"Come on, pick up already," Summer muttered as she listened to the ringing through her scroll. The encounter she had last night was still with her, burning a hole in her mind almost as much as the vial of Dust in her pocket. She was about to give up and call someone else when he finally picked up. "Hello, it's Summer Rose. No I don't want anything delivered. No, I… listen for a second! Are you close to your computer?" Summer took out the vial as he gave an affirmative grunt. "Good, I have a vial of Dust that I need identified. Can you… oh cool. Right, the code is 'SDC-0648-92BS'. No, 'BS'. Bravo Sierra. Yeah, I can hold."
"We're back," Raven said as she and the boys walked up to Summer.
"And we got milkshakes!" Taiyang added holding a drink out to Summer, "It's your favorite flavor too!"
"Yeah thanks Tai," Summer said putting the Dust vial away and taking the milkshake and pressing her scroll closer to her ear. Her team got the hint and all moved to sit against the building next to her. They drank their milkshakes and watched people walk past them as they went about their business until Summer said, "Yeah, I'm still here. You got anything?" Summer listened for a moment before she perked up and walked a few steps away from the building. "Really? And you're sure?" Another moment passed and Summer nodded. "No, that's pretty much all I needed. Of course I'm going to turn it in, who do you think I am? Right. I'll let you get back to your business, thanks again. Bye."
Summer shut her scroll, put it away, and turned to her awaiting teammates. After a second she grinned widely and threw up the horns. "We got a hit!"
"Nice, from where?" Qrow asked jumping to his feet as Summer took the vial out and held it up.
"Old Man Shopkeep ran the code and it was last registered to his shop. Even better, it turns out this was one of the few pieces of his merchandise stolen by a certain someone a couple of months ago."
"Torchwick," Raven finished. Summer nodded and put the vial away as Raven continued, "so that Ice Cream chick was retrieving Torchwick's stolen goods. Which means he's probably still in Vale."
"Still active," Qrow continued.
"And he's got hardcore ass-kickers like Ice Cream working for him," Taiyang finished with a sigh. "Just like us to be both lucky and unlucky at the same time. What's the plan now Sum?" Summer hummed, swirled her milkshake, and started walking.
"Let's go for a walk, I need to get my brain juices flowing," she answered as her team caught up with her. She took a drink of her milkshake, relishing the strawberry flavor, and looked up at the blue sky. 'But man is it a nice day. I love summers in Vale.'
The weather was nice and, according to the forecast, it would only stay that way with rising temperatures too. It was warm enough that Summer almost didn't bother bringing her jacket, though she did and simply left it half zipped up and practically hanging off her arms. She was also thankful that she decided to switch out for a red tank top for the day. Summer glanced back at her team to check on them, their outfits still more or less the same from yesterday except for Raven. The madwoman was actually still wearing all black in this heat, even if she did have a tank top instead of a T-shirt.
Summer shook her head and turned a corner onto Vale Boulevard, stopping along with her team when she saw Old Man Shopkeep hanging up a banner that read 'Happy Vytal Festival!' When it was done he looked at them from atop the ladder and waved, Summer returning it with a smile. 'How did he…? No never mind, it's not worth it.' "I almost forgot about the Vytal Festival! We gotta get all this wrapped up before it's here."
"Agreed," Taiyang nodded and threw away his finished milkshake, "the last thing we need is our kingdom's reputation being ruined by Dust robberies."
"I guess," Qrow shrugged.
"What do you mean 'I gue-'," Taiyang started before stopping and snapping his fingers, "Oh that's right, you two never really cared about the Vytal Festival huh?"
"We grew up outside the Kingdoms, so of course not," Raven answered rolling her eyes.
"Doesn't mean we're not open to learning though," Qrow continued glancing at his sister, "so what's the big deal?"
"It's only the biannual celebration of the end of the Great War!" Summer said continuing her walk down the Boulevard, "when one of the Kingdoms host it, they open their borders to the others to share their culture. There's parades, dances, food, oh god the food! I gotta keep an eye open for any new recipes!"
"That sounds… great," Raven said flatly as Summer turned to her with a smile.
"And there's a fighting tournament to cap it all off!" That got Raven's attention, if the way she darted to Summer and pressed her face to hers was any indication.
"I'm sorry, a tournament? Like, real fights?"
"Yep," Summer said backing away from her partner, "Academy teams from all over Remnant enter to show their skills. The team that wins the whole thing earns everlasting glory for themselves and their Kingdom!"
"Is there a cash prize?"
"No," Summer answered and tried to hold back laughter at how Raven deflated, "just the glory. But really, that's more than enough for me."
"Win the tournament, build our legend some more?" Qrow asked and Summer nodded. "I'm fine with that. Should be fun in any case."
"Yeah, that's true," Raven conceded and threw her empty drink over her shoulder, which landed perfectly in a nearby trash can. "And hey, becoming legendary is a better long term plan to get money."
"True that," Taiyang nodded and started leading the way. "I can't wait, I went to the last Festival in Mistral with my folks and it was a blast and a half! We even had front row seats in Amity Colosseum when Vacuo's Team ACTC won! You know, Huntsman from the other Kingdoms should be coming in today, maybe we can-" Taiyang turned the corner and stopped, Raven almost running into him, when he saw a small shop littered with police, the yellow tape drawing their attention.
"Ah hell," Qrow said as Summer started jogging to the shop, him, Raven, and Taiyang following not far behind.
"What happened here?" Summer asked once she got to the tape.
One of the detectives looked up from his scroll to answer, "Robbery. This is the second shop to get hit this week. This city's turning into a jungle." He walked to the store front shaking his head, leaving Team STRQ more or less to themselves.
"Looks pretty recent if the cops are still here," Raven commented, "I'd bet it happened last night or early morning." Summer gave an affirmative grunt and sagged her shoulders a little.
"Hey," Qrow said putting a hand on Summer's shoulder, "We couldn't have known."
"I know," Summer nodded and smiled at Qrow, "Pick your battles, right?" Qrow nodded in response and pulled is hand away.
"They left all the money behind again, just took the Dust." Summer perked up and looked at the two detectives examining the store front.
"Yup, same as the others, but who would need that much Dust?" the detective from before asked, his partner shrugging in response. "You thinking the… White Fang guys are behind this?"
"I'm thinking that is beyond our pay grade."
"White Fang? Interesting…" Summer muttered and started walking away sucking on her shake.
"Idiots," Raven said shaking her head as they crossed the street and headed for the waterfront, "Why the hell would an extremist group like the Fang rob small Dust shops?"
"That's not the only thing I caught," Qrow said glancing back at the shop, "You thinking what I am Sis?"
"Why do those detectives sound like Tai and Oobleck?"
"…Wait, what the fuck!?" Taiyang shouted and looked back at the shop, the detectives glancing their way.
"Ok, there is that too," Qrow conceded, "but I was talking about what was stolen."
"Just Dust, no money," Summer said when they got to an intersection and pressed the button to cross, "the same thing happened at 'From Dust till Dawn'; Torchwick said 'we're not here for your money'. What criminal wouldn't take 'free' money?"
"Morons," Raven answered.
"Or people after something bigger," Taiyang also answered as the crossing light turned green and they started walking, "You think he's selling them on the black market Sum?"
"Possible, but then there's also the White Fang. The police wouldn't be looking into them unless they had a reason too." Summer leaned against a railing, the salt and smell of dead fish from the waterfront filling the air, and sighed. "Maybe a witness saw something and they're working that angle?"
"But again, why?" Raven asked resting her back against the railing, "The Fang is practically a standing army all its own, why would they need to steal Dust. If that's the low they'd have to go to, they'd be in much bigger trouble than they seem to be."
"True," Summer finished her shake and dropped it over the railing into a can on the dock. "Too many questions and not enough answers. I can't say I missed this."
"Eh, it was bound to happen," Qrow shrugged and sat down on the pavement and leaned against the railing, Taiyang settling next to him. "We had almost no information from the start. It's not like a lead will just plop itself down right in front of us after all."
"Someone stop that Faunus!" A voice shouted coming from a cargo ship that had just finished mooring.
"Ugh, you're kidding me," Qrow sighed and stood up to watch the ship with his team, more specifically a couple of sailors chasing after someone in a white shirt. Another sailor had gotten in front to cut him off, but the Faunus (Qrow could just barely make out a tail) hopped on the railing, bounced to the wall, and pushed off it to dive over the sailor. He landed in a roll and used the momentum to spring up onto the railing again.
"Thanks for the ride boys. Sayonara!" he shouted and jumped off, managing to get the distance to grab a light pole. He swung off that to the next, which he caught with his tail.
"You're a no good stowaway, you know that!" One of the sailors shouted, unable to do much more.
"Wrong, a 'no good' stowaway would have been caught," he countered and took a banana out of his shirt, "I wasn't, so I'm a great stowaway!"
"He's not wrong," Raven said with a shrug.
"Not the point Rae," Summer sighed.
"Alright, nobody move! We're asking the questions here!" the bearded detective shouted, his partner right behind him, as they walked onto the dock.
"What?" Taiyang asked looking back at the Dust shop and the detectives several times, "how did they…?"
"They must be faster than they look," Qrow said and went back to loudly drinking his milkshake as events unfolded.
"And you," the detective said and shouted at the Faunus, who took a bite from the banana and pointed at himself. "Yes you, get down from there! You're creating a public hazard."
"I'm just hanging around man," the Faunus said finishing the banana in a single bite and throwing the peel at the detective, which landed on his face. "Now that, that is a public hazard," he added and swung around the light pole to sit on top of it.
"That's it!" the second detective shouted and shook his fist, "get down here now!"
"You'll have to catch me first pigs!" the Faunus shouted and leapt off the light pole and landed in a roll on the dock before taking off into a sprint. He then hopped onto the railing of the stairs leading up and jumped the distance up to the railing that STRQ was standing at. He grabbed the top of it and flipped over it and flew above a confused STRQ (save Qrow still boredly drinking his shake). While he was flipping in the air the Faunus winked and gave Summer and Raven finger guns before landing.
This was the first time Summer got clear look at him. A mop of blonde hair that was somehow messier than Taiyang's, a white button up shirt that was left unbuttoned to show off his muscular chest, red gauntlets, a pair of jeans with the legs rolled up to his knees, a pair of black and yellow sneakers, and most prominent was his monkey tail. He quickly checked behind him to see the detectives running up the stairs after him and took off in a sprint.
"Did… did that seriously just happen?" Raven asked baffled.
"Yup," Taiyang nodded and looked over at Summer in time to see her dashing after the Faunus, the question he had for her dying on his lips. "And of course she's running after him."
"Come on, let's get after them!" Raven said and started running, Taiyang right behind her. Qrow, on the other hand, took the time to finish his milkshake and throw it away, at which point the detectives were already ahead of him when he started running as well.
Summer had her work cut out for her chasing the Faunus since he was a lot more spry than he looked, and he looked pretty spry. Summer looked behind her, focusing on a sedan coming up behind her, before jumping and Blinking to the side onto the car. It swerved a little when she landed, but she kept her footing and caught up with the Faunus in no time. He looked behind him and dodged just as Summer Blinked toward him. She flew past him and skid to a quick stop, rose petals flying with her as Summer hit the sidewalk and skid around 180 degrees to face him with a hand against the pavement to steady her balance.
"Whoa, easy there!" he shouted and ran past Summer, who quickly ran after him with a look of determination. They were quickly coming up to an intersection which meant he would have to stop, or at least that's what Summer thought since he instead decided to jump to the top of the street light and jump across the street. He landed neatly, startling a few pedestrians, and turned around to look at a stopped Summer with his arms behind his head. "Sorry about that, but I gotta jet! It was fun while it la-" he shouted across the traffic, getting cut off when Summer backed up, charged, and jumped into traffic. She Blinked the rest of the way, barely missing a semi-truck, and landed feet first on a wall and pushed off it toward the ground, planted a hand against the side walk, and flipped onto her feet.
When she was settled she looked at the astonished Faunus, casually put her hands in her jacket pockets, and said, "Hi."
"Right," he replied holding his index fingers up before turning around and running away again past some pedestrians.
"Get back here!" Summer shouted and gave chase again.
"Geez lady, I'm sorry if I offended you or something!" he shouted behind him just as he came up to another intersection, his tail hooking around the pole to swing him to the right around it into the boulevard. Summer jumped onto the wall to her right, ran along it for a moment, and Blinked forward with her hands over her head to catch the pole as well. She let the momentum carry her into a spin around the pole before letting go to go flying down the street after the Faunus, who she saw was running backwards to watch her land in a roll and continue the chase.
"Ok, that was pretty cool!" he complimented turning around and darting past a peanut stand to the other side of the boulevard, Summer lagging behind him just a little due to the crowd as he went past another corner to the left. "Whoops, excuse me!" she heard him shout just as she turned a corner as well.
And ran smack into something really solid that she knocked to the ground. Summer pushed herself up in time to see the Faunus leap onto a light pole and then up onto a rooftop. "Damn!" she said pushing herself up onto her knees as the detectives, to Summer's bafflement, ran past her and stared up at the same rooftop. "Wow, they really are fast."
"Summer!" Raven shouted having just caught up with Summer along with Taiyang and Qrow, "About time you- oh…"
"Hey guys," Summer said and tugged on a lock of hair, "I lost him."
"Uh… Sum?" Taiyang said pointing down at the ground beneath Summer. She followed the finger and stared at a freckled redhead in a beige dress with green highlights smiling widely up at her for a few seconds before scrambling off her with a scream.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!" Summer said in a panic.
"Salutations!" the redhead said happily waving at Summer. Summer stopped panicking and looked at Raven, who shared her look of confusion. "You seem to be in quite the hurry."
"I… never mind that."
"Are you ok?" Taiyang asked.
"Buster Wolf!"
"What?"
"…I'm sorry, I meant to say 'I'm fine'." The girl then started scratching her head and added, "Where did that come from?"
"So… you're not hurt?"
"Correct," she said laying her arm flat at her side again.
"Do you want to get up?" Qrow asked.
"…Yes I do!" She nodded before bracing her hands behind her head, lifting her legs over her, and launching herself into a spin in the air. After a few spins she landed feet first in a crouch, the last of the momentum dying in one last spin, and hopped up straight. She then brushed off her dress and thigh high black boots before she clasped her hands behind her as she turned to Team STRQ, very much ignoring how they were leaning away from her wide eyed. "My name is Penny Polendina, it's a pleasure to meet you all!"
"Right…" Summer said straightening up, "well, my name is Summer Rose."
"Taiyang Xiao Long," Taiyang said giving a two fingered salute, "but you can just call me Tai."
"Qrow Branwen, and this is my sister Raven," Qrow said gesturing to Raven.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head or something?" Raven asked and swiftly got a fist to the back of her head courtesy of Qrow, causing her to rub the back of her head and add, "Ow, you motherfu-"
"Those are all lovely names!" Penny interrupted cheerfully, "It's a pleasure to meet you all!"
"You… already said that," Qrow said.
"…So I did!" The silence between them hung for an uncomfortable amount of time until Raven blew out a raspberry to break it.
"So… nice to meet you… we gotta go," she said before walking away.
"Ok," Penny said with a nod.
"I'm… glad you're understanding," Summer said as she started walking away with Qrow and Taiyang, "Well, see you around friend."
Little did Summer know, as Penny stared at Summer as she rounded a corner, just what kind of mildly temperate hell she had unleashed on herself.
"Well, she was… unique," Qrow said once they were by themselves again.
"That's a word for it," Raven replied crossing her arms, "Fucking weird is another."
"Maybe she did hit her head when you knocked her over," Taiyang said scratching the back of his head.
"Tai!" Summer shouted at him, causing Taiyang to hold his hands up placatingly, and shook her head. "Whatever, at least she seemed alright. Back to more important things."
"Why were you so intent on catching that Faunus?" Qrow asked looking back at Summer, "It's not like we haven't stowed away on a ship once or twice."
"Call it a gut feeling," Summer said rubbing her chin in thought, "every time some colorful personality comes into our lives, they turn out to be important in some way."
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that," Taiyang said, "Penny's a good example."
"Oh god, please don't let her be important," Raven pleaded to no one in particular and rubbed her face as she turned a corner. "And back on topic, I still think the White Fang is a dead end lead. We'd be better off- WHAT THE-!?"
"What did you call me?" Penny asked, inexplicably standing in front of STRQ and forcing them to stop short.
"Where did you come from!?" Raven asked glancing at the street behind her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were listening to us!" Taiyang apologized.
"Not you," Penny corrected and shoved past Qrow, Raven, and Taiyang, ignoring their protests, to approach Summer and lean in way too close, "you."
"Wha…?" Summer stammered out and tried to lean away from Penny, to no avail since she continued to lean in as well, "I- I don't know what-"
"You called me 'friend'," she said and squinted her eyes just slightly, "Am I really your friend?"
"Penny please, personal space!" Summer said and pushed Penny away from her. Thankfully she did stay where Summer pushed her even if she did keep staring at her with those green eyes. 'God, please blink or something!' "Well, Penny, I… wait."
"Oh boy," Qrow muttered as Summer turned her back to them and bit her index finger lightly.
'This is actually perfect! I can finally test how far I've come socially! No close calls with Goliaths, no being forced to interact because of errant eggs, just a… semi-normal girl that wants to be friends! I mean, I did knock her down, but she doesn't seem to mind all that much. What could be better?'
"You're cackling maniacally again," Raven said, which brought Summer out of her thoughts and put a stop to said laughter.
"What, no I'm not, shut up," Summer said turning back to Penny, who hadn't moved at all. 'Is she even breathing?' Summer wondered to herself before letting it go. "Anyway, Penny, of course we're friends! That is, if it's ok with you." After a second, Penny's face slowly grew a wide smile and her eyes shined with glee.
"Fantabulous!" Penny shouted loudly holding her hands over her head, which Summer smiled at until she rushed forward and pulled Summer into a crushing hug, the girl giving out a yelp as her head was held tightly against the red head's chest. "Oh Frabjous day! Callooh callay! I've only arrived here yesterday and I already have a friend!"
"Yesterday?" Taiyang asked, "Wait, you're not from here?"
"No," Penny answered and turned around, Summer still crushed against her chest and swinging helplessly, "I came from Atlas to fight in the tournament."
"Can you let go of our leader before she suffocates?" Raven said pointing at Summer. Penny looked down at her new friend to see her eyes were wide and her face was turning slightly blue.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" she said and let Summer go, who collapsed to her knees with a deep intake of air.
"I-it's fine, I'll be ok," Summer gasped out and coughed for a second before getting back up to her feet. "She's stronger than she looks. Anyway, you're here for the tournament? You're a fighter?"
"Mhmm, I'm combat ready!" Penny said and gave a full salute.
"Stop that," Raven said annoyed, which only got a confused blink from Penny.
"Forget her," Summer said waving a hand dismissively, "If you're from out of the kingdom, then you might know that Faunus I was chasing earlier."
"The monkey Faunus with the blonde hair and amazingly chiseled abs?" Penny asked.
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Nope, I've never seen him before in my life!" Penny answered and bounced cheerfully.
"Of course you wouldn't," Summer said pinching the bridge of her nose, "it was pure desperation to even ask. Oh well."
"Again, why are you so focused on him? You think he's White Fang or something?" Qrow asked.
"Of course not, I'm not some racist jackass who goes Faunus equals White Fang. If anything, the Faunus have more reason to hate the Fang than anyone. I'm just curious is all."
"What about the White Fang?" Penny asked peeking over Summer's shoulder.
"None of your business Penny. Don't worry about it."
"Ok!"
"So what do you want to do now? He's probably long gone by now," Taiyang said.
"Probably, and chasing him around has made me hungry," Summer said with a nod, "Let's go get lunch and brainstorm on this later. Sound good?" Her team nodded and Summer felt Penny rest her head on her other shoulder.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"…Tell you what Penny, why don't you pick where we're going to eat."
"But… I don't know any of the restaurants in this city," Penny replied moving around Summer.
"And that's why it'll be so much fun!"
"Yeah, like playing Atlas Roulette with five bullets," Raven snarked with an eye roll.
"…Splendid! I won't let you down friend!" Penny said excitedly and grabbed the back of Summer's tank top to drag her down the street, said girl giving a shriek of surprise at suddenly being dragged.
"Why do we always attract the freaks?" Raven quietly lamented and slouched down.
"Because they make life more fun," Taiyang answered and started following Penny, "Now come on, let's make sure she picks somewhere actually edible."
"We have to steer her away from 42nd or else she might pick that really spicy Mistralian shop!" Qrow said in worry and looked at his sister, who had to take a second to realize what he meant and got the same look of worry.
"You're right. Hey Penny, I got a great idea of where to go!" Raven shouted and ran down the street with Qrow.
All of them were unaware of the person watching them from the rooftops. "White Fang huh? Interesting."
Through the combined efforts of Team STRQ and Penny's own natural curiosity, they managed to get Penny to choose one of the many Simple Wok stands dotted around the city. They all got their usual orders, though Penny herself didn't order anything.
"Are you not hungry?" Summer asked since she was the only one to actually notice that. Considering Penny was just sitting there watching Summer eat, that wasn't exactly difficult.
"I'm ok, I had a big lunch," Penny replied and then hiccupped very noticeably. Summer blinked at that but shrugged it off when Penny smiled afterwards.
"Certainly sounds like it. You should try to drink some water later." Penny nodded and Summer pointed at Raven with her chopsticks and asked, "Can you pass the ginger Rae?" Raven silently did so before going back to her own bowl. Summer started adding ginger to her bowl when she heard a beeping coming from Penny, who took out a scroll and opened it. After a second she quickly got up from her seat holding her scroll nervously.
"Um, I… I have to go now. So…" Penny said taking a few nervous steps back.
"If you got to go, you got to go," Summer said with a nod, "Don't let us keep you."
"Thank you," Penny said putting her scroll, "Goodbye, I hope to see you again soon!" She bowed at Summer before running away, her arms held stiffly at her side. Summer watched her until she turned a corner and disappeared.
"Well that was abrupt," Qrow commented and looked at Summer when she turned to him, "you think she has a meeting or something?"
"Or she did what I would do as a kid when my folks had a quick hunt: set a timer, enjoy myself in town, then haul ass back home when the timer goes off," Taiyang said pushing his empty bowl forward.
"That sounds more likely," Summer agreed and tilted her bowl back to drink down the rest of the noodles and soup and set it down when it was empty and checked her watch. "But she has a point though, it is getting late. We should be heading back soon."
"I'm still eating," Qrow said holding up his bowl.
"Oy, can I have another bowl here!" Raven called out setting her empty bowl down.
"Fine, I can take a hint," Summer said rolling her eyes and standing up, "Come on Tai, let's leave them to catch up."
"Okay," Taiyang said and got up to follow Summer.
"Text us when you get back to Beacon ok?" Raven called out as they walked away, Summer replying with a thumbs up, and waited until they disappeared around the corner to look at her brother. "So level with me, am I the only one who thinks that Penny girl is weird?"
"Nah, I'm getting the same vibe," Qrow replied setting his chopsticks on his bowl and leaning forward with his arms crossed on the counter. "Forget first time out of her Kingdom, she's acting like it's the first time she's ever been out of her house."
"Sheltered maybe?"
"That'd be one thing, but if she's right about fighting in the tournament that complicates things. We both know how Ironwood is."
"Ugh, don't remind me," Raven said rolling her eyes slightly. The vendor placed a fresh bowl of noodles in front of Raven, who took it and quickly swallowed a mouthful of noodles. "Well whatever, as long as her weirdness doesn't directly affect my life she can go right ahead with it. Summer seems to be happy to have a new playmate in any case."
"…Are you jealous or something?" Qrow asked and immediately got a set of chopsticks pointed at him.
"I will stab your eyes out with these chopsticks and eat them if you say something like that again," she said waving the sticks vaguely in Qrow's direction.
"Sure thing sis," Qrow replied with a chuckle and went back to eating his noodles, the siblings spending the rest of their time at the stall in relative silence.
Later in the day, after Qrow and Raven had finished eating and took a portal back to Beacon once they got a text from Summer, Team STRQ were winding down in their rooms in their own ways. Taiyang was finishing up a set of pushups and the girls were lying on Raven's bed, Summer on top of Raven, and alternated between reading a comic book and watching Taiyang until Qrow came out of the bathroom in his pajama pants and drying his hair with a towel.
"I'm done with the shower Rae," Qrow said peeking his head out of the towel, "and I'm pretty sure there's still hot water. Maybe."
"I'll take the risk," Raven said closing the comic and setting to the side on her bed. "Get off me Summer," she added rolling her body to knock Summer off of her back, the smaller girl giving a small 'Whee!' as she rolled, and got off her bed to enter the bathroom.
Qrow hung his towel around his shoulder and moved to his dresser to dig out a shirt. "So Sum, you have any idea on what to do next with our project?" Qrow asked once he found a shirt and turned to find Summer staring at him. "Summer?"
"…I'm sorry, I was looking at your abs," she replied frankly looking up at him.
"Yeah I'm aware. Answer my question please," Qrow replied throwing the towel into the laundry pile and putting the shirt on. Taiyang looked up from his pushups to watch as Summer sighed and lay back on the bed, her arms crossed under her head.
"Honestly, I have no idea," she said closing her eyes, "we got unbelievably lucky last night to get what we got."
"Yeah, if you call getting our asses kicked by some Ice Cream Girl 'lucky'," Taiyang said and moved to sit cross legged on the floor. "But isn't that how it usually is for us; getting lucky with leads and not much else?"
"I would really like it if that wasn't the case. I mean, wouldn't it be great if a lead just fell right into our laps to get us exactly what we wanted?"
"No way in hell we'd get that lucky," Qrow said shaking his head, "Our luck would be more along the lines of Salem being a cook here."
"Please don't jinx us Qrow," Taiyang said tapping the ground twice.
"In any case," Summer said rolling her body to sit cross legged and crossed her arms, "we'd be more productive thinking instead of complaining. So, what can we do to-" Summer was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking against glass. She, Qrow, and Taiyang turned to the window to find the Monkey Faunus from before hanging from his tail on the tree outside and pressing his face against the glass.
"Hey, are you guys STRQ?" he asked tapping the glass again, not noticing the way Summer narrowed her eyes at him, "I wanted to-"
"GET HIM!" Summer shouted pointing at him, Qrow and Taiyang darting past her to the window. The Faunus did see that and pushed away from the window just as Qrow opened them, but not far enough away to keep Taiyang from grabbing his shirt and dragging him inside.
"Yo wait, chill chill!" he shouted the whole way, barely noticing Qrow shut the window as he was set down on a chair against the wall. He shook his head to settle the dizziness and asked, "What gives!?" which was answered by Summer planting a foot on the wall near his head.
"We'll be the ones asking the questions here, got that?" Summer asked staring down at the Faunus now sitting ramrod straight.
"…Is it weird to be both intimidated and attracted right now?" The Faunus asked glancing at Taiyang and Qrow.
"Not in the slightest," Taiyang replied and Qrow nodded.
"Shut up," Summer said taking her leg down and crossing her arms, "Get his scroll."
"Easy, I don't want any trouble!" The Faunus said taking his scroll out of his jean pocket and holding it out to Summer.
"It's a little too late for that," Summer said taking the scroll and flicking it open. After a moment of scrolling she pulled up the Faunus' ID. "Let's see, you are Sun Wukong from… Haven Academy? You're a Huntsman?"
"First year," Sun replied crossing his arms behind is head and crossing his legs, "I know, I totally look it right?" Summer decided not to entertain that comment and went back to his scroll.
"You're also a member of… how the hell do you pronounce that?" Summer squinted her eyes at Sun's team name of SSSN and felt Qrow and Taiyang walk behind her.
"Yeah, what is that?" Qrow asked.
"Sarsaparilla?" Taiyang ventured.
"How do you get sarsaparilla from that?"
"It's 'Sun'. Team 'Sun'," Sun finally said with a grin, clearly enjoying the show going on.
"…Sure," Taiyang said shaking his head slightly, "You're quite gutsy coming to us after what happened earlier. Why are you here?"
"I wanted to talk to you guys," Sun said uncrossing his limbs, "especially if you guys are doing what I think you're doing."
"And how exactly did you find out where we were?" Qrow asked.
"Oh that was easy."
Not that long ago, Sun had got to Beacon Academy. That girl that had chased him and her team couldn't be anything but Huntsman, and since he was going to be staying here for a while anyway he may as well find them. Easier said than done though, so Sun decided to ask the first person he could find. That happened to be a girl in a pink sweater with sheep horns playing with a cat.
"Uh, excuse me?" he asked getting her attention.
"Uh, yes? Can I… oh wow, you can grind meat on those," she said immediately staring at Sun's abs.
"Yeah I'm really proud of them, can you help me or not?"
"Ah, sorry." She shook her head and stood up to actually look at Sun. "Yes?"
"I'm trying to find this really scary girl and her team. I think they might be here and they look like this," Sun said taking out a drawing of the team he was looking for, though it was little more than a scribble of black and yellow in the shape of four people.
"Oh you're looking for Team STRQ," she said smiling widely, "I'll show you where their dorm is and tell you all about them on the way!"
Sun, more than a little baffled, looked at his drawing and back at her before asking, "Seriously?"
"You came to Beacon Academy and you're looking for a team, of course you're looking for STRQ," she replied rolling her eyes. "They're only the most infamous Academy team in the world."
"…Right! Of course that's who I mean! So… what are their names?"
"Supreme stroke of luck on my part that it actually was you guys she meant. I gotta thank that girl later," Sun finished nodding his head.
"Fucking Maribelle!" Summer muttered clenching a shaking fist in front of her. 'I'll get her back for this somehow!'
"Ok, so we know why you're here," Taiyang said pointing down at the floor, "but why are you here, in Vale?"
"The Vytal Tournament," Sun replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I mean, who wouldn't want to fight in it?"
"And you stowed away on a cargo ship for that?" Qrow asked.
"I can't just sit around doing nothing while waiting for 'airships' to take us places," Sun said with a quick finger quote, "So I hopped on the first ship I found. I… maybe left my team behind, but I'm sure they'll understand. I mean, who hasn't stowed away at least once in their lives?"
"Our particular misdemeanors go a bit beyond stowing away," Qrow said rubbing his neck in embarrassment.
"Too true," Summer sighed shutting Sun's scroll and tossing it back to him, which he caught and put away as Summer went to sit on Raven's bed. "Sorry about all the scare tactics Sun. We can't be too careful, especially right now."
"No I get it. Got to be careful, especially if you're going after the White Fang," Sun agreed putting away his scroll, completely missing the shocked looks Qrow and Taiyang shot Summer that practically screamed 'no fucking way!'
"And what exactly do you know about the Fang?" Summer asked gripping the bedsheets in anticipation.
"About the same as every other Faunus; the White Fang are a bunch of self-serving, holier than thou scumbags who give good Faunus a bad rep. If you guys are going after them, then I definitely want in. So what did they do to you guys anyway?"
"Well, nothing," Qrow said sitting down next to Summer.
"Huh?"
"We're actually looking into Dust robberies that have been going on around the city, most definitely local criminal groups," Summer clarified. "The police seem to think the Fang are behind the robberies, and they wouldn't think that unless they had good reason, but I disagree with them on that."
"The White Fang are practically an army all on their own," Taiyang continued, "with supply lines and all. They wouldn't need to steal Dust at all."
"…But what if they do?" Sun asked standing up.
"Huh?"
"I mean, this might just be me," he continued gesturing with his arms and tail, "but the best way to find out if someone is behind something or not is to go somewhere where they would be and then not find them. Right?"
"It's the 'where' that's the problem there," Summer said deliberately ignoring Sun's finger guns at her and looked down at the floor. "We don't know 'where' they would be or 'when' for that matter." Summer looked back up at Sun, who was smiling smugly and polishing the knuckles of his right hand against his shirt. "What's with the smug attitude?"
"I may have heard a thing or two that may interest you guys and I may share it with you if you guys let me in on this.
"You're the one with the info man," Qrow said.
"We would be dead stalled without it," Taiyang continued.
"And you seem the type to get involved even if we told you not to," Summer finished.
"Yeah, you're right," Sun shrugged. "So anyway, I heard some sailors on that ship talking while I was in my banana crate. Apparently there's a big shipment of Dust from Atlas coming here. If you guys have people stealing it, that would be a good place to look."
"We have been hurting for Dust for a while," Qrow said rubbing his chin, "it makes sense that we'd get something like that sooner or later."
"How big?" Taiyang asked leaning against his and Summer's beds.
"HUGE!" Sun said extending his arms out to the side, "Big Schnee Dust Company freighter with like fifty containers full of Dust."
Taiyang let out a whistle and looked at Summer. "If I was stealing Dust, I'd go for that."
"Agreed," Summer nodded and leaned forward, "When is it coming here?"
"In two days," Sun said as he held up two fingers.
"That's not a lot of time to prepare," Qrow said crossing his arms.
"We've managed worse," Summer said standing up and pacing, "But that's not what I'm worried about."
"Hm?"
"Say that the police and Sun are right and the White Fang are involved. If we go there, stake out the shipment, and the Fang do show up… I honestly don't like our odds."
"Didn't you say we managed worse just now?" Taiyang asked leaning off the beds.
"Grimm and lowlife criminals are one thing Tai, but we're talking about the White Fang here; an organized group of Faunus hell bent on the annihilation of the human race. They'll be better equipped, better trained, there will be a lot of them, and I've heard horror stories about the higher ups in the group. Need I bring up the train again?"
"Train? What train?" Sun asked confused.
"We'll tell you later," Taiyang said shaking his head, "So, what? You think we can't do it?"
"Not without getting hurt or killed in the process. We'll need to minimize the dangers as much as possible." Summer walked to the bookcase near the window and picked up her scroll, flicking it open. "We'll need backup."
"That's a first," Qrow said turning around as Summer dialed a number, "who do you have in mind?"
"I'm a bad dream! I'm a rad scene! I'm a tad mean! But I'm not afraid to take you out!"
'I swear, the city had better be on fire or something and we're the only ones who can save it,' Coco thought digging her way out of her bedsheets to glare at her ringing scroll and reached to pick it up, 'otherwise someone dies.' She opened it to see who was calling and glared even harder at the picture of Summer. 'Yep, I'm going to murder her later,' she thought finally answering it, cutting the song off, and pressing it to her ear. "I hope you're ready to die Summer. You have any idea how late it is?"
"Yeah I'm sorry about this Coco, but this is kind of important," Summer said.
"That's for me to decide if it's 'important'. So do you want your death quick or painful?"
"Very funny Coco. Straight to the point, I need your help with a job." Coco blinked and quietly sat up into a more comfortable position.
"You need our help with something?" Coco asked as the lights suddenly turned on thanks to Yatsuhashi. Coco mouthed a quick 'sorry' to him and he nodded in response before going to sit on his bed, Fox doing the same on his while the angry ball of bedsheets that was Velvet curled tighter. "What exactly is going on for you to do that?"
"Interested huh? You know about the Dust robberies?"
"Who doesn't?"
"Well my team is looking into that as sort of a personal project and we just got some info on a possible target for them. I'll have to confirm it later, but that should be easy enough. If it is true, then a large Schnee Freighter coming in a couple of days will be hit."
"Ok, and you need our help why?"
"A Dust shop got hit earlier and the police investigating it think the White Fang are behind it."
"The White Fang?" The rustling of bedsheets drew Coco's attention to see Velvet poking her head out of her den. With her whole team awake Coco threw her covers off her and started pacing around the room. "Why would they want to steal Dust?"
"No idea, but the police seem to be giving it serious consideration. If they do show up when we're staking that shipment out, that's bad news."
"So you want a more combat oriented team on hand just in case."
"That's the idea."
"Do you really think the Fang will show up?"
"I think it's a good idea to cover all the bases. If I'm wrong, I'll compensate you guys and you'll have a good laugh. If I'm right… well, you get to do your thing. So are you interested?"
"I can't make that decision by myself. One second," Coco said and lowered the scroll to face her team.
"What's going on?" Velvet asked.
"Summer is planning to stake out a Dust shipment that's coming in a couple of days. She thinks it might get stolen and the White Fang will be the ones doing it," Coco explained crossing her arms, "she wants us there for combat support."
"She never asks for simple stuff from us, does she?" Fox asked sarcastically.
"The fact she's asking us for help at all means she must be serious," Yatsuhashi said, "Does she know for sure?"
Coco shrugged and said, "She said the police are being serious about that. What do you all think?"
"I think we should look into it," Velvet said digging herself out of her sheets, "even if the White Fang doesn't show up, we can't let that Dust get stolen. A wasted night of nothing happening is better than that."
"Not like we were doing anything important anyway," Fox said with a shrug. Yatsuhashi nodded silently and Coco smiled as she held her scroll up to her ear.
"Guess we're in Summer," she said.
"Awesome, you're the best Coco!" Summer cheered, "Get your rest and I'll drop by tomorrow to explain my plan fully and maybe introduce our whistleblower to you if he sticks around. Sorry for waking you up so late again."
"Pay me back with coffee tomorrow."
"Done! I'll see you tomorrow, good night!"
"Night," Coco replied, shut her scroll, and started walking to the light switch. "Alright guys, back to bed."
Summer shut her scroll and pumped a fist in the air as she said, "Yes! That was easier than I thought it would be."
"We could definitely do far worse than Coco's team," Taiyang nodded in agreement, "If the Fang do show up, they'll probably regret it."
"You're 'backup' that good?" Sun asked.
"Coco's team is the highest ranked combat oriented team in Beacon, us being a close second," Qrow explained, "Trust us, when the bullets start flying you'll want them around."
"They sound like fun, I can't wait to meet them." Sun shrugged and added, "So… we're good?"
"Yeah, we're good," Summer nodded and held her scroll up, "and give me your number so I can get in touch with you again."
"Sure thing," Sun said taking out and opening his scroll to exchange numbers with Summer. "I hope those guys do show up. I have more than a few things I want to say to them."
"You know it's better in the long run if nothing happens right?"
"Well yeah, but you know what I mean, right?"
"Yeah I do. There's nothing more boring than a stakeout where nothing happens." Summer nodded as she closed her scroll and tossed it up onto her bed. "But down time like that is perfect for playing AA."
"Makes sense," Sun nodded and put away his scroll as he walked over to the window and opened it. "Welp I'll see you guys tomorrow!" he said as he jumped out onto the branch and started climbing down as Summer closed the window.
"Call me paranoid, but that all worked out a little too well for us," Qrow said sitting down on his bed, "With my luck, that usually means something bad will happen."
"Even if it does, we'll deal with it," Taiyang said knocking his hand against the bedposts, "And how bad could it get?"
"Don't say that." The bathroom door opened and Raven walked out with a towel wrapped around her hair and another around her torso. "Hey Rae, you missed something big."
"Oh did I?" Raven asked and started digging through a dresser for her clothes.
"That Faunus earlier stopped by and gave us a huge lead. CFVY will be helping us as well."
"Oh that's cool, you can tell me the whole thing while I get dressed. Where's my pajamas?"
