Intermission: Indiscriminate

Tabloid Tango
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Neo sat down in front of the TV Roman had set atop the crate as soon as he left. It was far from an elegant rig but it was theirs, and that's all that mattered to her.

She understood why it had to be this way with most things they owned. They usually moved a lot, and he only really kept it for the sake of being updated with immediate news. It was the same idea when it came to clothes, weapons, food, and even their money. They always had enough to be presentable, but not so much that they wouldn't be able to ditch it all and start anew if a situation called for it.

There was no better example than how they were living at that moment, in an abandoned, dark and possibly dust-residue contaminated subway car. Only reason they hadn't frozen halfway to death was thanks to Roman installing generators and heaters all over the place.

When it came to news, running them through the latest scandal was nothing a simple scroll couldn't solve as far as Neo was aware, but Atlesian tracking technology was starting to catch up, and Roman's contact was only one man, there was no way he could compare to the continuous espionage run by teams. And he had his focus on their inside girl, of course.

At least watching the news scramble after every successful job they pulled was funny.

As commercials ended, Neo shifted her focus away from her thoughts and back to the TV, as the intro of RemCast played, this was likely to be their opinion piece, hosted by a man Neo could only describe as 'ancient', who seemed to always wear the same blue suit, and sported the same artificial tan she'd sometimes seen in thirty year old comedy movies, when a character would try to get a tan and set some dial way too high, or too many sprays on the same side.

"This statement can only mean one thing and it's an endorsement of the terrorist organization known as the white fang. What else could it mean?"

Oh great, they were still talking about Cinder. One quest goes viral and their world stops. Not only that, but now it was a matter of time until the fire witch came knocking on their door, demanding they fix her mess. Roman was smart to get ahead of that.

"This is inexcusable! How can Beacon allow for their students to show such support for that inhumane coalition? They must be held responsible for the effects their-"

Neo changed the channel again, she was in no mood for vitriol this late at night. The next one was CommLink, an old and well-established group from before the CCTS days.

"-Beacon Academy both employs and accepts more Faunus than any other Academy in Remnant. Could this be an infiltration plot by the White Fang to take over our schools?"

Hah, way off, Neo thought. It was fun to see them cook up these conspiracy theories though. When the news cast played Cinder's video, they froze it just before she walked away, slapping over-the-top graphics on the image that read "Beacon's Finest? Or Vale's Antagonist?". It would have made Neo roar with laughter if she could produce any sound.

She changed the channel again, in time to see the graphics announcing the start of Vale TV's news program. The shot opened the same way it always did, on a wide shot of the TVG set they'd zoom into the news desk, behind which sat none other than Regina Gray, whom if it weren't for her silver hair, Neo would have erased her from memory entirely.

"Most Huntsmen and Huntresses have preferred to stay out of the spotlight when it comes to quests and missions, but today the silence was broken."

How predictable, Neo thought. How would they try to spin things this time?

This time it was the same video of Cinder, but shot from a different angle. A very unflattering angle for the other news station, showing how the reporter kept invading her personal space. So discourteous, they should get reporters with proper etiquette, Neo thought to herself. That wasn't the proper way to stalk a mark at all!

"We spoke with one of many victims of an attempted hostile takeover, rescued by none other than Beacon Academy, her name is Isabella Maranth."

The transmission cut to what was either a different set, or the poor woman's apartment, it was difficult to tell, she was just sitting on a couch, staring into a coffee table. Lucky them, it seemed like they got a hold of the feline faunus Cinder talked about.

Isabella was an olive skinned brunette. Although she seemed to look fierce by nature, the news crew proved capable of overwhelming her. She was definitely shaken by the incident and yet they didn't really seem to give it a second thought. The reporter asked her meaningless questions the channel had already covered, but the last one caught Neo's attention.

"What about the damage caused by the team who rescued you? Do you think they should be held accountable?"

Isabella seemed to be taken by surprise at that. "They fixed it. That Huntress-in-training saved my life. Wherever she is, I'm just here so I can say thank you."

Neo rolled her eyes at the statement. The fire witch, saving people? Please, it had to be another one of her schemes.

"Beacon Academy's anti-disaster measures saved thousands of lives over the decades. Vale's standards for Hunting are the worldwide model today, save for Atlas. Yet they remain silent on expenses of property damage and-"

Neo changed the channel again. And again. And another time. Every time, everyone talked about the fire witch. About how much of a threat she was, or about how negligent Beacon was, with no inbetween.

It stopped being amusing to Neo and it became exciting when she realized Adam Taurus was most likely watching every single one of these, possibly all of them at the same time. The image of that psycho foaming at the mouth was worth a chuckle. Would he be foaming at the mouth, or releasing steam from his ears like a pressure cooker? Oh, what she'd give to be on Roman's shoes.

Channel surfing eventually landed her on a game show, one where participants had to face off against various Huntsman-themed challenges. Today they had to balance on a tightrope as inflatable cartoonish Grimm were launched towards them, attempting to knock them down into a mud pool. It was named 'Vale's Huntsman Warrior'.

Pass.

Next was a heavily stylized cartoon about Huntresses-in-training getting into inconsequential trouble, 'Chibi Huntsmen'.

Petty good, but pass. Neo felt like watching something a little more serious, maybe a little vintage, to prepare for the upcoming storm.

The next channel was running 'Lighthouse Misadventures' for the upteenth time. It was a black and white attempt at making a show about adventures in Beacon Academy. The episode that day was about a member leaving the party, seemingly forever, so they could face off against a dangerous villain. Emotional, and a huge twist when the character was revealed at the very end to be a Faunus.

Maybe she'd watch this one. Could Neo cook popcorn using the fire dust-residue in the subway cart number seven?

Only one way to find out.
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We'll Make a Better Day, Tomorrow
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The building burned around her, and they still had thirty two people to rescue, not counting her teammates.

She was in the middle of the third floor, surrounded by smoke and rubble. No windows that could be used as viables escape routes. Too much of her power was keepíng the first and second floor from collapsing in on themselves.

Worse still, there Griffons continued to throw themselves at the already precarious structure as Beowolves were starting to move in, fifty meters west.

Was it caused by poor wiring in an already aging edifice? Was it arson? That would be for the first responders to investigate.

She wasn't hired for this job. Her team wasn't, and a lot could go wrong with just one mistake, but helping outside the kingdom walls was essential. With Her semblance, Glynda kept the fire from spreading, thirty people from being crushed to death, and Griffons from getting too close to the building.

In the midst of the fire, Glynda molded her power into arrows, aiming at every Griffon she could feel. They danced through the air, changing direction at sharp angles. She used as much of her power as she possibly could without spreading it too thin, piercing through multiple Grimm at once. One Griffon slipped through, crashing into the side of the building with enough force to make the entire thing rumble.

Her focus slipped for a moment, and a support beam nearly caved in, threatening to bring the building down with it. She caught herself in time, thankful that Lina was now focusing on finding the last two people. Diana was down, but they still had time to save her after everyone else. Just a few more people and Glynda would even be able to put the fire out.

That is, if they did everything right.

"Glynda! Keep it together, come on!," She heard Olivia speak through the scroll. She was on command duty this time, trying to evacuate as many people as possible. "We need five more minutes, at least!"

"We have more coming," Glynda answered. Short and to the point, as she often preferred.

"Numbers?"

"Twelve Beowolves."

Olivia hesitated for a moment. "Fuck," was the only answer that came through the scroll.

Cold gripped Glynda's heart as she realized that in the heat of the moment she completely forgot to keep track of their locations. Now it was too late, as the building crumbled, she needed to focus more and more on bearing the weight, rather than keeping the structure intact.

On top of everything she had to worry about, it was getting harder to keep the fire from spreading. As if to emphasize her thought, a piece of the ceiling fell right next to her fanning the already unbearable heat.

"They're already here, aren't they?" she asked the meaningless question. Meaningless because Glynda already knew the answer, and only asked because It would still be good to hear Olivia's voice one last time. Maybe she could even patch a quick call to Jimmy, too.

"Yes. They've surrounded us," Olivia answered. Soon after, Glynda heard the fighting sounds.

She was at her limit, Glynda would have moved, would have run to help her teammate, but even taking a step would take too much of her power to keep the building up. She gritted her teeth and prayed to the gods hoping that her next plan worked, as she let go, just for a moment, to kill every Beowolve at once.

"Glynda!," she heard through her scroll as the building collapsed.

"Glynda," she heard again, someone else that time.

"Hey, Glynda," She heard Ann Greene call her, the fellow teacher and Stealth and Security expert.

Just a bad dream. She thought.

It wasn't, it was a memory from when the concept of shadowing Huntsmen was nothing but a fantasy, but she preferred to see it as a bad dream. More importantly, she'd fallen asleep in the teacher's lounge, while sitting at the lunch table.

"Sorry," Glynda said, "Long mission, I'm sure you understand."

Ann smiled at her, "You know I do. So, wanna talk about that 'program' you had me look at? I've finished the analysis you asked."

Ann preferred to simply wear a lab coat on top of her clothes, as well as keeping her dark hair in a bun, both things she carried from Signal and their dress code, most likely.

Glynda took a moment to let the unsteadiness of waking up pass, "Yes, I'd like that. Thank you."

Ann hurried and took the spot in front of Glynda, her eyes bright with excitement, "You know I'm the one who should be thanking you, right? Do you have any idea how many people would kill for a chance at studying an Atlas AI?"

Glynda cocked an eyebrow at the question, "People would kill to study nowadays? That's not what I've seen in my students."

Ann sighed, "You know what I mean. She is literally the most advanced program in Beacon right now. I wouldn't even call her equipment or a program, she's more like an actual person. She can feel, Glynda. Things like sadness, love, anger, everything we can feel."

"...That's not surprising now that I think about it," Glynda said. The multiple CCTS AI spread across Remnant were known for being very lifelike. Each customized to their local areas, or at least that's what she heard from the endless commercials and Jimmy's reports. Not once had she wondered if it could think or feel.

It scared her, to think she could have completely missed a life that needed saving.

"But here's the thing, she's not corrupted. I can't even find any breach to jam her communications. Had to run her in an isolated machine, and just saying that almost breaks my heart, she's such a nice girl," Ann said, putting a hand on top of her heart with the usual theatrical flair.

Ann continued as Glynda listened closely, "I took a close look at everything humanly possible. Her current state, the jamming? It's not a virus or anything like that, it's a command. She was ordered to delete herself."

"That's impossible."

"Not from where I'm standing. There's absolutely no way she was jammed by anyone else, and there's no sign of a foreign program either. And I'm not rusty on my AtlasCode, you know I keep up with that stuff."

"And you're sure of this?"

"One-hundred percent."

Glynda took a deep breath, ignoring the implications the brand new information brought to the table, "Can we do anything to save the AI? Keep her from… you know?"

Ann was puzzled for a moment, before smirking, "You really are a softy, aren't you?"

Glynda pointed at the expert in front of her, "Shutty..."

Ann pulled a drive from her pocket, the type they could install in Beacon's computers. "Didn't know you thought so little of me, Glynda!"

"So dramatic…"

"Hey, now you shut it!"

Glynda took the drive, "So what did you do?"

"I did my best to save what I could, but I couldn't save every memory of hers. I didn't pry, so I'll let you do your work now, but she'll survive."

"That's good, thank you," Glynda said, as she got up from her chair.

"No problem. Hey, if you need, you know where to find me."

Glynda moved out of the lounge, drive in hand. As pleasing as a conversation with Ann always was, she didn't feel much better.

Jimmy, what the hell are you doing?