A/N: Hm. Lots of backlash last chapter. Hopefully this chapter's a bit more... tame. XD
Enjoy
Professor Ozpin sat at his desk, looking at the two students in front of him. For the past ten minutes Ozpin had been busily typing away, while answering several phone calls about the attack that had happened the other night. Finally, in a brief break between a letter being sent out and answering another phone call about Team JNPR and Team RWBY's escapades, the headmaster was able to turn his attention on the two students, who had everything to do with the headache that he was having at the moment.
With a sigh, Ozpin finally laid his hands flat on the top of his desk and looked levelly at Blake and Jaune.
"You know, I expected this Blake to get involved with something from the White Fang, but for someone who doesn't want to be involved in this school, you being there seems to be quite the surprise Jaune." Ozpin said.
Jaune shrugged nonchalantly. Ozpin may be the Headmaster of Beacon, but Jaune really didn't see him as a superior. Especially if Ozpin was going to be sly and try to find a way to keep Jaune at Beacon longer than was necessary.
And besides, the only one that could reprimand Jaune for doing something was his mother.
"I was feeling a little restless." Jaune said casually. An eyebrow raised on Ozpin's face, showing how skeptical he was of the reasoning.
"You felt… restless? So you decided to wreck a port and create a fight with several dozens of White Fang members and five Bullheads?" Ozpin asked. Again another shrug from Jaune.
"I was really restless." Jaune defended impetuously. Another sigh from Ozpin.
"Of course you were." Ozpin said. Ozpin turned his attention briefly towards a screen that popped up to the left of him and read what had shown up before pinching the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. The blond and black pair sat there patiently, waiting for Ozpin to say something.
"That was… very reckless of the both of you. The amount of damage that you caused to public and private property, as well as the disruption that your fight created was… troubling." Ozpin lifted a sheet of paper from the sizable stack set aside for him at the small print.
"As well as giving the staff quite a bit of paperwork." Ozpin finished, setting down the sheet of paper in front of him. At least have enough grace to look a little sheepish, Ozpin thought. But alas, neither one really reacted much to the statement and continued to sit silently, watching Ozpin.
Ozpin threw his hands in the air, tired of attempting to get a reaction out of the two troublemaker.
"Apparently I have been too lenient to the students here if they think they can act without thinking. Two weeks detention for the two of you, starting tonight."
Blake and Jaune relaxed their shoulders a little, admitting to themselves that two weeks of detention wasn't the worst thing that could have happened.
Ozpin paused for a second, before adding in one more quip.
"Professor Goodwitch will be in charge of overseeing your detentions." Ozpin said.
It didn't take much more to make the color drain completely out of their faces.
Torchwick wasn't having the best day of his life.
After being rebuffed by the little brats, Roman had to call in Neo to break a hasty retreat, which did not bode well for his reputation. It didn't help that the whole city was combing the place for the two of them after they escaped.
In an angry huff, Roman plopped himself down onto a couch and leaned back.
"Something the problem, Roman?" A smooth voice said. Roman turned to the slow click-clack of Cinder's heels. Cinder didn't look very happy either, a small frown marring her face.
"Oh, Cinder!" Roman said in fake surprise. "Well, it's really nothing, I mean—"
"Save it Roman." Cinder said, her voice cold, low and furious. "I already know about the lost cargo." Approaching Roman slowly, Cinder laid a finger on Roman's shoulder and let it slide closer and closer to his face. Roman made sure to keep very still, as if Cinder was holding a knife to his throat. Roman tried to think of something, anything that would put prevent her from killing him outright. Or worse.
"I don't think you want to kill me Cinder," Roman said in as smug of a voice as possible. Which wasn't as much as he would have liked, as his voice shook a little when he said that. Cinder raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And why's that Roman?" Cinder's finger began to heat up a little, making the heat only a degree away from burning. "It's not like you've been performing all that well in the first place." Cinder said mockingly. Roman swallowed his pride for a second, knowing that one wrong step could make him a burnt corpse.
"I've got information. About your precious secret art." Roman shot back. "So I don't think burning me alive is all that great of an idea." Roman said. Cinder tilted her head to the side, looking a little thoughtful.
"Mmm, no I don't burn people alive when they've consistently failed me over and over again, Roman. I experiment." Roman couldn't help but shiver at that, having seen some of Cinder's past experiments before. It was nothing that he wanted a part of.
"And what is this about alchemy that I hear?" Cinder demanded under a thin veil of a question. Roman was glad to offer this up to her, knowing that it would only curry more favor towards him.
"It was a blondie. He used some mojo that didn't look like any semblance to me." Roman said.
"And how do I know what he had wasn't a semblance?" Cinder asked curiously. "This would be quite the waste of time if it turns out that he doesn't know anything about my art." Cinder lowered her gaze, her eyes burning. "And the only think I hate more than failure is having my time wasted."
"He seemed to know a lot of chemistry as well. Isn't that too much of a coincidence to just let slide?" Roman asked desperately. Cinder was quiet for a second, contemplative. Finally, Cinder pointed her finger at Roman, switching subjects.
"What was supposed to be your last haul of Dust has now become your second-to-last haul." Cinder's finger touched Roman's chin, lifting his head so that she could meet him in the eyes.
"I hope this doesn't turn out to be like yesterday, because that would so disappoint me." Cinder's eyes narrowed while her smile grew sharper and sharper.
"And I've already told you what happens to people who disappoint me, don't you Roman?" Cinder purred.
Roman was a hardened criminal that was in the business for several years. He had faced police officers, Atlas soldiers, and even a pack of Hunters once. At this point in his career, there wasn't much that would even faze Roman and his wily wit.
Cinder, however, was one of the things that could.
Roman gulped nervously, a bead of sweat trailing downwards towards his chin. The drop touched Cinder's forefinger, and sizzled into vapor. Roman didn't need to nod to show that he understood. Cinder lifted up her finger and slowly put it to her lips, giving a smirk.
"Good. See to it that you don't mess up again. Or maybe you'll end up like Tukson." With a wave of her hand she left Roman all alone, sitting on his chair. With a shiver, Roman slowly stood up as Neo appeared beside him, looking at him curiously.
Roman looked at Neo with a frown.
"I think it's time for another heist Neo."
"I… never want to do that again." Jaune moaned, spread out onto the kitchen floor. Blake laid beside him, just as exhausted.
"Tell me… about it." Blake panted out.
As another week passed by, every detention that Blake and Jaune served was another way for Professor Goodwitch to find more and more inhuman and cruel punishments for the two of them to serve.
The first day itself was hard enough, making them trim all the hedges and trees around Beacon… which could have occupied the space of a city itself. The gardens were large enough that it took Jaune and Blake several hours just to finish, and by then, they were so tuckered out. It only got worse and worse as the days went by.
By the end of the week, Goodwitch had them cleaning the kitchens after a particularly messy food fight that had happened earlier in the day.
When Professor Goodwitch had stepped into the lunchroom to break up the food fight, she had looked absolutely livid… until she turned and spotted Jaune and Blake. At that moment, her smile turned several degrees sharper, and the two of them knew they were in for a long night.
After finally finishing all of that work though, and restocking on all their food (why does a cafeteria need watermelons? Or a turkey?), the both of them had it up to here with their punishments.
They just wanted a nice long rest on the floor of the newly polished lunch room.
That wasn't going to happen though, as the pair heard the slow clacking of heels on the floor, signaling Professor Goodwitch's approach. In a hurry they stood up, their bodies aching in pain as they tried not to look as if they were slacking.
Professor Goodwitch looked around at the cafeteria, inspecting it inch by inch before finally nodding.
"Good job you too. I'm impressed at how clean the place is." The blonde woman said. Blake and Jaune smiled at each other, glad that they were finally getting on the good side of the scary witch.
"I'm so impressed that I think I'll have to send you two up to Professor Port's office to help him out with his next lecture." Goodwitch said.
The two would have groaned if the professor wasn't standing right there. Instead they gave mumbled affirmatives and trudged past the stern blonde to finish up what they hoped was their last piece of work.
"I can't believe we have to do all of this." Jaune complained to Blake. "If this is what we get when we decide to be good, upstanding hunters, then screw this. Next time I'm seeing that flamboyant thief, I'm going to help him take all of that Dust." Blake smiled wanly at Jaune and his poor attempt at humor. Jaune sighed again and kept silent for the rest of the hike towards Professor Port's class.
Helping out Professor Port with his class wasn't anything complicated…. It was just incredibly hard. Without the thirty other people in the classroom, it would be pretty obvious to the loud professor if either of the two of them were losing focus on his lecture. They had to be awake, vigilant, and participate actively with the lecture, which was a hard thing to do when the professor had the voice that could put a caffeine ingested Nora to sleep within seconds. It didn't help that Professor Port's "outlines" for his lectures were almost twice as long as his lectures are, and it was the two unfortunate souls' responsibilities to find a way to pare down the stories that Professor Port told just so that they could fit into his next class.
After what felt like a lifetime, but was only about three hours, Blake and Jaune were released from the torture, and sent out to find some relief from the monotonous droning.
Too tired for any type of conversation, the two students crawled back to their dorms, only pausing for long enough to say good night to one another.
Jaune couldn't believe that they had to do this for another week.
"You know, you shouldn't be so hard with the two of them." The headmaster said with a hint of humor in his voice. Professor Goodwitch crossed her arms.
"If you didn't want me to be so hard on them, maybe you should have let another teacher be in-charge with their detentions."
Professor Ozpin chuckled a little. "I get this feeling that you aren't so fond of Mr. Arc, Glynda."
Professor Goodwitch kept her frown, not needing to agree with that sentence.
"Ozpin. You know I never agreed with this… bringing in a civilian into this school." Goodwitch said. Professor Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Civilian?" She nodded at the question.
"Yes. Jaune may be accomplished at fighting, and he may have his Aura unlocked, he is an unwilling participant in this school system, reluctant to fight at all, let alone in a silent war against Grimm." Goodwitch adopted a quieter tone. "Reluctant will only get you killed out here." She finished.
Professor Ozpin nodded his head, knowing that after so many years of teaching and leading on the largest Hunter schools on Remnant that the stern blonde in front of him was right.
Reluctance was a poison that infected any new student. Someone who doesn't want to fight won't have the drive to learn, and without that drive, there will be no improvement. To get into Beacon, there is a rigorous entrance exam that weeds out the less talented, but even at that level, not one of those students could come close to a fully trained Hunter without rigorous training.
Even at Jaune's level, where he had his hidden art up his sleeve would only be a slight annoyance to any Hunter that graduated from a legitimate Hunter school.
If Jaune didn't ever improve, if Jaune was too arrogant and reliant in his alchemy, anyone who discovered his secret could unleash hell onto Jaune. But even so…
Ozpin leaned back into his chair, taking a thoughtful sip out of his mug.
"That may be true Glynda." Ozpin agreed, "But look at Jaune for a little while longer won't you? I have a good feeling that he'll turn around real soon." Ozpin wasn't called the Chessmaster for no reason after all.
From the moment Ozpin had found out about the boy who knew about the lost art of Alchemy, his mind had been churning out a direction for the boy. Ozpin was ready to guide the boy into greatness, and while he was at it, find another way to fight back the dark forces that have recently been encroaching into the light.
As more and more reports of unexplained 'semblance' work started to appear, Ozpin had his worries about a new player, ready to throw chaos into what was already a chaotic playing board.
Ozpin hoped that the addition of another piece would be sufficient enough to turn the tables to his favor.
Professor Goodwitch had many strong opinions, several of them about the untested boy. But she hadn't stood by Ozpin for decades now out of blind faith. She knew that he had something planned, and the only thing she could do now was wait and hope that whatever Ozpin has up his sleeve will come to fruition.
Satisfied with Ozpin's unspoken promise of something more, Professor Goodwitch moved onto other matters.
"Now Ozpin, concerning the upcoming Vytal Tournament…" Goodwitch started off with. Ozpin nodded, signaling her to continue. Goodwitch flicked her riding crop, conjuring up a pen and some paper, the pen starting to write down many numbers.
"Because of the… raids that have been happening recently, its being shown that we are… lacking in terms of Dust. We're either going to need to find a way to procure more Dust, or we're going to have to shut down this year's Vytal Festival." The numbers that were shown to Ozpin were dismal, barely covering a fourth of the Dust that was needed to ensure a smooth festival.
"You wouldn't happen to have any more Dust hidden somewhere, now would you?" Professor Goodwitch asked drily. Ozpin looked at Goodwitch with a small grin.
"Me? No, I'm afraid my Dust detector hasn't found any more hidden caches under our school. But, on the other hand, I have found another company that is willing to work with us to cover the rest of the needed Dust supplies, and is willing to deliver it to us for a reduced fee as well." Ozpin said contentedly, happy that things seemed to be going their way at last.
Glynda was certainly surprised by this, as before tonight, they were having trouble finding any suppliers that were willing to fork over even a fraction of the Dust that was needed by Beacon. And that was full price.
"What company was this?" Professor Goodwitch asked.
"Quite a growing company it is. In fact, the CEO of the company is actually supposed to arrive shortly and talk to me about the small details of the contract. I was hoping that you could stay as well?" Ozpin asked. Glynda nodded. "Of course." She answered back.
"Wonderful." Ozpin said, smiling at her.
As if on cue, the elevator facing Ozpin ding'ed and the doors opened up.
"Ah, there's the woman of the hour. We were just speaking about you, actually." Ozpin said in a friendly tone.
The heels that the woman clacked against the floor as she swayed towards Ozpin and Glynda. The red dress she wore flowed around the hips as she walked forwards, her smile polite.
But no matter how polite the smile was, Cinder Fall was never able to hide how predatory the smile turned out to be.
"All good things, I hope?" Cinder asked.