No one moved…The room was silent and still. The man with silver hair and red eyes stood with his shifting shadows. All of Team JNAS felt a sense of dread wash over them. Suddenly, Iskelle began to cry. Anna looked back at her and held her axe back up, but the shadows promptly shifted, and a long skinny piece stretching towards Anna. Jay moved forward and shoved Anna back, leaning back himself to avoid the thing as it stabbed the air in front of him. Jay's golden eyes looked it over and widened in shock. The shadow looked completely solid now. It softened and retracted, moving back to the man.
He smiled at Jay, "So? Did you see it, Scholar?" he asked. Jay's eyes narrowed. The Dark Voice in his head screamed in anger and fear, 'How does he know anything about me?...Why did he call me that?!' Jay silenced it.
"What was that, Jay?" Anna asked. Her voice wasn't shaky or light, but strong. The man looked over at Nick and Sasha, then down at Leif. Leif grunted and used his dented cylinder to push himself to his feet. Neither Nick nor Sasha intervened, worried that whatever he did to attack Anna would happen again. He limped as he dragged the heavy canister to the door behind the mystery man. Iskelle also stood up. Jay watched her, but no one bothered trying to stop her from walking out. This newcomer was clearly the higher priority. Iskelle nearly cowered as he simply glanced at her on her way out.
"Jay…What exactly was that he just used, eh?" Nick said. Nick and Sasha had stood and were walking towards Jay and Anna. Jay simply looked at the man, who raised his eyebrows, as if waiting for him to explain.
"...A diamond." Jay muttered.
Sasha also raised her eyebrow, "What? I'm sorry, did you say-" Sasha began, only to be interrupted by Jay.
"Yes. A diamond. Not exactly as you know it though. When I say diamond, I mean carbon. That stuff was basically an incredibly brittle graphite…." he explained.
"It didn't look brittle," Anna said as the team stood together now.
Jay shook his head, "It wasn't...The composition changed to a similar rigid make up of diamond carbon. But it wasn't see-through...It's still absorbing photons with that make-up. Unstable. Covered in wild electrons...Probably kept from reacting or forming a new molecule by his aura. That way it can quickly be shifted from that fragile form that we see floating around him to that incredibly strong...Graphene-death-diamond. Odd, as graphene and diamonds don't have similar constructions. And I wager that's his Semblance...He has control over certain forms of carbon. Isn't that right?" Jay said to the mysterious man. He smiled and nodded, beginning to clap.
"Those eyes of yours are really something." he said. His cloak shifted this way and that rhythmically. Jay glanced down.
"Holy Castiel….You're a faunus." Jay said. The whole team's eyes widened and tried to follow his gaze. The man lifted back his cloak, revealing a silver wolf's tail, wagging back and forth. He let his cloak drop again as the whole team was slightly surprised by this. The team looked back and forth between themselves.
"I hope my subordinates kept you well entertained. They were waiting for me, you see. I will give you thirty seconds, with which, you are to prepare for combat. I would like to give you a fair chance of making it out of here alive. Does that sound reasonable?" he said in a calm voice. Again Team JNAS glanced between themselves. Then they began to eject their empty or low clips and canisters, replacing them with fresh ones to battle with. Jay glanced over at Nick, who was replenishing the canisters from the pouch on his belt.
"Nick, leave out the lightning canister." he muttered.
Nick looked at him in shock, "What?! Why?!" he said, slightly aghast at Jay's demand.
"Weren't you listening? That stuff is covered in free electrons, kept in check by his Semblance. You use lightning, and he'll absorb and redirect it...Your fire canister's also pretty useless...Diamonds are one of the best insulators around...Your best explosion wouldn't phase him." Jay explained.
"Listen to your colleague. He's correct." the man said. Nick looked disgusted by this. Sasha looked over at Anna and rolled her eyes. Anna giggled at this, which was odd. Her heart felt like it wanted to stop beating under the pressure in the air right now. Why everyone was nonchalantly readying for battle with this hanging over them was beyond her...
Everyone examined their weapons and stretched, preparing themselves for another battle. Nick didn't think something was right. It was only one guy against the four of them...He couldn't possibly win...Why was he letting them prepare? Why was he so calm? Nick didn't like it. But this guy would learn his lesson soon enough...Or at least that's what he was trying to convince himself. He still wasn't completely sure. The man had sat down cross-legged in front of the door that Leif and Iskelle had exited through. When they were finished, the team stood ready, standing side by side. The man stood up, and the shadows shifted around him. He unbuttoned the cloak and threw it back off of himself. His shirt was grayish, and he wore black jeans. The shadows seemed to multiply suddenly, coming out of his long sleeves and seeming to spread in area. They reared up behind him, and then wrapped themselves around him. They flowed over his clothing and became solid. One layer, two layers over his whole body, even over his tail, up to the neck. The shadows then hovered behind him, ready to move into position as he commanded them to. The team was shocked at the sight of him. They moved into position, getting in their stances and tensing their muscles. Nick held his sword over his left shoulder, blade pointing towards the man, with his left arm outstretched parallel to it. Sasha had a wide set stance, holding the handle of her claymore in her right hand, and the barrel on the back of the blade in her left, pointing the tip towards their challenger. Anna held a stance similar to Sasha's but with her right hand forward on her poleaxe's staff instead. Jay held his tonfas crossed over his chest with the bayonets out, like he always did. The mystery man stood with his arms out and palms open, facing down. The carbon shell had formed over his hands like claws, making him look as though he had the claws of a wolf. His feet also took on a similar appearance to a wolves. Everything was tense for a moment. The second stretched out, and seem to fill an hour. Sasha gathered herself to be the first one to attack. She lunged forward, shooting towards his head. He stood up straight and raised his palm, blocking the shot without difficulty. Nick immediately dashed after her, while Anna ran to the left, and Jay to the right. Sasha turned on her heel and swung to try and take off the man's head, but he ducked and slammed his right fist into her stomach. She gasped for air and dropped her sword falling back. Nick caught her and raised his arm to fire at the man. The man raised his arm in defense.
Nick smirked, "Wrong move," he said as he switched to the ice canister. The blast hit the man's arm and froze over it, crawling onto his body as well. They man stumbled a little bit. Anna had come up on the man's right, where the ice was. The whole team's hearts beat a little quicker. Anna's skill at this range was superior to the whole of the rest of the team. She could finish it right then and there, they all thought. Nick had picked Sasha up and was moving back with her. Anna swung, the shadows shifted, the ice cracked and shattered, the man blocked her attack with his open palm. Then, without even a delay in his movement, he brought his right foot to Anna's chest and kicked hard. Anna flew back, axe flying with her, all the way to the other wall. She fell to the ground and coughed up blood.
"ANNA!" Jay shouted. Nick looked back at them and went to put Sasha down. But she didn't stay down, and immediately stood, shaking on her feet a little, to follow Nick back into the battle. The man turned to Jay and kicked Sasha's blade up from the ground where she'd dropped it. He lifted it as though it was a light rapier. He took it in his left hand. Jay smiled and crossed his arms over his chest as he ran towards him. He knew what would happen. This guy had been filling carbon with his aura, and his Semblance blazed. Jay's Sight couldn't have been sharper. Jay leaped up over the man as he made a wide swing. He landed on the other side and turned attack him. But the man had already reared back and brought the blade down on Jay. He stayed up, but the man reached over and grabbed Jay's arms in one hand, still crossed over his head to block the heavy claymore. He tightened his grip and Jay felt pain in his arms as his own tonfas were crushed against them. The man picked him up by his arms, turning and tossing him at Nick. Nick ducked under him, as the man threw Sasha's blade to the side. Nick reached out with his metal arm and grabbed hold of the man's right arm. He began to try to crush the armor, and the man's arm with it...But the armor barely showed even minuscule cracks. The man reached over with his left arm and grabbed Nick's prosthetic. He began to squeeze...And the sharp claws on his fingers sunk right through the metal on Nick's arm. Nick screamed in pain as Sasha picked up her sword from where he'd thrown it, and ran towards him, intent on killing the man here and now. The man saw her and gave Nick's arm one final squeeze, squashing the metal core that was surrounded by artificial nerve clusters. Nick gasped and the man tossed him back, throwing him clear across the room. He ducked back away from Sasha's down-swing. The blade hit the ground and the man slammed his foot against the blade, keeping it down on the ground, and grabbed Sasha by the neck before she could move back. Anna lay unconscious on the wall, and Nick couldn't move with the wind knocked from his lungs and his arm no longer functional. Jay tried to stand and fight, but before he could, the shadows reared up again and struck out at Jay. Jay could only dodge the first attack before he was knocked back next to Nick. Sasha grappled at the man's arm, trying to crush it with what was left of her strength, but her muscles were beginning to hurt, and she was gasping through the man's grip. She began to struggle less and less, no one able to stop him.
Nick began to cry, struggling to his feet, "Let her go...Stop it now! Or I swear to the great Monty I'll kill you!" he shouted still feeling the pain in his back and arms. His legs shook. The man looked at him, then back at Sasha and smiled. He loosened his grip, and let Sasha fall to the ground.
"How touching..." he muttered. Nick fell again, unable to stand. Jay looked back and forth over the members of his team. This man had torn them apart in less then a minute...Who in hell is this, he thought. The man picked Sasha up by the back of her neck, and tossed her back. The armor shifted from the man's body and the shadows began to shift and turn. They extended out in front of the man, and formed to long rods. His aura flared slightly and he released the guards on the electrons, instead using his aura to excite them more and more. The air was filled with electricity as the rods buzzed with lightning. The shadows began to swirl into a small arrow like strip of black crystal, above the rods. The man pointed the rods towards Jay and Nick. Jay recognized what he was doing...He recognized a railgun when he saw one. That little black missile would slaughter Jay and Nick when it was fired...And there was nothing they could do to stop it. Jay closed his eyes and breathed as deeply as he could. Nick stared in disbelief...He had come all this way...Gotten into Beacon... Only to die here...
Suddenly, there was a bang from one of the sides of the room as the door was kicked off it's hinges. The shadows separated from the small missile, which began to drop towards the metal rods. Jay crossed his arms over his head with his eyes still closed, but Nick continued watching. They struck the rods and there was a deafening bang, as voltage dissipated when the missile left contact with them. The world slowed down, and even at mach 3, the missile seemed to move in slow motion...Nick saw a flash of blue move in front of the missile, and with a flourished motion, the missile crashed in two pieces into the walls on either side of Jay and Nick. Jay gasped and opened his eyes. Someone stood in front of them. He looked back at the walls where the missile had crashed. The thing had been cut clean in two. He looked back at the person...They were facing away from them. Jay looked them up, starting with the large brown combat boots. Then up at the blue thigh armor pieces, which held small pouches on either side. Then up to the small light back piece that connected to the chest piece, both of which were also blue. There were blue pieces of armor over the forearms, and gripped in the hands, were two one-foot radius bladed fans, that glowed teal. Jay's mouth fell open as he looked at the familiar brunette ponytail...
"Mickey?!" he gasped.
Mickey smirked and stood up straight, glancing back at Jay and Nick, "You two alright?" she asked. Nick and Jay could only nod, their faces portraying their shock. She nodded back and turned back to the man with a very serious look on her face. The shadows shifted and the electricity faded as the man let his armor form around his body again. He looked at Mickey with slight surprise, and with some admiration. He began to clap, the armor shifting from his hands momentarily for it.
He nodded, "Very good...How did you do that?" he asked lightly. Mickey didn't flinch or speak. The man's face fell, and he got serious. Mickey began walking towards him. Anna had begun to stir, but Sasha hadn't.
Mickey looked at them in turn, "Jay. Nick. Stand up. Get Anna and Sasha, and get to the roof. Alice is waiting in a bullhead to get you out of here...We've already retrieved Team SCRT. Get moving." she said seriously. Jay was filled with hope, as was Nick. They pushed themselves to stand and began to walk towards Sasha and Anna. The man glanced at them...The shadows shifted and stabbed towards them both. Suddenly they slowed down again, and Mickey sliced through them both without difficulty with those bladed fans. The man frowned now, beginning to get annoyed. The shadows shifted and formed curved scimitars in his hands.
"Congratulations...You've now earned my undivided attention... Mickey, was it?...My name is Xellos..." he said. He began to walk forward towards Mickey. They both stopped, six feet from eachother. Xellos stood with the blades out, with his feet together. Mickey stood with a wide crouching stance, and held the fans like back-hand swords.
"I'll teach you what a mistake it was to mess with my boy and his team." Mickey muttered threateningly.
Mickey made the first move, closing the distance between them in a single moment, and began to slash at Xellos, again as though wielding back-hand blades. He raised his blades in his defense, and sparks flew off of them as the fans cut through the back of the scimitars. The carbon reformed the blades as he countered. Mickey leaped over the low swing and slashed through the sword. The base of the fans were attached to the gauntlets by small metallic cords. Mickey let go of the fan in her right hand, and the cord unfurled from the inside of the hollow gauntlet. She swung it around as a mace with a very long chain, letting the wire wrap around her arm and then unwrap, gaining momentum and slamming into Xellos' blades, while she continued to block his attacks and counters with the fan in her left hand. She swung the fan around, turning on her heels and wrapping it around Xellos. Xellos tried to cut through the wire, but it wouldn't cut, and Mickey pulled, yanking him in close. He ducked under her slash attack and loosened the cord and he slipped out. He turned to Mickey, who was still recovering. The wire retracted as things slowed down again...She caught the fan in her hand, and the indents began to glow again. She swung it, knowing it wouldn't hit him...But the wind dust activated. The gale that was produced threw Xellos back, off of his feet. The shadows began to swirl around him again as he came to his feet. But Mickey crossed her arms over her chest as the dust in on the fans glowed in reaction to her aura. She swung the fans, spinning around on her heels and swinging them again and again, producing gale after gale. The winds blew the shadows, still in their brittle graphite form, away like sand in a tornado. The man's armor was still formed, but he couldn't move towards her through the gales...And he couldn't form any weapons with her blowing away the graphite before it could solidify into the diamond graphene. The room shook under the force of the winds as Jay reached stumbled over to Anna. She was using her axe to hold herself in place. He reached out to her and she looked up at him. She took a hand off of her axe and held on tight to his. He pulled her to her feet and put a hand around her, putting her arm over his shoulder. Nick was trying to wake Sasha as Jay and Anna headed for the door Mickey came through. Mickey stopped her swings and closed the fans, turned and slipping them back into the pouches in her thighs. Xellos took the opportunity to make the shadows reform. He raised them up into a large dome-like wind barrier before him, as Mickey pulled the fans out again, and opened them, scattering wind dust off of them, having refilled the fans with it. Behind his wind barrier, Xellos began forming a bow, and a large arrow, to fire at Jay and Anna as they passed by. But the gales didn't start up again, even as he pointed the arrow towards the two, who were just getting to the door. Suddenly, Mickey appeared in front of him as he fired the arrow. The arrow slowed down again as she sliced it apart. Xellos tried to move the barrier to in front of him, letting it shift, hoping that it would solidify before she started up again. Mickey's fans glowed up again, more furiously now. She crossed her arms over her chest and the world slowed down once again. The carbon slowed in it's moving, and even Xellos moved slowly. Mickey put her right foot forward, securing herself in place, and threw out her arms, unleashing all the dust in one mighty tempest blast. The crystal had begun to form when she had, but it was nothing before Mickey's power. The storm blasted through the barrier, and the carbon scattered. Xellos was struck with the fierce winds and was tossed back. The wall was destroyed even before Xellos was thrown through it. His aura and his armor together could barely protect him from having his neck broken on impact as he fell unconscious.
Mickey breath heavily, "That's what you get. Next time...No armor will protect you from death..." she muttered. She turned to Nick, who was still trying to get Sasha up. She ran over, still having a hard time breathing.
She bent down over Sasha, "I need to get back in shape..." she muttered as she picked her up. She gestured to Sasha's sword, which Nick grabbed and ran after her as they followed Jay and Anna's path out.
They winded through the hallways, "Wait a minute...How will Jay know what path to take in this maze?" Nick asked, dragging Loachsamhail behind him.
"You know Jay's skill...He can see the way I went because I kept my aura quite active. He'll follow the trail." she muttered, still a little out of breath while carrying Sasha. They found their way out to the roof, where Alice was just helping Jay and Anna into the bullhead. Alice looked back at Mickey and smiled in relief. She smiled back as Alice climbed into the cockpit, and helped Sasha up into the back. Nick climbed up and the side door closed behind them as they lifted off, flying off towards Beacon.
Team SCRT lay unconscious in the back of the bullhead. They looked like they'd been torn apart like Xellos did to Team JNAS, but they also looked like they had been at least tended to so they'd live. Jay looked at Mickey, who went about checking on them. Her blue body armor looked like the same shade of blue that he'd painted the staves of his tonfas. She had clipped off the cords on the base of the fans and slipped them into the pouches on her thighs. Nick sat next to Sasha, keeping her hand in his, ignoring the pain in his prosthetic while waiting for her to wake. Anna sat holding her knees next to Jay, still probably reeling from that encounter. He wished he knew what to do or say. Instead he just sat, waiting for them to return to Beacon. Ten minutes past before they got back to the landing pad. Beacon officials were already waiting for them with medical carts. Mickey and Team JNAS stepped from the bullhead, letting the men in uniforms go in and carefully lift the members of Team SCRT out and towards the hospital wing. Mickey stood facing Team JNAS. Jay readied himself for what he thought would be an almighty tongue lashing...But instead, Mickey's eyes filled with tears and she pulled Jay over and embraced him. When she released, she did the same for all of the rest of the team.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked them over, shaking her head, "Don't ever scare me like that again..." she said, trying to sound serious, but just sounding relieved. Alice climbed out of the bullhead and ran over.
Mickey and Jay turned to her, "Oh, hey Alice..." Jay said to her as she approached. She looked at Jay and pat him over the head. Jay flinched but tried not to react. Alice shook her head and turned to Mickey. The two embraced eachother for a few seconds. When they parted, they laced their fingers and gave eachother a kiss. They held eachother there for a few seconds. Jay rolled his eyes, glancing over at his team. He almost looked away again, but noticed the looks of shock that they all had, while looking at Mickey and Alice holding eachother in an intimate kiss.
"Did I not mention that Mickey was married?" Jay said to them. They all turned their shocked gazes to Jay, who was slightly taken aback. Mickey and Alice separated and stood next to eachother.
"WHAT?!" the whole team said in unison.
"Yup...I'm married...To a hot pilot chick..." Mickey said smiling, nudging Alice.
Alice shook her head, "Save it for later, Miss Badass-Huntress." she flirted back.
Jay looked at the two of them, "I didn't think it was worth mentioning...I knew about Alice...I met her two years ago, about a week after I took a placement exam to get into Beacon. It was surprising, but it wasn't like I cared...Do you guys care that my guardian's gay?" he said, turning back to his team. They all shook their heads and muttered about how it was fine, it wasn't their business, etc. He nodded, "Good. But...While I knew about Alice..." He turned back to Mickey, "When the FUCK were you a huntress?!" he shouted.
Mickey laughed nervously, and ran her hand through her hair, "You remember how I found out about your placement test two years ago? Well that's because my Beacon contact...Was Headmaster Ozpin. I graduated from Beacon Academy, and even worked as a teacher here for a few years. But I eventually just wanted to calm things down for myself. I met Alice when I got the job as a teacher...She was the pilot who took me back and forth all the time. She was willing to do me a few favors because apparently she had a crush on me. ...Remember when I said that idol was sneaked out from under the nose of a criminal syndicate? Alice here was that friend. She has quite a past herself. She took a great risk, and chose to entrust it to me. That's when I leaned about her love for me, and I kinda reciprocated those feelings, so...Here I am." Mickey explained in a hurry. Nick's head raised at the mention of an idol and a criminal syndicate...He thought he should ignore it for now though, so he decided to ask about it later.
"Those fans of hers, the Tempest Spirits, were infamous weapons here...She was called Mickey the Storm while at school here...And she was also her team leader. Eeeeeveryone cowered when Mickey kicked down the door." Alice teased.
Nick cleared his throat, "Not much has changed there then..." he muttered.
Mickey frowned at him, "Are you...scared of me?" she asked, amused. Nick looked at Sasha who looked away wide eyed.
Nick looked back at her, "Though I am curious to know how you did that...That trick. Where all of a sudden things didn't seem as chaotic and..." Mickey raised her hand to interrupt him.
"You mean my Semblance? Yeah, I can slow things down. The faster something moves, the more of an effect I can have, making anything hyper or mach speed slow to a pace that I can deal with." she explained. Nick's eyes widened. He definitely wanted to be on her good side. Mickey laughed to herself and looked them all over one more time.
The Beacon officials insisted that Team JNAS also be taken to the hospital wing to be examined and treated for injury. They removed Nick's prosthetic, and Nick gave them specific instructions on who to send it for repairs. Jay insisted he was fine, despite having fractured both his radius and his right ulna at Xellos' power, and protested vehemently to their attempts at removing his shirt. When they did finally get him to comply, it was only because they'd put up a curtain. He didn't want to have to show off the burn marks covering his chest and shoulders. Sasha had to have the bruises on her neck healed, and her and Anna's ribs were tended to after being broken. The day was almost over when the whole team had finally be tended to. They were allowed to return to their dorm at that point. They walked in silence, still shaken up after a fight with someone like Xellos. None of them really knew what to say anyway. Nick felt absent and exposed somehow, without HopeBringer. Sasha held his right hand and that made him feel a little better, but it wasn't completely helpful. Sasha was thinking about the fact that Xellos was a faunus, and wasn't sure what to think. Anna just felt torn apart by the whole event. Her dislike for Iskelle had driven her to kill her back there...And she would have had Xellos not intervened. She wasn't sure about it all though. Jay could only think about the day he'd gotten his burns. About how close he'd come to death then, and how close he'd come to it this time, and how similar the experience was. But he also thought about how he thought he'd been protecting Mickey...It turns out she really was his guardian. He'd always called her that because she helped him train for two years, helped him prepare, been there for him when he needed her to be. He thought he protected her because of that. That he owed it to her...But she was right when she said she could handle herself. When they got back to the dorm and opened the door, they found Mickey and Alice waiting for them. Mickey held a large basket in hand. Jay recognized the basket and smiled as Mickey pulled out the two pizzas, the sodas, and the ice cream.
Mickey smiled, "One week. As promised, here's your reward." she said. The whole team couldn't help but brighten in Mickey's presence. Nick passed around plates in his good arm, and Jay wasted no time in breaking into the vanilla ice cream and root beer, and preparing himself a root beer float. He looked around asking if anyone else wanted one. Mickey rolled her eyes, but everyone raised their hands and voiced their desire to have one as well. Jay smiled and spun the ice cream spoon in his hand with a flourished motion as he went about preparing more. Nick had the plate for pizza on his lap, which Mickey served. Alice had commenced telling stories about Mickey's huntress days, then about how Mickey had come that day to throw them a party for not getting in trouble, and then she finds out they got themselves into a dangerous situation...
"She wouldn't have that...She came running up to me wearing her old battle armor, thank goodness it was designed to stretch as it's wearer grew. I thought it was a bit of foreplay, but she was practically crying, and begging me to get her to a facility in the woods...I couldn't refuse her...Especially dressed up like that," Alice told, and smirked at Mickey, who rolled her eyes. Anna remarked upon what a cute couple she thought Mickey and Alice made. They looked at eachother and shrugged, thanking Anna for her support. Sasha nudged Nick and glanced over at Anna, who was swaying back and forth giggling to herself about boats. It didn't take the six of them long to finish the pizzas and clean out the ice cream bins. Even the soda was gone by the end of the night. Mickey and Alice said there goodnights and goodbyes before leaving with the basket. The whole team didn't bother getting changed or anything. They were all too full, and just threw their weapons off of themselves before going to bed.
The next morning, the whole team moved slowly. No one felt like doing anything, especially since they all knew what was going to happen later. And sure enough, when they had all finished preparing themselves for class, they walked out the door to find four Beacon officials waiting to take them away to a private conference room. They walked in silence down the halls until they came to their destination. The officials opened the door and directed them inside, even gesturing to specifically designated seats. Team SCRT was already present, seated on the other side of the long table. Ozpin sat at the head of the table with Goodwitch standing solemnly behind him. The twins looked down in shame, and even Rachel didn't seem to give any notice when Sasha walked in. The room was filled with silence for a few second.
Ozpin sipped his coffee, "So...I want a report from the team leaders. What happened..." he said seriously. Jay looked at his team. Nick looked back at him and gestured with his head to the table.
Sam stood up, "Everything was going well sir...We had no trouble getting in, nor did we have difficulty routing the mercenary presence." he said.
"So what went wrong?" Ozpin asked.
Sam looked over at Team JNAS and Jay stood up, "They were ready for us. They had readied a venue for our fight. And sent for back-up. Despite this, we still put them down, and were even ready to take them in...But..." Jay's voice trailed off.
Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "But?..." he said in question.
Sam stood up again, "The back-up...Right? You encountered him too, didn't you..." Sam asked looking at Jay. Jay nodded, looking down at his team.
Goodwitch and Ozpin shared a look, "And who was this newcomer?" Goodwitch asked.
"His name was Xellos..." Jay muttered.
"Really?...Well this...Xellos...He marched through us like we were nothing. He had some...Weird shadow power. I'm not sure what it was." Sam explained.
"And with this...He desecrated two of the best teams at Beacon this term? Do any of you know how he managed such a feat?" Goodwitch sounded shocked.
Jay cleared his throat, "I do..." he said silently.
Ozpin looked at Jay as Sam sat down, "Well then...Enlighten us." Ozpin said seriously.
Jay stuttered for a few seconds, "He controlled carbon, sir. He was using his Semblance to control graphite...I posit he's only able to control carbon that's touching him, or carbon that he's already effected, because it was flowing around him. This graphite was able to shift composition, to take on an unstable rigid form. He kept it safe to use with his aura. This graphene diamond retained some of the qualities of the graphite...Excited electrons, absorbed photons, but also had some of the qualities of diamond carbon. Such as the insulation capacities, the density and strength...He was able to also cherry pick these qualities, using his aura to excite the electrons and produce lightning at will, that freely traveled through the graphene diamond like static through graphite, even while the carbon was in the dense diamond form. Xellos intervened in our battle with Iskelle and Leif, allowing them to escape..." Jay looked over at Team SCRT, who all kept their heads down, "And then proceeded to bring down our team as well." Jay finished his explanation and sat down. No one spoke for a few moments. Ozpin sipped his coffee...
"And as I understand it, you managed to make it out due to the efforts of two of our staff?..." Jay flinched at Ozpin's words.
"Mickey and Alice Zephora...Yes...Alice procured a Bullhead to get us out, and Mickey saved our lives and allowed us to escape by subduing Xellos..." At that moment, the doors were violently kicked open and in walked Mickey herself, with Alice following her in.
She slammed her hands on the table, "Ozpin, these kids went into the mouth of hell yesterday when they faced Xellos. Don't you think you could let them off for a day or three? Give em a break for Cas sakes! Let them rest." she finished.
The room was filled with a shocked tension, everyone's faces but Ozpin's portrayed surprise. Ozpin sipped his coffee again, "It would seem you haven't lost a step so far, Mickey, the Storm." Ozpin remarked. More silence suffocated the room. Mickey looked at Ozpin, waiting for his decision. Finally he looked up, "Very well. You're dismissed...You may take three days to rest and recover..." Ozpin stood and walked from the room, Goodwitch following behind him. As he went, the twins looked at eachother, wondering if they should bring up what they found now...Or wait for later. But Ozpin had already left. Mickey and Goodwitch glared at eachother a moment as they passed by. The door closed behind them and Mickey let out a sigh.
"Well...That went well. So, how are you all?" she said, turning to both of the teams. No one spoke. "That bad, huh? Well don't worry. You guys will bounce back..." she said with surety.
Jay looked over at her, "So how come you never told me?...About your huntress days?" he asked.
Mickey stood up straight, "I did once... But you suffered a training injury to the head and forgot... And I thought it best that I just let it go and help you move on." she said. Jay was shocked by this, and the Dark Voice laughed, 'you fuckin dumbass,' it taunted him. Jay silenced his thoughts.
Sam looked around, then stood, "Mickey, right?...And you're Alice? Her sister?" he asked. All of Team JNAS looked up at him in shock.
"...What?" he asked them as they stared at him.
"Why do you think we're sisters?" Alice asked him.
"You two share the same last name..." he said as though it was obvious. Jay face-palmed, and everyone else just shook their heads. Sam watched them and frowned. Then his eyes widened, as did the rest of Team SCRT as they all looked over at Mickey and Alice.
"That's right," Mickey said, pulling Alice over next to her, "We're married." she said. Tia turned red and looked away, as did Chris. Rachel's mouth dropped open and Sam stuttered.
"I'm so sorry...I didn't think about it...It's perfectly ok, just so...Uh..." he trailed off.
"It's ok...We know you meant no harm with it." Alice said to stop him stuttering. He shut his mouth and sat down.
Alice rolled her eyes, "No, stand up...All of you. Come on now. Me and Mickey are taking you all out into Vale. You guys can get some food or shop or maybe even watch the preparations for the tournament that's coming up. I hear there are some amazing warriors coming in from the different kingdoms...Perhaps you could go and meet them..." Alice said. Everyone in the room felt better already. It was difficult not to, with such an opportunity. They would be glad to get some time in to just do what they wanted...One near death experience, one week of tireless preparation, and then a failed mission with another near death experience, they were long overdue for some personal time. They all stood and followed Mickey and Alice out to the airship. Alice went into the cockpit and began to talk to it as though it were her child. They sat and tried to forget though...Tried to forget whatever it was that they had found themselves in the middle of...