A/N: Usual disclaimer of not owning Toaru or RWBY, but hey, I can dream right? Thanks again to furaiz
Roman rarely had a subordinate he could rely on consistently, whether it was hired thugs, White Fang or even huntsmen, he found that no one topped his confidant, Neopolitan. She was a skilled infiltrator, assassin and enforcer, she had succeeded almost every job he asked of her. Tonight was no different as he flipped through a number of files compiled by her, thanks to her infiltrating his new guests, the nuns.
While he never enjoyed researching or analysing documents, Roman wasn't foolish enough to ignore the potential problems these nuns presented. As he read through them, he smirked at the contents and signalled a White Fang mook that had been standing guard outside his room, "You, get the leader of those nuns."
"Uh…" The White Fang member baulked, before nodding and jogging off, leaving Roman alone with the sound of rain drumming on the warehouse roof, and a room filled with papers, a table and a few couches.
After one last scan, he took out his lighter and burnt the files, the orange glow illuminating his face as he took the opportunity to use them as kindling to light his cigar. The criminal took one deep draw and let the smoke stream from his mouth as his mind mulled over the new information he obtained. He disliked working with unknown entities, one was already a major pain in the ass, and he wasn't happy with the other one that arrived recently.
"You called?" a feminine voice pierced the drumming and Roman's face was quickly plastered with a welcoming smile as he turned to face the nun. Despite the downpour outside, the nun seemed like she was untouched by a single drop of water.
"Ah! Good… you're here, why don't you take a seat," Roman exclaimed as he exhaled the last stream of smoke before extinguishing his cigar, but the nun ignored his offer and simply joined him on the opposite side of the table. Roman shrugged and continued, "There is a problem that needs to be addressed and it cannot be ignored."
"A problem?" the nun asked as she shifted beneath her robes.
"Indeed, the White Fang and I are behind schedule, as you can see," Roman started as he gestured around the various papers strewn across the table, "And in order to rectify that problem, I need to target the source. Ever since you and your… sisters have been here, our work has been steadily declining and I'm sure that you are smart enough to understand that your presence is a detriment to the White Fang's-"
Within a split second, a resounding clang echoed through the room as Roman's cane parried the nun's staff and the former smirked at the result. He looked up at the nun's new position with a smirk as if he expected her sudden attack.
"Careful now, I'm only stating the facts here," Roman said and with a swift motion, he flicked his cane, stepping back. The nun stood on the table, staring down on Roman before jumping off, and the two of them were no further away from each other than a metre.
"You should watch your tongue. The Mistral Seeker's Church always have the best interests of the White Fang as their agenda," the nun replied venomously and Roman held his hands up.
"Now, now! This is exactly why I called you here. I'm sure we can reach a compromise, that's what all… associates do, no?" Roman flopped onto a couch and crossed his legs while gesturing to a vacant spot for the nun who made no response. After several seconds of silence, Roman knew he had the control and continued, "I'm aware of the Church's agenda and it doesn't coincide with our mutual associates, does it? So, I have a proposal where both of us can benefit and we all go home happy."
Suddenly, a fanged grin peeked out from the only exposed area from the nun's attire and Roman frowned at the unexpected development. The nun slowly walked towards the criminal, her grin growing wider with every step, "Ohhh... This is interesting! You, willing to deal with the Church? If you were aware of our agenda, you wouldn't be so interested in making a deal with us. Alright… Tell me, what do you have?"
Roman's frown flicked to a smirk, but he knew he lost control of the conversation, even with all the newfound knowledge, he had no idea what may lie behind the mind of this nun. Neopolitan would have to live with them for weeks or months, and it was time he could not afford.
"You and your nuns had been on looking for some Faunus to join your church, haven't you? I know just the kind that you want to join your cause," Roman stated, "What's better is that Adam will have no idea that your nuns will be taking them in. I'll keep his men occupied with our work, you and your… sisters will have free reign on every man, woman and child to bring into your… lord's arms."
"Hmph! Are you talking about the settlement that has been destroyed west of here by the Grimm?" the nun replied as disappointment seeped from her voice, "It is true, we are here to bring salvation to the poor souls and provide them with a place in the Lord's arms. We won't need your help."
Roman held back his snort, Neopolitan had told him that the nuns had been actively taking in a number of Faunus, especially those that were in an unfortunate situation. He wasn't blind to the fact that some of the White Fang thugs under his command spoke of them the same way they spoke of him.
"So, you'll need to do better than that, you humans would do anything to for your own benefit!" The nun placed her vacant hand on her hips as she towered over Roman who merely matched her eyes from his couch, "I won't agree to anything unless-"
"Then, allow me to propose another offer then," Roman replied, unfazed by the rebuttal, "You see Adam should be more than aware that you nuns are here on his territory, now correct me if I'm wrong as my… uh… White Fang Politics isn't as well versed, but Adam is more than willing to eliminate every nun here if they step out of line, isn't he? He and his forsaken lot of animals want you off their turf, but they can't do it without drawing attention. Am I… hitting the right mark Ms Agnese Sanctis?"
The nun remained silent, her staff shook and her soft breaths quickly grew heavier as her slits on the White Fang mask were fixed solely on the criminal. As the soft drumming echoed through the room, neither of the two moved at all and eventually, the nun's staff disappeared as she folded her arms, "How did you know that?"
Roman wagged a finger as if to admonish a child, "That isn't relevant, what's important is that we have an… understanding between us. If he knows that you've been picking Faunus up for your Church, he'll make it a point that you will not have any influence in this continent by any means necessary. So… you understand where I'm getting, right?
"... What do you want, scum?" Agnese asked bitingly, her teeth flashed in anger at how easily exposed she was.
Roman flashed his grin in response as he started to understand this nun through their short interactions. He had worked with less agreeable men and women, and Agnese wasn't as difficult as first thought, "Now, now! Let's be polite, okay? I'm in need of some friends, people that can watch my back so to speak. I'm sure you can allow me an audience with your leader… and of course, I'll make sure that you'll get what you want."
"... Fine… come by the Silver Hotel… room two-fifty, you'll get your chance to talk to her holiness," the nun replied crisply and as she turned to exit, she was stopped by a cough from Roman.
"Before you go, dear, do not try to cross me, I'll know if you do," Roman's threat hung in the air and the nun glared at him for a while, and if her fangs and clenched fists were anything to go by, his message had sunk in.
Roman snorted and fished out a fresh cigar for a job well done, the conversation didn't exactly go the way he wanted but now he had a foot into getting out of this arrangement, all he had to do was make sure was that no one else would be aware of his new associates.
"Woah… carrying a little too much there, don't you think, Kami-yan?"
Touma laughed sheepishly as he adjusted the large duffel bag over his shoulder for the umpteenth time tonight. He had no idea what the mission entailed and decided that he couldn't be over prepared for anything; clothes, cup noodles and a whole bunch of concussive and smoke rounds had pretty much filled the duffel bag because a three-day mission to him sounded like a pretty long and arduous one.
"Well… I guess that's my bad for not telling you what to expect," Motoharu said more to himself than Touma before banging on the Bullhead's hatch.
The hatch slowly opened and revealed an unfamiliar woman that had Touma's eyes widen. The woman wore black short shorts with matching boots, a white jacket with a black tube top and a baseball cap that allowed her silvery hair to poke out the back with a ponytail. Her stern cerulean eyes peeked out beneath the visor and Touma felt like a pang of familiarity. To top it off, she had a sabre by her hips as her bare hand clasped onto it as if she was ready to use it at any time.
"W-Winter?!" Touma exclaimed as he almost dropped his duffel bag in the process. The woman he knew as Winter would never wear something so casual despite only knowing her for a few hours, but her striking eyes, pale skin and even her stiff pose basically screamed that it was Winter in a completely different outfit.
"Touma, you look well. Have your studies been going well?" Winter asked with a small smile but Touma could only stare at her with wide eyes, "Touma… Touma? Are you zoning out?"
"Huh? Yeah, uhh… you look good, great legs!" Touma's outburst had his companions form amused reactions and when he realised what was happening, he could only hang his head as his cheeks heated up against the cool night.
"Well, it certainly is something, eh, Winter?" Motoharu nudged the despondent boy and drew an exasperated sigh from Winter as she stepped aside to let the blonde boy in, "Oi, we don't have all night! C'mon get in, you can admire Winter all you want here."
Touma climbed into the vehicle, almost losing his balance thanks to his heavy bag and he carefully made sure to take a respectable distance from his female senior. Winter and Motoharu shared a look, confused and amused respectively as they watched the boy standing back on the other side of the Bullhead.
"Alright, let's go," Motoharu yelled out to the cockpit and Touma could feel the ground jerk towards him as he fell on all fours. He suddenly felt a firm grip under his shoulder and it hoisted him up, face to face with Winter.
"Uh… Thanks…" Touma mumbled as he scanned Winter and came to a definitive conclusion, while the girls at Beacon were certainly attractive, Winter was simply a whole level above them. She was stern, dependable yet gentle at the same time and on top of that, she looked good in any formal or casual outfit, something that hit his preferences if the magazines under his mattress were any indication.
Winter raised her eyebrow, her lips threatening to twitch upwards as Touma continued to stare at her. While she firmly believed that she should not entertain the idea of 'getting too friendly' with her colleagues, in a sense, she couldn't blame Touma. After all, the Schnees were known for their beauty, something her mother was very well known for.
"Alright, let's get to business, shall we?" Motoharu called out as he pulled out a large scroll and opening it. Touma immediately took a large step back from Winter while clearing out his throat, whereas Winter's face immediately sharpened as she nodded to Motoharu.
Motoharu's scroll started to display various pictures and from his seniors' faces, he could feel the tension in the air tightening as there was no more room for light chatting anymore. With a gulp, he purged Winter from his mind and focussed solely on the scroll.
"Meet Kemono Gin, the leader of a settlement in the northeastern region of Sanus," Motoharu began as he pointed towards the scroll revealing a balding man with a grey stubble and blue eyes, "His settlement is well fortified, being a pretty large bunker town inside a mountain and has about four-fifty people, but recently it's been breached by bandits."
Touma inwardly frowned, he never understood why bandits existed in the first place as many settlements already struggled to survive with Grimm threats all over the land. While he never ran into a bandit, he had visited some settlements close to Vale and most of them were fortified with automated dust cannons and their own group of militia.
"Dr Gin wants us to be his protection detail against the Grimm and Bandits while he and his townspeople repair their outer wall, he has some AK-130s for protection but there isn't a lot left after the last raid by local bandits. He also commissioned us to deal with those bandits as they are certainly capable of breaching their defences," Motoharu continued, Touma focussed on the screen as various maps and photos popped up about the job. Dealing with bandits certainly had him anxious as he never really fought anyone seriously other than thugs and that one White Fang assassin. Fighting an organised group was completely new territory for him.
"I've already contacted General Ironwood about the bandits, though… Mayor Gin is unaware of our solution but it should be acceptable once we locate the bandits," Winter reported and Motoharu simply nodded at her input. Touma's mind suddenly went blank as he struggled to take in the flood of information, and slowly raised his hand up, a little nervous at the sudden change of pace. Winter shook her head at Touma's gesture, "Touma, whenever we head out to missions like this, your concerns and input are important, there is no need to raise your hand like we are in a classroom."
He gulped and nodded as he lowered his hand, he cleared his throat and in a low voice, "Uh… I was wondering what do you mean by solution?"
Motoharu and Winter glanced at each other, and as if speaking a silent language between them with the former tilting his head and the latter rolling her eyes, the blonde huntsman answered, "Well, once we locate the bandits, we call in the cavalry. I'll assume that General Ironwood is lending us a team from Spec Ops, right?" Winter's stiff nod was all that's needed for Motoharu to carry on, "Basically, we are doing guard duty and a bit of recon. Shouldn't be too difficult for your first mission Kami-yan."
Touma frowned, last time he checked, huntsmen were capable fighters themselves, able to take down multiple Grimm or criminals and there were even stories how a squad of Huntsmen was basically an equivalent to an army. As confusion took over his nervousness, he inquired, "But shouldn't we just take on the Bandits and arrest them? Why would we need another team?"
"There are simply too many unknown variables, Touma," Winter explained, "Bandits are a viable threat as many groups are known to have ex-military, ex-law enforcers and huntsmen within their ranks." Touma's mind suddenly recalled Winter's little sister's explanation about the less than reputable huntsmen. The Schnee then pointed to a picture on the scroll, which showed a large breach on what seemed to be a very thick steel wall, "We also have to consider that their weaponry and equipment are capable enough to breach something like a bunker wall. It's better to scout out the bandits, relay the information to the relevant people so that they can prepare a team to handle the situation."
Touma slumped slightly, a little disappointed yet relieved that he wouldn't be fighting bandits immediately. However, there was still one thing that bugged him, "Then… what about Winter's clothes? I mean your military uniform would be more practical wouldn't it?"
Winter's eyebrow raised in response and Touma found himself spluttering, his instincts telling him to backpedal, "N-not to say that your current outfit is bad or anything! I mean- you look good in it and you probably fight well and all-"
The Bullhead was filled with Motoharu's guffaws as he slung his arm around while Winter remained staring at the embarrassed Touma, though a small amused smile lingered on her face.
"Kami-yan, that's actually not a bad question," Motoharu answered after he controlled himself, Touma could've sworn that he winked behind those sunglasses.
Winter, however, shot a glance at Motoharu before responding to Touma, "Dr Gin isn't exactly the biggest fan of the Atlesian military, so my outfit is just to disguise myself from him so he will be unaware that I'm affiliated with the military."
Motoharu nudged Touma and whispered, "I actually picked that outfit for Winter, it's a sight for sore eyes, isn't it?"
Before Touma could respond Motoharu slapped him on the back, forcing him to stumble again and asked, "Good! Any more questions?" Touma was still struggling to get back on his feet as he leaned on the hatch door for support, "No? Oi, how long till drop off?"
"About two minutes," the pilot's voice reverberated throughout the Bullhead.
Motoharu's grin grew wider as he placed both hands on his shoulders and a glint twinkled through his sunglasses as he asked, "So… Kami-yan, ever done a skydive before?"
Touma froze, it wasn't his first time falling from great heights before, but a skydive? His face paled considerably as he quavered in despair and disbelief, "What?"
Blake tossed and turned, unable to fall into slumber as she kept replaying last night's events over her mind, her scar kept throbbing, reminding her of what she had done. With the daylight piercing through her eyelids from the window, she decided it was enough, she needed to know that Touma was alright. As she got up from her bed, she immediately felt her eyelids were still heavy yet her head felt like they were in the clouds.
She stumbled out of her room, still being mindful for her slumbering team and immediately made a beeline towards Touma's room and rapped on the door, hoping that he might wake up and answer. To her surprise, the door creaked open from a single knock, and that was all it was needed for worry to begin clawing at her chest.
Blake slowly entered the room as her heart started thumping faster, her eyes darted left and right as she called out, "Touma? Are you awake?" There was no answer and a salty smell entered her nose as she saw a desk with a bowl, noodles that look like it fused to the table and several crinkled papers and book. She fumbled for her scroll and immediately called, hoping that Touma would answer, but the scroll displayed large red words, that simply said 'SCROLL ID CANNOT BE REACHED'. Blake bit her lips as her chest and scar felt heavier and painful respectively, she refused to believe what she was seeing and decided to repeat the call, only for the same words to be displayed on the screen.
The cat Faunus burst out of the room as her mind raced for options she could use, she needed to do something as she was the one who let the Motoharu guy go after Touma. She almost broke out into a run until she bumped into someone and fell.
"Blake? What're you doing up so early in the morning?" Blake looked up to Nora wearing a pink jersey and black shorts with a towel slung around her neck, the energetic girl cringed and exclaimed, "Woah! Uh... You don't look so good."
Before the heavy hitter of JNPR could offer her hand, Blake scrambled back up and gripped onto Nora's shoulders as she frantically hissed, "Nora! We need to wake the others! He's missing and we've got to move, now!"
"Huh!? What!? Who's missing?" Nora faltered from Blake's unusual behaviour. When she first met Blake and interacted with her, Nora had always seen Blake as a calm and cool kind of person, especially with the always reading and ninja-like style. If anything, she's like the female version of Ren. However, the desperate eyes and the unusually loud Blake was a completely different person from what she expected.
"Touma! He's missing!" Blake stressed and left the befuddled Nora to sound the alarm for her team. Nora shook her head and followed Blake to wake her respective team.
After the premature awakening followed by groaning and growling, teams RWBY and JNPR convened at the former's room. Some like Ruby and Nora were wide awake and ready for action whereas some like Weiss and Jaune were a little grumpy from the sudden alarm.
"Guys, what's going on? It's like seven in the morning and we don't even have classes," Yang grumbled as she rubbed her eyes in annoyance, some of the others were also sharing her sentiments at being awoken so early.
Blake immediately went into a ramble, "Touma's missing, I can't reach him and his room is all a mess-"
"Woah! Woah! Slow down, Blakey!" Yang exclaimed, a little alarmed from her partner's behaviour and everyone else except Nora were also surprised by the outburst, some concerned and others completely confused, "What do you mean he's missing?"
Blake gulped as she realised seven sets of eyes were now focused on her, and she felt herself freeze. Her mind hammered flashbacks of her allowing a suspicious person to Touma and she had a feeling that she was complicit in his 'kidnapping'. Her vision slowly lowered all the way to the ground as she couldn't find it in herself to look at anyone.
"Blake? Are-Are you alright?" Ruby prodded, a little unsure of what's going on.
"Give her some time, I'm sure it was shocking," Ren's calm voice stated.
"Ren! Time's a-wastin'!" Nora's voice cut in and soon more voices started to chime in.
"Umm… I think-" Pyrrha's voice was barely heard, even with Blake's ears.
"She said Touma's missing! We gotta get to-" Ruby's erratic statement was once again cut-off.
"Rubes, I get that, but there's no point rushing…" Yang's voice became muffled as Blake's ears decided to block out her surroundings.
She wasn't sure if she could tell them that she was responsible for getting Touma kidnapped and despite her general aloofness with her team and friends, she cared about them deeply. Blake was frightened about the fact that Touma's absence and what her friends might think because of her actions might entail. She went through hypotheticals as to how her friends might react over and over again until one shrill voice shattered her bubble.
"ENOUGH!" Everyone's eyes were glued to the Schnee heir who was rubbing her brow as if she had a migraine, "Will everyone please, stop talking over each other!? We won't get anywhere if we go on like this."
It was at this moment that everyone agreed that Weiss being forced to wake up early was a bad idea as she was far crankier than ever, especially as she glared at each one, even at Pyrrha and Ren who seemed to usually be on an agreeable wavelength with her.
After a few more seconds of silence, Weiss drew in one deep breath before turning her attention to Blake, "Do you have any more information? It's important you get it all out."
Blake almost flinched as she became the centre of attention once again, she knew she had to help Touma somehow, after all, he saved her from the White Fang assassin and earning her friends' ire was paltry to what Touma risked, worst of all, she was afraid of what Touma might think if he knew what she did. Blake mentally counted down, straightened her shoulders and opened her eyes, facing her friends with ready to take any result she would be given and recounted, "I… A stranger asked me for Touma last night. I was worried about him because he was… suspicious-"
"Suspicious? What do you-" Ruby started before Weiss smacked her partner in the head causing her to squeak before she gave a look that allowed Blake to continue.
"I- I got scared… and I didn't want anything to do with him, so I told him where Touma was," Blake looked down, despite the renewed resolve, her neck and eyes refused to meet her friends. With one more gulp, she continued her story, "I couldn't sleep because I just…"
Blake bit her lip as she struggled to find the words until she felt a gentle grip on her shoulder, she looked up to see Yang's sympathetic smile, which surprised the Faunus. Blake looked around and not a single one of her friends had a face of anger, doubt or anything like that, instead most had worry and concern. Although Weiss's face was neutral, Blake couldn't see anything but a slight glint of worry behind those eyes.
"I thought I was the one who put Touma in danger and was complicit in it," Blake ended as she closed her eyes and she felt Yang's grip squeezing her gently.
"Is that all?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow, as everyone turned to her with mixed reactions from her callous tone. Yang let go of Blake and turned to the Schnee as did many others, even Jaune looked at her with a frown. Weiss ignored them, her eyes completely fixed on Blake, "Is that everything you have to say?"
"Uhh… Weiss? Umm-" Ruby quietly stammered.
Yang stepped towards Weiss, her lilac eyes flashing red, "Why are you treating her like a criminal!?"
Jaune then stepped forward, and like Ruby, he was frightened by the sudden tension in the room as he held his arms out, "G-guys, let's calm down for a second, alright? Touma's in trouble, remember?"
Yang's glare persisted until Blake gripped onto her partner's arm while stating as clear as she can to Weiss, "Yes… that's everything."
Everyone looked at Blake, yet the Faunus felt strangely alright, even as she felt the nudges of guilt in her chest, her shoulders were no longer weighed down, and Weiss's lips twitched upwards, "Okay, then let's go to the headmaster, he'll know what happened to Touma."
"Ah!" Pyrrha and Ren simultaneously as they dropped a fist into their palm, completely understanding where Weiss was coming from. Almost everyone else was confused with Weiss's sudden proposal to see Ozpin.
"You're talking about the security cameras, we can check if he knows via the system," Ren supplied soon everyone had a look of realisation growing on their faces.
"That's right, besides," Weiss affirmed as she nodded to Blake, "It's not like you could know that this man was a kidnapper, if I were in your shoes, I'd assume he would be a student or something."
"Well, whaddya know? The Weiss Princess has a heart after all!" Yang declared cheekily.
"Hey!"
"Well, let's go to the headmaster! Hey Ren, we're going to see the master! The wonderful headmaster of Beacon!" Nora sang as she dragged her partner out of the room.
Everyone else followed them with enthusiasm or in Weiss's case, getting dragged out by her partner until Blake was the last one left in the room. She wanted to just collapse on her bed as if the strings had been cut off from her, relieved that everyone had been understanding.
"Hey… you okay?" Yang's head popped back into the room, she then entered the room slowly making her way to her partner.
Blake looked up, still a little tired from the whole debacle and replied, "Yeah… I guess." Yang folded her arms, as her face held a little scepticism and Blake elaborated, "I just thought you guys might be… disappointed I guess? And… I don't know if Touma would forgive me..."
Yang gave a short laugh as she inquired, "Why would I or anyone else be disappointed? I know you wouldn't do anything against Touma and... I'm sure he knows too, besides, I've seen you how you look at him," the blonde girl's teasing grin widened and Blake felt the heat on her cheeks.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Blake denied strongly, she had no idea why she felt so defensive, but her partner's face did not ease her one bit.
"Really? Huh… I must've gotten it wrong…" Yang wondered as she tapped her chin before her face reverted to a teasing grin again, "Guess it's fine to me go after him, you wouldn't have any problem with it, right?"
Blake's jaw dropped as she felt a strange sense of threat coming from Yang, and before she could reply, her partner winked and strode off with her chest out. She stood there, unbalanced at feeling horribly exposed to everyone, before shaking her head and chasing after Yang. Unfortunately for her, Yang had caught up with everyone else and Blake lost all courage to continue that particular conversation they just had, however, she constantly kept her eyes on Yang who kept ignoring her partner in amusement as they made their way to the Tower.
The two teams arrived at Ozpin's office and the owner found himself raising an eyebrow in mild surprise as two teams strode to his desk. The eight of them quickly crowded around the desk as Ozpin asked, amused, "Teams RWBY and JNPR, what can I do for you?"
"Um- We were hoping if you could find Touma for us?" Ruby asked before anyone else could even open their mouth.
"Touma Kamijou?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow, as far as he was aware, the Imagine Breaker holder had found friendship with the two teams, which made him glad for Touma. He did have initial concerns that the boy might struggle to find friendship as he was not part of any team.
"Yes, I'm… We're worried because I directed a stranger to his room last night and now he is missing," Blake clarified, her leader responded with a fervent nod while some of the others affirmed their worries.
"And… do you know the identity of this person, Blake Belladonna?" Ozpin inquired calmly.
Everyone looked at Blake as she gave a single nod, "His name… is Motoharu Tsuchimikado."
To everyone's surprise, the headmaster buried his brow into his hand with an exasperated sigh as he had figured out the general gist of what may have happened. He silently reminded himself to talk to the blonde huntsman about grabbing Touma out of nowhere or ask Winter to take the initiative instead.
"Everyone, there is nothing to be worried about. Motoharu is one of the huntsmen I have employed to handle Touma Kamijou's mission module. I assure you all, he is an excellent huntsman and will make sure Touma Kamijou is safe. I imagine that he will return within a couple of days, safe and sound," Ozpin explained and immediately everyone breathed a sigh of relief, glad that their friend wasn't kidnapped, except for one person.
"I'm sorry, I just don't get it," Weiss replied with a shake of her head, she pushed aside Ruby and smacked her hand on the table as she glared at the headmaster, "First, Touma doesn't get a team, next he doesn't participate in Combat Classes and wasn't allowed to touch dust in Dust Studies and Applications, and now this… The only thing that's been given to us is that his Semblance is supposedly part of it, but that's still shouldn't be enough reason for him to not be in these classes."
"Someone's jealous," Yang teased while Nora and Ruby snickered. However, Blake didn't see the humour within it either as she could see where Weiss was coming from.
The Schnee heir glared at her teammate and retorted, "No! I'm just trying to make sense of all this. The whole team thing and classes with little to no concessions have been going on for over half a century and somehow, out of all the Academies, Touma was the only one granted these concessions. Not even Pyrrha, Kaori Kanzaki and Acqua had these conditions tied to them."
"Weiss Schnee, there is always a first for everything," Ozpin replied neutrally, everyone remained silent as Weiss opened and closed her mouth several times.
"Umm… I agree with Weiss, I just find it strange as well. Touma is a friend, but we know so little about him and why he is an anomaly." Pyrrha's voice poked into the conversation as she timidly held her hand up, at the same time, she felt a little ashamed to describe a friend as such.
"I'm going to have to agree as well, the only thing I could imagine would be that Touma has a circumstance that the system can't account for," Ren followed up, soon every student in the room except Blake were nodding their heads in understanding.
"If we were to work with him, shouldn't we at least know what's going on with him?" Weiss inquired as she regained her composure as her eyes stared right into Ozpin.
Blake pursed her lips, well aware of Touma's circumstances, while she was never explicitly told to hide them, she felt like there was an unspoken promise between them to not reveal them, as Touma had promised to hide the fact that she was a Faunus.
Ozpin sighed, throughout his years, he had seen many bright minds pass through the halls of Beacon and today was a clear reminder that though, these students were young, they were still very capable. Then again, he had to remember that four of the top ten students for their year were standing right in front of him, and from what he observed from Touma, the boy would try to explain his situation regardless, albeit not very well.
Clearing his throat, his mind carefully constructed his words as he was ready to divulge the circumstances surrounding Touma, "Very well, however, Touma Kamijou deserves to tell you everything, as I'm sure all of you have your own secrets to tell. I'll only explain briefly why he is in this situation." Ozpin leaned back on his chair as he commanded everyone's attention to him, eager to know more about their friend.
Touma collapsed, clumsily uncapping a bottle of water and his parched throat welcomed the cool liquid. Dawn had barely cracked across the horizon when they arrived at the bunker and he understood why Motoharu asked if he 'was carrying a little too much'. He had many firsts on the past day; skydiving, camping, hiking were just some of the things he partook in, and on top of that, he also had to fight several Grimm but Winter and Motoharu easily eliminated their own like it was a walk in the park. While his shirt had huge patches of sweat, his companions looked exactly the same as they had before they jumped off that Bullhead. It reminded him how unfortunate he was that he couldn't utilise aura to deal with body regulation and protection.
"Looks like this is it," Winter announced from the front, "Kamijou, look alive."
Touma snapped to attention like a soldier as Winter's commanding voice somehow made him feel like he had to obey without question. Ever since they landed, Winter's voice was steely and reminded him a lot of those military movies he had watched.
"Ohhh… that's one helluva door," Motoharu muttered, Touma glanced to where the blonde boy was looking and a massive steel door. He could only stare in wonder and imagined that if every settlement had a gate like that, they would be pretty safe from almost every Grimm imaginable.
As the three approached the bunker gate, Motoharu began mumbling something to Winter to which she nodded stiffly. Touma, too exhausted to care, was just glad that they finally made it to their destination. When they reached the gate, the unfortunate boy realised that the gate was large enough to fit two Bullheads side by side through it.
"HALT! IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" A distorted voice shouted from the gate as two compartments opened beside the door and revealed two large gatling guns aimed solely at the three. Touma involuntarily stepped back as his sweat ridden face had paled from the show of force.
"We're the huntsmen that took the security and bandit job! Your leader had arranged it with us, I'm Motoharu Tsuchimikado! My team, Touma Kamijou and… Genevieve Schenesade the Third!" Motoharu announced and Winter's glare bore straight into her fellow huntsman, neither of them being bothered by the two menacing looking guns aimed at them, "But we just call her Jenny or J-Three as she is trying to be a pop idol."
"...Huh?" Touma's mind suddenly had flashed Winter jumping and singing on stage in a far less frosty manner he was accustomed to and his lips curled upwards at the image.
"...VERY WELL, PLEASE STAND BACK!" with that, the doors began to slide away from each other slowly as the guns retreated back to the compartments, at the same time, a concert of noises emerged from behind the doors with drilling, vacuuming and various sounds that Touma couldn't identify. From the entrance, a tall balding man with a lab coat marched towards them, flanked by two robots holding rifles.
"Dr Gin?" Motoharu raised his hand and the three of them in a varied movement headed towards the man.
"Mr Tsuchimikado, I'm glad you and your team can make it," the man replied with a hearty handshake to Motoharu and then gestured towards the gate, "Welcome to the Echo-Nineteen site."
Gin and Motoharu then began chatting to each other, and Touma's ears caught various words such as 'bandits', 'weapons' or 'investigation'. His eyes, however, caught a more staggering vision once he entered the bunker and his jaw dropped as he steadily drank in the environment was now in. He saw various men and women in labcoats, marching robots and huge machinery that reminded him of sci-fi video games. Sound of machines and the synthetic voice from a sound system dominated his ears as he watched before he felt a light thump on his arm.
"Kamijou! Tsuchimikado and... the breach!" Winter's voice called out over the noisy machines.
Touma frowned and yelled, "What!?" Winter shook her head and pointed at Motoharu and herself then jerked her thumb to the man. Touma blankly stared at Winter who frowned and pointed at him then pointed downwards.
Gin then walked up to them with Motoharu close behind, "... first time in... facility?" Gin asked with a wide grin and Motoharu matched the man with his arms folded.
"Huh!? What!?" Touma yelled, but even his own voice seemed to have drowned to the noises in the room.
Motoharu leaned to the balding man and after some time, the mayor barked with laughter, "Of course... welcome to... tour of the facility! I'll... staff take him around... bags with him, we'll send ... rooms for the job!"
"Alright! Kami… heard the man... and I... to the breach site. Make... everything relevant and report...!" Motoharu called out before tossing the bag to Touma, he stumbled at the weight and soon, Winter's own had him on the ground.
Before Touma could respond, Motoharu and Winter had already left with the doctor, leaving him in the company of a very loud room. After a few more minutes, he heard over the loud noises, "Mr Kamijou!? Mr Kamijou!?"
A young tanned, blonde and tattooed man in a simple checkered shirt ran up to him, "Mr Kamijou!?" Touma nodded and the man once again opened his mouth, yet Touma's ears could only pick up bits of his voice, but nothing intelligible. The man gave up and jerked his thumb to a steel sliding door before picking up Motoharu and Winter's bag, before dashing to the door. Touma, figuring that the man wanted him to follow, dashed after the man.
As they reached passed the door, the racket behind them instantly subsided and the man laughed sheepishly as he smoothed his hair, "Damn, that was pretty loud!"
Touma mirrored the man's laugh and glanced back at the closed door, "Yeah, is it always like this?"
"Nahh! It's because of that bandit breach, everyone's gone overdrive, prepping the stuff for repairing the breach and all. Anyways, enough of that! I was supposed to show you around, I'm Lych, Junior Engineer," the man explained with a sparkling smile as he held out his hand to which, the boy took, "So, I'm hoping you're Touma Kamijou, right? Would be pretty damn awkward if you're not."
"Yeah, I'm Touma-" the tanned man cut him off with hearty guffaw as he smacked Touma on the back.
"Awesome bro, alright let's dump these bags in your room and get this tour started, shall we?" Lych invited before he dashed off, Touma quickly found himself being caught in the man's pace, almost like a hurricane as he was dragged off and witnessed the inner workings of the base.
Despite the fast pace, Touma found himself watching every room and hall filled with various activities that he had no understanding of. On top of that, the whole place was like a maze, as he visited each room, he found it harder to figure out where he was from his accommodations. In most rooms, Touma saw guns similar to the ones he saw at the bunker entrance, strange machines with antennas on them and other variations of cannons, which somewhat made him a little nervous with all the weapons being worked on. Deciding to note things down on his scroll, he pulled it out only for Lych to interfere.
"Woah, there buddy! No can do with the scrolls," Lych exclaimed with a shake of his head.
Touma looked up, confused, "I was just going to note stuff down, in case I get lost-"
"I get that bro', honestly I got lost when I first came here too! Thing is, scrolls are only for short range comms here, ya know, it's the rules and all. Besides, you can't even call people outside this bunker, try it if you don't believe me," Lych elaborated, Touma frowned and tapped on his scroll only to find the red words 'SCROLL ID CANNOT BE REACHED', "See? Told ya, bro. The whole outer bunker walls are too thick for comms. Oh, right! I almost forgot, wait..." Lych started fishing his pockets, pulling out wrappers, key rings, his scroll, until he finally pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Touma, "There you go, just in case you get lost!"
Touma opened it up and he was met with a picture that has been printed out with various colourful squiggles as if a texter or highlighter was used for it. Immediately, some of the labels like 'cafeteria' and 'your rooms' were circled around them, however, there were others completely scribbled out with the words alongside saying 'KEEP OUT'.
"So, that's it, any questions, bro?" Lych asked with a grin.
"Yeah… uh… so what do you guys do?" Touma asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"Ohh! Must've been all the guns and stuff you saw, eh?" Lych asked only for Touma silently nod as he lowered the map, "Well, this site is all about producing cheap defensive gear systems for the settlements. You know how Grimm attacks are getting worse by the day and all," Lych then puffed up his chest, "Just so you know, I was working on a wall designed to hold its ground against all sorts of Grimm. It's pretty cheap and easy to set up!"
Touma blinked as his nervousness faded away and replaced with a small bit of admiration, though it seemed some of the guns were excessive, the scientists and engineers were genuinely finding ways for settlements to defend themselves from the Grimm, after all, Lych seemed like a nice person. However, Lych's answer did lead to something that started nagging Touma's mind, "Then… why would bandits want to raid this place?"
Lych frowned for the first time Touma met him, he scratched his head before shrugging and replying, "To be honest, not really sure. I mean we have a ton of dust and other munitions for the development so I wouldn't be surprised if they took it but… nothing's been tak-"
Suddenly he felt something collide with his head and all he could see was the ceiling with a dull pain throbbing at his head. Completely bewildered, six faces popped up, three of which belonged to Lych and the other three belonging to a female with brunette hair, but with all the faces dancing around, he couldn't even make out her face.
"Bro! You alright? That looked pretty nasty!" Lych then grabbed his left arm and pulled Touma to a sitting position.
"Sorry about that, didn't see you there," the brunette woman called. Touma's eyes clenched tightly as if to force the dizziness away, while at the same time struggling to stand only for Lych to grab on to his arm to steady him.
"Easy there, bro! You took a hit to the head," Lych warned with a tighter grip, Touma nodded and glanced at the woman who was staring at him, nervously. Soon enough, the three faces were all converging into one clear one, he noticed the bags under her brown eyes and her hands stuffed firmly into her greying lab coat. "Damn, Harumi. I know you're overworked and all, but you need to watch where you're going."
"I'm okay, it's just a bump," Touma waved away but Lych still had a frown but nodded. He glanced behind Harumi to find a large object covered in a white cloth.
"Well, I have to head off, sorry for…" Harumi paused as she squirmed a little before suddenly stripping of her lab coat, then her sweater and suddenly her wrist was gripped by Lych before she could reach her shirt.
"Oi! You can't just do that anywhere!" Lych exclaimed while Touma's eyes widened as he almost got to witness something special.
"But…. it's hot… It's normal to take off clothes when it's hot" Harumi replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"But you can head to your lab and turn up the air conditioning there!" Lych shot back, exasperated. Harumi simply shrugged before heading back behind the covered object and began pushing to a door. Lych just sighed with a shake of his head before turning back to Touma, "Sorry about that, bro, Harumi is super smart and all… just a little strange… Okay, she's pretty weird, but trust me, she's super smart."
Touma continued to stare at the door Harumi disappeared behind, a little impressed in some ways and weirded out in others, "So… uh… what does she do?"
"Hmm… to be honest, she works in the inner labs and only the senior dudes get to go in there. Speaking of which…" Lych snatched the fallen map from the ground and handed it to Touma, "You've seen the 'keep out' sections, those are the private quarters and of course, the inner labs. Apparently, they work on top secret stuff, no idea what though, I don't have access to the labs."
Touma nodded as his mind, though a little muddled, worked hard to find out if there was anything else he should ask before giving up, "Guess that's it… don't really have anything else to ask."
"Alright! Well, I gotta head off, my boss is probably gonna chew my ass out for taking you around too long, it was nice to meet ya, I'll see ya later!" Lych then jogged off only for him to stop and turn, "By the way, tonight at the cafeteria, they're making some mean grilled fish, reminds me of home! You should come by!" With that Lych left with a wave.
The unfortunate boy then checked the map filled with squiggles, only for his heart to sink into the oblivion as he had no idea where he was and no idea how to get to his room.
