Day 9/30

It was just past midnight, and a flash of lightning lit up the inside of Ozpin and Qrow's van. Though the vehicle was positioned behind a few rows of trees, the high winds rocked it back and forth. Neither of them had expected the heavy rain to turn into a downright hurricane-like storm by nightfall.

"Maybe we should just drive away for a bit," Qrow suggested, peering out the front window as the downpour raged on, "Wind's picking up pretty bad. One of these trees might fall on top of us any minute now."

"I am afraid we can't do that," a surprisingly calm Ozpin replied, "It would force me to break my terms of agreement for this whole operation."

"What's more important, our safety or a goddamn bet?"

Ozpin sipped from his mug. "A man must preserve his honor."

"…You can't be serious."

"I may have also forgotten to mention that there is no gasoline in this vehicle. We could not leave even if we tried."

Qrow slouched down onto the floor, groaning as he grabbed a bag of potato chips from a drawer. "So what do we do now? Stare at the camera feed and wait this out?"

"That is what we do most of the day anyways," Ozpin said, "Unless you have a better suggestion."

Chewing loudly, Qrow dug his hand into the bag for seconds, "You wanna play Bang-Marry-Kill again?"

"Not particularly, no."

A boom of thunder shook the vehicle. The two men heard the sound of cracking wood outside, followed by a crashing sound.

"That ain't good," Qrow said, "Wanna make a run for the house?"

"You can if you so choose to. I already used up my one interference, but you were never part of the agreement's terms."

Before Ozpin could even finish his sentence, the dusty old crow was already at the door. "Have fun then, pal. See you in the morning!"

Qrow pushed on the door handle, but was surprised when the door refused to budge.

"...What the hell?"

He pushed on it again, harder and more frantically this time.

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me!" Branwen cursed, peeking through the small crack of the door, "That tree fell right outside the damn door!"

"Would you like some coffee?" Ozpin offered, holding out a mug for Qrow.

"Don't get smug with me, Oz."

"Whatever are you talking about?"

Leering at the man, Qrow reluctantly snatched the drink from his hand. The coffee burned his throat, but not in the usual way most of his drinks did. It could use a little pinch of brandy to pack a little punch. "How the hell do you drink this stuff?"

"I ask you that same question in regards to your alcohol," Ozpin retorted as lightning flashed once again, "Hm… Perhaps we should deactivate our electronics for now. I wouldn't want our equipment to be compromised."

"You gotta get your priorities straight, Oz."

Flipping a switch underneath his desk, Ozpin turned off every vulnerable piece of tech in the van, leaving them trapped in complete darkness. The sudden loss of light wasn't very helpful to Qrow, who was in the middle of standing back up with coffee mug in hand. It didn't help that the entire floor was covered in wires and random objects just asking to be tripped over.

"GAH! HOT, HOT!"

"Well of course it is hot. It is coffee, after all."

Electricity is an amazing thing, you know? It helps out so much in our daily lives. It powers our TV, our video games, our Internet connection, and a whole bunch of other shit. It's pretty great.

The funny thing is, too much of it can really screw shit up.

Especially when lightning strikes a power generator just outside your house. Power overloads are never fun. They suck hard, actually.

That's a fact the occupants of the penthouse were realizing all too well right now.

Most of them had been preoccupied with something when the outage hit. Yang had been in the shower and was suddenly blasted by freezing cold water, whereas Emerald was in the middle of her late-night programs when the TV went black. Most unfortunate was Ren, who was trying to climb out of his bed when everything went dark and he fell headfirst to the floor.

As if they were part of a hive mind, everyone seemingly knew to gather in the lounge to try and figure out some kind of solution to the problem. Only Jaune was absent; he had managed to stay asleep through the whole commotion even when Pyrrha tried to wake him. Sun and the Lieutenant had gone and found some battery powered lamps, and were placing them about the room so people could see who they were talking to. With everyone gathered on the floor and couch, Roman stood atop the table playing leader again.

"Looks like we're all here," he said, yawning, "So, power's out if you all couldn't tell. Not really sure for how long, so I hope nobody needs to use electricity any time soon."

"Some heat would be nice," a shivering Yang replied. She stood only in a towel, with soaking wet hair dripping onto the floor. Most of the guys knew better than to stare, unless they wanted a knuckle sandwich for a late-night snack.

Thinking of heat, Neo and Emerald gave Cinder a look to which she shrugged. "Don't look at me. It's not my fault our semblances have been sealed off thanks to their foolish Headmaster."

"For once, I agree with you," Weiss followed, tossing Yang her over shirt, "Though I don't really mind being cold myself."

Ruby had been keeping quiet for a while, being both tired and distracted by Zwei on her lap. Suddenly, a thought came to mind. "Hey! Maybe there's a back-up generator somewhere down in the basement!"

"We have a basement?" Blake asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah! When I was running around outside earlier, I saw these big square doors on the other side of the house before Yang pulled me back in. They probably lead to the basement!"

"Bu they're outside, you dolt," Weiss groaned, shaking her head, "Nobody in their right mind is going to go out there into that storm."

"What? Doesn't seem too bad out to me."

"You're not going out there alone, Ruby," Yang said to her sister, "I'd help, but I'm already wet enough as it is."

"Heh. Wet."

"You find something funny, Mercury?"

"N-Nothing, ma'am. Nothing at all…"

Ruby gave her sister the puppy eyes in a desperate attempt to change her mind. "But Yang, I wanna help everyone…"

"Sorry Ruby, but not this time-

"Wait!"

Everyone's heads turned to the Lieutenant, who had just frozen mid-step. There was a long, dramatic pause before he spoke again in a dreadful whisper.

"Adam's still out there."

"So?" Blake replied coldly, "He's probably fine. Probably."

"He could be in danger! I have to rescue him!"

Seeing her chance, Ruby dashed over beside the Faunus. "We can go outside together! I'll help you rescue Adam, and you help me get into the basement! It's perfect! What do you think, sis?"

Yang eyed the big guy down. She was still untrustworthy of him since he was involved with Adam, and she still didn't like the idea of Ruby going outside in this storm. Though fearful of the blonde, the Lieutenant wanted to change how his housemates perceived him. He had to make up for his former actions alongside his boss. He stepped forward, bowing his head to Yang.

"I know you don't think much of me, Blonde Demon, but I will keep a watchful eye over your sister in the eye of that storm. If things turn for the worst, I will put her safety before my own, just as I would do so for Adam. I give you my word."

Yang looked at him sternly, then to Ruby, then back to him. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the big guy earned a second chance for that little speech he just gave. "Fine. But you be careful. Both of you. If worse comes to worse, call my cell Ruby. I'll be out there in an instant."

"You got it sis," Ruby smiled softly, pulling up her red hood, "Let's go, Mr. Mask!"

"That's not my... Oh, whatever," the Lieutenant groaned, following Ruby out into the storm.

As the door shut behind them, Pyrrha stood up and stretched her arms. "I don't know about you all, but I feel the best thing is to get back to sleep. Hopefully the power will be on in the morning."

"But that's no fun!" Nora spoke up, clenching her fists, "Black out are the best time to play hide and seek! If only we had night vision goggles, then we could pretend to be spies! Oh, that would be great! Don't ya think so Ren?"

"Nora, please," a nearby Ren winced, rubbing his forehead, "I think Roman has the right idea."

"You mean we all sleep here on the couch like moles? That's genius!"

"Wait, what?"

"You know, moles! They like to snuggle up and warm each other with their bodies!"

"I don't think that moles do-

"I call middle seat!" Gleefully, Nora dove onto the couch, burying herself between Cinder and Emerald. The latter groaned at her erratic roommate.

"Yeah, I'm not staying down here anymore. Someone get us a flashlight so we can get up the stairs without tripping over each other."

"Got ya covered," Sun tossed her a flashlight with his tail, "Anyone wanna join me downstairs for a board game? There's a couple stored away in a closet down there. A lamp or two should give us enough light to see."

"Let me get this shirt on first," Yang replied, looking over at Blake and Weiss, "You two in?"

"I can't see a reason not to," Weiss answered, "Blake?"

The cat was quite tired, but the slight grin Sun gave her swayed her decision. "Sure. Why not?"

"And what about you?"

A surprised Neo jumped slightly at Sun's invitation. She held her phone up to him to say she wasn't interested, but Roman snagged it from her hand. "She'd love to join you. It's about time she gets off this stupid thing anyway."

The short woman glared at him viciously, expressing her disapproval. He wouldn't be getting his 'Just Desserts' for a while now for this little stunt. Still, she reluctantly joined the four as they departed downstairs, Yang breaking off to go and change quickly.

"I don't know about you guys," Mercury said, propping his feet up on the coffee table, "But this chair is pretty damn comfy to me. Think I'll sleep here, as long as those two don't start bumpin' crotches." He jerked a thumb at Ren and Nora, much to their displeasure.

"Must you assume that?" Ren said.

"Yeah, we're here together, but not like together-together. We're just gonna be like moles tonight!"

Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at her teammate's obliviousness to animal behavior. Leaving them behind as Zwei snuggled up with Nora, she followed Roman, Emerald, and Cinder up the steps back to the bedrooms. Halfway up, she stopped dead in her tracks upon realizing something.

Sun was in the movie room.

Mercury was in the lounge.

And she and Jaune would be in their room.

Alone.

Blushing, she felt her nerves getting to her when Emerald noticed she had stopped.

"Hey. You alright there?"

Swallowing her anxiety, Pyrrha nodded and continued up the staircase, unsure if she should (or even could) try and take advantage of her and Jaune being alone in some way…