Chapter 10
AN: I'll be honest, I technobabbled my way through the scene with the propellant. I hope it at least sounds plausible.
"Hmm hmm hm-hm…"
Nora hummed a toneless tune as she scrubbed at a twisted, blackened piece of metal. It was an open question whether it was black from scorch or paint, but regardless, the black was coming off, if stubbornly.
Still humming, the orange-haired girl grabbed the bottle of cleaner and squirted some more onto the cloth, before setting back to scrubbing. After all, it wouldn't do for her souvenir, nay, her trophy to be in bad condition, would it? Other collectors would probably have left the grime on for authenticity or something like that, but not her! No, she wanted her memories of her conquest to be spic and-
"Hm?" Nora blinked in confusion as something caught her attention. Squinting, she held up the metal to her eye. A small bit of the muck had finally come off, giving way to... something. Something... familiar...
The hammer-wielder's heart jumped into her throat. 'No...' she thought frantically. 'No, no that's not poss-!'
"Nora?"
Nora jumped in her seat with a squeak as she heard the door open, nearly throwing the piece of metal up in the air. As it was, she spent a few precious seconds fumbling with it before she managed to grab it in her fist and - in an act of desperation - shove it into her waistband before wheeling around with a panicked grin. "H-h-hey Ren!" she chirped hastily.
"Nora…" Ren started before pausing as he tooked her dishevelled appearance in. "What were you doing?"
"I was just, uh…" She glanced over at the nearby cloth and the can of cleaner. "...polishing Magnhild?"
"...your hammer."
"Yup!"
"...which is in your locker."
"Yu-! Uh... Oh, so that's where it was! I've been, uh… looking all over for it!" Nora plastered her best smile on her face and hoped Ren bought it.
"Right…" Ren drew out, his narrowed eyes showing that he clearly didn't buy a word of it, but his posture practically screaming that he was too tired to call her out on it at the moment. "Anyway, you should get dressed, Velvet's running an errand with Neptune, so Coco enlisted us to help her with decorating the gym for the dance."
"No problemo, Ren!" Nora chirped, giving him a snappy salute.
"And try not to stick your finger into a wall socket again."
"Psh, what!? Name one time when I've done that-!" Nora scoffed.
"When we were five years old and playing at your house."
"Y-yeah, well, I was just a kid, you know! I haven't done that in years!"
"There was also last month when we were out of coffee."
"I-I-I was tired! I wasn't thinking straight!"
"And last week when you were bored."
"Ah... I... heheh... I-I-I need to get dressed, w-would you mind-?"
"And last night when-"
"OUT!" Nora screamed, bodily shoving her friend through the doorway and slamming the door behind him. Huffing and puffing heavily for a moment, she finally sighed and slowly fished the piece of metal out of her waistband, looking at it nervously for a moment before shaking her head in denial.
"No," she growled at the piece of metal, jabbing her finger on the annoying spot. "You are a lying liar who lies, and I don't believe you. Do you have anything to say for yourself?!"
Thankfully, the piece of metal didn't respond.
"That's what I thought, mister!" she snapped, opening her underwear drawer and shoving it in. "You've earned a time-out! Now stay in there and think about what you've done!"
"Nora, are you talking to your eye-floaters again? I've already told you to stop looking at the sun a thousand times now."
"Sorry Ren, coming!" Nora called back hastily.
~o~
"Nononono, the red streamers go there, not there. And Yatsu, careful with those amplifiers, they're-!"
"WHEEEEE!"
*CRASH!*
"... expensive," Coco finished lamely as the multi-thousand-Lien piece of equipment crashed to the ground, Nora bounding off in another direction, her Aura crackling. "Oh for pity's sake, can't someone control her?!"
"No..." Jaune groaned wearily as he balanced a pair of food-laden trays in his hands.
"Not even close," Pyrrha agreed with a sigh as she manipulated a few metallic decorations to hang from the ceiling.
"Nope," Ren drawled as he walked past carrying a gallon bucket of punch.
"Ugh!" Coco growled as she took in the scene: Nora bounding about, giggling, Fox reclining against the wall, and Jaune and Pyrrha steadfastly refusing to meet each other's eyes and yet constantly sneaking glances at each other. At least Ren and Yatsu were putting their all into it, but the results spoke for themselves, honestly.
"You!" she snapped, jabbing a finger at Fox. "Why aren't you helping?!"
"I am helping," he drawled. "I'm providing moral tactical support." He lazily raised a fist and gave it a half-hearted wave. "Go team."
It was a credit to Fox's nerve that he didn't even flinch at the array of barrels that was suddenly shoved in his face.
"I will eviscerate you," Coco growled, pure malice dripping from her every word.
"Please don't," Yatsuhashi requested as he set up another amplifier. "Then we'd have to clean up the bloodstain on top of decorating."
Slowly, and with great reluctance, Coco lowered her gun. "Fine. You live." Her eyebrows disappeared completely behind her glasses. "For now."
"Yippee."
"My, my, it seems you could use some… assistance."
Coco whirled around to see Cinder Fall stride into the gym, taking in the unfinished state of the decorations. "You! Yes!" she cried out, diving to Cinder's feet and clutching at her calves. "Please! Save me! I'll give you anything, my first born, my fortune, my virginity-"
"HA!" Fox barked in honest amusement.
Coco took a moment to snap a glare at her teammate before returning to her pleading. "I'll even give you my soul-!"
"I say again, HA!"
"CRAM IT, FOX! Just please please please, make this shitshow of a nightmare end!"
"Should we take offense to that?" Jaune asked Ren curiously.
"Nah, she's right, this has been a bit of a shitshow so far," the martial artist conceded.
The creak and crash that heralded the DJ table collapsing in on itself only served to emphasize the point.
"Hm," Cinder mused as she glanced around the room before finally settling on a target. "That's a very nice hat you're wearing."
Coco flinched and glanced away from the secretary as she clutched her headpiece desperately. "W-Well, I, uh…"
"Oh, do stand up, dear," Cinder tittered. "All I need is the name of the store you purchased it at. And to show that I'll hold up my end of the bargain-"
Without even looking, Cinder reached out and plucked Nora out of the air by her collar.
"Hey! What gives?" Nora whined, flailing in the secretary's grip. Any further protests were cut off by a handkerchief tasting of dirt imposing itself on her mouth.
"That should do it," Cinder said, holding the cloth in place for a few minutes. Slowly, gradually, Nora's movements became less frantic, and the electricity bled out of her Aura. Finally, she slumped to the ground, Cinder pulling the handkerchief out of her mouth.
Nora was back on her feet in seconds. "I'm okay!" she announced. She then proceeded to flop forwards onto her face. "...I can't move my legs, but I'm still okay!"
Cinder cocked an eyebrow at the student before glancing down at the cloth. "That... might have been too fine a quality of Dust."
"Who the heck cares!?" Coco cheered eagerly. "With her down, at least we'll stop taking ten steps backwards for every step forwards! Thank you so much, Miss Fall, this means the world to me!"
"Speaking of which," Fox cut in. "You mind telling us who this is?"
"This is Cinder Fall-" Coco and Pyrrha started simultaneously. They glanced at each other, before Pyrrha waved Coco forward.
"Anyway, this is Cinder Fall. Officially, she's Weiss Schnee's personal secretary, but she also moonlights as a high-level fixer for the SDC. She's made more messes go away for the company and their allies then I can even begin to count," Coco explained before looking at the woman with barely restrained euphoria. "Which means, if she offers you help with a problem for almost free, you fucking take it."
"Mm, I appreciate the compliment, Miss Adel," Cinder said as she took in the gym. "Could I see the plans for the decorations, please?"
"Here, they're on my Scroll," Coco replied eagerly, handing the device in question to Cinder.
"Ms. Fall?" Pyrrha asked hesitantly as the secretary looked over the plans. "Not that we don't appreciate the help, but what are you doing here?"
"Ms. Schnee sent me ahead to make sure everything is going smoothly for the Festival," Cinder replied, handing the Scroll back to Coco. "She is the primary sponsor of the whole event, after all. I'm sure you know her perfectionist tendencies quite well, Miss Nikos."
Pyrrha blushed as Cinder seemed to come to a decision. Pulling out her Scroll, she dialed a number and put the device up to her ear.
"Antonio? Yes, I have a job for you. Very short notice, nothing too fancy. … Just a school dance. Like I said, nothing too fancy. … Of course. … Fifteen minutes? Excellent. I'll get everyone out of the way."
The students gaped as Cinder ended the call and slipped her Scroll back into her pocket.
"Did- Did she just-" Jaune started.
"Call up an event organizer and have him redo the decorations and music on extremely short notice?" Weiss Schnee answered as she walked into the gym. "Yes. Yes she did. There's a reason why some people have described her paycheck as 'obscene'."
Jaune winced. "Were we really doing that badly?"
"Yes, you were," Cinder bluntly answered. "Still, I believe you would have done fine if Miss Valkyrie hadn't…" She glanced over to a scorched, melted hunk of plastic sunk into the wall. "Stuck her finger into a wall socket."
"I got bored and thought it would make things go faster..." Nora mumbled into the floor.
"You. It makes you go faster," Ren deadpanned.
"Anyway, we should probably head outside now that we have things set up," Weiss said. She frowned as Nora attempted to stand, only for her legs to give out and dump her on the ground again. "And maybe get your friend to the infirmary."
"I told you, I'm fine," Nora mumbled through the floor.
"And I told you: no, you're not," Ren countered as he scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder. "I'll see you guys later, okay?"
He blinked as he took in the nearly empty gym, only Fox staying behind. "They left already. Good luck!" And with that, he too ambled out the door.
Sighing, Ren shifted his grip on Nora and set out for the infirmary. The explanation of "training accident" was accepted quite easily, and Nora was soon in the bed with some hot pads on her legs to loosen up the muscles.
"My legs are sore…" Nora groaned.
"That's what you get for overdoing it, dummy," Ren said, tapping her nose. "Think you'll be okay if I go rejoin the others?"
"But, Ren, you can't go! I'm boooooored!"
Both teenagers chuckled at the overwrought whining. "I think if that's all you need to worry about, you'll be fine," Ren said. "Now, behave."
"Oh, hey, what are you guys doing here?"
"General Xiao Long," Ren replied frostily as Nora squeed quietly, looking up at the woman who was holding one of her troopers under her arm. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, as you can see, Jim-Bob here pulled… something in today's sparring match," Yang replied, shifting the weight so she could fill out a form. "And the school infirmary was closer, so I figured I'd just drop him off here."
"My groin, sir…" the newly named Jim-Bob groaned.
"Right, pulled his groin!" Yang repeated. "Anyway, let me just get him settled in and we can talk." And with that, she walked out of sight, presumably to drop the poor man off in one of the beds.
"Hey," Nora said softly as soon as Yang was out of sight. "Why are you being all snippy with her?"
"I am not being snippy," Ren bit off.
"Yes, you are," Nora said, crossing her arms. "Do I have to be the mature one today? Because that thought kinda scares me."
"Mature, right," Ren snorted. "Because glomping onto General Xiao Long every time you see her is so mature."
"For Pete's sake, Ren, what's your problem?!" Nora snapped, looking uncharacteristically angry. "If you have something to say, say it! Don't wrap it up in this passive-aggressive bullshit oh hi General Yang!"
"So, what's ne-" Yang cut herself off as Ren stood up from his chair and stormed out of the infirmary. "What's up with him?"
"He's being stupid and snippy and I don't want to talk about him right now," Nora huffed, keeping her arms crossed and looking away.
"Alright then," Yang agreed. "So, I heard something about you sticking your finger in a wall socket…"
~o~
"Uh, are you sure it's alright to just leave them behind?" Jaune asked uncertainly as their small party left the gym.
"It's fine," Weiss said dismissively. "They need to go to the infirmary, and it's always best to let lovebirds like them have some alone time."
The students all glanced at each other in confusion. "Uh, they're not actually dating, Ms. Weiss," Pyrrha corrected.
"They aren't?" Weiss exclaimed, her eyes wide. "I could've sworn…"
"Ren said they had an 'agreement', whatever that means," Fox volunteered as he rejoined them.
"Nora said the same thing…" Coco mused.
For a moment, all were silent, before Cinder spoke up. "Are you sure they're not dating?"
"Well, not anymore I'm not," Coco grumbled.
"Anyway," Weiss said, slightly embarrassed. "Moving on, how's the family doing, Miss Adel? For such an influential clan it is so hard to get any kind of credible news on them. For example, I've heard rumors of gambling issues among some of your cousins."
Coco snorted. "If by problem you mean they've been using their unholy luck to clean out Vacuo's casinos, then yes, there are a few 'issues'. Seriously, I don't even know if the twins have seen a day where lady luck hasn't been on their side."
"See, this is why I'm asking you, my dear," Weiss said sweetly. "So much easier than to have to call up the Vacuan casinos, especially the illegal ones. I suppose those rumors about financial troubles are so much drivel."
"Where did you hear that?" Coco asked, genuinely surprised. "Because if the number of parties my parents have been throwing is any indication, they have too much- oh son of a bitch they're smokescreens." She was silent for a moment as she contemplated the revelation before smirking viciously. "Good riddance. A little humility might do them some good and oh who am I kidding they're just going to double down, and I will be watching from afar and laughing as it all burns."
"Not even the loss of the cash cow you pad your fashion fund with can ruin your mood, huh?" Fox noted.
"Oh, no no, I'm freaking out about that internally, I promise you that, and I'm definitely going to eviscerate some ice cream cartons later, but for now? Yeah, yeah, I'm happy."
"Ah, pardon me, but... Miss Schnee?" Pyrrha spoke up hesitantly. "Not that I'm not happy you're here, but... I'm just curious: what are you doing here?"
Weiss smiled kindly at her young protege before looking at Coco. "Allow me to answer your question with another question: Miss Adel, I didn't recognize the ammunition your weapon was using. Am I right in suspecting you designed it yourself?"
"Uh, yes?" Coco answered, blinking at the apparent non-sequitur. "Standard rounds just don't have enough 'oomph', so I had to make them myself."
"Can I see one of them?" Weiss asked, holding out her hand.
Casting a confused glance at her teammates, Coco shrugged indifferently before fishing one of the rounds out of her belt and handing it over. Weiss held it up to her eye, examining the base and the round itself.
Nobody noticed Jaune pulling Pyrrha away from the group.
"Standard primer, the round looks normal," Weiss said thoughtfully. She placed it back into palm and bobbed her arm up and down. "A little heavy for its size, but nothing out of the ordinary. Can I open it up?"
Coco nodded, and Weiss conjured up a pair of glyphs that hauled the round apart. She tilted the cartridge over, tapping some of the propellant into her hand. And one look at the propellant later, her eyes had widened considerably.
"Is this Wind Dust mixed in here?" Weiss exclaimed.
"Yup. Mixing in Wind Dust increases the surface area and puts the oxidizer directly in the propellant," Coco explained proudly. "What that means is a longer burn time and more energy in the propellant, and thus about, oh, 10% more muzzle energy. Give it a nice, hard-cored bullet to take the extra velocity, and you've got a major increase in hitting power. It was a bitch figuring out how to mix it properly so that the burn stays even."
"First year smelled like bat guano and burnt flesh," Yatsuhashi sighed heavily.
"Miss Adel," Weiss said slowly. "What you have done here is… incredible! This is a significant boost to conventional firearms, and believe me, they need a boost. Now, I checked the patents, and this process is not patented. If you did so, I believe that would solve all of your financial issues in one fell swoop. The weapons companies and the military would be breaking down your door to buy it."
"Wait, what?!" Coco exclaimed, her glasses slipping down her nose in surprise. "But… this is a family formula that we've been using for at least three generations! I thought they'd already patented the process!"
"You can check for yourself, but they have not," Weiss replied. "I'll confess, while I am here to check on the festival preparations, I'd normally let Ms. Fall handle that. I came in person to talk to you."
Coco was silent as she digested that. "You want the propellant design," she stated. "And since it's not patented, you're afraid my family will steal the march on you and do it themselves."
"Exactly. Selling the patent would solve their financial issues as well," Weiss nodded. "You patent it, I buy the patent. I gain a new product, you gain a tidy financial windfall and stick it to your family at the same time. A good deal, in my opinion, but I'm not so crass as to demand you make a decision now.
"That said, I do recommend you make that decision before the quarterly earnings are released," Weiss continued. "That's the perfect time for the Adel's to make their move." She patted Coco on the shoulder. "Think on it, okay?"
A polite cough sounded from behind them. "Miss Schnee," Bartholomew Oobleck announced, holding his hand out. "It's good to see you on the halls of Beacon again."
"Thank you. It's good to see you again, too, Dr. Oobleck," Weiss replied, shaking his hand in greeting. "I was just informing Miss Adel of an excellent business opportunity that she was apparently unaware of."
"Yes, yes, I managed to catch the tail end of the conversation," Oobleck continued, adjusting his glasses. "I had to make sure you weren't trying to hire her straight away. I know you have scrupulously followed the rules regarding hiring students, but with General Xiao Long here long-term we are, I confess, a little on edge."
"Oh, I understand, Doctor, believe me," Weiss replied, rolling her eyes. "The general's kleptomaniacal HR practices have led her to attempt to hire Ms. Fall on more than one occasion."
"I've always summarily refused her, of course," the secretary shrugged. "I find that military fatigues don't compliment me, and I prefer eviscerating my enemies in the board room, not in live combat."
"Quite right, quite right!" Oobleck nodded swiftly in agreement. "Is there any way I can convince you to return to finish your curriculum? I quite enjoyed having you as a student, and I dare say that I was not the only one who was quite sad that you had to leave to sort out that Wunderland mess."
"Wait, what is Wunderland?" Jaune said as he and Pyrrha jogged back up to the group. "Winter mentioned it when we were talking to her a few days ago."
The group took in the somewhat disheveled appearance of both students, as well as the fact that they had just run up to them. "What?" Jaune said defensively.
"What were you two doing?" Fox asked, before holding up a hand to ward off the response. "Never mind, I don't want to know. What I want to know is how you don't know what Wunderland is."
"Well then, allow me to explain!" Oobleck announced. "Wunderland was a Schnee Dust mine in Mistral. It was their flagship mine, with hundreds of workers and making millions in profit for the company. However, what the miners did not know was that there were pockets of toxic gasses trapped in the rock around the mine, and they lacked the appropriate safety equipment to handle the gasses should they get into the mine. So, when they inevitably broke open a particularly large pocket they… well, they went mad and tore each other to pieces."
The students recoiled at that, Jaune looking distinctly green around the gills.
"I… didn't know that," Coco breathed. "I-I thought they just all died, period!"
"That part was kept from the public. The backlash was bad enough, and nobody wanted to make it any worse," Oobleck explained.
"But, wait," Jaune interrupted. "This was an accident, right? Why did Miss Schnee have to go sort it out herself?"
"The investigation revealed an environmental study that made it quite clear that those gasses were present," Oobleck continued, taking a sip of coffee. "And yet, the report never reached those in charge of the mine operations. Weiss was instrumental in revealing that Kalt Schnee, CEO of the company at the time, had known and covered it up in the name of profit, as had her sister Winter Schnee. Worse, the investigation revealed hundreds of other incidents, smaller in scale but no less damning."
"Miss Schnee essentially gutted the company in order to reveal all the corruption present within," Cinder informed them formally. "It was... quite the crusade, if I do say so myself."
"I'd known for years that my family was... far from perfect..." Weiss sighed heavily. "But this... this was the final straw. So, I had to retire them. Forcefully."
Jaune paled. "Wait, you mean you-"
"No!" Weiss immediately denied. "Goodness, no! For goodness' sake, you talked to Winter yourself! No, no, what I meant is that I removed them from power within the company. Father and Winter are living in nice retirement villas in Mistral under unofficial house arrest. Or, at least," she frowned darkly. "Winter was. I thought I'd made it quite clear to her that there would be consequences if she ever left. I'll have to do something about that..."
"She, uh, also gave us this," Pyrrha said, slipping the photo of the faunus miners out of her belt and handing it to Weiss. The businesswoman took it and looked it over, her eyes hardening in recognition. Finally, she sighed and handed it back to Pyrrha.
"Real photograph, fake date and location," she concluded. "But I think you already knew that, right?"
Pyrrha nodded in relief. "I never doubted you for a moment, Miss Schnee."
"Weiss! Honestly…" Weiss reflexively corrected, an indulgent smile spreading across her face. "Good luck in the tournament, Pyrrha. But honestly? I don't think you'll need it."
"Miss Schnee, we need to…" Cinder trailed off, tapping her watch expectantly.
"Ah, yes," Weiss replied, turning to leave. "Well, it was good talking to you all, but I do have another appointment to go to. I'll see you all for the tournament."
As the two walked away, Oobleck took a deep sip of his coffee before turning back to the students. "Well! As much as I like filling gaps in knowledge, I really must get back to grading papers. Ta-ta!" And with that, he vanished in one of his trademark blurs.
For a moment, everyone just shuffled awkwardly before Fox broke the tension the only way he knew how. "So…" he drawled, wagging his eyebrows. "What were you two up to while Schnee was giving Coco her sales pitch?"
Both Jaune and Pyrrha promptly flushed red and tried to answer simultaneously. "W-We were-!/I was just-!"
The two glanced at each other, before speaking in unison again. "You go first-"
"Oh God," Coco groaned, running her hand down her face. "They're gonna be one of those couples."
"Salutations!"
"SON OF A GRIMM!" Coco howled as she leapt almost a clear foot off the ground before wheeling around to snarl at Penny. "How the fuck did you just do that!?
"She's very quiet, you know," Fox replied absently. "Doesn't jibber-jabber unnecessarily. Or breathe, for that matter." He smirked. "Doesn't matter to me, of course, but most people won't see her coming at all."
"And you didn't tell us she was coming… why?" Coco growled in a tone of voice that demanded a very good answer.
"Uhh... Because it was funnier this way? You think a person knows you..."
As Coco fought against Yatsuhashi's grip in an attempt to strangle Fox, Pyrrha and Jaune crowded around Penny. "Penny! Coco told us you'd vanished after the fight on the docks," Pyrrha said worriedly. "We didn't know where you'd gone, and we haven't seen you since!"
"It's alright, Pyrrha," Penny replied. "I… actually wasn't supposed to be there, so when my father came to pick me up, I was… oh, what's the word…" Penny frowned thoughtfully before lighting up in realization. "Right! Grounded! I was grounded."
"So, what are you doing here, then?" Jaune asked curiously.
"I managed to convince my father that since I would be fighting in the tournament, I should be able to go to the dance tonight," Penny replied cheerfully.
"Wait, and your father would be…?"
Penny pointed up, just as an Atlesian airship blotted out the sun, flanked by two Dust Devil Bullheads.
"Oh…" Jaune said simply, scratching his head. "Well, now the fact that Pyrrha and I are going to the dance together just seems lame in comparison."
"Yeah..." Coco nodded numbly for a second before snapping her head towards him. "Wait, what!? Ahhhh son of a-"
"Pay up," Fox grinned eagerly.
"FUCK!"
~o~
Nora skipped down the hall towards the room she shared with her team. She'd had an awesome conversation with General Yang and gotten a wicked-looking electric stungun in the process and now she was out of the infirmary! Yay!
Skidding to a halt, she opened the door and made a beeline for her wardrobe. Best to make sure her prize was still there.
Opening her underwear drawer, she shuffled the garments around...
And frowned as she didn't see it.
The shuffling grew steadily more and more frantic, the clothes getting thrown out of the drawer as the shard failed to reveal itself. Finally, with the drawer empty, she had to conclude that the metal shard wasn't there.
That didn't ease her growing panic in the slightest, and she began tearing through the rest of her wardrobe. It wasn't there, either, nor in her bed, and she was just debating whether to start looking in one of her teammates' wardrobes when she heard the door open behind her.
"Looking for this?" Ren said, waving the piece of metal in one hand.
"YOU WENT THROUGH MY UNDERWEAR DRAWER?" Nora screeched.
"Really, that's what offends you?" Ren scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I helped you buy half the contents. It's nothing I haven't seen before. Still, that's not the point. What matters is this."
Ren jabbed a finger at the sole bit of color on the metal, now cleaned further to reveal speed lines and a white cartoon glove.
"Tell me, whose logo does this remind of?"
"Uh… I-I don't recognize it at all," Nora stammered, sweat starting to bead on her forehead.
"Really, despite it being on every pair of underwear you've brought for the past five years?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay, okay, it's the Dust Devil's logo!" Nora snapped. "That Bullhead must have been stolen or something!"
"Perhaps," Ren conceded. "Though if all of those Bullheads were stolen from the Dust Devils I have serious doubts about their competence. Still better than the idea that the Dust Devils are somehow aligned with the White Fang." Ren stared pointedly at Nora, causing her to fidget slightly. "Which begs the question of why you had to hide this thing, if you think the Bullhead was simply stolen?"
"Shut up…"
"That leads me to think you're as suspicious of them as I am," Ren continued. "You don't like Yang as much as you act like you do, you're just overcompensating for-"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Nora howled as she suddenly dashed forward and punched Ren in the jaw. Aura took the blow, but the momentum transfer still knocked him flat on his ass. Panting, she stared down at his shocked face, her own expression one of burning fury. Finally, she shook her head in disgust and ran out the door.
"Nora, wait!" Ren called out, scrambling to his feet and reaching for her. But she knocked his hand away with a tear-filled, angry glare that stopped Ren dead in his tracks. Turning away, she stalked off down the corridor, steadfastly refusing to look at him. Ren, for his part, didn't follow.
He was still standing there, staring off into the distance, when Jaune and Pyrrha arrived back at the dorm.
"Uh, Ren?" Jaune asked hesitantly. "Are you okay?"
"No, Jaune," Ren stated in a monotone. He slowly turned around and started to aimlessly shamble off. "No, I'm not."
Pyrrha and Jaune glanced at each other, and Pyrrha jerked her head inside, prompting Jaune to grab his shoulders and gently steer him into the room.
"And if you think I'm gonna let you wander around in that state, you've got another thing coming," Jaune declared as they stepped into the room. "Pyrrha, could you get some tea going? I think he needs it."
"Got it," Pyrrha replied, searching for the teapot and teabags.
"Gotta find Nora," Ren weakly protested, trying to push Jaune off of him.
"Nuh-uh, you're staying here until we figure out what happened and how we're gonna fix this," Jaune countered. The blonde pressed down on Ren's shoulders and pushed him onto the bed. "Remember: we're a team. You don't have to do this all by yourself."
Ren was silent for a second, before nodding. "Okay. And Jaune? Thank you."
"Hey, no problem!" Jaune replied sunnily. "We'll work this out."
Once Ren wasn't looking, Pyrrha and Jaune glanced at each other nervously, an unsaid 'I hope' passing between them.
~o~
"Where is she?" Coco growled, pacing back and forth on the gym floor. Her outfit, a mix of brown, white, and black, with a long-and-poofy-sleeve white shirt under a longer strapless dress, was distinctly old-fashioned, but it looked nice and stood out from the more modern garments all the other girls were wearing. "It's been half an hour since the start of the dance and she's still not here!"
"Why do you expect me to know anything?" Fox said, one eyebrow quirked. "I know exactly as much as you do."
"Rhetorical question, dammit!" the fashionista snapped before resuming her pacing. Unconsciously, her right thumb began to drift up to her mouth, though Coco noticed and slapped down the offending limb before she could start nibbling on the nail.
"Is it just me," Fox muttered to Yatsuhashi out of the corner of his mouth. "Or does this remind you of that caged Boarbatusk Professor Port brought in way back when?"
"Mm. Could be worse," the taller man rumbled.
*SPLASH!*
The two Huntsmen-in-training turned to see Jaune pulling Ren's head out of one of the punch bowls, looking equal parts resigned and frantic. Pyrrha, on the meantime, was chasing after a... 'fuming' - though 'about to erupt' would probably be more accurate - Nora as politely and with as much decorum as possible.
"Could be that," Yatsuhashi finished.
Fox sighed ruefully and shook his head. "What happened after we left them?" he wondered. "He and Valkyrie were practically joined at the hip all semester and now Nora's trying to drown Ren in the punch and Ren looked like he was about two seconds away from letting her."
"Yup," Yatsuhashi drawled. For a few minutes, the two simply stood there, taking in the party.
Aside from Coco and the unhappy couple of JNPR, everything was going swimmingly. The decorators Cinder Fall had called had done an excellent job with the decorations, with everything from the streamers to the tables looking a cut above the usual school fare. The DJ duo were pumping out some of the best electronic music Fox had ever heard, though the robot helmets were somewhat offputting. The result was a very lively, active party, with even the soldiers guarding Penny tapping along to the beat.
The moment was broken by Yatsuhashi's Scroll vibrating. The swordsman pulled it out, and actually opened his eyes a little at the message.
"Is that from Velvet?" Fox asked.
"Yes," Yatsuhashi replied, slipping the Scroll back into his pocket. "She wants me to meet her outside."
"Heh, probably needs that last push," Fox chuckled before slapping his teammate on the back. "You go get her butt in gear, I'll-"
"GAH!"
Coco's screech was accompanied by cracking concrete, presumably due to her throwing her hat as hard as she could at the nearest wall.
"Go make sure our fearless leader doesn't accidentally murder somebody," Fox finished with a sigh. Yatsuhashi nodded in sympathy, and the two parted ways.
The dark-skinned young man slowly crept up on Coco before stopping just out of arm's reach and announcing his presence. "You done trying to kill anybody?"
Coco whirled around, looking ready to spit fire - and then froze in numb shock. "Fox…" she managed to force out. "What in the name of Remnant are you wearing?"
Fox glanced down at the garishly purple suit he was wearing, with the equally purple tie and fluorescent orange shirt. "I'm wearing my usual formalwear."
"I refuse to believe that purple and orange… monstrosity constitutes your usual formalwear," Coco spat, her voice regaining its prior heat.
"Aw, shit, really?" Fox lied. "I thought I was wearing my usual suit!"
All the anger in Coco's posture and words melted away, leaving her looking tired and defeated. "Just… I don't even care anymore," Coco sighed. "Just don't make me look at that… thing that you're wearing."
Fox frowned, and mentally decided to drop the snarkiness. At least for a little while.
"Does Velvet coming to the dance really mean that much to you?" he asked softly.
"It's… I don't… yes," Coco finally said. "And the worst part is, I'm not even sure why this is tearing me up so badly! I mean, my head says that I never invited her or anything, that her being late doesn't mean anything, but my heart is being a stupid motherfucker and not listening!"
Those last words were shouted at her chest, which brought more than a few stares. Coco flushed under the attention, but hastily recovered and shot back a glare that was vicious enough to curdle milk. "The hell are you all looking at?" Everyone hastily looked away. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"Wow," Fox chuckled. "You've really got it bad." At Coco's surprised and rather mortified look, he smirked. "What? You think because I tease you about it I didn't notice? I tease you about it because I did notice and it gets the best reactions! And, and!" he hastily tacked on when Coco grabbed him by the front of his tux and hauled him a foot off the ground. "Because I really like you guys and I hoped that if I pushed it enough one of you would finally snap and you'd pounce on one another in a haze of-I mean!" he amended as Coco's other hand formed a fist and was hauled back. "Y-you'd finally confess, you'd finally say something to each other instead of pussyfooting around the freaking Goliath in the room! It, ah... hasn't worked so far though. Don't kill me?"
Coco simply chose to keep glaring at him with her fist cocked, at least until someone in the crowd decided to butt in.
"Aw, come on! I wanna see him get punched!"
"Oh, piss off!" Coco snapped, before sighing and letting him down. Fox, for his part, hastily unruffled the section of suit his leader had grabbed.
"It's… I hoped…" Coco stammered for a moment before sighing and bringing her palm to her face. "I... guess I just wanted Velvet to be here because I wanted tonight to... to be the night." The fashionista sighed again. "It's silly and cliche, I know, but-"
"Actually," Fox cut in, looking over Coco's left shoulder. "I don't think it's as silly as you think it is."
Puzzled, Coco turned around - and found herself at a loss for words.
"I'm gonna go check up on Yatsu and leave you two to it, okay?" Fox grinned, slinking off into the crowd.
Coco barely even noticed as her teammate left, so engrossed was she with the sight before her. "V-Velvet?" she breathed softly.
"H-hi, Coco," Velvet stammered shyly. Indeed, it was the rabbit faunus, but not like Coco had ever seen her before. Namely, wearing an immaculate tuxedo, her brown hair tied up in a ponytail in the back, and a luminescent blush painting her cheeks.
"W-would you..." Velvet started to stammer out before swallowing heavily. "Would you... c-care to dance with me?"
Coco stared at Velvet in awe for a moment, mind stalling furiously as she tried to connect what she was seeing with her sense of reality. Finally, however... she snorted. She snorted, she shook... and finally she burst out laughing. Coco doubled over as she howled with laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks as she hiccupped and giggled euphorically.
Velvet's blush died into a dull gray as her ears sank low on her head. The poor girl withered at the laughter, shrinking in on herself miserably. She slowly started to turn away from her leader. "I-I'm sorry... I... t-this was stupid, I'll just-!"
She was halted by a hand grabbing her wrist.
"No. Don't. Stay... please."
Velvet slowly turned back to look at Coco, who was hiccuping and rubbing at her cheeks with a goofy grin.
"I-I'm sorry..." Coco managed to work out. "N-not for laughing... f-for the most part. S-some of that was directed at you because for Pete's sake you look absolutely precious in that suit, I swear to Remnant... But ah... no, no. A lot of that laughter is... it's directed at myself, I'm laughing at me, and I'm apologizing for me."
Velvet blinked in confusion as she tried to process what she was hearing. "I, uh... w-what? W-what are you apologizing for?"
"For... basically all of this," Coco said, gesturing in Velvet's general direction. "For putting you through... so much. I'm sorry that I didn't have the courage to put on that suit, I'm sorry I didn't ask you first, I'm sorry for making you be the one to do it all, when I'm supposed to be the strong one... I'm sorry, Velvet, I'm so, so sorry for everything. And... I realize that this might be too little too late, I realize that I've been a blind, stupid, inconsiderate coward, but..." Coco slowly reached up and slid her glasses off, showing her eyes to be positively brimming with tears. "If you could find it in your heart... to forgive me for all of it... for everything I've put you through... then I would be the happiest person alive. So... what do you say? Are you willing to give this coward a shot?"
For a moment, Velvet just stood there in open-mouthed amazement. Finally, though, she closed her mouth and gave Coco a wobbly smile. "Yes," she breathed, taking Coco's hand. She slowly raised it to her cheek and leaned into it, nuzzling it dearly and wiping her tears against it. "Yes, yes, of course I will. How could you ever think otherwise? I could never say no, especially..." She sniffed happily. "Especially to the girl I've loved since the day I met her."
Coco hiccuped joyously and made to say something, but was... rudely interrupted.
"Ergh, would you dykes hurry up and just-!" THWACK! "-AGHK!"
Most attention in the room snapped over to where Cardin Winchester was laying curled up on the ground in pain while Goodwitch stood over him imperiously, tapping her riding crop in her hand with a disappointed tsk.
"Honestly now, Mr. Winchester," Goodwitch scolded flatly. "Failing to wear a cup at all times is a mistake I would expect from a student of Signal Academy, certainly not one of my own. That will be detention for the rest of the year, I'm afraid. And as for you, Miss Adel!" She snapped her gaze over to the fashionista, who hastily sprung to attention.
"Y-yes ma'am!" she stammered hastily.
Goodwitch cocked an eyebrow expectantly. "Shouldn't you be finalizing matters?"
"Uh... yes ma'am?"
"Then I do believe you should get on with it, hm?"
Coco blinked in surprise before hastily snapping out another salute. "Right away, ma'am!"
Velvet blinked in confusion. "Wait, wha-"
That was as far as she got before Coco grabbed her by the waist and pressed her lips against hers. For a moment, a stunned Velvet let her leader press her down, before she grabbed Coco herself and began kissing back in earnest. The rest of the world - in particular, the cheers of the students around them - melted away. All she knew was herself, Coco, and their bodies and lips pressing together.
Finally, they broke away, blushing but happy. Velvet dipped into a shallow bow, and held out her hand to Coco, who immediately took it. The new couple walked out onto the dance floor, and began to lose themselves in a different couples' activity: a slow ballroom dance, one pair of arms around each others' waist and the other pair clasped together. Slowly, the two lost themselves to the music and each other, swaying in time to the beat. Nothing else existed for them.
~o~
"So? What's going on?" Fox asked as he swooped down next to Yatsuhashi.
His larger teammate had not been outside the gym where he had met with Velvet, and by the time Fox caught up, the two were almost near the CCT tower. Another surprise had been Yatsu's massive sword slung over his back, the rocket locker embedded in the concrete nearby telling him how he'd gotten it so quickly. Naturally, as Yatsuhashi explained what was going on, Fox ordered his locker delivered as well.
"I saw someone traversing the rooftops," Yatsuhashi stated, gazing up at the CCT tower. "A she, I believe. With Velvet on her way, I elected to follow her, and she entered the tower."
"Considering it's closed for the night... and none of the guards have raised any alarms," Fox added as his locker landed and he began to retrieve his weapons. "I agree, that smells fishier than the harbor market."
Yatsuhashi merely nodded as Fox finished equipping himself.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Fox asked cheekily. "Let's go!"
And with that, the two marched into the tower.
~o~
Neopolitan smirked to herself as she let the thumb drive deliver its payload into the CCT's main computer systems. Honestly, for such a critical linchpin of civilization, the tower was embarrassingly insecure. Getting in had been a simple matter of reaching one of the high windows and carefully popping it open; security was apparently focused on the ground and top floors.
The computer terminal she'd plugged the thumb drive into dinged softly, and she pulled it out and pocketed it. Time to make her escape before someone-
The currently black-haired woman resisted the urge to sigh as she heard the elevator approach the floor she was on. Of course it couldn't be that simple. Neo slunk over to one of the corners of the room and draped one of her trademark illusions over it. Anyone walking in would see only wall.
The elevator door dinged, and two very familiar faces walked in. Yatsuhashi Daichi and Fox Alistair swept their gazes across the room, and Neo felt her breath hitch as Fox's sightless eyes zeroed in on her position. Right, blind. Ah well. She dropped the illusion, presenting her domino mask, full-body black catsuit, and coy smile.
Fox promptly charged in, punching straight at her. Neo waited until the strike was bare inches from her face before deftly sidestepping the attack. Plucking her parasol off her back, she hooked the handle into Fox's leg and pulled, dropping him straight on his face.
The next attack came from Yatsuhashi, his sword coming down in a two-handed chop. That too was dodged with a neat twirl that left her facing the much larger man. Her parasol went up, blooming in his face and blocking his view. To her consternation, though, his stance remained as solid as a mountain, with no points of leverage.
Unfortunately, she had no time to find any as Fox took another swipe at her. She ducked to her right, closing her parasol, and turned the movement into a cartwheel that allowed her to slam the side of her foot into his chin. Landing on her feet, she was forced to dive over Yatsuhashi's sword and roll away, at which point Fox was on her again.
No rhythm, no illusions, no openings on the big one- Neo was loathe to admit it, but she'd need help for this. Help she signaled for by swiping one hand down to her side so as to activate her pager before going back to the fight.
~o~
Cinder clapped politely as Coco took Velvet's hand and led her onto the dance floor. It warmed the cockles of her heart to see young love like that.
Wait, no, that was her pager buzzing. Thank the heavens for that, for a moment there she was afraid she might have been going soft.
Surreptitiously stepping back into the crowd, Cinder fished the device out of her pocket and frowned as she saw who it was from. While not Emerald or Torchwick, Neo was still a member of the Commission's inner circle, and thus a very solid thief and capable combatant in her own right. More importantly, she knew she was good, and proud of it. For her to be asking for help…
Well. Now she was genuinely glad for the new couple, for they were a most excellent distraction. It was simplicity itself for her to signal Miss Schnee before slipping out of the crowd and make her way outside.
Quickly ducking into a nearby building, she changed out of her dress and into a black catsuit and domino mask similar to Neo's, only her's bared her arms. Regardless, now disguised, she jumped up onto the roofs, switched her blades into bow form, and sighted up into the CCT tower where the fight was still going on.
~o~
Fox jabbed and crossed at the intruder, who to his continued annoyance continued to practically slide around his blows. Finally, he overextended a bit on one jab, and he felt an elbow slam into his gut just as a foot impacted his shin, with the result that his face slammed into the floor. Again.
Which was fine, as Yatsuhashi came in, sword swinging. The black-haired woman dodged it, of course, but she didn't even bother trying to attack.
This was the pattern that had been established. Fox would get her attention, eat a counter, and then Yatsuhashi would get them a little breathing room. Why she didn't attack Yatsu was beyond him, but he was not complaining. One-on-one, Fox knew he'd probably have lost five minutes ago.
"Okay, where the hell are those guards?" Fox grumbled.
"They'll be here," Yatsuhashi rumbled. "We likely only need to last a few more minutes."
"Okay," Fox breathed as he checked his aura levels. "Okay, I think we can do that."
Naturally, it was at that point that an obsidian arrow crashed through the window and landed at their feet, a bright red-and-yellow glyph popping up on the floor. The two students only had a brief moment to react before the glyph exploded.
Fox staggered back as the flames scorched at his Aura. Between the smoke, heat, and noise of the explosion, he didn't notice Neopolitan until she was up in his face.
'Aw, shi-'
Neo's booted foot slammed into his chin with far more force than any of her previous blows. His Aura, depleted by the previous fighting and the explosion, gave out as he rocketed upwards and bounced off the ceiling, before falling to the ground in a heap.
Neo turned, smirking, towards Yatsuhashi, who was charging for her, sword raised. However, when the blow landed it merely shattered an illusion. The Huntsman scanned the room, but the diminutive thief was nowhere in sight.
~o~
Cinder smirked as she dismissed her bow. That should have been enough for Neo to get away. In all honesty, she would have to see about thanking the... assassin? Illusionist? Whatever. She'd get her something nice later. After all, it was nice to be challenged every once in awhile, and sniping the top of the CCT Tower with nothing to rely on but instincts and aura? Truly a challenge indeed.
Now all she had to do was slip back into her dress and sneak back into the dance and she'd be-
Cinder stiffened as cold metal tapped against the back of her neck.
"Don't move."
Okay, so her situational awareness might have needed some work…
"Stand up. Slowly. And keep your hands where I can see them," Lie Ren said.
Cinder did so, mind whirling. The gun trained on her wasn't the worry; Aura was nice like that. No, the real issue was him raising the alarm and bringing help. Still, best to be compliant for now. She just hoped that she managed to find a way to escape before her mask was removed. If her face was known to the public, then her neck was as good as slit. No doubt by Miss Schnee herself, even.
"Turn around. Let me see your-"
THUNK!
"-agh!"
The pressure of the gun vanished, prompting Cinder to spin around and materialize her bow with an arrow nocked and drawn. Ren was nowhere to be seen, but a sheepish Penny was.
"Sorry, Ms. Fall," Penny apologized, giving a shallow bow. "I didn't notice that he was tailing you until he was almost on your position."
"It's quite alright, dear," Cinder replied. "I am ashamed to admit that I didn't see him coming myself."
Penny opened her mouth to respond, only to close it as the sound of sirens began to doppler towards them. "I think we should probably get back to the dance now," the gynoid suggested, before turning around to find Cinder already gone.
"Oh," she blinked in surprise before shrugging and jumping down from the building herself.
~o~
Weiss sipped a cup of punch as she leaned against one wall of the gym. School dances had never been a pleasant activity for her, in large part due to the fact that none of the students could dance worth a lick. Well, compared to her, at least. From the looks of things, that hadn't changed.
"Woo hoo!" Yang announced as she sashayed up to Weiss wearing a lampshade - where'd she even gotten that? - as a hat. "Ah, man, I love this party!"
"You love all parties," Weiss deadpanned, rolling her eyes.
"Guilty," Yang admitted without a trace of shame. "But seriously, you should go out and enjoy this a little more."
"Is there a point to this," Weiss said frostily. "Or are you just here to badger me?"
"Wellll," Yang drew out. "I was wondering why your secretary was slipping out in the middle of the dance."
"The usual troubleshooting stuff," Weiss replied, taking a sip of her punch. "You know how it is with festivals like this. There's always something coming up."
There was an issue with the break-in.
Yang frowned slightly. "Well, geez, I hope it's not serious. Does she need any extra manpower?"
Do I need to level anything?
"No, no, it's not that bad," Weiss said dismissively. "Cinder would tell me if she needed assistance."
I hope.
"KYAAAAAAAA!"
Both Yang and Weiss turned towards the source of the scream, but otherwise didn't react as the crowd began to press towards the doors.
"Huh, wonder what's going on," Yang mused.
"Oh, go check it out," Weiss said, waving her hand. "I know you want to go rubberneck."
~o~
Jaune sighed as he watched the paramedics cart off Ren, Nora following like a wounded puppy.
"I hope he's alright," Jaune said, concern tinging his voice.
"He'll be fine," Pyrrha reassured him. "Trust me, I know injuries, and his isn't bad at all."
"Well, in that case, I'd like to wish him a quick recovery."
Jaune and Pyrrha turned around to see two teens only slightly older than their own age. The guy had messy gray hair and a nonchalant stance, while the girl had sea-green hair and dark skin, and looked distinctly grumpy as she swirled the punch-filled cup she was holding. And both carried themselves like Huntsmen.
"I'm Mercury Black, and Miss Grumpypants over here is Emerald Sustrai," the gray-haired teen said, jabbing his thumb back at his companion.
"Fuck you, Mercury."
"Sorry, it's that time of month for her."
"Fuck you, Mercury."
"Anyway," Mercury continued as if the previous exchange hadn't happened. "Just wanted to say hi. Probably our last chance before the tournament actually starts. Good luck out there, all of you."
"Uh, thanks?" Jaune replied. "Good luck to you, too."
"Hey, it's you!"
Mercury, Jaune, and Pyrrha turned around to see Sun pointing at Emerald, and actually wearing his suit, though the bowtie was notable in its absence.
"That was a mean trick you pulled," Sun accused, though without any heat. "Most other guys would be put off by that kind of stuff, but me? I find crime sexy."
"You know this guy?" Mercury whispered to Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Yes, he's a friend," Pyrrha replied. "Why?"
"Well, since he's about to crash and burn…"
"So, can I still get that number?" Sun asked, flashing a shiny grin.
Emerald's grumpy expression slowly shifted into a more contemplative look as she gave Sun a once-over. "Even after I pick-pocketed you and gave you a number that led you to the, and I quote, 'Rejection Hotline'?"
Sun's grin widened slightly. "I'm committed like that."
Emerald slowly adopted a saucy grin as she sauntered up to the faunus, trailing her hand over his chest appreciatively. "Yes, yes you are. And you know what? I'd say that kind of commitment deserves to be..." Her hand slowly started to drop towards Sun's pants. "Rewarded."
Jaune blinked in shock and awe at the display before him. "I-Is she serious?"
"Wait for it..." Mercury deadpanned.
The grin never left Emerald's face as she grabbed the front of Sun's belt, yanked his waistband open and poured her drink down his crotch. "Get lost," she chirped pleasantly before wheeling around and stalking off.
"There it is."
Sun blinked numbly as he watched Emerald leave before shooting a hopeful grin at Mercury. "That means she digs me, right?"
"Eh..." Mercury waved his hand side-to-side. "More along the lines of 'eat shit, puke, choke on it and die', but close enough."
"I like those odds!" Sun proclaimed proudly.
"Did I mention that she's hot as a furnace for our superior who's not only older and classy as fuck but also a woman?" Mercury questioned innocently.
"Okay, those odds? Not so much," Sun groaned as he drooped forwards miserably.
"There there..." Neptune rolled his eyes with a sigh as he patted his friend's back reassuringly.
"Anyway, as much fun as it is to see you get shot down, I need to go follow her and make sure she doesn't murder our other teammates," Mercury said before trotting off after Emerald. "See ya!"
"Well, I think I'll just be the first to say it: tonight has been an unmitigated disaster," Jaune sighed, throwing his hands up as Mercury disappeared out the gym doors.
"Mm, I don't know about that," Pyrrha said, leaning in close to Jaune. "I'm fairly certain that some parts have been quite positive."
Jaune paused as he considered that before shrugging reluctantly. "Well... alright, you've got me there. I guess Coco and Velvet finally getting together was nice."
Pyrrha chuckled brightly. "Among other things, I suppose. Well, I'm feeling tired, so I think I'm going to head back to our room for now."
"Oh, yeah, sure, alri-!" Jaune's words trailed off into nothingness as Pyrrha kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you for coming with me tonight, Jaune, it's been wonderful."
"I-I, uh… warglblargl…"
Pyrrha tittered softly before turning and walking back towards the dorms. "I'll see you there, Jaune!"
The blond stared after her for a minute or so before adopting a contemplative look. "Hey, guys," he said slowly to Sun and Neptune. "I think Pyrrha likes me. Like, like likes me."
The two Mistral students glanced at each other before sighing and simultaneously smacking Jaune upside the head.
"Ow!"
"Have we finally managed to get through your two-foot thick titanium-plated skull, or do we need to do that again?" Sun questioned flatly.
"Ah, no, no, I'm good..." Jaune waved them off as he held his throbbing head.
"Good," Neptune nodded before he and Sun doubled over, clutching their hands in agony. "Because ow! Holy mother of Grimm, what the hell is your head made of!?"
"I think I broke half the bones in this thing..." Sun moaned.
~o~
Consciousness returned slowly to Ren, blinking slowly as his brain rebooted from the hard reset it'd just gotten. Blinking again, he tried to lift up a hand to clear the crust he could feel on his eyes, and felt a brief twinge of panic when his arm didn't move. Panic that quickly subsided as pink filled his vision.
"Hello, Nora," he said softly.
"You're awake!" she shrieked, quickly shifting her grip to wrap him up in a tight bear hug. "When-you-fell-off-that-building-and-made-that-thump-like-a-steak-hitting-the-floor-I-thought-you-might-be-dead-or-brain-dead-or-worse-and-I-didn't-know-what-to-do-so-I-just-watched-as-everyone-ran-out-and-Jaune-called-the-paramedics-and-!"
"Can't… breathe…" Ren wheezed.
"Oh!" Nora exclaimed, hastily letting go of him. "Sorry." Sitting back on the bed Ren was lying in, she looked away and poked her fingers together. "Are you still mad at me?"
Ren just gave her a pointed look.
"Oh, right, I was the one who was mad. Heh heh…" the orange-haired girl trailed off awkwardly.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the two, neither really knowing what to say. Finally, Nora broke the quiet.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. Or, at least, I shouldn't have hit you."
"I'm sorry, too," Ren replied. "You were right, I was getting snippy. I just… I just don't understand why you practically worship the ground she walks on."
There was no need to specify which "she" he was talking about, and Nora was silent for a moment as she mulled over her response.
"Do you remember? Back when our village was attacked?" she asked, barely concealed pain in her voice.
"I… try not to," Ren said slowly. "But yes, I do remember."
"Then you have to remember who it was that saved us, saved the village," Nora replied with a little more heat. "The Dust Devils saved us, Yang saved us. How can you not appreciate everything they've done for us, for everyone else? How... how can you not all but worship someone in that situation? Someone so great and nice and... and worthy of it?" The hammer wielder blushed slightly. "Doesn't hurt that she's really, really cool in general."
"I do appreciate what the good general did for us. But… I just can't respect General Xiao Long. I want to be strong for myself, and for you, not for fame and money like she does." He sighed explosively. "And… I think I was jealous. I'm so used to your attention that the idea of not having it felt…" He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
"You silly goose," Nora chuckled, reaching forward to boop Ren's nose. "I'm never going to leave you. You're gonna be stuck with me until the day the universe burns out."
"Isn't that usually 'Until the day you die?'" Ren asked, smiling.
"Eh, that's not long enough," Nora replied. "We good?"
"If you promise to tone down the hero-worship a little," Ren offered.
"Only if you promise to actually talk about this when it gets to you," Nora counter-offered.
"Deal." Grinning, the two spat in their palms and shook hands.
"So," Nora asked once they got the chance to wipe off the spit. "What were you doing out there, anyway?"
"That's something we'd like to know as well," General Ironwood cut in, flanked by Glynda and Ozpin.
~o~
"So. Alistair and Daichi spot someone moving over the rooftops and meet her in the main computer room of the CCT tower. Someone with an illusion Semblance, of all things. They fight for several minutes before a second infiltrator attacks them and allows the first to escape, having already done what she needed to do.
"Lie, meanwhile, corners the second attacker before being ambushed by a third attacker, both of whom vanish before anyone can respond.
"As for their objective, we're still cleaning out the computer systems of all the viruses and surveillance programs. My technicians hope to get them all removed by the end of the week, but we may have to shut down the tower - and thus the whole network - while they clean out one particular program that could crash the entire thing." General Ironwood sighed and shook his head. "I still don't know why they decided to put that little feature in the design."
"Well, at least there is a silver lining here," Ozpin said calmly, taking a sip of his coffee.
Only considerable experience with the enigmatic man kept Ironwood and Glynda from staring openly at him. "And that would be…?" Glynda asked expectantly.
"That the Dust Devils are not as perfect as they like to say they are." At the disgruntled looks the two gave him, Ozpin just shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that's all I could think of. In any case, do we have any clues as to who is behind this?"
"I am almost certain that it is the same group backing the White Fang and Crimson Thorns," Ironwood answered. "First, disrupting communications is exactly the sort of thing the White Fang needs to pull of a large-scale attack. Second, the resources needed to develop programs of this sophistication, and so many of them, is beyond either group, and beyond most independent hacker groups as well."
"Which means that, for all practical purposes, we are still exactly where we were before this incident, save with several dozen viruses infecting our communications infrastructure," Glynda sighed.
"You are certain your technicians have identified all the malignant software?" Ozpin confirmed.
"As sure as we can be," Ironwood said.
"Which begs the question of what the point of all this was," Glynda demanded in frustration. "They had to know we'd find and remove what they'd entered."
From the students' testimony, they likely did not expect to actually get caught in the act," Ironwood countered. "In which case we'd likely not have noticed until it was too late. Or, we would have overlooked one or more of the more subtle programs."
"That will have to do, then," Ozpin sighed. "Until we get more information, speculating further would be pointless."
Nodding, Ironwood and Glynda turned and entered the elevator. Ozpin watched them go before standing up and walking to the window, gazing out towards the woods, and the Grimm that infested them.
"What am I missing…?" he wondered, before narrowing his eyes in the distance. A small black speck was moving across the sky, occasionally blotting out a star. "Hmm. The Grimm are active tonight."
~o~
"So, Qrow's coming here?" Blake confirmed, pausing as Crescent Rose rang out and gibbed another Beowolf. "Can't we, I don't know, stop him from getting here?"
"Short of the two of us going out to actually kill him ourselves, no," Ruby replied, scanning the trees for more Grimm.
"Then what are we going to do?"
Ruby hefted Crescent Rose up, leaning its massive girth on a nearby branch as she looked through its scope. "Well, I'd say we go out there, track him down, and kill him ourselves..." She squeezed the trigger, blasting apart a tree mere inches to the side of a Beowolf and sending it into a frenzy. "But honestly, Qrow's a way better woodsman than us. I'd rather not risk him getting around us and tearing apart our operation. We know where he's going. Either he gets there too late, or he gets there early."
"And if he gets there early?"
"Then we kill him ourselves."
"Pretty simple plan," Blake mused, idly shooting a few raven-sized Nevermores as she strolled along the branches, dodging out of the way of their feathers as she went. "I like it. So, how are we doing this? Do we do it together, all four of us, or would it just be me and you?"
"Oh, ah, by 'we', I mean 'me and Yang'," Ruby clarified uncomfortably. Well, as uncomfortably as a person could be when they were deliberately aiming to injure and enrage packs of wild, bloodthirsty monstrosities instead of out and out killing them. "He's our uncle, it's our job to stop him."
"And Yang is just going to drop everything the second you text her," Blake drawled.
"You think she won't?"
"... Point."
"Also, because we're family, Qrow won't be as likely to try and kill us right off the bat, which gives her time to actually get to me," Ruby reasoned. "I hope. C'mon, you of all people should know how hard it is to fight non-lethally at this level!"
Blake let out a derisive snort at that. "He can't be that bad to fight." She promptly stepped back and flattened her ears at the glare Ruby shot her way. "But it can't hurt to be prepared, I suppose!"
"That's what I thought," Ruby nodded. A Creeper burst out of the nearby foliage, slavering jaws reaching for Ruby, who idly batted it away with Crescent Rose. "Of course, we've only got a week before we need to initiate the plan, and Qrow's still a ways away, so hopefully we can put off fighting him until we can set up a more favorable battlefield."
"A week, huh?" Blake breathed, looking up into the sky. "It's happening, it's really happening. After this… there'll be no turning back."
"Yup…" Ruby agreed as she joined Blake in looking up at the sky. "All these years waiting, and suddenly it feels like it's too soon."
The snapping of tree trunks sounded out through the forest, and both Ruby and Blake whirled around to see a house-sized Ursa tearing through the woods. Around its feet swarmed Beowolves, Creepers, Taijitus, Scorpios, and more Ursae. Above, a half-dozen giant Nevermores circled.
"Well, I think we've gotten their attention," Ruby casually remarked. "Remind me what step two was, again?"
Ruby looked to the side to see a black shadow clone dissipate into the air. "Oh, right," she chuckled, before vanishing in a blur of rose petals herself.
As one, the Grimm roared and gave pursuit, trampling everything in their paths as they followed the scents of their aggressors.
Followed them straight towards an innocuous, long-abandoned human settlement.