everything is proceeding expediently," Schwarz replied, returning to her tablet. "I've sent an invitation to the press for a conference in the main courtyard, and Adolph's just sent in the speech you requested," Schwarz continued, swiping at her tablet and bringing up the speech on one of the office TVs.
"Already?" Mr. S asked, deciding to ignore the fact that they apparently had an in-house speech writer that he should have known on a first name basis. Looking over the speech displayed across the nearby TV screen, Mr. S nodded in approval. He had to admit, it was quite a masterful speech for such a short amount of time; it hit all the right beats, allowed for deviation from the script and, most importantly, was easy to present. Although, Mr. S had to say, the speech might have been a tad too...impassioned.
Looking over the speech several more times, he was soon interrupted as Schwarz appeared by his side and pushed a print out of the speech into his hands. "The Press is gathered sir, they'll be expecting you."
"A moment," Mr. S responded as he pulled out his scroll.
"Yes, sir," Schwarz replied quietly so as to not disturb Mr. Schnee's important preparations. There was no doubt in her mind that he was shifting around millions in stock merely in preparation for his speech. Not wasting the moment, she turned to her own duties, tapping away at her tablet.
Hurriedly, Mr. S typed out "What is White Fang?", readying to define the dozen or so terms he saw on the document and didn't understand. "And while you're at it, run a background check on our speech writer," Mr. S added, not looking away from his scroll.
"Yes, sir," Schwarz added, her eyes flickering over her crowded tablet screen as Mr. S spent the next several minutes looking intently between paper and screen, all while trying to hide the transparent back of his phone from any prying eyes.
Soon enough, he was finished.
Mr. S nervously dallied about on his phone, searching for more excuses to stay behind. Such it was he leapt in before he could change his mind and proclaimed, "Schwarz, let's go."
"Of course, sir," Schwarz responded, powering down the tablet and placing it onto the desk, wringing her sprained wrist afterwards and receiving a deep look of understanding from the librarian lady.
…
Soon, he found himself following Schwarz down a barren hallway with Weiss and the rest of team RWBY walking along behind him. He took a deep breath when the glass doors came into view, a marble stair way and the lush garden beyond it visible through the glass, illuminated by the thousand artificial lights of several dozen news vehicles and camera setups as a crowd of people packed around the podium, stone silent with expectation. Squaring his shoulders, he pushed back all the nervous thoughts bombarding his mind, telling him that he should have set this for an hour later, a day later, that he wasn't prepared, that it wasn't too late to reschedule if he fainted and faked a health crisis.
Shaking away those thoughts, Mr. S looked forward, deciding to use what little time he had on something more productive than being nervous. And, despite his bravado, he had to admit that he was unprepared in at least one respect. Looking down at the speech showed no mention of Blake and, considering the circumstances, he'd have to say something about her on that podium.
"Blake," Mr. S said solemnly, drawing the attention of everyone around him, "I realize you're not in the right mood to want to...act strategically," he said, strategically. "But, for both our sakes, just tell me this…' he paused a moment, formulating the phrase. "Did you stay with the White Fang after they began terrorist activities?"
"Yes," Blake responded, surprising herself with how easy it was to admit that to the man. She knew it was because of how low she must've stood in the man's eyes already, so she didn't really feel shy about confirming his beliefs about her, but, strangely enough, it felt more...freeing than that, like she was talking to a fatherly therapist than "Mr. Schnee". She wasn't sure how to describe it, even to herself.
"But she didn'-", "She never-" Ruby and Weiss both began before they were interrupted by the intensely stern voice of Mr. Schnee.
"How long?" He asked.
"Five years," Blake answered, again without any hesitation despite the fear that crept into her heart at his change of tone. Maybe she was just too tired to hide anymore, the world already thought worse of her.
"But really," Weiss said, chuckling nervously, "she never hurt anybody," she continued as she elbowed Blake in the gut with a whispered "shut up!"
Mr. S breathed thoughtfully through his nose as he brought a hand up to grab his chin. "Is there any evidence that could link you to the white fang after their turn?" he asked with an inquisitive expression.
"Uhhh...Maybe?" Blake answered.
…
"...and I remember first learning how she so bravely left the white fang, her only home, immediately, and. I. Say. Immediately. after their ideals turned to ones she could no longer support," Mr. S said, almost pounding on the podium with conviction.
Meanwhile, Schwarz stood off to the side behind him as her face showed a perfectly calm mask of concealed emotional turmoil. Team RWBY lined up besides Schwarz in WBYR formation, left to right, showing an alternating pattern of "barely contained rage" and "horrified anxiety".
"THIS is why, I am naming Blake the new head of our Faunus Outreach Committee," Mr. S continued, "which will be dedicated to forming closer ties with the former leaders of the White Fang, the leaders of Menagerie, and all faunus alike, as well as supporting the the kind of Faunus activism which we hope will bring positive change to BOTH Humanity and Faunus kind." Mr. S finished his speech with a smile as Weiss sputtered in the background, breaking composure along with rest of her team as Yang scowled, Ruby hiccuped and a slow look of hopeless despair drew itself across Blake's features for the fourth time that hour. Schwarz herself took it all in stride, striding forward to hook her arm through Blake's and leading her toward the podium ahead before the rest of team RWBY caught on. Mr. S noticed the approaching pair and turned slightly to pose for the camera, moving his arm to hug around the terrified-looking faunus' shoulders as a roar of questions and camera Flashes washed over their forms.
Blake, for her part, was still wondering what Mr. S meant by "Faunus outreach committee" and "Blake will be the new head" and "of." Thankfully enough, this distraction left her still enough the cameras to get some clear shots of her shocked, cat's eyes, expression as Mr. S smiled genially next to her.
Soon after the reveal, Mr. S stepped away from the podium, letting Schwarz take the mic as he walked off with Blake. Schwarz's droning voice was barely heard over the crow of questioning reporters as she informed them that "Mr. Schnee will not be taking any questions at the moment" and the reporters pretended that they couldn't hear her and kept shouting questions. Mr. S walked away from the podium as Blake and the security bots followed along robotically behind him. He was only five yards away from the doors when he tilted his head the slightest bit upward and was greeted with yet another world shattering reveal just as a particularly enthusiastic reporter managed to capture his attention at that critical moment, quieting all the the clamor around her.
Mr. S turned back to the questioning reporter, breaking every protocol about public relations as he did so. One must forgive him for the lapse, however, for any memories about press release etiquette were, at the moment, drowned out by the singular thought of. 'Holy crap! Somebody broke the moon!'
"Mr. Schnee!" the faunus reporter said, adjusting her reporter's hat as her tail wagged behind her. "Eva Landa from the FRA, Atlas Branch" she introduced herself.
"Yes?" Mr. S asked, with a slightly annoyed expression, realizing from the sudden quiet that it was too late to turn back, all the while occupying himself with the new thoughts of 'Was that there this entire time?' and 'How!? How did I miss that!?', partially to keep himself distracted from the pit weighing on his stomach as he awaited the reporter's question, his heartbeat accelerating as his head cleared and he focused, readying him for the most horrible, difficult questions imaginable as his mind rushed to come up with the best, most meaningless response to every contingency.
"What do you say to the allegations that you have had dealings with the White Fang?" She asked, tugging at the inside edge of her blazer with one hand to keep it from flapping in the wind as she reached out her other hand to record his response with her scroll.
Mr. S was, at first, puzzled to hear this question on account of having already answered it by virtue of the entire speech he'd just given. Instinctively, however, he caught on to the intent of the question: that was, to trip him up and have him say something stupid and newsworthy. Nervously rushing, Mr. S blinked as he scoured his mind for something, anything, that could act as an answer without causing the apocalypse.
'Uhh,'
"Fake News," He threw out, with all the confidence of the universe behind him.
NTTN
