Glenn Chambers was more competent than Weiss expected, he had to be since he was the head of the PRT PR department. After a few minutes with the man, which revealed his intelligence and subtle attempts at manipulating her, he started to remind Weiss of one of Father's friends, those stupid bootlickers.
"Since you refuse to wear a mask, we're going to have to show off how pretty you are, the publics going to eat you up." Mr. Chambers said as he loudly typed onto his computer. He gave her a side eye. "Some makeup to cover that nasty scar?"
"No." Weiss crossed her arms. She already did that back on Remnant when she released a new album after receiving her scar from the Arma Gigas, since Father didn't want anyone seeing his 'precious' daughter defiled. Of course he never mentioned that he was the reason Weiss had to fight the possessed armor and ended up with the scar.
So she stopped covering her scar just to spite him.
"If I wasn't willing to wear a mask, what makes you think I'll cover up my scar?" Weiss narrowed her eyes, giving the fat man a glare, one that he just so happened to ignore.
"It was worth a try." Mr. Chambers shrugged. "Now every hero has a theme that they go for, usually. It helps to sell toys, costumes and the like. For example, Armsmaster's huge with the sci-fi nerds, and he even had his logo on girls underwear at some point. I made him a killing with that deal."
That made sense, since the Protectorate had to make money somehow. There was a limited amount of merchandise dedicated to her back home, most noticeably her albums and various posters.
"Miss Militia is popular with immigrants and patriots." Mr. Chambers started listing various examples, and boasted about the publicity they gained because of him. Standard negotiation tactics of course, ones that would have worked on a lesser person. Weiss was definitely not a lesser person.
"I take it that you have several themes prepared for me then." Weiss interrupted the man mid-rant. He paused and lightly coughed into his right fist. Note to self, don't shake his hand once they were done.
"Yes, there are several that are currently a work in progress, any of which you can choose." Mr. Chambers turned his computer screen. "And I am also aware of the deal you made with Piggot, so just don't choose something too ugly or insane."
There were several outfits on display, ranging from armor covered ball gowns, to skirts that would even make Yang blush. Weiss' eyes paused on a blue and yellow dress, its short sleeves puffy and decorated with red.
It was hideous.
"I managed to get the copyright for that one from the Big Mouse." Mr. Chambers explained. "You are aware of what your name means in English right?"
"White Snow." Weiss said dryly. She already heard Yang make several jokes about the snow being Weiss' affinity back home. Valish always ruined the beauty of other languages, or English in this case.
Mr. Chambers frowned. "And if you flip that?" This was a waste of time.
"Snow White, you know I don't see the point in this. Continue." Weiss used her heiress voice.
"Hmmm.." Mr. Chambers looked like he was squinting, but it was hard to tell with those blocky glasses of his. "I should add diva to the list. Can you sing?"
"As a matter of fact, yes I can sing." Weiss raised a lone eyebrow. This whole conversation was starting to get on her nerves, but she would survive.
Mr. Chambers started typing loudly again. "You're going to be a star Weiss, I can feel it in my kidneys. Now you don't have to make your decision today, since preparing a debut takes some time. You'll have to choose your costume, and cape name since you decided that you're better than me at my own job." He said that last part bitterly.
Oh, did he mean like Armsmaster and Miss Militia?
"I don't need one." Sure some rather famous huntsmen and huntresses had monikers, but they were few and far in between.
"Everyone needs one, even New Wave uses them, and they publicly unmasked themselves years ago." Mr. Chambers spoke as if she was stupid. "And despite your deal with the PRT, I'm sure they would also agree with me. A cape name will help keep your private and public seperate. I'll give you a list of ones that I recommend."
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Weiss said dryly. Could she compromise with this? The PRT did let her get away with not having to wear masks.
"Good. I'll also provide a folder full of different costumes and themes you can choose. The ones circled in green are the ones I would prefer having you choose." Mr. Chambers pulled out a binder from the messiness of his desk. Dropping it into Weiss' hands, it was heavier than she expected.
Forming a grimace, Weiss sighed internally. "Great."
Not great.
"Is the suit ready for power testing?" Colin spoke up as the connections between Chief Director Costa-Brown, Director Piggot, Dragon, and himself broadcasted the live stream from the PRT headquarters in Brockton Bay.
"Affirmative." Dragon said, her avatar forming a small smile. She had volunteered one of her machines today, one that was going to be repurposed later anyways.
Miss Schnee stood in the center of a plain room the side of a high school gym, her blade pointed towards the ground as she held it in her left hand. She refused to use any Dust much to Colin's annoyance, stating that she would need to conserve what limited supply she had for more important matters. As disappointing as it was, she did offer several valid points. Dragon's machine appeared from the opposite side of the room. It was decided that a spar would do better instead of traditional testing.
Pressing a button on the side of his helmet, Armsmaster spoke again. "Miss Schnee, you may begin."
The moment those words left his lips, a large snowflake formed behind Miss Schnee launching her forward towards Dragon's suit. She was faster than Colin expected, extremely so. Miss Schnee danced in between the legs of the suit that was at least three times her height, until she finally swung her blade, slicing through the joints of Dragon's suit one by one.
"This spar isn't going to be enough." Chief Director Costa Brown said once Miss Schnee had dismantled the old machine. "Find out the limits of her aura, and how she performs without it."
Colin frowned, but nodded his head slightly. He agreed with the Chief Director, but he also didn't want to push Miss Schnee too hard, in case it might alienate her from the Protectorate and PRT. He still needed to find out how the technology and Dust from Earth-R worked.
"Prepare the standard power test, if we have to adapt from there we will." Director Piggot added.
"Very well." Armsmaster said simply, there was nothing else to it. Orders were orders, and they needed to know Miss Schnee's full capabilities and limitations before sending her out into the field.
This was going to be interesting.
A/N
I'm proud to admit, that out of all my Worm stories, Schnee's Bay is easily the best out of them, when it comes to my writing at least. The most creative crossover goes to Do You Fear Death? since few people are insane enough to do a POTC crossover.
As usual, I hope today's chapter was fun!