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Chapter 18: Welcome To Beacon
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"God, could that guy be any more boring?" Eugene moaned.
Team CNDT walked out of Professor Port's class after yet another of his seemingly endless "Tales of Manliness."
"Yeah, and we didn't even get to kill anything to stave off the boredom," Alex complained.
"At least he stopped trying to flirt with the girls," Delsin said.
"He actually did that?" Eugene said, "Gross."
"Yeah," Delsin replied.
In his pocket, Delsin felt his Scroll buzz. He pulled it out and opened it to find another message from Ozpin.
"Delsin, could you and Eugene to my office please?"
Delsin looked at the message curiously, then shrugged.
"Sure. I'll bring the whole team and be right there."
"Thank you, but please, leave Alex behind. Given who I would like to introduce you to, Alex would be very... upset to say the least."
Delsin's confusion only grew.
"Ok, we'll be right there."
Delsin put away his Scroll and turned back to his teammates.
"Something wrong Delsin?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, Oz just sent me a message. He wants me and Eugene in his office," Delsin answered.
"Well let's go," Alex replied.
"Actually, he said to make sure you weren't there. Didn't say why."
Alex gave him a questioning look.
"I know, it's weird," Delsin said.
He sighed and shook his head.
"Whatever. C'mon Eugene, let's go see the big man upstairs."
Delsin grabbed Eugene and dragged him off, leaving Alex alone with an increasingly confused expression.
"Delsin?" Eugene asked.
"What?"
"Why do I get the sudden urge to start singing 'We're off to see the wizard'?"
O00000O00000O
At the top of Beacon tower, looking through his office window, Ozpin and Glynda watched as the Atlesian fleet flew in. They saw a huge variety of airships, from small fighters to massive personnel carriers. Looking over the massive number of aircraft in the skies Ozpin guessed it was almost one full third of the entire fleet.
"Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work with him wherever he travels," Glynda said, her tone matching the look of contempt on her face.
"Well, running an academy and a military makes him a busy man," Ozpin replied, "But yes, those are a bit of an eyesore."
At that, Ozpin's Scroll buzzed. Someone was on their way up.
"Come in."
The doors rolled open to reveal the elevator's occupant. It was an older man with dark hair with grey sideburns and bright blue eyes. He was smiling brightly and his sparkling white uniform was completely spotless.
"Ozpin!" the man said with a jovial tone.
"Hello General," Ozpin replied flatly.
"Please, drop the formalities," he said as the two approached and shook hands, "It's been too long."
Glynda walked up.
"And Glynda!" he continued, striking an almost flirtatious tone, "It has certainly been too long since we last met."
"Oh, James," she said dismissively, "I'll be outside."
She quickly left.
"Well, she hasn't changed a bit."
"I'm glad you could come, James," Ozpin said.
"Nonsense, I was planning on coming anyway," James replied.
Oz moved behind his desk and sat down, then poured a cup of tea for each of them.
"So, I take it you know why I asked you to come?" Ozpin asked.
General Ironwood pulled up a chair and sat down.
"The... Conduits, I believe you called them?"
"Correct."
"I must say, if even half of what you've told me is true, they could easily overpower some of my best Specialists."
"I know," Ozpin said, his tone betraying a deeper meaning to his words.
Ironwood caught on immediately but didn't comment.
"So when do I get to meet them?" Ironwood asked.
O00000O00000O
In the elevator, Eugene was shifting nervously.
"You ok?" Delsin asked.
"Just nervous," Eugene replied.
"Why? Oz's a cool guy."
"I feel like I've been called into the principle's office. It's never a good feeling."
Delsin laughed.
"You feel like that because you kinda have been called to the principle's office," Delsin said, still laughing.
"You're not helping."
"Well, have you done anything wrong?"
"I don't think so."
"Then you've got nothing to worry about."
The elevator's doors opened. When the two of them saw Ozpin and Ironwood standing next to each other and looking right at them, Delsin leaned back over to Eugene.
"You sure you didn't do anything wrong?" he whispered.
"Gentlemen, please," Ozpin said, motioning them forward.
The two of them approached. Ozpin studied the expressions on their faces and smiled at them.
"Relax, both of you, you aren't in trouble," he said.
The two Conduits visibly untensed. At his gesture, all of them sat. Due to the lack of seats in Ozpin's office, Ironwood ended up sitting on the edge of Oz's desk. Oz steepled his hands in front of his face.
"That being said, I'm sure you're wondering why you are here," Ozpin said.
"The question had occurred to me," Delsin replied.
"Well first, some introductions," Oz said, motioning to the man to his right, "Delsin Rowe, Eugene Sims, I would like to introduce you to General James Ironwood of the Atlesian Military and Headmaster of the Atlesian Huntsman Academy."
Delsin and Eugene's eyes narrowed.
"I see why you told us to leave Alex behind," Delsin said, glaring at Ironwood.
"Indeed," Ozpin said.
General Ironwood flashed Oz a questioning glance. Oz raised his hand slightly and waved him off, effectively giving him a silent "I'll tell you later."
"So what do you want, huh?" Eugene asked, making no effort to hide his contempt, "Let me guess, something about our powers?"
"Something like that, yes," Ironwood responded.
He got up and walked around to the back of the desk, then set his Scroll down on it. As soon as the device touched the desk, it projected the holographic image of a DNA strand.
"As you know," Ozpin began, "A few days ago during Eugene's Combat evaluation, the Grimmhe was battling mutated."
"I remember," Eugene said, rubbing his shoulder.
"Then you also remember the cause of the mutation?"
"Yeah, a corrupted Blast Shard," Delsin said.
"Correct," Ozpin said.
The holographic image coming from Ironwood's Scroll changed to an image of said Corrupted Blast Shard.
"After I checked in on you in the nurse's office, I had the staff check our containment cages for similar objects, and they found another one of those Blast Shards stuck to the inside of the cage that held the four Beowolves you fought. I had them collect it and package it, then I shipped it off to our friends in Atlas for analysis."
"Which is where I come in," Ironwood said.
He stood up and began circling the table as he continued.
"We compared the data gathered from the Blast Core we found with that of all of the Blast Shards you have since discovered and found several structural similarities," He explained.
"Makes sense. Both of them were affected by Ray energy," Eugene said, those his tone still carried a hard edge.
"Ray energy?" Ironwood asked.
Eugene sighed.
"When the Ray Sphere went off in Empire City and activated Conduits for the first time, the Ray Field Radiation, or Ray energy, irradiated a bunch of rocks and stuff and turned them into Rayacite Fragments, or Blast Shards. Meanwhile, the expended Core lost most of its power and became what we call Blast Cores," Eugene explained.
He turned to Delsin.
"Didn't you explain this to them?"
"I...tried? I'm not good with the science part of this," Delsin replied sheepishly.
Ironwood cleared his throat.
"As I was saying, we discovered several structural similarities. However, when we took a closerlook to determine the extent of the match, we found something … odd."
He touched his Scroll and zoomed in on one spot, highlighting one such similarity.
"If you look here, the mineral structure shows clear signs of mutation, something that should be impossible in any kind of earth or stone. Even Dust doesn't do this," Ironwood said.
Delsin looked stumped.
"What exactly are you saying General?"
"I'm saying that this kind of change doesn't happen naturally."
The two Conduits felt their blood run cold.
"Something, or more likely someone is doing this."
"But who could?" Ozpin asked.
"The only Conduit I know who could do something like that died seven years ago," Eugene said, "Joseph Bertrand."
"Hmm...," Ozpin moaned, "Do you happen to have a picture of him?"
"Sure, I read his file. I can reproduce anything that I've seen as a digital image," Eugene said, "Why?"
"Just get one to me. I need to check something."
Eugene looked at him quizzically but shrugged it off. He pulled out his Scroll and after a brief flash of pixels, he sent the photo.
"Thank you," Ozpin said as he began tapping away, "You can go, your presence is no longer required."
The two Conduits rose, confused expressions on their faces. When they were gone, Ironwood spoke up.
"So what aren't you telling them?" he asked.
Ozpin shook his head.
"Nothing really. As cliché as it sounds, I just have a bad feeling about this."
O00000O00000O
Alex was in his room when he saw Blake walk past. Last he recalled, she had been in the librarywith her team, though he was almost certain that none of them were actually studying. From the brief look he had he saw that she looked troubled, so he put down his book and followed her. She left the door open and he saw her looking out the window.
"Knock knock," he said.
Blake looked over at him, startled.
"Alex," she said, exhaling in relief.
"You ok?"
She said nothing.
"I'm going to assume that means 'not quite.'"
That got him a smile.
"Ah, so those cat ears aren't for show," he said humorously.
Until that moment, Alex had no idea of Blake's mastery of side-eye. It was a lesson he would not soon forget.
"So what's wrong?" Alex asked, the humor falling out of his tone.
Blake sighed.
"Nothing's wrong, I'm just... I've just got a lot on my mind."
"Mmm," Alex said, "One of those things being the White Fang?"
"Yeah," Blake said, downcast.
"So what is it about them that bothers you?"
"It's like you said, they want humanity gone. So-"
"So why would they work with one, especially one like Torchwick, is that it?"
"Yeah."
"I was actually thinking the same thing," Alex said.
"You were?" Blake asked.
"Yeah. Oddities bug me and that was an oddity."
Blake smiled.
"So," Alex said, hopping off the bed, "Let's think it through."
"Ok," Blake said, her expression growing serious.
Alex began pacing the floor.
"Any chance that Torchwick's a Faunus? It's not exactly hard to hide that. We should know," Alex asked.
"Not likely. Something about the way he talks about himself makes me think otherwise."
"Ok, now that that's off the table, we can assume that the White Fang was using him for something, correct?" Alex said, gesturing like he was marking things off a list.
"Makes sense."
"So then what would they need him for? Don't they have thieves in the White Fang?"
Blake glared at him.
"It's just a question!" he said in defense.
Blake sighed.
"Not as many as you think, actually. Most Faunus actually turn to the White Fang instead of a life of crime. And what few thieves there are, I would be willing to bet none of them have Torchwick's experience," Blake answered.
"Ok, so they need him for his criminal expertise. So, what are they stealing?"
"Dust."
"Yeah, but is that it?"
"What else would they need. They stole Dust so they could draw out a shipment and steal more Dust. Seems Dust is what they want," Blake said.
"Ok, so why? What does stealing Dust give them."
Blake had no response, and neither did Alex. Alex continued pacing. After ten minutes, he stopped, and an idea hit him square in the face.
"Wait. What happens when an entire kingdom is low on Dust?" he asked.
"They get more," Blake said.
"No, that's long-term. Torchwick doesn't do a lot of long-term planning, he doesn't have the patience! What happens in the short term?"
"Dust prices skyrocket," she began, "Manufacturing slows down-"
She stopped.
"And the Kingdom is less protected due to the lack of available weaponry and because the police and huntsmen are spread too thin trying to investigate," she said, fear creeping into her tone.
"Right!" he said, a look of triumph on his face.
His smile quickly faded.
"Wait, that doesn't make sense," he said.
"What? Why?" Blake asked.
"All of this suggests someone is trying to take down Vale. Torchwick would get nothing from that, he's in it for the money! And neither would the White Fang because there is a huge population of Faunus in Vale! So none of this makes sense!"
Blake stood up and began pacing as well.
"Unless," she started.
The two of them looked at each other as realization dawned.
"He's working for someone," the two of them said in unison.
O00000O00000O
Delsin and Eugene had just walked into their room when their Scrolls buzzed. Delsin reached into his pocket and fished out his Scroll. Alex had sent out a group text to everyone on Team RWBY as well as the both of them.
"Everybody, come to Team RWBY's dorm, now!"
The two Conduits locked eyes. In less than a second, their Scrolls were stowed and the two of them were out the door. They quickly arrived to find Alex and Blake waiting for them.
"What's wrong?" Delsin asked hastily.
"Blake and I think we've figured out Torchwick's plan," Alex said.
Delsin took half a step backward.
"Seriously?" he asked.
The two Faunus smiled.
"Yup."
Eugene raised a hand.
"I hate to interrupt, but who exactly is this Torchwick guy?" he asked.
"Right," Alex said, "Let me explain."
O00000O00000O
By the time Eugene was caught up, the rest of Team RWBY had arrived. Over the next hour, Alex and Blake explained their theory. They went through their process, explaining each step that lead them to where they now were. As they spoke, they watched the looks on all of their friend's faces as the pieces fell into place in each of their heads.
When they were done, the room fell silent. Yang was the first one to speak.
"You guys have been busy," she said.
Everyone else in the room just stared at her. Ruby shook it off quickly.
"Seriously though, that's good work guys!" she said.
"Now what?" Eugene asked.
"Now we go out and kick his ass is what!" Yang said, punching her fists together.
Weiss held up a hand.
"Wait," she said, stepping in between everyone, "Before you go any further, let me once again be the voice of reason."
Alex scoffed. Weiss glared at him for a moment before she addressed the six of them.
"Just because we know all of this doesn't mean we are ready to do anything with the information. We're still students. We are not ready to handle this kind of situation!"
"Well yeah, but-" Ruby started.
"We're not ready!" Weiss shouted.
"You're not ready," Eugene countered.
Weiss turned back to him.
"Me and Delsin have already been in this situation and won," he continued.
"And I am literally more powerful than all four of you combined," Alex chimed in.
"That too," Eugene said.
"Hold on," Delsin said.
Delsin had been noticeably quiet throughout this. Eugene looked over his shoulder at him.
"Weiss is right," he said.
Eugene and Alex were stunned.
"We need to be smart. These guys operate in the shadows, and we've got no experience there. Plus, we need as many people on our side as we can get," Delsin said.
The two of them didn't seem quite convinced. Delsin sighed.
"No to mention the fact that none of us actually know our way around Vale."
The two of them hung their heads in defeat.
"That said, I think that if we work together," Delsin said, turning back to Team RWBY, "I think we can take him."
Ruby started bouncing like she did after her third bag of cookies.
"All in favor of becoming the youngest Huntsmen and Huntresses to single-handedly bring down an evil organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale," she said excitedly, "Say 'Aye'"
"Hold on," Delsin repeated, "Did no one hear me say we need to be smarter?"
"Huh?" Ruby said.
"While I'm sure that somehow he already knows, I'm taking this information to Ozpin. If an attack is coming, he needs to know so he can prepare," Delsin said.
Nobody bothered arguing at that point.
"Well, if no one has anything else to say, Alex, Eugene, c'mon. We gotta go talk to the big man upstairs," Delsin continued, "You four, get some sleep. It's late and we're not doing anything until tomorrow at the earliest."
The members of Team RWBY all nodded as Team CNDT left the room.
When the door closed, Delsin pulled out his Scroll.
"Oz, is General Ironwood still in your office?"
A minute later, his Scroll buzzed.
"Yes, why?"
"Well get him out of there. Alex discovered something and we're on our way back up. I don't need to tell you how many ways that could go wrong."
"Indeed. Give me two minutes."
O00000O00000O
Five minutes later, Team CNDT got off the elevator to Ozpin's office.
"Do come in," Ozpin said, waving them forward.
"Do you have a whiteboard?" Alex asked as they walked.
"Back wall."
Alex broke off to go get it.
"So? What is it you've discovered?" Ozpin asked.
"Hang on," Delsin said, "It'll be better if Alex explains."
Ozpin nodded as the two Conduits sat down. A minute later, Alex had a full diagram drawn on his whiteboard.
"Better strap in Headmaster," Alex said, "We're gonna be here for a while."
Oz nodded.
Over the next hour, Alex explained everything again, making sure to cover every last detail. Ozpin listened attentively, taking it all it. Delsin and Eugene just sat silently, only commenting when they felt they had something to add.
When Alex finished, Ozpin spoke up.
"This is troubling indeed if it is the case. What led you to even start this?" he asked.
"It was something Blake said. Torchwick isn't just a human, he's a scumbag. So, why is the White Fang working with him? Starting from there, I walked it through logically and no matter where I went, I got here," Alex said.
"I see," Ozpin said, "And I suppose you are planning to do something about it?"
"Not without your say-so Oz," Delsin said.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Ozpin considered that.
"What would you be doing exactly?" he asked.
"Not sure yet, though we'll be working with Team RWBY to come up with a plan," Eugene said.
"I see."
Ozpin closed his eyes and pondered everything he'd heard.
"Well, if you were waiting for my approval, wait no longer," Ozpin said, "You have it."
The three of them nodded and left.
Ozpin stood and walked to his window, pouring himself a rare glass of scotch. As he looked out over Beacon and Vale beyond it, he smiled.
"I said we would be ready," he thought, "And now? We are."
He didn't hear it, but at that moment, his computer dinged softly. The image he'd been running against the Kingdom's surveillance cameras, the image Eugene provided him, just finished processing.
It found a match.
CHAPTER END
Well, guys, I think I've finally gotten back into my writing groove.
Please don't forget to review. Let me know what you think I should work on, I do listen when you guys talk to me. And once again let me say thank you to all of my loyal followers, I really appreciate you guys.
