Cheery, artificial laughter punctuated the soaring ceiling of Beacon's foremost auditorium, now –briefly– turned into a dance hall for the night. Garlands and streamers stretched across the drab grey walls, and students of all ages drifted across the floor, gathered in knots around the punch bowl and food tables, or spun with varying degrees of confidence across the dance floor.
Ruby's grip was white-knuckled on her ubiquitous plastic red cup of punch.
"So…" Neptune said, standing awkward and stiff beside her in his suit and little bowtie. "This is. Uh. Nice?"
"Nice is not particularly what we were aiming for." Weiss said from his other side, looking very elegant and not at all prepared to shank someone in her glamorous white dress.
Stupid Dust-user. Why couldn't Ruby sew a dozen tiny knives into her poofy red dress and be as well-armed as Weiss, whose underskirts were subtly weighted with a small fortune in Ice and other elements? Yang wouldn't even let her strap a dagger to her thigh. What was the world coming to?!
Of course, Ruby knew very well, academically, that she was in her squishy-faced fifteen-year-old body and wearing a combat knife on her thigh would be super telling to any criminal with a functioning brain, but she hated not having a weapon. At least she wasn't on those teeter-tottering heels again this time around…
Reminded of the seriousness of the task at hand, Ruby glanced over towards Penny, who was subtly bouncing in place as she enjoyed the dance music. Intercepting her glance, Penny gave a huge grin and a thumbs-up.
Okay, so according to their prepared roster of signals… that meant that nobody had slipped away yet. Ironwood and Ozpin and the others had agreed that Penny, with her extensive array of surveillance systems that were all the equal to or better than human senses, should be the one to establish and hold a perimeter around the dance. Nobody would slip in or out with Penny noticing –or at least, that was the theory.
Ruby glanced back to her friends and forced a smile.
"Penny seems to be having fun." she said, which was the pass-along code for everything's fine. Saying anything about Penny looking nervous, on the other hand, was the signal that one or more of Cinder's team had slipped away from the dance.
"That's nice." Weiss said, a genuine smile briefly curving her lips before it slipped away again. She looked towards Neptune. "See any of Team CEMM?"
"Well, Harlequin Mint is 'out sick,' so she's obviously not here." he said, bending his fingers in air quotes for a brief moment. His eyes swept the floor as he folded his arms back across his chest. "Doesn't look like they're on the dance floor or by the tables, though."
Ruby glanced around to find Sage and Scarlet, who had been placed in the dance hall with them. Sage was by the food tables, but Scarlet was standing in a rather flirtatious pose on the staircase with a guy from Shade, one foot hiked up on a higher step as he grinned down at his conversational partner. Uh, that guy was from Team BRNZ, right? Nolan something or another…
She raised her eyebrows at Sage when he finally caught her gaze across the room.
Find any partners yet? Ruby mouthed across to him, not bothering to hide her exaggerated lip movements. They were speaking in code, after all, and that was a perfectly normal thing to ask a friend during a dance.
His gaze flicked up.
Upstairs. He mouthed back, and then turned and resolutely chomped on a frothy canape thing.
Right. Okay. Cinder and/or her minions were on the balcony level ringing the room above. That was a pretty smart move, actually –it was too close to the dance itself for anyone to want to sneak up there for some kisses and cuddling, but as the dance ramped up, everybody would gravitate to the dance floor below, or drift off for some kisses and cuddling in more discreet corners of the school. The upper level was the best place to slip away for a little bit –as long as you avoided all the sighing victims of breakups on the outer balconies, you'd basically be the only people up there.
Ruby swallowed, and took a fortifying gulp of her punch.
Weiss raised her eyebrows across the dance floor in a silent query of how many, and Sage scratched his nose. All three, then. Oof, no pressure.
"Gods, I hope they actually do try and do something." Neptune said, tugging on the collar of his starched shirt as though to give himself air. "Gonna be really embarrassing if we prep this hard and they do a no-show."
A foot from either side slammed down on both of his insteps, Weiss's wedges combined with Ruby's far more sensible piano shoe flats. Not having his Aura up, Neptune bent almost double with a pained whimper.
"Do not jinx us." Weiss hissed, gripping his elbow and reeling him upright again by force.
Ruby, feeling somewhat guilty for the accidental double-whammy, winced and patted his shoulder.
"Sorry…"
"S'alright." Neptune wheezed, crossing his left leg over his knee and rubbing his scuffed shoe. "Not like I haven't stuck my foot in my mouth with girls before…"
"Ruby, I'm suddenly overcome with concern for my poor, much-abused date." Weiss said in an off-puttingly bright tone, snaking one arm up and over Neptune's shoulders as she beamed at Ruby. It was a deeply unsettling look on her face, particularly when paired with that cloyingly insistent concern. "Why don't you wander off somewhere and give the two of us some space to flirt, or whatever?"
"You had me convinced until the 'whatever'." Ruby told her, rolling her eyes, and handed off her punch before moseying away, doing her best to look like she was escaping an awkward social interaction. When she glanced back over her shoulder, she saw Weiss had "helped" Neptune to a nearby chair and was doing her best to look like a concerned date as she fussed over him. Neptune, all too pleased to be the center of a pretty girl's attention, was doing his best to feed that impulse back into his own "natural" act.
Satisfied that that part of their plan was going off without a hitch, Ruby drifted with the crowd over to Penny and her two guards.
"Doing okay?" she asked, and Penny grinned, bouncing on her heels.
"This dance is simply sen-sational!" she chirped, before lunging in and wrapping Ruby in a fierce hug. Perhaps because of her "social lessons" with Ilia, it was not as lung-crushing as Ruby had always remembered. It also, coincidentally, brought Penny's mouth close enough to her ear to whisper without anyone seeing "No changes reported from the CCT as yet."
"That sounds great, Penny." Ruby replied as they both leaned back, trying to control the nervous tension swirling in her stomach. What if Neptune was right, and Cinder called the whole thing off because she got suspicious or something? That was… that would be bad.
Ruby and the others were all trying not to get married to the advantage that their foreknowledge gave them, but it had to be said, the thought of that support being yanked out from underneath them was terrifying. And not just because Ozpin and his fellow guardians had taken the approach of trust, but verify and having this, the biggest current piece of evidence, being disproven would mean that everything Ruby and the others said would be taken with a pinch of skepticism from here on out…
They couldn't afford that kind of risk. Not when they knew what was bearing down on them.
Doing her best to hide her nerves, Ruby meandered back across the dance floor, heading for Sage. They nodded to one another as they passed, and Ruby snagged a bite-sized cupcake from the snack table and gulped it down, frosted sprinkles and all. Hoo, boy, this was stressful.
She was halfway across the floor on her way to Scarlet when her instincts prickled. Something was –wrong.
Immediately, Ruby turned her head and glanced towards her partner. Weiss was standing behind Neptune's chair with a soothing hand on her shoulder… but she was frowning off in another direction, and it was her sudden tension that Ruby had sensed. Before Ruby could follow her gaze, Weiss's eyes found hers, and she mouthed Penny looks nervous.
Ruby was caught between the two conflicting reactions of okay! and uh-oh, and she swallowed, but nodded back. Should we help? She mouthed, and Weiss glanced towards Penny again. Ruby couldn't see her friend through the crowd, and nudged her way over to the side, standing well back from the dance floor.
I think she can handle it. Weiss mouthed back, which was the code for Penny not knowing who had snuck away –only that someone had. Ruby nodded to her, and then turned with resolution towards the staircase Scarlet and his friend were flirting on. Still, Scarlet reacted immediately when Ruby approached them, glancing up and subtly narrowing his eyes as he tilted his head to the side.
"I'm, uh, I'm just going to get some air. Hehe." Ruby giggled, letting her nervousness rise to the forefront as she tapped her fingers together. Scarlet's jaw tightened as he read the silent signal of someone on Cinder's team has left the dance, but he nodded to her and leaned aside all the same.
"I'll tell the others in case you get lost." he drawled, and Ruby grinned sheepishly, doing her best to hide her stiffened muscles and ready Aura. She continued to climb the steps, and once she reached the balcony level –rather than immediately sweep the area with her eyes and make it obvious she was looking for someone– meandered over to lean against the railing and look down at the dance. She let her gaze drift, as though bored, and tapped her thumb nervously against the back of her clasped hands as her eyes roamed the shadowy upper balconies.
Nothing… normal students…
There.
Mercury and Emerald were leaning against the railing in a place kitty-corner to Ruby, chatting with apparent ease… but nonetheless blocking the exit to a nearby exterior balcony. Ooh, smart. This way they could say that their team leader was just outside, and rely on the fact that no one would care enough to check.
Ruby glanced down to the staircase and met Scarlet's gaze when he casually tilted his head back. She tapped her fingers twice against the railing and mouthed team leader business, wrinkling her nose as she tried to ape Weiss at her most haughtily stuffy. He rolled his eyes back at her, but when he glanced down, Ruby saw him glance at Sage and brush his hair over one ear, mouthing where is Sun?
Satisfied that her message would be passed along, Ruby began to look around as though searching for inspiration, and "spotted" Emerald and Mercury as she did her best to brighten. She ambled towards them, noticing that they both caught onto her approach as she turned the nearest corner, imperceptibly straightening up and plastering smiles on their faces.
Something inside Ruby's social spirit withered and died. She wasn't good at talking to people, particularly not two people at once, and trying to make small talk that overlaid subliminal messaging and-
She mentally slapped herself. She had done way scarier stuff than chat with two people at a dance. Probably. Technically.
"Hi, guys!" Ruby squeaked as she made her way over to them. "Enjoying the party?"
"Eh, not really what we're used to." Mercury said, half-sprawling where he leaned against the balcony rail. "Too much sound, too big a crowd… our glorious leader just stepped out for a breath of air and some space. Wish I could join her."
"That's nice." Ruby smiled brightly and did her best to seem ignorant. "What about you, Emerald?"
"Mm." Emerald shrugged, her red eyes skating away over the dance floor. "It's… something."
Oof. Tough crowd. Ruby tapped her fingers anxiously together –she knew that these two were trying to be standoffish on purpose, but she had a mission to complete, here, and she would not let her social nerves cripple her.
"Yeah, I guess that's true." she said after a moment. "Mistral's a lot bigger than Vale, so you've got a lot more things to deal with, right? Way more crime and stuff."
"And stuff." Mercury drawled, rolling his eyes towards Emerald. She snorted under her breath.
Deep breaths, Ruby. Don't let them scare you away.
"I think it's really cool of you guys to rise above that." Ruby said after a moment, trying to see what would get either of them to react. She knew Emerald a teeny little bit, but she knew even less about Mercury. She could admit now that trying to coax them away from Cinder would require a lot more effort than just casually chatting them up at a party… but she had to start somewhere. Getting a better read on their personalities would be a big help. "I mean, you guys have probably been through so much… the fact that you're here and you're going to the Vytal Festival is really impressive!"
"It is, isn't it?" Mercury said, smirking at her sidelong. Emerald elbowed him.
"It's… interesting, I guess." she said, glancing back to Ruby. "I never thought I'd be here."
"But you got here anyway." Ruby replied with an encouraging smile. "That's really cool, Emerald."
Mercury mumbled something high-pitched under his breath, with a cadence that sounded suspiciously like a mocking repetition of Ruby's words. Emerald elbowed him again, harder, without looking away from Ruby.
"I mean, we've all gone through struggles to get here. That's what it means to be Huntresses, right?" she asked, and Ruby couldn't help but notice how wide and innocent Emerald was forcing her eyes to be, how big her plastered-on smile.
"Eh, but there's differences in how much people suffer." Ruby said. Making an elective decision that hopefully wouldn't end in tears, she scooted closer, leaning over the rails with Emerald and Mercury as they both watched her with some surprise. "I mean, take a look at my team."
She pointed to Weiss with Neptune.
"Weiss is heiress of the SDC and stuff, so everybody thinks her life is absolutely perfectly perfect, but her dad's a jerk. Like a real, bonafide, absolute dickhead." Ruby said, feeling rather than seeing the other two as they followed her arm with their eyes. "He messed her whole family up, so now her mom's drunk and absent all the time, even when she's at home, and her and her siblings all act more like business rivals than, well, siblings. That's crazy, right?"
"This I've got to hear." Mercury drawled, leaning around Emerald's other side and grinning at Ruby. "Didn't know you were so eager to spill your teammate's secrets, Red."
"It's barely a secret." Ruby snorted. "Everybody knows Jacques Schnee is a jerk."
"Especially the White Fang." Emerald huffed.
"Yup. And it's not just her, either. Pretty much everybody that becomes a Hunter has a past they'd rather not talk about." Ruby said, being very careful not to look at the suddenly still pair on her right. "My friends, Ren and Nora, they lost their whole village when it was destroyed by a Grimm. Jaune's trying to live up to his family's legacy, and Pyrrha, well… everybody thinks she's the bees' knees, just the absolute coolest, but that means she can barely make any friends."
"Everybody suffers, so suck it up and deal." Mercury said, and glanced towards Ruby. "That what you're getting at?"
"No way!" Ruby squeaked, waving her hands in front of herself. "I just meant… you guys are obviously the only ones to have lived your lives, but you're not alone. That's what I was trying to say. Maybe you guys have your own unique pain, but you're not the only ones to have ever been in pain."
She sighed and shook her head, turning back to the dance floor.
"I'm kinda of crap at this." Ruby admitted. "I guess I was just trying to say that no matter what you've been through, as long as a Hunter, you're never alone."
"That's nice." Emerald said, and there was a ghost of something almost wistful in her eyes as she tapped her fingers against her folded arms. "I wish it were true."
"Of course it's true." Ruby said. "You guys have each other now, right?"
"Wh- ick, no." Emerald shuddered.
"Gaah, no way." Mercury groaned at the same time, sticking his tongue out.
"I'd rather off myself than rely on this guy."
"Wow, Emerald, thanks. I just love how appreciated you make me feel."
Ruby watched them both pantomime their horror at the very idea of being friends, tilting her head just a little. In Jinn's vision of them in Atlas, they had seemed closer than this… concerned for each other's safety, anyway, at the very least. Right now, Emerald and Mercury barely seemed to give a thought for each other beyond keep everything intact, Cinder needs/wants both of us.
"Um." Ruby said, trying to fish for more without looking like she actually wanted to hear about it all that much. She was channeling as much of her awkward social anxiety as possible for a reason. "Do you guys, uh, not have a good team, then?"
"Our team is fine." Emerald said immediately, all but rushing to secure their cover as she turned to fully look at Ruby. She hooked a thumb at Mercury behind her. "It's just that this guy is a total washout. He's absolutely useless, drags us all down. Waste of the space he occupies."
"Thanks, Emerald." Mercury said, patting a hand on her shoulder before squeezing hard enough that Ruby saw a glint of Aura. "Really great to know how you feel about me. It's just so nice that you tore your attention away from Cinder long enough to notice. What was it, a whole thirteen seconds you spent without looking to her for more instructions? C'mon, you can tell me. It'll be a secret between us pals."
"Uhhh…" Ruby said as Emerald's red eyes flashed. She had the sudden feeling that maybe she had started something that she shouldn't have… "A-are you guys okay?"
Immediately, Emerald and Mercury both straightened and regaled her with gleaming, carefree smiles.
"We're fine." Emerald said, looking cheerful and not at all like she had seemed seconds away from stabbing Mercury somewhere tender.
"Just a little team-building friction." Mercury agreed, giving Ruby a cocky smirk as he stuck his hands in his trouser pockets. "Like diamonds polishing diamonds."
Emerald snorted softly.
"You're more like quartz." she muttered, clearly unwilling to let him get the last word.
"Diamond, baby." Mercury said, grinning at her in a way that showed he clearly knew how close he was toeing the line. "24-carat, stone-cold badass."
"Have you guys fought real enemies, then?" Ruby asked, struggling to draw them back in the direction she wanted. She was learning a little about them and their personalities, even if it was slow going… in retrospect, it had been a little arrogant to think that she'd be able to find Emerald and magically think of the right words to say to get her to speedrun her epiphany into good-guy-ness. Ruby barely knew Emerald as a person, and for someone like these two, well, soft platitudes and meaningless sympathy would repel them more than coax them over to Ruby's side of things.
"Yeah." Mercury made a show of shrugging, like it was no big deal, as his eyes wandered off again. "I mean, we're at the Vytal Festival, aren't we? 'Course we've fought real enemies."
"No, I mean like, not in a spar." Ruby said, making his eyes snap back over to her again. "You guys ever fought for real?"
There was a subtle shift in the air around her, one that Ruby would not have picked up on had she actually been fifteen. Both Mercury and Emerald's eyes were on her now, and though they weren't regarding her with suspicion –thank the gods– there was an attentiveness there that neither of them had shown previously. It was a perfectly innocent question for one Hunter trainee to ask another, particularly when they came from different schools… but with her specific audience at the moment, Ruby knew that the question carried some unaccustomed weight.
What should they say? How much should they say? What were they allowed to tell her?
Ruby could see these questions run through Emerald and Mercury's matched gazes in that momentary flicker of wary hesitation. Mercury was better at hiding it than Emerald –there was only the teeniest, tiniest spark in them before his grey eyes immediately went as flat and unreadable as stones, telling nothing and giving away even less as he subtly waited for Ruby's next cue. Did she know, or was this just another innocent question…?
Ruby tilted her head a little and blinked, doing her best to seem wide-eyed and excited and nothing but eager to hear about the exploits of the two foreign students.
"I have." Emerald said after a moment, making Mercury's eyes flick towards her. He didn't move, otherwise.
"What about you, Red?" he asked then, giving a slow and lazy smile that didn't quite hide how hard his eyes had become as he glanced back towards her. "Seen any real action?"
Involuntarily, Ruby's eyes flicked towards the ground.
–screaming Grimm, gunfire, and the cries of the dying below that were all swallowed up in her sole piercing scream of grief as silver light swelled from her eyes and burst across the tower to hide the sight of Pyrrha's ashes drifting away on the wind–
–the Nuckelavee's furious screech raking across her ears like nails on a chalkboard as her skull rang and rang and rang, knees buckling towards the ground and Crescent Rose heavy in her hands as the sound of the terrifying beast that bulked before her and the rest of RNJR skewered her mind like a red-hot poker–
–twisting aside from Emerald's blow and pausing to see Jaune charging across the floor of Haven's atrium, Jaune rushing towards Cinder with Crocea Mors in its enhanced form raised high, he was going to die, he was going to die, he was going to die–
–Grimm soaring around her like flies, all the Manticores and Sphinxes made small by the distance between her and the other ships as she rode Weiss's Summon towards the towering Leviathan, her heart a small tight knot of fear clutched cold in her chest, she could do this, she had to do this, the whole entire city was counting on her and if she failed–
–her eyes widening and heart dropping like a stone as Ironwood's cold, careless words cut through her, this couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening, he couldn't possibly be thinking what she heard him saying, he wasn't like this, he was on their side, he was supposed to be on their side–
–Penny's freckles standing out harsh and pale against her skin as blood pooled beneath her like her former halo of swords, Jaune's hands clutched around hers, the despairing smile on Penny's face as the knowledge of the scale of her catastrophic failure to protect, to save, to help was driven deep into the fabric of Ruby's very being–
When her fists clenched into her skirt, crushing the tulle, Ruby came back to herself and shook her head a little, glancing up. Both Mercury and Emerald were regarding her with new interest, their brows subtly raised. She didn't blame them: Ruby as her fifteen-year-old self didn't exactly scream combat experience, even if she'd had plenty of live fights against the Grimm.
"A-a little…" Ruby said, smiling weakly. "Probably nothing as interesting as you guys."
"Well, only one way to find out." Mercury said, reclaiming his cocky grin. He slid his hands out of his pockets, rubbing them with what was probably mostly-performative excitement. "Spill, Red. This sounds interesting."
Ruby took a deep breath and visibly perked up, her smile brightening. This was good. She was making progress in unveiling their thoughts and personalities, which would help them pull hopefully Emerald and maybe even Mercury over onto their side. This was totally good and fine and all according to plan. Hehe.
"Well, um, while my team and Team JNPR were camping over this semester break, we ran into this really big Grimm…"
"Boooooring." Mercury cut her off immediately with a sharp gesture, rolling his eyes. "We're talking real combat here, Red. Everybody's fought Grimm. You looked like you tangled with people for a second, there. Don't tell me you were leading us on…"
"I, um, well." Ruby shuffled in place and looked to Emerald. She seemed interested, regarding Ruby like an animal that had just displayed something unexpected. Not entirely inaccurate… "Have you guys?"
Mercury and Emerald exchanged a glance.
"Tell you what." Mercury said after a moment, looking back at Ruby and giving an easygoing, ingratiating smile that instantly set her on edge. He sauntered forward, slinging an arm over her shoulders and drawing her between the two of them before she could decide how to react. "You tell us all about yours, and we'll tell you about ours. Sound fair, Red?"
"Don't be such a creep." Emerald scoffed, grabbing his wrist and prying him off Ruby –but also standing between Ruby and an escape route, keeping her between the railing, the wall, and the doors out to the balcony. Emerald glanced down at her and tried on a reassuring smile. "This does sound interesting, though. You have a tougher fight with that Torchwick guy than got reported?"
Sandwiched between two future international criminals, Ruby gulped. This suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea… but they were bonding. Kinda. She'd gotten their attention, so now all she had to do was capitalize on it and make a nice impression without ever telling them anything that they shouldn't actually hear. As long as Ruby didn't seem patronizing, she should be able to talk with them on somewhat friendly terms.
She just had to keep in mind that Emerald and Mercury hadn't lived the life she lived, so their interests and behaviors might be a little… misaligned.
"Communique from P3N-3." Winter's crisp voice echoed in Yang's ears. "Primary location is still secure, over."
"Copy that, Königin." she sighed, tapping her own earpiece. "This is Dragon and Shadow, nothing to report around the secondary location."
"Knight and Champion, nothing to report around the secondary location, seconded, over."
"Flower and Hammer, nothing to report around the tertiary location, and I'm so boooooooored. Over."
"White Prism… uh, nothing to report on the airwaves, over."
"Washboard here, nothing to report on bodyguard duty, over."
"This is Königin, confirmed from all locations. Continue with your assigned tasks, over."
There was a moment of silence after the line disconnected, and finally Yang cocked her head towards her partner. The two of them were crouched in one of the large platform gardens scattered decoratively around the CCT courtyard, hidden behind a screen of helpfully thick bushes and cloaked in the shadows of the tree spreading above them. Cinder would need Faunus eyes and an active suspicion of their location to even have a hope of spotting them.
"Think Cinder and co. really will give it a miss?" she whispered.
"I doubt it." Blake replied in a similar low murmur. "Most of the security is focused inward on the dance, and it'd be easy to spin this attack as a student or as an outsider. She won't get a better time for an alibi until the festival is actually on, and even then…"
"Security'll probably be beefed up around the CCT just to make sure the signal doesn't get all wonky during primetime airing." Yang finished, and then sighed. "Damn. Wish she'd just hurry up already, it's starting to get cold."
"Be patient." Blake said, and Yang could sense the curve of her characteristic faint smile even in the darkness beneath the decorative tree they were lurking under.
"I don't do patient."
"Well, pretend."
"Ugh. You're impossible."
There was another, somewhat longer moment of silence as Yang tried to take Blake's advice. She could do a stakeout if she had to… she just really didn't like it. Talking would distract them both and might let Cinder –or someone else, if she had them sneak in for her– slip right past them and into the CCT without them being able to warn the people inside, so it wasn't like she could actually keep pestering Blake.
Thus, Yang had to shift her position to ease out any potential cramps and simply wait, staring at the huge empty space of the courtyard, planters, and pavement that made up the area around the CCT tower.
She hated it.
She tried to distract herself with thoughts of which side of Cinder's face she'd punch first, if she wanted to aim for the eyes or the jaw –which was a cheering thought, if ultimately, probably, (unfortunately) going to remain a fantasy. Ideally, Winter and her fellow soldiers would have Cinder whipped and on the ground before Yang and Blake could even burst into the CCT.
Ideally.
The whole problem with this approach was that only Ruby had seen Cinder infiltrate, and after so many years, Ruby had forgotten most if not all of the details. They knew –or they hoped– that Cinder would show up and start cracking skulls, but when that would happen, or how sneaky she'd try to be with it… well, they didn't know that at all.
Yang rubbed her hands together, trying to coax some warmth into her fingers. She was jittery. This was it –this was the real moment where they put all their foreknowledge and all their influence to the test and tried to change some of Salem's plans for the first time. This was the moment where they rolled the dice and hoped for the best, holding themselves ready to see which way everything would fall.
"Hey." Blake's voice was soft as well as professionally quiet, this time, and there was a warm touch as her hand covered Yang's. "It's going to be okay."
When Yang glanced to the side, Blake's smile was warm, making her amber eyes almost glow in the darkness.
"We've got this." she said, and there was something almost impishly Yang in the way that she said it. Yang scoffed and looked away, but she was smiling too. A feeling like a dozen fluttering wingtips brushed against her heart, a giddy bump up into her throat that had absolutely no business being there during a serious mission.
"Let's just hope Cinder shows up in dance heels and Winter can clothesline her with one hit." she whispered back, making Blake chuckle.
There was a soft crackle in her ear, and Jaune's voice suddenly came again, low and urgent, as Blake pulled her hand away.
"This is Knight, I've got movement outside the dance. Königin, do you copy?"
"I do. P3N-3, requesting sweep, over."
There was a beat as both Yang and Blake readied their weapons with a series of subtle clicks, subtly rolling shoulders and knees to check that their mobility had not suffered during their long stillness.
"Confirmed, at least one target has broken away from the primary location. Secondary units, report."
"Knight and Champion, movement on the rooftop area of the school, heading for secondary location. We're taking observational positions only, over."
"Shadow here." Blake murmured, tapping her earpiece and staring into the light-streaked darkness of Beacon as both she and Yang pressed close beneath the shadows of the tree. "No visual yet, over…"
"Flower and Hammer, no movement, over." Ren said.
"White Prism, no movement, over."
"Washboard, no movement, over."
"This is Königin to all units. Do not engage. Shadow and Dragon, report to me when target has entered your sphere: once they have entered the secondary location, you may pursue with caution. The rest of you, remain where you are and keep to your assigned tasks in case of enemy backup, over."
As the others replied quickly, Yang did her best to still her breath, holding herself wound tight for the final spring. If Cinder spotted them and decided to try and take them out before infiltrating the CCT… she would be ready. Oh, this time, she would be ready.
Both Yang and Blake went stock-still as they saw a shadowy figure drop down into the darkness beyond the lamps.
"Target spotted on outer rim of courtyard." Blake's voice was nearly as soft as the brush of falling leaves as she drew deeper still into the shadows. She and Yang watched as Cinder –they both recognized the height and the curl of that dark glossy hair– made her way swift and silent across the empty space, footsteps tapping almost silently against the cold ground, using every bit of cover as she ducked behind planters and the raised gardens. Yang's hands clenched.
Bitch.
Their position in one of the gardens further out meant that they could see as Cinder reached the nearer edge of the courtyard and paused, one black-gloved hand on the edge of the thick ledge of the garden platform she was hiding behind. She was wearing a dark catsuit and a black domino mask, but Yang and Blake had been out here for over an hour already, and even Yang could see well enough to notice the slight, suspicious tilt to Cinder's head as she peered at the unguarded entrance to the CCT.
The Cross-Continental Tower was important. It should have at least some guards, even if it was housed at Beacon, which was an airship's flight away from the city and surrounded by cliffs and a forest full of ravenous Grimm.
The lack of people out front had been a point of discussion during their planning session. Yang and her teammates knew how dangerous Cinder could be, and even if they didn't have the familiarity of long years of loathing, Ozpin and Ironwood and the others knew her as someone powerful enough to attack –and defeat– a Maiden. Cinder might be wary and suspicious enough to scuttle the whole mission if something seemed off about the CCT, but no one wanted to be the person to suggest putting guards out front anyways.
Not even Ironwood.
Yang could admit, reluctantly, that maybe Ironwood wasn't as bad as she remembered. Of course, she also had to admit that she'd been remembering the old Ironwood, the bearded one whose paranoia and bad leadership had sent Atlas crashing into the tundra, and not the older one, who showed up clean-shaven to the Vytal Festival and wanted to help. This was the reasonable, if heavy-handed, Ironwood that had made the betrayal in Atlas hurt all the more.
Everyone who had seen Jinn's vision was still more than a bit leery of the man, though, with both RWBY and JNPR having to devote considerable effort into preventing Nora from getting within a hundred yards of him so she wouldn't break his legs "just as a precaution." Yang understood the feeling, truly she did, but this Ironwood had at least had the balls to look at the notes Ozpin had made after hearing their story and feel shame for what he had (would have?) done.
If he hadn't made a point of apologizing with profuse (apparent) sincerity the moment he had met with them, not only would have Yang accidentally-on-purpose let Nora slip free sometime before now, she'd march over to Ironwood after Nora broke his legs and fucking geld the bastard with a stomp of her foot. While it was debatable just how much accountability he had for those future actions right now in the past, he definitely had some and therefore had a duty to apologize at the very least.
The CCT courtyard was still only for a few moments before a pair of soldiers sauntered around the edge of the tower, chattering amicably. They wore the Atlesian helmets and rifle-straps of the tower's security guards, black uniforms, and grey armor on the upper halves of their bodies. There were a few yellow-green streaks on the armor, but Yang neither knew nor cared enough about military uniforms to understand them.
"Hey man, do you know the wifi password?"
"It's Beacon, but replace the E with a 3, and add a pound symbol to the end."
"Really? That seems a bit…"
This stunning display of professional incompetence continued as the duo strolled around the opposite corner, continuing to round the tower, and Yang grinned as she saw Cinder's tense posture relax a little. The lack of guards wasn't bait for a trap meant to lure her deeper into the oh-so-unguarded tower –it was just a pair of absolute idiots put on duty today.
Cinder waited for several moments to let them get out of hearing range, and then stood in a single graceful movement. Her glass heels clinked quietly on the stone pavement as she began to approach the wide doors into the CCT tower itself, and Yang and Blake both unconsciously shifted their stances to brace for an impact.
Cinder had to crouch for a moment and pick the lock –they weren't stupid, and if Cinder found her way into the CCT completely unopposed, she'd know something was up– but it was still only a minute or two between watching the soldiers round the corner and her slipping inside the tower itself, leaving the doors almost shut, but not closing them behind her. That was the thing about some locks, according to Blake, especially those for public places –they only locked on one side, or the lock only engaged when the door was actually shut. Cinder needed to leave herself a quick escape route.
Once she had slipped through the doors, Blake touched a finger to her comms.
"Shadow and Dragon, the target has entered the secondary location. No visible weapon: cartridges on belt indicate presence of Dust. Beginning pursuit, over."
"Pursue cautiously, Shadow and Dragon." Winter replied. "Do not startle the target and turn takedowns into a hostage situation, over."
"Of course." Blake replied. "Over."
"Who does she think we are?" Yang muttered indignantly as they both stood up, beginning to make their way out of the bushes. "What, did she expect us to just bust in there and tell Cinder to stand down?"
"She was told we're talented students that Ozpin has a personal eye on." Blake replied in an undertone as they both made their swift way over to the tower, trying to stay out of line of sight of the many windows. "Which isn't even a lie, really."
"Mmm." Yang grumbled, and then sighed, cocking her fists back. "Alright, let's get ready to rumble."
Winter disconnected from her outside auxiliaries with a press of her finger against her comms and straightened her back. According to General Ironwood, a plot had been uncovered to plant a virus in the CCT –it was the job of her and her unit to catch the perpetrator red-handed. Since it was suspected to be a foreign student here for the Vytal Festival, they were unwilling to effect even an arrest until they had proof positive of the criminal's intent.
To that end, Winter had been given command over several promising students –including Weiss's team– that both the General and Professor Ozpin had vetted, with orders to use them as scouts and reinforcements. They were sworn to secrecy, and it would seem far less suspicious for fellow students to be lingering about the CCT and airship docks than Atlas military officers.
But this criminal was allegedly quite dangerous, and it was Winter herself who had been given the task of taking her down should she resist –which General Ironwood had warned her was quite likely. In fact, he had told her it was almost a certainty, which explained both the secrecy of this mission and the placing of her and several of her fellow Specialists in the CCT to prevent even the chance of sabotage. A student placing a joke virus or something to give them an edge in the automated matches of the Vytal Festival was one thing: a terrorist was quite another.
She loosened her saber at her side and waited for the reports to come in. The perpetrator had entered the building, which only meant that it was a matter of waiting for where and when…
"Specialist Alpha here. CCT guards on first floor have been nonfatally dispatched. Target has bypassed technical room, over."
So, not an attack on the CCT's functionality itself…
"Specialist Gamma. Target has bypassed first floor and entered the elevator. Destination floor unknown, over."
In that case, there was very little guessing as to what the target wanted and where they intended to go. Between the top floor of the tower and the entrance, there were only offices and server rooms. Here, however, where Winter stood, was the main relay station and server room of the Vale transmission system itself. Nonetheless, Winter waited, because overconfidence was one's undoing on a mission of this nature. They didn't know what the target was after, not truly.
"Specialist Beta. Target has bypassed second floor, over."
"Specialist Delta. Target has bypassed third and fourth floors, over."
"This is Shadow and Dragon." one of the student's voices suddenly crackled over her comms. "We're taking the service elevator up after her, over."
"Negative, target's destination not confirmed." Alpha hissed down the line at them as Winter gritted her teeth. This was why she despised working with students, however gifted. "Remain on first floor until location is confirmed, over!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's fine." the second girl drawled. "We'll be good."
Winter's brow furrowed at the ambiguous statement, before her spine stiffened at the sound of thrumming electronics slowing to a halt nearby, the sound rising up beneath her feet.
"Königin. I have movement." she murmured, unsheathing her weapon. "Secondary location, converge."
There was no verbal acknowledgement –as well there shouldn't be, since there was an incongruously cheerful bing! and the elevator doors slid open behind her a moment later. Winter did not move, waiting where she was as she stood against the wall a few meters to the left with her saber drawn.
After a measuring moment of silence, she heard delicate clinks sounding against the floor. They sounded like footsteps…
Footsteps that were sheathed in glass.
Clink, clink, clink went the woman as she walked past Winter towards the terminals. She was dressed all in black, from her obsidian heels to her formfitting catsuit, and a curl of ashen-black hair lay over one shoulder. A belt with several canisters of Dust was wrapped around her swaying hips, but as had been reported, she carried no weapon.
Winter waited until the intruder had paused before the first bank of terminals, considering, before she took a step forward with her saber at the ready.
"Hands in the air, no sudden movements." she announced sharply, watching the other woman's head snap around to look at her, revealing a face hidden by a butterfly-like black domino mask. The intruder's eyes were gold, and blazed with a conflagration of emotions at her sudden reveal. "You are under arrest for invasion of private property and attempted terrorism."
The shock, anger, and furious annoyance in the other woman's face were tamped down with admirable ease, and she turned around slowly.
She did not, however, come quietly.
With admittedly impressive speed, one black-gloved hand flashed to her waist and popped open the seal on a Dust container, and just as quickly, the intruder flung it in an arc towards Winter. The Earth Dust crystalized into glass shards in a flare of heat midway, and a snap of the intruder's fingers had them flying towards her with a speed equal or better to that of bullets.
Winter swept the glass aside with a sparkling crash, and tsked as she saw the seams of black Earth Dust woven into the woman's legs and underarms burn in a sullen glow, highlighting her limbs like a statue made of molten rock as the intruder spun, two black glass swords melding together out of Dust and Aura as they formed in her hands. Winter noted their shape –long, slender scimitars meant for cutting and slashing, with irregularly-shaped blades and handles that hinted at possible combination capabilities.
"It would be in your best interests to come quietly." Winter warned, lifting her sword, and the intruder's eyes flashed. She still did not speak, however, which lent credence to the idea that she was a student trying to protect her identity.
As the eldest daughter of the Schnee line, Winter had trained long and hard to become the finest warrior she could be. Even in those early days when her father had still supported her, even when it had been viewed as an idle pastime, he would accept nothing less than the best teachers, the best results. Every slash must be textbook-perfect, every spar must end in her victory. Even after her arduous Huntress training, Winter had spent years as a Specialist in the military, fighting a vast swath of opponents both in the ring and out on the tundra.
And yet despite all that, she still only barely caught the telltale tensing of muscles in the other woman's core and legs before the intruder was suddenly upon her, one sword hissing in a perfect arc for her throat, the other for her thigh. Winter twisted sinuously out of the way of the first and slapped her saber down against the second, knocking it aside. Her returning cut across the woman's eyes, intended to break her mask, was interrupted as the intruder brutally slammed the pommel of her sword against Winter's wrist, almost jarring her hold loose on her saber.
Winter leapt backwards, launching herself out of the other woman's immediate range. The intruder was quick, not giving Winter time to make space between them as she dashed to meet her where she landed. Her swords slashed out, and for a moment it was a breathless melee between them, Winter's one sword working frantically to stymie the razor-edged obsidian that sought her flesh.
Her form was perfect, her ripostes flawless, and yet even despite all her skill, all her talent, all her experience, Winter had to admit that this woman was her equal. She fought with a punishing, hungry fury, each slash transitioning seamlessly into another as her blows hammered on Winter's defense; hard, fast, and powerful. She gave Winter no pause, no breath, no time to muster up a counterstrategy. Each attack flowed into the next, and those golden eyes blazed behind the intruder's mask with a spiteful concentration.
She would have Winter's head for this, and nothing else would suit.
Baring her teeth in a snarl despite her best efforts to retain her calm expression, Winter began to assert herself. Between one block and another, her dagger popped free, and she used it to slow her backwards retreat, meeting the intruder now rather than backing up for space. Their strikes fell back and forth, gouging the floors and desks of the terminal room as they both stuttered forward a few steps, swept back another, neither truly gaining ground as they took opportunities where they could find them and danced back from retaliation.
The first indication Winter had of reinforcements was a truly bestial yell behind her, making Winter automatically sweep aside and back on instinct, turning to face the new foe. She was safe, however, since this yell was followed by a wild head of blonde hair launching itself past her as one of the requisitioned students somersaulted through the air where Winter's head had been. She had barely landed between Winter and the intruder before the trainee gave another ferocious cry and her gauntleted fists flew in a flurry of blows, striking those blades and occasionally the intruder's arms as they whirled in a complex dance to deflect and bleed off the force of her blows.
Gunfire blazed through the room, and the intruder was forced into a further retreat, flipping backwards through the aisle of the terminals as a dark-haired Faunus caught her in a sidelong barrage, approaching at an angle from the service hallway she and her partner must have arrived from. Winter revised her opinion of the two students upwards: a pincher attack executed with flawless harmony was impressive enough, but being able to seamlessly account for an unknown ally like Winter was postgraduate levels of skill.
When the intruder landed again, she twirled her swords and slammed their hilts together, pulling back on a string of raw Dust as it formed and the two swords arched into a bow, several glass arrows kindling on the string as the intruder's costume glowed once more. There were three of them, one for each of Winter and her allies as the woman angled her bow flat with a twist of her wrist.
"I think the fuck not." the first student said, snapping her elbows back, arms in against her sides, in a very deliberate motion. A rapid beeping filled the air, and Winter's eyes darted down with the intruder's as the tiny red capsules stuck all over her swords and forearms began to flash in time with the increasingly-fast beeps.
Aside from stymieing any efforts to fire her bow, the resulting explosion was mildly impressive, and must have cut through a significant chunk of the intruder's Aura as Winter both saw and heard the woman's body slam against the far window. Neither student relaxed, though, and the brawler punched the air in a specific way again as some of the plating on her gauntlets flickered, presumably switching to a different mode of attack. Both she and her partner held all their attention on the clearing smoke at the far end of the room, and the Faunus had her mechashifted pistol aimed squarely at the place where the intruder had landed.
"As I stated earlier…" Winter panted, slashing her sword and clearing the smoke with a shimmer of Wind Dust along the blade. The intruder was slowly getting to her feet, those golden eyes glaring balefully at them from beneath her mask. "You are under arrest."
There was a moment of consideration between all four of them. The two students must have ignored orders to wait –which was a lucky occurrence this time, since they had guessed the intruder's destination correctly– but Winter's team couldn't be too far behind, particularly when they could make use of both elevators.
"Reinforcements are on their way." Winter told the intruder as her golden eyes flicked between the three of them. "You can come injured or you can come quietly, but you will come with us, and explain your actions here tonight."
For a moment, something almost like unease or fear sparked in the woman's eyes. Her tongue swept over her lips at the same moment, an unconscious nervous reflex.
Then she was all icy, quiet calm again, and those eyes narrowed spitefully. With a dismissive flick of her hand, a wave of fire rushed towards them, and Winter gave a cry of shock, quickly stepping forward to protect the two students with her Semblance.
When the fire cleared a moment later, she let the glyph hovering before them all dissipate. There was no point in further wariness: the glass windows spanning the back wall of the room had been smashed out, and even as she stepped over to the edge, a streak of molten fire swooped to a stop above the ground, and the woman's shadowy figure was lost to the darkness of the courtyard as she slipped away towards the school.
Winter gritted her teeth and tapped her comms.
"Target has fled secondary location, and appears to be fleeing towards the dance." she ground out.
Mercury might have literally been the most insufferable person to walk the face of Remnant, but he did, on occasion, come up with good ideas.
Or take advantage of good opportunities, at least.
Emerald nodded and hummed encouragingly in all the right places as that Ruby girl stammered her way through some of the tougher, scarier practice missions her "Uncle Qrow" had taken her on.
They knew, of course, that Qrow Branwen was related to this girl and her chatty bimbo of a sister. Salem's people had gathered a lot of information about one of Remnant's most famous Huntsmen, and after their near-miss attacking the Fall Maiden, Emerald had read as much of it as she could, in case she needed to use her Semblance on the guy sometime in the future.
But she thought he'd just trained this little dweeb on how to use a scythe and how to fight Grimm –practical tutoring, it was called in the Signal records. She had no idea that he'd taken her out on what sounded like some admittedly intense live missions. That betokened a hitherto unknown and unmentioned interest in his youngest niece –who wasn't even his niece by blood– as well as a casual disregard for her safety that seemed very out of character for what Branwen liked to project. He could be as ruthless as they came, sure, but he had a record of going easier on his opponents when there were witnesses, especially younger ones.
Trying to hide your roots, huh? Emerald thought with sardonic amusement. It made her scoff to think that the guy playacted being all chill and reasonable around his family, when he was normally willing to cut you six ways to Sunday –there was no edge worth giving up if you had it, even and especially around people with such weird and ephemeral connections to you as "family."
Family didn't make any damn sense. Blood was supposed to mean everything –the fact that some random woman had squeezed you out of her birth canal was supposed to establish some kind of ironclad bond between the two of you– and yet Emerald had rarely seen any proof of it. Fuck, just look at Mercury, half the guy he used to be because of how his father had disliked the competition he himself had created. And Cinder…
Emerald had never really been able to ask about Cinder's past –about her family, about how she was raised. The one and only time she'd begun even the vaguest of inquiries in that direction, Cinder had fixed her with such a freezing glare that Emerald had almost chewed off her tongue from how hard she'd bitten down on it. She'd never dared to even hint at the subject again.
Cinder, at least, had taken an interest in Emerald. She'd given her protection, shelter, better weapons, better tools to defend herself. Even with her Semblance, Emerald had been nothing until Cinder took her in. She'd used it for quick thefts and hasty escapes, eking out her living day by day. Her Semblance was rare, unique –it could topple kingdoms– and she had been using it just to put food in her mouth. She hadn't had any vision, according to Cinder.
And Cinder was right. Emerald had never cared about making an impact, making it big –all she wanted was warmth and food and somewhere to hide. Cinder had showed her the truth of Remnant, given her a chance to become something great. Emerald could reshape the world, and all she had to do was follow Cinder's plan to infiltrate Beacon and sabotage the Vytal Festival.
Emerald trusted Cinder like she had never trusted anyone else. Cinder had never offered her sweet words or coaxing promises: she had dragged Emerald's eyes open, forced her to confront the truth, and then walked away, almost daring her to follow. She challenged Emerald to be better, to be something, and never cared about raising a potential threat. She knew Emerald could never threaten her, would never be anywhere even close to her level.
Of course Emerald trusted her. Cinder knew she was too weak to ever become a rival, too valuable to be a mere pawn, and treated Emerald accordingly. She was never belittled or browbeaten, and if Cinder gave her sharp words or a slap, it was because Emerald had said or done something exceedingly stupid, and earned a punishment.
"What about you?" the pipsqueak asked, and Emerald hummed, glancing over at her. Ruby blinked those shining eyes and tilted her head as she asked again "Did you ever go on any missions you regretted?"
Emerald gave a soft snort. That mission out into the Mistral wilderness to pick up Marcus Black and finding Mercury instead… that was a shitshow. Mercury's suggestion to trust the rats of Vale had also brought Torchwick into their lives, a crime that Emerald had yet to forgive him for.
"Nah, not really." she said. "I trust our leader: she's never steered us wrong yet."
Ruby worried her lip, not seeming to like that answer. Pressure from her uncertainty about being the team leader, maybe?
"How come?" she asked, and Emerald raised an eyebrow. Ruby saw it and fidgeted, tapping her fingers together and looking at the ground. "It's just, my team does trust me, but it's kinda hard to figure out all the…"
"Cinder's got a bit more ooumph than you do, Red." Mercury drawled, sprawling backwards against the balcony railing. "We trust her because we know she can handle anything –and anything she can't handle, we'd be fucked anyway, with or without her."
Emerald glared at him. He was just the useless baggage –Emerald was the one Cinder really wanted and needed for her plans. Mercury grinned at her over Ruby's head and offered a middle finger with his off-side hand.
"Cinder always knows what to do." Emerald said as she pointedly looked to Ruby, who was oblivious to the gesture behind her back. "We trust her because she gives us confidence in ourselves. You can, uh, try to do the same thing with your team, or something."
Ruby's face pinched up.
"Yeah, but that'll take forever." she complained, and startled Emerald with her next bit of insight. "I'd need a lot of field experience before my team trusts me that much."
Huh. Maybe the little red pipsqueak wasn't as blindly cheerful and optimistic as she appeared. If nothing else, she seemed more practical than Emerald's first impression would've given her credit for.
"Well, yeah, but-" Emerald began, only to be interrupted by a commotion on the dance floor. They all leaned over the railings and peered down, only for Emerald and Mercury to stiffen as they saw General Ironwood surrounded by a line of soldiers pushing through the crowd… and heading for the stairs up to this level. Their eyes flicked together –run, or play dumb?– but before they could reach a decision, the doors of the balcony behind them pushed open and Cinder swished hurriedly through the gap, dressed in her makeshift ball gown.
"Cinder?" Emerald asked, and Cinder's gaze met her own as a warm smile curled her lips. Beside Emerald, she could feel Ruby tense.
"I saw that the General and his men seemed intent on finding something up here, and decided to cut my break short." Cinder drawled, seemingly perfectly at ease as Ironwood and his men approached. The dance had fallen quiet, and sweat beaded on Emerald's neck as she felt dozens of eyes craning to see who was up here and what was going on. Instinctively, she and Mercury pushed away from the rails, drawing close to their leader to face the Atlas forces in a line as Ruby was left to linger by the edge, looking confused.
" 'Sup, boss?" Mercury asked, sticking his hands in his pockets and tilting his head back with cocky flare as he looked over at Ironwood. Emerald almost admired him for his cool at this moment, and did her best to draw herself together as well, pretending to look alarmed but not guilty.
"The CCT came under attack by a singular individual just recently." the General said, and Emerald swallowed a little as his hand lingered conspicuously on the grip of his pistol. "They fled back towards the dance hall and seem to have infiltrated the guests here."
"That seems troublesome." Cinder said, and Emerald soaked in the comfort desperately as she rested one warm, almost smoldering hand on Emerald's bare shoulder. To an outsider, it might have looked purely reassuring, but Emerald could feel the subtle weight to Cinder's grip, the reminder to stop quavering and looking nervous. "May I ask why my team seems to be under suspicion?"
"You were spotted leaving the dance hall, and were absent during the time of the incident." Ironwood said, and Emerald froze as he pushed his coat aside, displaying the holstered pistol more prominently, and pulled it out to aim at all three of them. "I will ask you to come with me."
Panic seared Emerald's nerves. If Cinder was caught… if Cinder was caught-!
Salem did not reward failure well, and Atlas was well-known for its less-than-tender interrogation methods. She vibrated in terror between imagining the two extremes, wondering which side would show them less mercy.
"General, while I appreciate your… caution, I'm afraid that you've been a bit overzealous on this occasion." Cinder said, raising her voice slightly so that it carried down into the dance hall. What was she doing? She sounded completely unfazed. "I merely stepped out onto the balcony for a breath of air for a few moments –I'm sure there's a fair number of students that can vouch for my presence here."
Her eyes flashed towards Emerald, and Cinder gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"Aren't there?"
"Y-yeah." Emerald said, her dry throat almost sticking together as she swallowed. She swallowed again, to make sure, and met the General's eyes evenly. "She only stepped outside a few minutes ago."
Sweat prickled down her back beneath the olive fabric of her dress. Emerald had been using her Semblance all throughout the dance, ensuring that more than a few students had seen Cinder walking by, or talking with someone else, or just being around, to ensure that Cinder had a tighter alibi. That was why she and Mercury had been stationed above the dance hall, so that she could better pick her targets. But if Cinder's grandstanding didn't work, or Ironwood didn't believe them…
"I saw her in line for punch just a little bit ago." someone called tentatively, and the knot of tension in Emerald relaxed.
"I think she was over by the chairs for a bit?"
"I saw her talking to my teammate…"
Emerald had to hold herself from collapsing as the hesitant confirmations poured in, her heart pounding against her ribs. General Ironwood's face was like stone as Cinder smiled at him with one hand on Emerald's shoulder, Mercury slouching loyally on her other side –but slowly, he clicked the safety back on and reholstered his gun.
"Perhaps I was mistaken." the General said, and his voice was tight, giving nothing away. "My apologies, Team CEMM."
He dipped his chin in a short, jerky acknowledgment, before turning to his men with resignation.
"Spread out and search. Unless the perpetrator is somehow still here, we should at least try to find their escape route…"
Emerald followed the Atlesian forces with her eyes as they marched away, her hands clenched tight at her sides, blindly grateful for Cinder's steadying hand on her shoulder. Fuck, her life had almost flashed before her eyes there. If it hadn't been for Cinder's quick thinking, she and Mercury would have already been handcuffed and waiting for Atlas prison transport.
"Are you guys okay?" Ruby asked after a few moments, looking a trifle frustrated. Emerald could get that –it must have been insulting for her oh-so-heroic sense of honor to see a team that she thought was innocent get falsely accused like that.
"Quite all right, thank you." Cinder said, and then offered her a dazzling smile. "Why don't you run along and find your team…"
Her warm hand on Emerald's shoulder became biting, somewhat, as her grip tightened and her manicured nails dug harshly into Emerald's skin.
"My team and I have much to discuss about what happened here tonight."
"Unbelievable!" Jaune snarled, throwing his arms up before pacing back and forth, as though he could not contain his anger without movement.
"This is such bullshit!" Sun agreed, crossing his arms and scowling fearsomely as he sat in –or crouched atop, rather– one of the chairs that had been gathered for their debriefing in the now-abandoned dance hall.
"I can't believe she's going to get away with this!" Nora cried, rattling the back of the chair that Ren was perched in. She pointed to the CCT. "You've got witnesses at the dance, but you've also got witnesses at the fucking tower that saw her bust out all the windows!"
"Agreed on all counts." General Ironwood growled, pulling a hand down his face. Winter was absent, but Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch were both present, with Winter and the other Specialists having been distracted by a command to investigate the CCT crime scene more fully. "Unfortunately, Cinder Fall's identity was not confirmed on-site at the tower, and there were eyewitnesses who placed her at the dance during the incident, which means that legally, our hands are tied."
"Can't you hold her on suspicion, at least?" Yang pleaded. "That's a thing, right? How many chicks with long dark hair are there, especially ones who slipped away during the dance?"
"Considering the existence of wigs and makeup, and that Salem is sure to meddle with public opinion if her agent has been captured under anything but a watertight explanation, I am afraid that there is not much that we can do." Professor Goodwitch said with a sharp frown.
A unanimous outpouring of protests and angry cries met her words as Teams RWBY, JNPR, and SSSNI all vented their feelings on that assessment. Even Penny looked upset, although she was quietly sitting between Sage and Ilia.
The sharp, echoing crack of a cane slammed against the ground got everyone's attention, and silence fell across the dance floor.
"Tonight was not a total checkmate." Ozpin said into the sudden hush. Even he looked somewhat frustrated, though it was hard to tell under his typical inscrutable expression and his ever-poised stance as he stood ramrod straight, beginning to gesture slightly with his mug. "We have received confirmation that Cinder Fall is the woman who stole part of the Fall Maiden's powers, along with her team. We have also confirmed that the actions thus far taken by Team RWBY and their allies have not changed or otherwise affected the future that we can now predict."
"But you didn't arrest Cinder." Ruby said, and even though her voice was quiet, it rang across the dance hall like an accusation.
Ozpin sighed and pushed his spectacles up his nose with one finger.
"Salem is no fool." he said. "And this is not an ordinary arrest. All of us here know enough and more than enough to put that woman behind bars, but it is not our opinion that is of importance. Cinder Fall and her team have arrived in Vale under the guise of international students. Their arrest and incarceration under unclear circumstances would cause suspicion, particularly this close to the tournament itself. There would be questions. There would be demands for evidence."
"And Salem would pounce on the opportunity if we didn't have any to give them." Blake said, her mouth twisted unhappily. "She could still ignite the conflict she wants even if we have her agent locked away."
"Precisely, Miss Belladonna." Ozpin nodded to her. Then he sighed again, looking weary. "I am afraid that without more concrete evidence that we can lay before the public, our hands are temporarily tied."
"She won't be letting anything slip through her Scroll." Ironwood said, and pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing the headache no doubt forming there with a sigh of his own. "Having been made aware that we suspect her, she'll no doubt go to ground and make sure her actions are conspicuously innocent from here on out."
"So that's it, then." Neptune said, and even though he didn't have the personal investment Ruby and the others did, he still looked incredibly frustrated. "She slips right through our trap and leaves us looking like idiots. Fuck, we were ready for this! How'd we mess it up so bad?!"
"Blind luck." Weiss said beside him. "Though if I'm going to be fair about it, I believe this was also because we were making our plan around hers. We knew she wanted to break into the CCT and plant a virus, and instead of acting, we reacted, which left us open to her backup plans."
"Well, we won't be doing that again." Ironwood said, a heavy growl in his voice. This must be galling to him, too, especially since he had probably expected a better showing out of his Specialists.
"Unfortunately, the next major facet of her plans –before the actual tournament itself– is the Breach, I believe." Ozpin said, glancing over at the notes that Professor Goodwitch carried. "And since you do not precisely remember much of it…"
Ruby looked at the others. Jaune and Nora looked ready to chew glass, and her time with Ren in Anima made her shiver at the balefully quiet, controlled stillness of his body as he sat and scowled into the middle distance. They were all upset, and Pyrrha was almost wringing her hands, clenching and unclenching them with her mouth a tight, unhappy slash.
Her own team was little better. Yang's eyes blazed red, and it was only Blake's steadying hand on her shoulder that probably kept her from leaping up and punching something. Weiss's scowl was a thin, hard line across her face, and one finger tapped dangerously against her folded arms.
Penny was withdrawn, but it was a quiet and upset posture that she took, her hands clenched. Ilia was even worse, rubbing her arms nervously –ill at ease with Ironwood, with her situation, with Cinder's escape. All of Team SSSN looked outraged, because even if they hadn't lived what Ruby and the others had lived, or seen what NPR had seen in the Lamp, they could very well understand the anger of being outmaneuvered by their opponent and then having said outmaneuvering publicly rubbed into their face.
Ruby shuffled where she sat and picked at the seam of her skirt, lowering her head. She was breaking a promise, here… but maybe, if she spun it right… this would be more like bending it.
"Um…" she said quietly. "Wasn't it… kinda… when we were on that mission?"
All eyes snapped to her, and Ruby squirmed under the attention, sinking her head deeper. She felt her team's eyes prickling into the back of her neck –they knew what she was saying, or what she was starting to say. So did Jaune, if less well.
"I mean… you know… on, like, that practice mission?" Ruby continued, raising her head tentatively. Her guilty eyes flashed towards her team, and she swallowed. "To Mountain Glenn…?"
We promised Neo not to tell them about her. Blake's narrowing eyes warned her.
Ruby, what are you doing? Weiss's subtle frown and tilted head asked.
Yang merely blinked and waited for Ruby to explain her reasoning.
"We can't arrest Cinder yet, because we don't have any real proof that she was the one to attack the CCT. Right?" Ruby asked. "So if… so if we poke around like we did on that mission, maybe we'll find something to connect the Breach back to her?"
There was a moment of silence. Even SSSNI knew about Neo's current location, since she had discussed her and Torchwick's presence in Mountain Glenn at length during their meetings. They knew that they had all also promised not to reveal her cooperation with them to the headmasters, so if they did get put on this mission, and if they did find Neo and her criminal brethren… there might be complications.
Particularly if anyone not a member of SSSNI, JNPR, or RWBY came with to observe.
"Mountain Glenn may have been overrun by Grimm, but it still maintains more infrastructure connected to Vale than any other location nearby." Ironwood said, looking thoughtful. "As a launching point for an attack, particularly one as involved as the Breach, it makes a logical base."
"As much as it pains me to say this… Cinder Fall does rather fall outside traditional jurisdiction." Ozpin hummed, drawing everyone's attention again. He seemed unaware, swishing his mug around slightly as he stared into it. "Perhaps we might change our approach to follow suit."
"Meaning what?" Nora asked suspiciously.
"Meaning we do not necessarily need to actually find evidence to tie Cinder Fall to whatever we may or may not find in Mountain Glenn." Ironwood said, frowning. "Oz, are you sure?"
"What occurred tonight has made it clear that she is prepared and more than prepared for conventional methods of opposition." Ozpin said, looking up from his mug. "She arrived at the CCT, swept through the guards, and fled immediately upon being challenged by a worthy opponent. No evidence was left that would tie the student Cinder Fall to this attack, and there was precious little that would even link her with the woman that attacked Amber."
"And even if we did attempt to fabricate evidence, knowing full well that she was the culprit, the CCT's security footage would be there to prove us wrong." Professor Goodwitch said. Her fingers were tight around the sheaf of notes she carried, and she put them down on the table beside her with a deliberate exhale. "Footage that I have no doubt would be leaked the moment we began to build a convincing case against her."
"If, on the other hand, a certain team of students were sent out on a routine practice mission, and just so happened to stumble across a major outlet of her plans…" Ozpin continued, eyeing Team RWBY with speculation. "Mountain Glenn has become almost entirely-unclaimed wilderness. Saying that you saw her with the White Fang who started the Breach would be a bit much, but you could just as easily claim that you saw other evidence."
"And with a team of trainees and a Huntsman supervisor all agreeing that there is or was ironclad proof that Cinder Fall was linked with the attack in Mountain Glenn, I very much doubt she could eel out of an arrest." Ironwood finished, looking pleased for a moment. Then he sighed and folded his arms. "Though it's still a bit tenuous for my liking…"
Ruby and her friends all exchanged glances. They knew when, where, and how the Breach would go down, and even if there was a risk of raising Neo's ire… the temptation to be able to actually arrest Cinder was so, so strong.
"I think… it might be worth trying." Blake said slowly. "We'll have to be careful, of course, since we don't actually want to set off the Breach, but…"
"Blake's right, we could give it a shot." Yang said beside her, giving a shrug and a short nod. "I mean, worst comes to worst, we already know who and what we'll be fighting."
"Sounds risky." Sun agreed from his incongruous perch on the chair. "But doable. Heck, me and my team can hang around the Breach spot the day of, just to make sure nothing hinky happens."
"That sounds like a good idea." Jaune said, finally pausing in his agitated pacing. He turned to face the others, slowly stepping to stand behind his teammate's chairs. "We can be on-site and prevent the Grimm from doing any actual damage in the city, just in case Ruby's right and Mountain Glenn actually was the staging point for the Breach."
He, at least, knew that Ruby was right. All the others, even NPR, had not been there on that fateful day, had not seen the ground of the plaza shatter and Grimm pour through. Even those who had shared Jinn's vision had only gotten snapshots of it –enough to know where, but not when or why.
Ozpin tilted his head slightly, and Ruby swallowed.
"I see we have your agreement, then." he said, smiling in that subtle way that he did. "Team RWBY, might I ask for your assistance in uncovering the next portion of our enemies' plans?"
Ruby took a deep breath, and then blew it out shortly.
"Yeah." she said. "You can count on us."