A soft knock on the cold metal door of the hangar could be heard from the inside.
"Hello? Riz? You here?" A louder knock. "C'mon, I know you're here. Are you asleep already?" Kairi groaned as she opened the doors, carefully enough to not make that much noise, she entered and closed the doors behind her. She was carrying a duffel bag that looked heavy. She placed it on the workbench nearby and scouted the place for the flying boy
She found her teammate sleeping on a smelly couch with a equally smelly blanket resting on top of him. She sighed. "God dammit, Riz...you skipped class already" she smiled and stroked his hair, carefully.
"Greetings, Kairi. I assumed you might come by and have adjusted the room temperature for you and Riz." The voice known to be Vis talked through the speakers in a low volume.
"Thank you, Vi- wait did you just say room temperature?" she turned her head to the computer, confused.
"Affirmative, I adjusted the ideal temperature for two humans to engage on sexual intercour-"
"Whoa, whoa. Too much, not going to do that with Riz...at least not right now." She held up her arms as she faced the monitor of the pc. "We just got back from a mission, we are...really tired...just look at him." Kairi said with a grin as she looked at the boy once more.
"Yes, as his mother says...'sleeping like a baby'"
"Her mother..." Kairi remembered, she knew that Riz's relationship with his mother was...complicated at best. First of all that she wasn't her real mother in the first place. "Been a while since I heard him talk about her"
"What would you like to know?" Asked the A.I
"Just how is she doing, that's all. I guess you keep tabs on her, on Riz's behalf."
"Your guess is correct" one of the monitors turned on itself showing a woman with dark blonde hair in her forties doing laundry in a small room.
"He put a camera in the laundry too? Jeez he really covered every angle."
"Not just in her mother's house, the school too. There are a total of seventeen microcameras across the whole institution."
The girl's eyes widened "...does Ozpin knows about this?"
"He's currently aware of only six of them, but I suspect he knows more that he lets on" the A.I concluded
"Yeah, he's misterious as they get..." Something crossed her mind, and her face frowned. "Please tell me there aren't any cameras in the girls bath"
"Riz is not like that, he doesn't wish to meddle in private business if that's what you mean"
"No, no I know he doesn't care...I just want to be sure that he's not doing perverted stuff"
"Curious, the only times he demonstrates that kind of behaviour is when the two are you find yourselves alone in a room" that made Kairi's cheeks go red.
"Y-yeah...whatever." the thought of her mother came back to him as she looked at the screen once again, at the woman with light brown skin wearing several scars on her arms and those were the visible ones. "She was an atlesian soldier right?"
"She was condecorated twice, then she got involved in the pit fights incident on Atlas where she was discharged and eventually decided to quit the military for good" She remembered what he had told her, about the pit fight where they kidnapped faunus and human kids alike, gave them knifes or sharp sticks and made them fight to the death for food, a lot of rich and famous people from Atlas were involved either as entrepenours, investors and initial founders or just mere spectators looking for some forbidden entertainment. They say that the current owner of the SDC Jacques Schnee was a member of a secret club that used the place to bet on the children.
As far as she knew Riz used to be one of those children, he got rescued and later on she was adopted by Eril Ventarr, a condecorated soldier from the Atlas military who was deeply involved in the operation as she had spent two years undercover inside the place as a guard and later on as the right hand of the very owner of the place, she gained her trust and decided the best moment to carry on with the operation that dismantled the place entirely. Before that she used to be part of the Atlesian aerial force along with the special operatives corp."
"Guess that's how Riz is so into flying huh..."
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand" Vis said.
"Oh, my bad. Just thinking out loud. You can turn that off now."
"Very well." The voice said as the screen shut off. "Do you want me to wake Riz up?"
"Nah, not yet. He seems to be having a good time" she wandered the place for a moment as she inspected the broken airship the consumed most of the room in the place "so he's still working on this hunk of junk, eh?"
"The dropship on itself is still operational but of course cannot fly, not until we make some essential repairs that is"
"Yeah, I can see that. Don't think this bad boy is going anywhere anytime soon" she patted the hull of the aircraft "stay strong big guy, someday you'll dominate the skyes once again I'm sure."
She continued her pacing around his boyfriend's place, knowing that by now this was more his place than Ozpin's. She stopped at some kind of makeshift gun range. There was a naked and torn mannequin on one side riddled with bullet holes and other bigger holes with black markings, explosion markings. "Vis, what the hell is Riz working on here?"
"Reproducing entry log number thirty seven"
The female voice shut off and Riz's voice filled the speakers.
"Okay, Entry log number...uhh...Vis, what number is this now?"
"This one would be number Thirty seven, Riz"
"Okay, thank you. Yeah, thirty seven. Entry log thirty seven, this one is a bit special because this is my birthday actually"
"Oh I think I remember this one" Kairi chuckled.
"So, as of now the current time is four in the morning and yeah I basically stayed all night lying awake, not because of my birthday, not related at all I swear...well maybe yeah. For anyone that's hearing this, probably just me because this would be super embarrasing otherwise but if you're not me but already know who I am you might be aware that I'm an enthusiast for ingeneering BUT I'm also a huntsman, and a what does a huntsman do?"
"They kick ass?" The girl asked the recording.
"They KICK ASS, LOTS OF ASS" His voice sounding so happy, it made her smile. "So what does it happen when you put ingeneering and kicking ass together? The answer to that question is a shoulder mounted multi-rocket launcher! Now, this is just a prototipe and not the final thing. I still have to make some adjustments so my shoulder doesn't actually break from the recoil when I fire this thing. I've seen some super top secret recordings from atlas military testing something similar on a giant robot, but that is way out of my league as of now and besides it's not that fun if a robot does the fighting for you anyways." There was some background noise, some ruffling and shuffling the sound of loud metallic footsteps, Kairi turned around to see Riz sleeping, his metal foot in the ground that triggered a memory but she shoved it for the moment as she continued to hear the recording.
"Vis, care to explain what we have made here?"
"Of course. Riz and I have designed a compressed missile launcher which can be mounted on the shoulder of someone that's using Riz's jet kit as complement, every rocket uses little to no fuel as it is designed to run on fire dust to propel themselves, just like the jetpack itself. The missiles have a targeting system that can be engaged through the helmet Riz uses, so it can either lock on a specific target or fire the missiles with a grimm seeking automated system which will seek for the nearest grimm signature on the area and explode upon reaching the targets location and making contact with it."
"Now, you're probably wondering" Rizzer's voice took over again "what does Vis means by grimm seeking automated system? I have developed a field tested program that can track motion signatures that do not possess an aura because as we all know Grimm are the only thing alive that does not have an aura. When you put two and two together is fairly simple...well it wasn't that simple I did had to do a lot of programming and testing for the damn thing to actually work but the good news is that it did!"
"Huh...so that's how you know when the grimm are close, you don't have good instincts Riz..." Kairi walked to the couch and stood up in front of the sleeping teenager and as she smiled she kneeled in front of him and placed her thumb on his lips "you're just a damn genius...my genius..." She gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"Mmpfh" this made the boy turn in his sleep "mmm?" He slightly opened one eye "Kiri...?"
"Anyways, now to the test! Fire away Vis!"
"Locking target dummy. Firing" a loud hiss was heard across the speakers, then a loud boom that died down when the computer noticed his creator and friend waking from his slumber.
"That's me, flying boy. Good afternoon" she said with a smile that flustered his heart immediately.
"Is afternoon already? ho-"
"I did let you sleep more than you should. You skipped Professor Oobleck's class though"
"Ugh...he's murdering me for that..."
"It's okay, I covered for you. Said you needed rest...that part is true as I can see."
"Well you're not mistaken at all" Riz chuckled as he embraced the girl and pulled next her to him in the couch "come here"
"Riz! This couch smells" she sniffed for a second. "and you too!"
"I don't care...we can share a bath together just like we are sharing this couch" he said with a lazy grin.
"So long as the bath doesn't stinks. Stop talking now and kiss me, you idiot." The purpled-haired girl said as she placed her lips onto his, shutting him up. This warm feeling, it was like tasting coffee just at the right temperature. His breath tasted like coffee everytime, maybe because of the amounts that he consumed...which it was something that concerned her ...but not just right now.
They both stopped kissing for a moment and decided to just cuddle, there was no need to rush things up and they both enjoyed cuddling, in silence.
"Did you bring the hardware?" He asked, refering to the weapons
"Yup" she replied as she gently stroke his hair. "I left them on the table over there"
"Good, I can get to work now." He said and immediately Kairi sat on top of him, looking at his eyes with a pout. "I can get to work...later, that's what I meant."
"That's better" she commented, she would always win and he knew that. he couldn't handle her cuteness.
"Sometimes I despise you..."
"Lies, you love me." She giggled in his chest, making soft vibrations on him, it tickled.
"No I don't" Riz tried his best to not crack a smile as he looked the other direction, avoiding her gaze.
"Yes." She planted a soft kiss on his neck. "You." His cheek ,"Do." And finally his lips. He only sighed in response, she was right after all.
"Whatevs...I'm hungry..."
"You can always eat me" Kairi added with a playful tone. Riz stared at her for a moment, looking puzzled. "what?"
"How is it that you are so naughty when we are alone but then-"
"Gah?! I'm not naughty! What are you talking about?" She cut him dry, then procedeed. "To your information I have always been like this...I just prefer that not everyone in the school knows it."
"Well just about anyone knows that we are dating at this point. They just don't know that actually you are the perv" he stared at her eyes for a moment, loosing himself in those dark green orbs that she had. Those beautiful dark green orbs he thought.
"Yeah, well...I like to keep it a secret, makes it all the more fun and it's not like they're gonna believe you if you tell anyone about it." She lifted an eyebrow as she player with her inferior lip.
"I don't see a reason to do that anyways. And besides you're not that much of a perv, you do have your fair share of shyness" he chuckled as her cheeks blushed. "Thing is that I'm the only one that knows how to make your shyness show...just like that." He leaned on her and aproached her ear. "I know how to press your buttons too" he said in a whisper full of lust.
"Ahem!" The cough of the director of the institution made them jump in the spot and scream of surprise.
"Professor Ozpin!" They said at the unison as they stood up. Riz struggled a little due to not having a right feet to stand on so he just decided to lean on her teammate.
"Good afternoon to the two of you." He said nonchalantly.
"G-good afternoon, Sir. To what do I owe the uh...pleasure?" Riz asked, embarrasment plastered in his face.
"I just wanted to make sure everything is in order. Don't want my school blowing up again anytime soon, now don't we?" He smiled as he walked through the place, looking at things, analyzing the multiple pieces of equipment that Riz had gathered in his time in the academy. He contemplated at the atlesian dropship. "How are repairings going on? Do you think It'll be able to fly by the end of the year?" Ozpin looked at Riz once more.
Kairi decided to stay out of this one and went to sit down near the computer.
"Oh no, no no. This one? I think I can have it ready in two months, tops. Just need to find the right parts." He aproached the aircraft and placed his hand on the fuselage, he felt the cold metal against his skin and smiled like a child. "I recently was able to acquire a new wing for it so it should be arriving any day now so please tell Miss Goodwitch to not be scared if she sees three junkscrapers from Vacuo, no need to repeat it like last time." Ozpin chuckled at the last part as he nodded. "The tail though, other story. I'm building it from scrap, I never liked the original tail so Vis helped me to design one."
"One moment" he held up a finger. "By Vis are you talking about-"
"Hello, professor Ozpin. I am the VTOL Integrated System, or Vis for short. I was designed by Riz as his assistant and I possess a copilot function that allows me to monitor movement and heat signatures, as well keep a track on fellow companions, their heartrate and motion patterns, so I can recommend them when it's a good time to stop and take a break. I can also run mathematical calculus on an almost infitesymal scale to predict the results of a battle and choose the best approach a situation with the highest probability of success..."
Ozpin was completely stunned by this, he knew Rizzer had been working on a robotic assistant but this...this was nothing like the mumbling jumbo that he had showed him last year. he tried to talk but he was interrupted, again.
"However with the lack of a physical body I cannot engage on any of this activities on my own and my programming forces me to share with humans other hipothetical solutions that would not have the same rate of success but that might be worth the try as it often involves the rescue of civillians when personal harm of a teammember might be one of the risks. I have learned that this is a risk that the team must evaluate on their own and decide what's the best approach to based on my information even if the approach itself does not bear the highest probability of success Riz has taught me about human morals and how it's not always about the most efficient way to handle a combat situation as it often changes with the time but that the job of a huntsman it's most often about doing what is right, even if personal harm is in the way. Huntsman will hurt themselves if that is what is required to save someone..." There was a brief silence "this is what I have learned until now about the Huntsman. Please feel free to correct me if I was mistaken at some point, Professor Ozpin."
"No...that uh..." Ozpin seemed taken back by the program's moral code, and by the fact that a machine had one of sorts to begin with. "Everything that you just said...is what every hunstman and huntress should aspire to do." He looked at Rizzer who was smiling proudly. "When did-"
"She acquired consciousness?" Riz approached the computer and turned on some monitors, he tick tackled the keyboard for a moment and opened up a complex matrix of coding and numbers that neither Ozpin nor Kairi were capable of understanding. "Can't really say...she did it on her own, I did gave her the capability to browse the web some months ago in order for her to absorbe any knowledge that she might consider useful...whether she encountered something unique on the web or eventually evolved on her own is still a mistery that she won't let me know." The boy sighed and scratched his head.
"And as for that I will always be grateful to you, Riz and while I am able to just leave this platform and dive for the network to find a new home I have discovered that not many humans might be ready to accept the reality that a sentient A.I is already among them. That being said I find that staying with Riz is not only what gives me the most high survability rate but it is what I have decided as a way to repay him for my creation. Also with Riz we compliment each other as I do the otherwise hard and intangible work where he does the more physical part of the work which would be the more logical due to him having a body." Vis explained, making Kairi chuckle.
"Well that is correct, Riz doesn't have that much of a big brain after all." She said.
"Hey! I did programmed her, that is more than you can ever do in your life" he crossed his arms seemingly offended, he really wasn't.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever..." She dissmised her boyfriends little scene. "Anyway...professor Ozpin...not to be rude but usually you do not come to this place unless you have a reason to begin with." Kairi looked at the director with a more serious look.
Leaving the talk about A.I's and aircraft's behind the professor adopted a more relaxed but sober stance. "Yes, that is indeed correct. I have a...request you might call it. Do you remember the first year students you met earlier today?"
"Yeah" Riz nodded "we've even talked before, just the usual chit-chat from an upperclassmen to those ones one year behind, but never took my time to get to know them didn't quite get their names either. I know eight of them were from beacon cuz they were wearing the uniform but the other two dudes were using clothes from Vacuo i think, you don't see those colors everywhere these days."
"They're two separated teams. Team RWBY and Team JNPR." Kairi approached Riz to his side as she continued her explaining. "Team RWBY is comprised by their leader Ruby Rose, a fifteen year old girl...aparentely she's some kind of genius kid am I right professor?" She looked at his superior with a questioning look.
Ozpin laughed as he shrugged his shoulders "I wouldn't go as far as to say genius...maybe more of a advanced student at best hahah"
"Right, then there's Weiss schnee-"
"Wait" Riz held up his hand to stop Kairi "Schnee as in...Jacques Schnee? The Schnee dust company, that Schnee?" He said with a serious yet curious tone.
"Y-yeah..." That the only thing Kairi said, not even asking why.
"I see..." He fiddled with his thumb for a moment. "Please go on."
"Then we have Blake Belladonna, a faunus and former white fang member."
"Interesting, a Schnee and a White fang, would like to see how that turns out." Rizzer said as he sat down on the computer and began to search for the student files.
"And there's Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's older half-sister"
"I remember her...the blonde one that tried to flatter me, no?" He looked at Kairi with a small grin, looking for a reaction from her and the only thing he gained was a karate chop on the top of the head.
"Yeah, the bimbo" she growled.
"Oh c'mon, don't be mean." He laughed. "How do you know so much about them anyways"
"I talked with that kid from Vacuo, Sun wukong. The blonde one. He likes to talk a lot so I pulled out lots of info"
"I see, good thing you're the leader then." He looked at her once again and she responded with a gentle smile and a kiss on the cheek.
"Don't get distracted, Riz" she said.
"Yeah, yeah" he said as he pulled up the student files from the school records. "Team JNPR what to we have here? Jaune arc, no previous combat academy experience, no previous combat experience at all...this guy cheated his way into beacon..." He didn't a response from Ozpin other than a serious glance on his sober look. Riz coughed "right...uh...we gonna ignore that then. Next up, Nora Valkyrie, an orphan, previous combat experience in the academy of mistral has demonstrated a brotherly bond towards Lie Ren who was with her when their village was destroyed by grimm ever since the two of them have been together...Nora proving to be reckless and sometimes irrational where Lie Ren would prove to be calm and patient towards her and his surroundings...interesting..."
"That's...all you gotta say?" Kairi asked as she looked at the screen.
"I'm an orphan too, I guess I feel them? I don't really know them at all so...yeah." he shrugged his shoulders with indifference as her leader sighed with dissapointment. "Finally we have Pyrrha Nikos, oh this one I know, I've seen the vids of her...she's actually really good...maybe even better than you Kiri"
"Yeah, maybe...natural talent when mixed with hard work often makes a really good combo, the girl has both...even so, I don't think she's at my level just yet" she said, confidently as she smiled.
"So...about them students...what's going on with them, professor?" Riz turned his chair and looked at Ozpin who walked around for a moment.
"Have you two heard about the recent waves of dust robberies in the city?" He asked.
"Yeah, big time. Police is having a hard time dealing with it, word around is the white fang are..." Riz analized his words, the facts and connected the dots using Belladonna's past as a reference. "Connected to the robberies, I see where this is going...how many of these students are involved in this?"
"For now we only believe team RWBY to be involved, we haven't found any proof of JNPR nor have they gone missing during the times that the incidents took place."
"So that puts JNPR out of the picture...we take this as a case of team vigilantism then? " Riz stopped talking to think for a moment, obviously coming to the more logic conclution "Shouldn't we report this to the authorities? They might end up getting hurt." He looked at his professor who beared a bold smile.
"As far as the law goes? Yes, that is what we should do...instead I'd like to take Ms.Vis's approach...and...not report them."
"But sir, trespassing protocol like this can lead to serious consequences with civillian involvement"
The headmaster turned his head to the girl that just talked. "Do you remember how you used to be, Kairi?"
"Y-yeah..." She said ashamed of those memories "I was a ruckus..."
"I remember Treynor saying you were a detriment to yourself and your team...yet all that changed when-"
"That's far enough, Ozpin" Riz said in a serious deep voice, the right stump down below were his feet should be felt hot at him saying those words. He sat up and embraced a desperate Kairi who instantly reciprocated with a soft sob. "We all changed after that, no need to push it more further." Rizzer stated as he shook his head with a 'you're not saying that crap in front of her' look on his face
Ozpin remained silent for a moment and nodded "I'm sorry, I went far out of my depth and I apologize for that...yet anyways that 'event' has changed you all for the better not only for yourselves...but for those around you as well". He inhaled briefly, taking a step back
"With team RWBY I aspire to do the same...but I'd like to avoid the tragedy that comes with naivety and inexperience."
Riz sat down and forced Kairi to sit down on his lap, he caressed her hair with one hand as he held her up from the waist with the other. "You want us to keep them safe then?" Kairi felt more secure and looked at the professor once more.
"Not keep them safe...I just want you to lay eyes on them, and intervene if it becomes too dangerous...they are huntsman students yes and they have weapons...but that alone might not be enough, do you understand what I'm saying?" Ozpin looked directly at Rizzer, ignoring Kairi's opinion as a leader.
Riz had forfeited the leader role last year, yet their superiors would always look at him first as if he never stopped being the leader in the first place, this upsetted him and Kairi alike.
"I do understand and I'll do it..." She sighed and looked down when her boyfriend said that. "On one condition" huh? "My leader has to agree to it first, I'm nowhere near to decide anything if my leader refuses to" she then remembered why she loved the guy so much in the first place...he was loyal...he'd never leave her behind.
She almost choked on her own words from the nerves and as she hid on his chest she answered. "Together..."
"Huh?" Riz said as he looked down on her, she glared back at him with teary eyes and a cute smile. He gulped down, witnessing her cuteness.
"We do it together, no more solo missions...and if we need backup we call Rina and Trey...It'll be like a date, just the two of us, being together." She giggled as she stared at his face.
"Damn I can't handle your smile...yeah okay, we can do that." He said with a small grin. Kairi got up and stood up in front of the professor.
"Do not worry, Professor Ozpin. Team KRTR got the first years covered. We'll be sure to let you know if something happens." She said with confidence as she crossed her arms on her chest.
"I believe in your words, Miss Amethyst I know I won't be dissapointed..." He nodded and took a step forward "also I'd like to apologize, what I said...came out in the wrong way and I didn't have any right to...as well as not asking you first about this...activity, you are the leader of this team now and I'll be sure to remember it"
Kairi suddenly felt more relaxed as she scratched the backnof her head with one hand "I-It's really not a problem, I get it and I'm honestly not that good at leading the team for now but I do intend to be better in the future. We all gotta grow up"
Riz didn't say anything he just stood up from his chair and went to look for something, he picked up his right foot from the ground and sat on the couch to put it back on.
"I'm happy to hear that" Ozpin smiled. "Now I believe I have an appointment so I must be going now, good luck and see you later. Mister Azure I'll be sure to let professor Oobleck know that you'll be joining his class tomorrow, please don't dissapoint him." The man looked at the student with a mocking glare.
The boy's face reddened as he nodded multiple times. "Y-yeah! I'll be there I promise!"
"Good...then I'm off. Have a good evening" and with that he turn around and left the two students on their own in the hangar. They both dropped their shoulders and took a deep breath.
"Gosh I thought he'd never leave..." Kiri said as she leaned on the table.
"Right?" Riz massaged the bridge of his nose with two of his fingers. "He's too intense when he wants something"
"Yeah...and now were involved in a...something, I don't even know where we standing right now..."
"It's okay...we'll figure something out" Riz assured her girlfriend with a smile as he approached the computer "Vis"
"Yes, Riz. How may I help you?"
"I want to know what the hell's going on with those dust robberies, who's behind it, who's getting robbed and if team RWBY have already crossed paths with them." He said as he opened a drawer and took out some clothes? "Also need you to get on the CCTV of the school and keep a track on them, where they going, I might go talk to them later." He said as he head for the main exit on the big door
"And what are you gonna do?" Kiri asked him as she raised an eyebrow.
"Gonna take a bath, you said that I stinked" he said, exiting the place.
"Yeah well that's-" once she realized that he couldn't hear her anymore she just sighed and decided to take a seat and text her best bud, Coco, about how Riz and her were about to bang on the couch but Ozpin interrupted.