Chapter 9
Cloak & Dagger
Third person P.O.V.
~one week later~ -undisclosed location-
A burly man in a white mask and matching outfit walked into the makeshift conference room. He stood near the door, waiting for acknowledgement from the red haired Faunus standing over a table littered with papers and maps. After receiving a nod, the man walked over and stood in front of the redhead.
"Sir, you might want to hear what one of our recruits overheard from Mr. Torchwick," he said.
The redhead just waved him off, saying, "It can wait, Lieutenant. Can't you see I'm busy?"
The Lieutenant nodded, only saying, "It can't wait, Adam. This recruit heard about last year from one of the older members recently, and came up with some information for you."
Adam just sighed, running a hand through his hair before standing up straight. "Fine. Send them in, Flynn. But, if it isn't what I'm expecting after that explanation, both of you are done. Got it?"
Flynn, the Lieutenant, nodded, walking over to the door and letting in a nervous gazelle Faunus. When she was two feet in the room, Adam held up a hand, signaling for her to stop. With an audible gulp, she proceeded to say, "I-I overheard torchwick t-t-talking a couple d-days ago about someone w-who ruined his r-r-robbery of 'From Dust till Dawn'. Y-y-yesterday, I heard from one of the s-senior members about a train heist where we lost two good members who w-w-were close to you. T-the p-p-person Torchwick described m-matched the one the others c-c-called Ruby R-Rose… e-except he called her R-Red."
At this, Adam quickly turned around and strode over to the quivering Faunus girl. "What else did Torchwick say? Did she look hurt? Did she have a weapon?" he asked, almost fervently.
The girl shrugged unsteadily. "I-I only caught a brief description. F-f-from what I heard, s-she was alright. A-and I think Torchwick said s-s-she had a giant r-red scythe that also a-a-acted li–"
Adam scooped the girl into a hug, one so quick that both her and Flynn could've imagined it if not for Adam saying to his Lieutenant, "She's alive! I can't believe it… I thought I lost her." Turning to Flynn, Adam continued, "Lieutenant, tell the senior members to keep their eyes open for Ruby whenever they are in the city. Don't let Torchwick get wind of this though." As Flynn nodded and left the room, Adam turned back to the gazelle Faunus. "Recruit, you've done a good job, bringing me this information. Take tomorrow off, as my thanks. If any of the senior members has any complaints, send them to me." With that, Adam walked back over to the table and leaned over, dismissing the girl as he shoved all the papers and maps off except for a map of the town of Vale. "Where are you Ruby?" he muttered to himself.
~meanwhile~ -Beacon Academy-
Third person P.O.V.
"–ow! Let's break his legs!"
"Nora! No! It's fine, I swear! We're just friends, doing what friends do. There's no need to break his legs," Jaune told the energetic girl. Nora sat down, unfazed as she went back to eating her pancakes.
"I don't know, Jaune," Pyrrha said. "It doesn't look like he's being very friendly to you."
"Name one unfriendly thing Cardin's done to me, then."
Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrha all exchanged a knowing look before listing some of the things to Jaune.
"He opened your shield, getting you stuck in a doorway," Pyrrha said.
"Stuffed you in your locker and sent you into the forest without your weapons," Ruby explained.
"And he—"
"Okay, okay. So maybe he is picking on me. At least he's let off the Faunus since it started," Jaune said, interrupting Yang before she could get her thought out.
At this, both Blake and Ruby twitched their ears subtly, Ruby not yet trusting Weiss or JNPR and Blake not trusting anyone other than Ruby enough to reveal to them. Not even a minute later, there was some commotion behind the side of the table team RWBY sat on.
"Seems I spoke to soon," Jaune deadpanned.
Team RWBY looked behind them to see Cardin pulling the ears of a rabbit Faunus who kept pleading for him to stop. Blake clenched her fists under the table, about to get up, when Ruby used her semblance to get directly behind Cardin. Tapping his shoulder to get his attention, she waited until he turned around to speak.
"You might want to let her go," she said, anger evident in her voice.
Cardin just snorted and pulled harder. "Or what? You gonna beat me up?" he asked, not noticing who was in front of him.
Dove poked Cardin in the ribs, whispering something into his ear before backing away slowly. Cardin looked again, finally noticing that it was Ruby in front of him. Snorting again, he release the rabbit Faunus, saying, "I was getting bored anyways. See ya around, pipsqueak."
Ruby helped the girl pick up her tray, which was what had gotten the cafeteria's attention. "You alright? What's your name?" Ruby asked her. "My name's Ruby Rose."
The rabbit Faunus just nodded, meekly saying, "My name's Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina," before leaning in and whispering, "Your secret's safe with me. I'm guessing you have your own reasons for hiding who you are. I'm not going to judge."
"Thank you, Velvet," Ruby whispered back before standing up and walking back to her teammates. Seeing them looking at her, Ruby sat down and asked, "What?"
"Why did Cardin stop when he saw you?" Jaune asked.
Ruby just shrugged. "He said he was getting bored. I honestly don't believe him," she said.
Everyone nodded, agreeing with Ruby as they resumed eating. When the bell rang, everyone got up except for Jaune, who was staring at his tray blankly. Seeing this, Ruby held back until everyone else was gone before clearing her throat. Jaune jumped slightly at the sound, not expecting it.
"Everything okay, Jaune?" Ruby asked.
Jaune just sighed as he slowly got up, replying with, "Yeah. I just… have a lot on my mind."
Ruby balanced her tray on one hand, placing the other on Jaune's shoulder and smiling gently. "If you ever need someone to talk to, come see me. I think we could actually help each other out with some stuff."
Jaune nodded, walking over to the entrance and setting his tray down. "Okay. Can you tell Prof– sorry, Doctor Oobleck that I am making a quick detour before class?" he asked.
Ruby nodded, setting her tray down also before speeding off to class.
~Two minutes later~ -unknown location-
Unknown P.O.V.
"Are you sure it's her, K?" the voice on the other end of the line asked, slightly distorted.
Sighing, I reply, with my own voice distorted similarly, "Not one hundred percent, F. But I am getting more sure every day. When will you and the others get here?"
The voice just laughed. "You know I can't tell you. We can't let anyone know. But, when we do arrive," at this the distortion changed to a lighter and velvety tone, "I don't want you to give anything away, love. That means you must show no recognition. Those are Her orders."
I shiver as I hear this. "I understand. It's just agonizing that I won't be able to hold you again until the mission is over, dear." Suddenly, a door somewhere nearby me opens and closes. Quietly, I whisper, "I have to go. Guess I'll hear from you later," before hanging up my scroll. Right after slipping it back into my little hiding spot, I walk out only to get grabbed, blindfolded, and pulled away from classes.
~that afternoon~ -Beacon cafeteria-
Blake P.O.V.
"–une? I haven't seen him since breakfast," Pyrrha said.
"Yeah, he hasn't been trying to hit on me for three whole class periods," Weiss replied.
I hunched over my food, quietly eating as everyone talked over my head, until my partner pulled me into the conversation.
"Hey, Blake, have you seen Jaune anywhere after breakfast?" Yang asked.
I shake my head slowly, replying, "No. But I did hear one of the lockers get deployed again. Maybe Cardin did it again?"
Our group, minus Ruby, just looked at me, confused. "How could you hear one of the lockers from across the school?" Pyrrha asked.
"Uh—" "It flew over Professor Port's class," Ruby said, thankfully coming up with a believable excuse for me.
I nodded. "Yeah, you were all pretty much asleep when it flew over. I'm not surprised you guys missed it," I said. That seemed to satisfy the others, until Weiss spoke up, poking a hole in my defense.
"But the forest is the other way. Why would Cardin send Jaune into town?"
"Maybe he sent Jaune past town?" Yang suggested for me.
Then Nora suddenly banged her fist onto the table. "Let's go look for him! He has to be somewhere out there!"
Ren just sighed as he pulled the energetic girl back down, put a plate of pancakes in front of her-Where does he keep getting those?-and saying, "Firstly, Cardin was warned about sending students off in the lockers unarmed. Secondly, we can't just skip class without permission, Nora. I believe the best course of action would be to wait until classes are over for the day."
Everyone, minus Nora and Ruby, nodded at this. Looking over at my old partner, I see ruby staring off into space towards town. Thinking nothing of it, I ask everyone, "So… who gets finished first since we have to separate now? I have two classes left."
Ruby snaps out of her daze and replies at the same time as Nora, "I have four." They looked at each other before laughing.
"Me and Pyr have three," Yang said, with Pyrrha nodding in confirmation.
Ren just sighed as he looked at us. "I guess I'll be the first one to start looking. I only have one left for the day. After I get finished, I guess I'll be heading into town."
I turned my head a little to my right. "What about you, Weiss? How many classes do you have?" I asked the heiress.
Weiss stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth before setting it back down onto her tray. "What's it matter to you? I don't plan on helping look for that oaf. He got himself in this me- HEY! YANG, LET ME GO!"
My partner had picked Weiss up, rather suddenly and abruptly. "Not until you agree to help look for Jaune, Ice Queen. I would rather not drag you around Vale, with you trussed up like a chicken, which I'm sure you don't want either," she said, earning a mortified look from Weiss, followed by a reluctant mutter of acceptance.
Yang set Weiss back down in her seat before picking up her own tray and walking away to her next class. Weiss turned to Ruby once Yang was out of the cafeteria and whispered to her, silent enough to where only Ruby should've been able to hear but I could hear, "Why is your sister such a brute? Does she have no manners at all?"
Ruby P.O.V.
I had to stifle what small bit of laughter bubbled up. 'The Ice Bitch is calling Yang a brute, of all people? She really has a sense of humor.' I wipe away the few drops of milk that lingered before whispering back, "She isn't a brute, Weiss. She is just… very protective of her friends and family. Keep that in mind the next time one of us is missing or in danger. And yes, she does have manners… I think…"
Weiss just huffed in response, turning away from me and back to her meal. I looked past Weiss and saw Blake's bow twitch. 'Did she hear that? Then again, I heard Weiss' whisper twice, so maybe… oh well. Too late now.' I stood up with my own tray and walked out of the cafeteria to my next class, wonder just what the hell Jaune had gotten himself into now.
A/N Hey guys, I'm back~! Sorry for the delay in updating, I had a bit of writer's block and some personal stuff to deal with, but I'm back for this one chapter. I have no inkling of the time-frame for the next update, so keep fingers crossed that it is sooner than this one.
