Another chapter of Junior Detectives!
Almost five-hundred civilians were dead from the Breach.
Sun and Neptune were the first ones to reach the Breach along with Ozpin, soon followed by Atlas' robot army and other Beacon students. By the time they had gotten to the site, Grimm were already moving into streets away from the tunnel to Mountain Glenn, so Ozpin ordered a perimeter be set up by some students and others joined team RWBY and Atlas at stemming the flow of Grimm out of the tunnel.
The streets were bloody, bodies in the streets from the Grimm's rampage, but it was a better result than what could have been, or at least Ozpin told them that after the Grimm were stopped. Ozpin sent Sun and Neptune a statistical analysis the night after the Breach, with an estimate of nearly two thousand or more lives lost if they had not brought Ozpin the warning a few minutes before the Breach happened.
Although their efforts had saved many lives, a part of both Sun and Neptune wished they could have figured out what the White Fang were doing faster. If they had, they could have saved even more lives. If they had been better, maybe that death count would be lower.
They had mitigated the damage of the Breach, but according to Junior's information, there was someone pulling the strings behind Roman gathering the dust for the operation. They told Ozpin that someone else was behind the Breach when he asked them how they figured out that it was going to happen. The headmaster promised them that he and General Ironwood would find out who was behind it all.
Beacon was nearly abandoned since it was now the fall break before the next semester, about three weeks of relative silence at the academy. There were some students that stayed at the academy during the break, mostly early transfer students such as themselves, while most of the transfer students that would be visiting for the Vytal tournament would come after the break.
Team RWBY went to patch for the break, Ruby and Yang wanted to visit their father and invited Weiss and Blake along as well. Sun and Neptune were invited to come hang out two days from now, but they did not know anyone else at Beacon who was still there.
Sun and Neptune walked in silence, shoulders slumped, to the cafeteria where a skeleton crew of chefs had prepared breakfast for the few students at the academy. As Sun and Neptune were about to enter the cafeteria, the loudspeaker clicked on and Ozpin's voice came out, "Mr. Vasilias and Mr. Wukong, please come to my office at your earliest convenience, thank you." Neptune looked at Sun who shrugged in response, maybe Ozpin had more news about the Breach for them?
The two changed course from the cafeteria to the tower that they had run to a few days prior. They passed a few janitors taking advantage of the empty halls to do some deep cleaning and walked outside into the cooling temperatures of the changing seasons.
Sun and Neptune walked into the tower and stepped into the elevator. They pressed the button labeled 'Headmaster's Office' and the elevator went up to the top of the tower. The doors dinged open and they saw the headmaster sitting at his desk looking longingly at a mug in his hands.
"Hello, Headmaster?" Neptune asked, trying to get the man's attention. When Ozpin did not move, except to stroke his thumb on the mug, Neptune asked louder, "Headmaster!"
"Hmm? Oh yes." Ozpin set the mug down, "What can I help you two with?" He asked as if they did not catch him having a moment with his coffee mug.
"You called us up here."
"Indeed I did. Forgive an old man and his memory, my mind has not been present recently. However, I notice that you two seem more dejected than usual. Why, Mr. Wukong, you even covered up your abs." Sun looked away, embarrassed the Headmaster would even call out something like that.
Ozpin stood up and faced out the window, "I have a guess on what's troubling you two, may I?" Sun grunted and Ozpin took that as a yes, "I have experienced that feeling many times: when you figure out or find something that saves lives and yet it feels like you could have done more. The slight guilt that you should have been able to do more, a guilt that anyone in your position might feel, but an idiotic guilt at best."
Ozpin turned around to face Sun and Neptune, "Without your efforts, hundreds more lives would have been lost. The deaths of that day, that is not blood on your hands. If you two did not figure it out, the Breach would have been much worse." Ozpin sighed, as if the weight of a thousand lifetimes suddenly fell onto his shoulders, "I have made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child on Remnant. As an expert on mistakes and failure, what you two did was not failure, it was not a mistake." Ozpin allowed a soft smile, "It was a miracle in itself, the goal of a huntsmen realized: saving lives. You two deserve to be huntsmen and I have no doubts that you will accomplish even more great things in the future."
Sun and Neptune beamed internally at the praise. Sure, some of the guilt was still there, but it was alleviated. Their efforts were not in vain, they had saved people that otherwise would be dead.
They were becoming huntsmen.
"That brings me to why I called you two up here. Seeing your success with investigating the White Fang and Torchwick, I have a case for you two to solve, a case that has the fate of Beacon, Vale, and maybe all of Remnant, in the balance."
Neptune looked amazed at being so important to the Headmaster, that he called them to help save Beacon. Sun nodded, "What is it sir? What can we do?"
Ozpin placed his hands on his desk, "What I'm about to show and tell you needs to remain secret from anyone, even team RWBY, even Weiss and Blake. Can I trust you with this?" Sun and Neptune slowly nodded, "Follow me then." Ozpin led Sun and Neptune into the elevator and let the doors close without pressing a button. He then pulled out a paper clip and put it into a small hole next to the button panel. With a barely audible click, the elevator started moving down.
The three remained silent until the elevator stopped moving and the doors opened, revealing a large room filled with creates and giant empty glass containers. "This is Beacon's secure storage facility, buried beneath the ground to hide the valuable materials from those who wish to take them." Ozpin sighed, "Although that has not stopped the thievery that I'm asking you to solve."
Ozpin stood next to one of the empty glass containers with open boxes next to it, "These used to contain the most valuable liquid known to Remnant, something so valuable that even the SDC does not have it."
Sun and Neptune leaned forward, wanting to know what could be possibly so expensive or rare that even the SDC did not own it.
"I am of course talking about coffee."
Sun and Neptune fell over from leaning too far forward and hit the ground, "What do you mean coffee!"
"What I mean, Mr. Wukong, is that coffee is what makes Remnant live to fight another day. This blend of coffee and its ingredients are secret because they would make most people stronger or smarter just by drinking it." Ozpin laughed a little, "I would imagine it would even make an immortal being get out of bed."
Neptune stood up and wiped the dust from the floor off of his clothes, "So you're telling us that you need us to investigate coffee that has somehow disappeared from a vault because whoever in here decided to steal a caffeinated drink instead of the weapons or armor scattered in the room?"
"Yes. An act of pure evil if I do say so myself." Ozpin rubbed the glass container he stood next to, "And I have three suspects based on who would have access to this room and would be interested in the precious cargo. I believe it is either Glynda, Bart, or James."
"You mean James Ironwood? The General in charge of all the armed forces of Atlas. He, of all people, would be interested in taking your coffee?" Sun questioned.
"Yes."
"As well as Ms. Goodwitch and Dr. Oobleck. Those are the ones you think took the coffee?"
"Yes, Mr. Wukong."
Sun sighed and looked at Neptune who shrugged, "I guess we have nothing better to do. Do you have any security cameras we could look at?"
"I'm afraid not, security cameras could be hacked and then any unwelcome guest could see what we have hidden beneath the school." Ozpin chuckled, "Think Mr. Wukong, why would I let an enemy potentially see the special blend with a camera?"
Sun's right eyebrow twitched and he counted down from ten to calm himself down. After counting, he asked, "And how are we supposed to investigate two teachers and a General?"
Ozpin looked at him with a straight face, "You're the detectives. You do whatever you need to do to find out who stole my precious coffee."
"Oh, hello Mr. Wukong and Mr. Vasilias, I was not expecting students over the break. How can I help you two?" Glynda was sitting at her desk on a computer when Sun and Neptune entered the office, most likely grading school work or preparing for the next semester.
"We just have a few questions for you Ms. Goodwitch." Sun walked to one side of the desk while Neptune walked to the other. She's going to kill us, this is stupid. Stupid Ozpin, stupid coffee, "We know about what's hidden beneath the tower, Ozpin showed us earlier."
For the first time in their lives, Sun and Neptune saw Glynda Goodwitch look completely shocked. Her jaw was wide open like she could not believe what she was hearing, "Bwa- wha- Ozpin… he, he just showed you her and told you what happened to her?"
Neptune rolled his eyes, "Ozpin didn't refer to the coffee as a woman, but he is very attached to it, so it wouldn't surprise me."
Glynda sat not moving for about half a minute before speaking, "Coffee. He showed you the coffee beneath the school. Nothing else? Nobody at all?"
"Uhh… no he just showed us the empty coffee containers and you are a prime suspect as the thief." Sun tilted his head as he thought about what Glynda said, Showed nothing else… somebody else?
"Are you accusing me of stealing Ozpin's coffee? And he suggested that I steal something so stupid and pointless as coffee?" Glynda stood and pointed her crop at Sun and Neptune, who both backed up nervously, "May I ask where the dear old Headmaster is now?"
"He went back to his office! Please don't hurt us Ms. Goodwitch!" Neptune begged, holding his hands in front of his face.
"I may have words for you later, but right now, my business is with the Headmaster. I think I'm going to give him an evaluation for once then mark him off on his carelessness and stupidity!" Glynda stormed out of her room, slamming the door behind her.
Sun and Neptune shivered, they did not have any sympathy or jealousness towards Ozpin, investigating missing coffee was indeed, as Ms. Goodwitch eloquently stated, stupid. "We still don't know if it's her that took it though… she sounded angry, but that's not proof of innocence." Neptune moved towards the teacher's desk, "We could look around her office quickly and see if it's in here."
Sun hesitantly nodded in agreement, while Neptune was right, searching through an irritated Ms Goodwitch's office with a chance of being caught was not something he wanted to imagine. "Let's just be quick about this."
Neptune started by searching through Ms. Goodwitch's desk while Sun went through the cabinets on the wall opposite the windows. They both searched for a few minutes, Neptune went through all of the desk and growled as he slammed the final drawer shut, "Nothing here. Anything in the cabinets?"
"Nothing." Sun replied as he opened the fifth cabinet, looking for coffee, records of it being taken, anything at all.
"I have to use the bathroom, do you think Goodwitch will notice?" Neptune asked. Sun raised his eyebrow, as if to say Really?, "I really have to go, it will only be a minute!" Neptune stepped into the private bathroom in the back of Glynda's office and closed the door behind him. After ten seconds, Neptune opened the door, "Hey Sun, could you come in here?"
Sun shook his head, "Already fell for that once Nep, I'm not going to be tricked into looking at your crap again."
"No, nothing gross this time, I think I found where the coffee went." Curious enough to hope that Neptune was not playing a trick on him, Sun went to join Neptune in the bathroom. When he stepped into the small space, the smell of coffee hit his nose so strongly that he coughed slightly, "Yea, look in the sink."
Sun went to the sink and saw the white porcelain had been stained a light brown, "Did she really dump all of that coffee down the sink?" How much coffee did she get rid of to stain a sink? "Take some pictures for evidence Nep, I'm going to make sure the office looks exactly how she left it."
Neptune quickly pulled out his scroll and started taking pictures of the darkened sink, capturing every possible angle of the coffee stains. Sun quickly made sure that the desk drawers and cabinets were closed, "Pictures taken, let's get out of here."
"Look at him move, he's like a hummingbird, how is he moving so quickly?" Sun asked. He and Neptune watched Bart Oobleck move between old documents on a table, flipping through each one before going to a computer and typing furiously for a minute or two.
"Maybe he has a speed semblance?" Neptune suggested, "Or he is powered by a super-charged battery or a lot of caffeine." Sun nodded then opened the cracked door they were looking through and walked into the classroom.
Sun and Neptune walked up to Oobleck and waited for him to finish typing on the keyboard on the computer, which looked like it had seen a lot of wear and tear. After he finished typing, Oobleck sped by the two students and went back to the table of documents and started reading a transcript that was at least three-hundred pages.
"Did he not see us?" Sun asked before walking up to Oobleck who was already ten pages into the transcript, "Doctor Oobleck!"
The man jumped slightly and looked surprised,"Oh! My apologies Mr. Wukong and Vasilias! I must not have seen you. How can I help you two today?"
"We actually have a few questions about something that happened recently."
"Recent history? Fantastic! Tell me, what is it you want to learn about? Mountain Glenn, the Great Dust Robbery of Atlas, the rise of the White Fang?"
"Umm, no." Neptune answered, "We wanted to ask you if you drink coffee."
"Coffee? Of course I do!" Oobleck pulled out a thermos from behind his back and took a long sip, "I wouldn't dare go anywhere without it."
Sun raised an eyebrow at Neptune who nodded and pressed a button on his scroll, "What kind of coffee do you drink?"
"That is a secret long kept hidden from anyone. I like to have my own blend with ingredients so secret that they are not known to almost anyone."
"So secret that you had to steal them from beneath the tower?" Sun asked. Oobleck froze and slowly put his thermos behind his back and whistled as if he had not heard the question, "Did you take those secret ingredients from Ozpin then use them to create your own coffee?"
Oobleck, for once, moved slowly to his desk and grabbed a briefcase, "If you two don't have any more questions, I will be off somewhere to look for historical artifacts. One can never spend too much time understanding history!" Before Sun could reply, Oobleck took off, sprinting through the classroom doors, leaving them to swing repeatedly from the force of Oobleck pushing them open.
Neptune looked at Sun, "Do you think that counts as a confession?"
General Ironwood, leader of the Atlas Military, a man who could order the strongest army on the planet to do his bidding, a man from a kingdom that did not have the best faunus rights record. And here Sun was meeting with the man on his state of the art flying battleship, surrounded by soldiers, about to ask him if he stole coffee. This is where I die Sun thought as he and Neptune were led through the flagship by Winter Schnee.
Sun may not have been optimistic but he was definitely glad that he was not Neptune. When he introduced himself, Winter immediately laser focused on the student, interrogating him as she led them to Ironwood's office, asking him every question from how he and Weiss met up to what they have done together.
"Have you made sexual advances towards my sister?" Winter asked with a voice of steel, Sun noticed her hand was on her saber and he was sure Neptune did not miss that either.
Neptune quickly replied, "No! We haven't done anything like that at all! We've only held hands and kissed, I swear! Please don't kill me!"
Winter stopped dead in her tracks and stiffly, slowly turned around to face Neptune. If Neptune thought that telling Winter, an overprotective older sister, that he kissed Weiss would somehow make Winter less angry, he was sorely mistaken. She grabbed Neptune by the shirt, lifted him off the ground, slammed him into the metal wall of the flagship, and yelled, "You defiled my sister by kissing her?!"
Neptune probably would have tried to say something if he was not trying to recover from the force that Winter pushed him into the wall with. A one foot hole with the shape of his body was now a fixture of Atlas' prize battleship. "Winter, I am sure Weiss is equally responsible for this 'defiling' as this young man is."
Winter dropped Neptune at the sound of the deep voice from behind Sun, letting Neptune slide out of the hole in the wall and onto the floor face first. Sun turned to see a tall and heavily-muscled man behind him holding a mug that said 'World's #1 General'.
"I was just getting a cup of Atlesian Black before the meeting with the heroes that let us know about the Breach early." General Ironwood took a drink from his mug as Winter, wide-eyed, looked quickly between Sun and Neptune, "I wouldn't just take a meeting with any random students from another academy after all."
"I- I am sorry sir! I was… distracted by their names and one of their relationships with my sister." Winter looked a little embarrassed akin to how a cat looked when it was caught with the canary in its mouth. She was not embarrassed at putting a dent in the wall using Neptune's body, but embarrassed because she was caught doing it by Ironwood.
"I'm sure you were just thinking about Weiss' safety." Ironwood chuckled, a deep and pleasant sound, "But I can take these two from here, you're free to return to your regular duties." Without a word Winter saluted and walked back the way she took Sun and Neptune. Once she walked around a corner, Ironwood sighed, "Apologies for her actions, she can be a little too serious and rash when it comes to her sister. My office is just around the corner, we can talk there."
Sun helped Neptune off the floor and half-carried him to the General's office, a bleak and gray room with one gigantic metal desk and a few chairs, "First, I wanted to thank you for your work on the Breach. Without that information, the destruction caused by the White Fang and Torchwick would have been much worse." The General sat down in his chair behind the desk, "What can I help you two gentlemen with? Do you have more information regarding the Breach?"
Neptune shook his head, "We don't have anything new on what happened or the White Fang, but we are doing another investigation and could use your help."
Ironwood cracked his knuckles, "I'll help however I can. Do you need security drones or surveillance teams for this operation?"
"Actually we just wanted to ask you a few questions if that's okay?" Sun asked and Ironwood nodded, "Do you like drinking coffee, General?"
"As long as it's Atlesian Black." Ironwood raised his mug in front of his face, "The finest coffee in the world, grown and produced only in Atlas, and the only coffee sponsored by the Atlas Military."
"You wouldn't drink any other coffee blends at all then?" Neptune asked.
"It would be insulting to Atlas as a nation to drink something other than Atlesian Black. Nothing can match its bitterness, its blandness, its perfection; just as none can match the power of Atlas."
Sun grabbed Neptune and they huddled together. Sun whispered under his breath, "I think the direct approach would work best."
"Agreed." Neptune said as he pushed Sun closer to Ironwood. Thanks for that Sun! Make the faunus ask the General of Atlas the big question!
"General Ironwood, we know about the secret vault underneath Beacon and what has been stolen from it, Ozpin showed us."
Ironwood sat there unmoving as if he could not believe his ears. He tried speaking, but no words came out of his mouth. He tried again and was successful, "Ozpin showed you the vault and her?"
Sun frowned, both Ironwood and Goodwitch referred to the coffee as her, why? That could be figured out later however, "We know that the coffee is missing and we think that you took it."
Ironwood stared at them for a second before slamming his mug down, "Ozpin, you old fool, what are you thinking?!" The General stood up and walked to the one window in his office and stared out of it, "Ozpin, has you two investigating who stole his coffee. Has he gone off the deep end with his carelessness! Let me make it easy for you two, I stole as much as I could, that coffee is too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands and had to be destroyed."
Ironwood walked over to his office door and opened it, "Thank you again for your priceless information on the Breach, but I am going to end this meeting now so I can use the time for something useful." Sun and Neptune walked out of the office, not looking Ironwood in the eyes, "And please remind Ozpin that he has more important matters than coffee right now."
Sun and Neptune stood to the right of Ozpin's desk in the clock tower at what looked like the most awkward parent-teacher conference ever. Goodwitch, Oobleck, and Ironwood were sitting across from Ozpin, who had been tapping his cane against the floor for the past five minutes until the elevator opened to reveal a lanky and tall man with a sword, "Hey Oz! What did you need me for?" Qrow Branwen looked at the three adults sitting in their chairs and laughed, "Did Ozpin call you all to the principal's office?"
"Yes I did actually." Ozpin replied, "Qrow, I need you to guard the elevator and make sure no one escapes before I say we're done here, use any physical force necessary." Qrow raised an eyebrow in concern at the blatant threat of the professors and General in the room before standing right in front of the elevator, "Now that our impartial security is here, Mr. Vasilias and Mr. Wukong, would you like to begin?"
"Yes, as you know Neptune and I have been investigating the disappearance of Ozpin's special coffee from the vault, and we know who did it. All three of you are guilty!"
"Egads!" Ozpin yelled over-dramatically, "The treachery, the horror! Tell us Mr. Vasilias, how did you deduct that these monsters have done something so unspeakably terrible!"
"We know that Ms. Goodwitch stole much of the coffee then dumped it down the sink. The bathroom had an overwhelming odor of the caffeinated beverage as well as discoloring the sink because of how strong the coffee is." Neptune showed a picture of the sink and slowly moved it in a half-circle so everyone could see it.
"Fine! Yes! I dumped the coffee in the sink!" Goodwitch stood up, "And I would do it again too, it is way too much of a distraction for you Ozpin!"
Ozpin ignored her, "Mr. Wukong, which of these monsters would you like to uncover next?
Sun pointed at the second person in the line of three chairs, "We also know that you, Dr. Oobleck, stole the ingredients to the coffee to try and make it for yourself. You ran away as soon as we mentioned stealing ingredients from the vault and making your own blend of coffee. Tell me Dr. Oobleck, did you ever find the balance of ingredients you hoped for?"
"I did! I found the perfect blend, using each precious ingredient to its maximum potential! Ozpin, you stopped me from drinking your coffee because you said I drank too much of it, but I need it Ozpin! Every day I crave its caffeinated goodness!"
Ozpin shook his head, "For shame Bart, for shame. You are quite the addict." Oobleck sank into his chair while Goodwitch threw her arms in the air in exasperation.
"Finally, General Ironwood. You admitted to us that you destroyed the coffee because it was dangerous, do you deny it?"
The General stood up and proudly proclaimed, "Yes, I did destroy it. Ozpin, our enemies are dangerous and any potential weapon that cannot be controlled must be contained or destroyed. Obviously your containment of the coffee failed, as seen by all three of us being able to access it, so it took the fate of humanity into my own hands and blended the coffee I took with sulfuric acid, it was a threat to Atlas national security!" Ironwood pointed his finger almost into Ozpin's eye, "And you should know better than show students the vaults below Beacon, those are secure for a reason Ozpin!"
Ozpin stood up and pushed the finger aside, "They were the best I could get on short notice to find out who took my coffee. Plus, I knew I couldn't trust anyone too close to the situation because those who I have trusted over the years are the ones who committed the crime!"
Oobleck and Goodwitch stood up and joined in the yelling session that had broken out over Ozpin's desk, fingers pointing and arms waving in every direction. Sun and Neptune slowly creeped over to Qrow who was drinking from a flask as fast as he could, "I work for these idiots." The man sighed then looked at Sun and Neptune as they tried to sneak past him, "I know Oz said not to let anyone go, but I think he meant those three and not you two. Get out of here, I don't think this is going to end anytime soon."
Sun and Neptune walked past the huntsman and pressed the buttons inside the elevator to get the doors to close as fast as they could. Neptune held his head with one hand and shook it, "I can't wait to see Weiss."
"I can't wait to see Blake either." Sun said. Neptune pulled out his scroll as the elevator descended while Sun looked at the panel of buttons that showed every floor and the pin hole that Ozpin pressed to take them to the hidden coffee. Next to it was another hole, small enough to be missed by anyone not specifically looking for it, where would that lead?
What else did Ozpin need to hide?
This story is going to be wrapping up soon, so hopefully by the time I finish it, I have another story anchored and figured out to give to you all. Until next time!