Ren was uncomfortable. Not because he had been climbing a completely vertical metal surface for the last seven minutes, not because he was wearing a skin-tight black suit and carrying a relatively heavy single strap bag while doing so, not even because he had given up lying to himself about staring at nothing else than Blake's butt for about five minutes now, but because his perfect assistance record had been thrown overboard. He understood that what he was doing was important and he would do it again and as many times as necessary, of course; but the thought remained bugging him.
"Just a few more floors. How are you holding?". Blake whispered to him.
"I'm fine. You?".
"Could be better… and don't worry, I understand the situation; I've been on your side before. I won't tell Nora or anyone".
Ren never thought it possible to feel embarrassed and relieved at the same time, but here he was. Fortunately, they were getting close to their destination; and just as they were ready to reach the eighteenth floor, a door opened, and Sun's head popped in while a panicking voice could be heard behind him. He looked back at the kitchen and then dropped a scraper that Blake caught with ease.
"Sun! I told you that the scraper couldn't fall down the shoot! And even more that it could still be there!" they heard someone scream.
"It didn't hurt to check! Now calm down". Sun answered before moving out their way.
Blake arrived at the opening and was then able to see Sun and a deer faunus in a chef's uniform facing her backward while Sun made a twirl with his tail. "That's the signal. Go!" Blake told Ren. They both got out of the shoot, not making any discernible noise and got under the cloth of the cart closest to the shoot as Sun tried to calm the chef.
"Look, we did our best. I'm sure he'll understand".
"ARE YOU CRAZY!? You were among the first to meet Pinky! He'll swallow me whole! He went to prison for leaving three guys in a coma for less!".
When Ran and Blake were secure under the cloth, she placed the scraper under the cart and if Sun's timing was perfect…
"Look, we have to tell him now, or desserts will be late and…" he pushed the cart and then stopped when he felt the wheels had hit something "Hey, what is that?" Sun said as quick footsteps got closer and then stopped just next to them.
"OH, THANK GOODNESS!" the faunus said. "Now he will not pummel me to dust!".
"Who is going to pummel you, Cian?" a new deeper voice asked.
Sun, confident as always, then explained "Pinky, we are sorry. We almost lost your scraper. And even though we found it, we are still very sorry".
"You were honest, that is all that counts. Thank you, guys. Now if you excuse me, I have cupcakes to make!" the voice said before leaving.
"Well… I'll go wait for the desserts. See ya, Cian!".
As Sun pushed the cart, both Blake and Ren were curious about this Pinky guy. Sun had not gone into detail about him, only that he could be a messy baker leaving his utensils around his workstation and often in the area where Cian worked whenever he needed to get ingredients. Blake and Ren peaked under the cloth and were surely not expecting the guy to be a 6.7 crocodile faunus with overgrown muscles. Ren had to admire his glazing technique, though.
It took Pinky ten minutes to finish desserts. And just as Ren's watch blinked 12:00, they could hear a whole choir of wheels moving alongside Sun's cart. After an elevator ride and another short trip later, they heard footsteps heading their way, hungry employees most likely. If everything went according to plan, then it was time for the secret weapon. Ren reached into his bag and took out a small mold of potato salad which he then emptied next to the cart once Sun knocked it three times. Almost immediately, they heard a woman scream and then a loud thud on the floor.
On the other side of the cloth, every office worker and waiter were standing next to a middle-aged chubby woman from accounting who had slipped on some potato salad that, as far as everyone was concerned, someone must have accidentally dropped. Sun then moved the cart out of the way so that security could help her while he had also volunteered to go to the broom-closet for the first aid kit and some cleaning equipment.
No one paid attention as he opened the door to the closet and then pulled the cart close enough to the entrance so that the back was now covered by the door or that he remained standing for a few more seconds while Blake and Ren got out of the cart and hid on the walls next to the doorframe.
"This doesn't change the schedule. You have until around 1:10 pm to pull this off. Good luck" Sun told them as he also took the first aid kit and a mop trolley. As soon as the door closed, Ren began to work and pulled out a screwdriver, jumped on the shelf and took out the screws that held the ventilation's gate. Blake caught the falling metal object and quietly placed it aside.
"Are you sure they won't find it?" Ren asked as he got in the vent.
"Sun said the gate is hidden by shadows; he should have also pick-pocketed the main server room's key yesterday and the backup today. If he gets and hides this one, we'll have our 45 minutes without a problem" she assured him as she climbed into the vent as well. A few moments later, and after a few twists and turns, they felt the cold of the air-conditioners. Now they knew they had arrived at their destination. Another quick unscrew later, and they were now in. Ren, however, decided to put the gate back in place. "What are you doing?" She asked him with genuine curiosity.
"I don't want to risk it. Besides, I'm not going to screw it back in place".
The room was an elongated hall with the computer systems at either side with one small, but secure, metal door at the other side. Blake and Ren then took out their wires and scrolls, but there was still something strange about this.
Blake connected her table-sized scroll to the wires and then talked to Ren as he was locating the correct port. "Is it me… or this room…".
"Smaller than expected? Thought the same". He then found the right port and plugged the cable in.
Blake was thankful that the White Fang had not overwritten her access to their hacking software, and after a few minutes, they were in. Their objective was clear, they had no time to hand-pick and find information. Just get what you can, leave, and the useful information will be sorted out later.
Everything was going fine after the first ten minutes. Ren decided to meditate while Blake went on to read from one of her books while they left the scroll secure in one of the shelves. Funny enough, it took them some time to find after a while because of how well it blended with the scene. Twenty minutes in, the drive was 46% done and things had gone without a hitch. But suddenly, Blake was able to hear yelling from the other side of the door. Security guards, most likely, fighting over who lost the access key. She would have ignored them, but then a small sizzling noise caught her attention. She then saw a bright spot in the door and immediately got next to Ren. "They are getting in!" she told him. With nowhere to hide, they both then got up on each of the server rows closest to the vent at each side and putting their masks on.
With a loud clank, a red-bright sword made out light went through the door and started to cut a rectangle through it at a quick pace. A few moments later, the sword retracted and then an inhumanly strong kick sent the now loose piece of metal crashing to the wall on the other side. From the hole then emerged three faunus, a female with short black hair and rabbit ears, a slim brown-haired man with a raccoon's tail and a burly tanned man with white hair and warthog tusks. They seemed normal at first, but then they noticed that the faunus were not part of security. They were a cleaning lady, a bell hopper and a technician. Confusion turned into panic when they saw the technician's arm was replaced by the blade they saw before and that the connection with the arm seemed to be surrounded by torn pieces of flesh.
Ren and Blake just looked at each other for a moment before Ren then Looked with panic at the scroll still plugged in. Blake realized the same once she noticed his eyesight. They were, however, taken away from their thought when the woman spoke in a flat and unemotional voice.
"Access to the room gained, begin scanning process".
The suits, thankfully, were made to block thermal scanners; courtesy of Pyrrha's credit card and express delivery. Any remaining heat signature should be confused with those emanating from the servers which were starting to get uncomfortable for the two of them.
"Search the area!" the technician ordered in the same type of monotonous voice, and the two other faunus went on to search. They arrived at the first server and looked down and then up for a total of three times before climbing and looking at the space between the ceiling and the top of the server. They then got down and moved to the next one. Blake and Ren were hidden some servers away, but it was only a matter of time before they were discovered. Even worse, the Scroll would be found first.
Panic was more than obvious in both their eyes, but they would get nowhere by just being afraid of being discovered. They then searched their bags as quietly as possible trying to find something useful.
"Never thought I would get bored of playing 'Remnant'. I bet Blake and Ren had so much fun infiltrating the hotel…" Ruby commented. She, Nora and Yang were playing a round of their board game in the library. Or more like pretend to play, since they were spying on Jerrod, aka 'Ermac', who was using one of the computers, waiting for him to do something.
Classes were over, and while Sun, Neptune, Blake and Ren were infiltrating The Night Beetle, the remaining six students were spying on whomever these people claimed to be. While Tomas, Kuai Liang and Hanzo went to spar, Ermac decided to go to the library and do something there. And from the looks of it, the boy suffered a huge case of attention deficit, having more than 20 tabs with historical information, paranormal and magical research, conspiracy websites, games, recipes and a lot more open. What's more, he was always switching left to right in a minute and a half.
He remained doing the same thing until he suddenly stopped and turned to touch something on his left pocket. "Movement!" whispered Yang as they all turned and pretended to keep playing. Ermac, in the meanwhile, looked at both sides before taking his bag and leaving. The girls waited for him to be at the library's entrance before they followed; and just as Yang was retrieving her scroll, she got a message from Jaune telling them that their other people of interest were on the move as well.
This was very interesting. All boys seemed to have received some sort of message at the same time and knew what it was without even looking. Yang also knew that whatever was in his pocket, could not be his scroll, or at least not the one he used for Beacon. That one was stored on his bag; Weiss saw him pulling it out to check the time during History and then putting it back.
They followed him until he met with his team and they all went to a bathroom located far away from the cafeteria; and after Tomas made sure the coast was clear, they went in. Yang met with the other team as soon as the door closed and compared notes. "Ok, what's new, Vomit-boy?".
"First of all, don't call me that… it's embarrassing. Second, besides watching them destroying Beacon's training equipment beyond possible repair and learning that more than one student is willing to get the floor mopped with his or her face by the 'cool new guys', they seem to have some sort of secret communication device".
"Figured that much from our side as well… the communication device part, that is. Well, off you go then!".
Jaune looked at her perplexed. "Where?".
Weiss rolled her eyes before addressing him. "To the bathroom, Jaune!".
He was getting scared and a little offended that they seemed to be ok offering him as a scapegoat. "But… but why m- oooooh". He realized then that said place was, after all, a boy's bathroom. With no other defense, Jaune took a deep breath and marched inside. A few seconds passed before Jaune emerged from the bathroom again with a panicked face. "Girls… we have a problem: they are gone!".
It took them a few moments before fully comprehending what he meant. Weiss rolled her eyes and then questioned him "Fine, where do the windows lead to?".
"No, they are 'gone' gone. No trace. I checked all the cubicles and believe me, there is no trace of them".
Breaking conventional rules, or not, the girls had to confirm that for themselves. They ran into the bathroom, and indeed, no trace of team KHTE could be found. They checked everything for at least three times and even allowed Nora to climb on every surface available, they even helped her to get on all sorts of unimaginable hiding spots for normal people. But after well over half an hour, nothing.
They went out of the bathroom even more confused. "They HAD to leave through a window, it's the only explanation!".
Pyrrha crossed her arms and just turned around to face her and the others. "They were shut, and it even took us over two minutes to open them, they even made that horrible and loud screeching sound; we would have heard it, and Jaune didn't take that long to enter, so he would have seen them trying to open it".
"Don't Hanzo and Tomas have teleportation semblances though?". Asked Nora.
"But not Kuai Liang and Ermac". Answered Ruby.
"Hidden passages through the walls? Secret tunnels on the pipes?" Yang just mentioned. Right now, every theory was a valid one, wild as they may be.
They debated for a few more minutes before they heard the door lock turning. Instinctively, Ruby grabbed the person nearest to her, Nora, and used her semblance to take them both far away. Weiss used her glyphs as well while grabbing Pyrrha, leaving Jaune and Yang alone. The door opened and from it emerged Hanzo, who adjusted his uniform before looking with eyes wide open at Yang and Jaune.
Yang looked between Hanzo and Jaune, then quickly grabbed the second's hand. "I told you it was occupied… babe!" She then looked in Hanzo's way and waved her hand. "Sorry…".
At first, Jaune didn't understand what Yang was doing. Then, the realization hit him like a bag of bricks on his head. His cheeks went bright red, but he kept the act going on anyway. "Yeah…! We got used to it… being alone… at this time… yeah…".
"Pretty please, don't tell anyone about us!".
Hanzo just looked at them with an eyebrow raised but was taken out of his thoughts by Tomas yelling at him. "What is taking so long!". He then pushed Hanzo from the door frame and emerged with the rest of his team. They all then saw the blonds and went quiet before looking at their hands.
"They are apparently regular users of this bathroom. For purposes other than intended" Hanzo commented, clearly not enjoying thinking what he was thinking.
"Oh… well… don't get caught by Professor Goodwitch then, bye" Tomas said as then every member of team KHTE then left waving Jaune and Yang farewell. "Told you, you owe me fifty!" was the last thing they heard Tomas say as they went down the hall.
'Panic' would be the only word that both Blake and Ren would use to describe their current predicament. The guards were getting closer and there seemed to be nothing that could stop them. That is until Ren found one of the bronze balls Pyrrha had used the other day to warn them that team KHTE had left their room.
A plan immediately formed on his head, and Blake was sure she had figured the same; but for it to work, they needed to be very precise; they needed the guards looking on top of the servers to be down and for the guy at the entrance to be looking away from Ren so that the ball would pass unnoticed. And with only five rows left, they need for that window to happen soon. Blake analyzed their patterns and figured that the window would happen on the next two searches. Ren prepared his throw and tried his best to not hold the ball so tight because of his nerves and making it leave on an undesired trajectory. The time for action was getting closer, both were nervous, but as soon as the guards got to the ground, the door guard was now facing Blake's direction. Blake then gave the signal and Ren threw the ball.
At first, he thought he had messed the throw when it missed by some inched the head of the technician, but that seemed to work in their favor, as he immediately turned around. "Earthrealmers heading down the hall! Head down corridor KF-94!".
Both of his companions left with him, and both Ren and Blake wasted no time in taking back the scroll and getting out as fast as possible. Once they were back on the ventilation ducts, they heard the guards returning and froze in place, fearing that their movement might alert them. "Room is clear! They have left the proximities!" yelled the female faunus. A moment after, they heard their steps getting away from them. Ren and Blake then let out a sigh of relief and headed back to the closet, but once they arrived, they noticed the door was still locked. Sun knew the plan through and through, and the door should be unlocked. 'What could be holding him?' Blake wondered.
"It's okay, Scotch. No one is accusing you of anything… yet. But I'm sure we can figure all out" Maurice said trying to calm down the floor's security guard. Needless to say, everything went according to plan: Blake and Ren's actions had been detected, but nothing could be done because the main access card and the copy had been secured and hidden by Sun during the previous days.
As such, Sun was now on his way to retrieve both spies and expected to have a clear way to close the broom closet that had been 'accidentally' left unlocked. But he did not count with security being in the office section and not at the doors of the server room.
"I know I had both of them at some point, I don't know how they could have gone missing". The man was facing Maurice while two 'superior' guards stood beside him.
"Is there anything unusual that happened during the previous days, Mr. Montes?".
"I already told you there was… wait…" the guy was now looking at Sun's direction. "I remember bumping into waiters regularly!".
Both men then looked to his direction. "Possibilities exist for one of them to have taken the key cards," one said. "All of you, form a line. Maurice, please identify which of them have worked in the same shift schedule as Mr. Montes".
Sun was among those picked. But they were not taken to a secluded place. They instead remained on the floor and divided into two groups while the security guards were filtering the other employees and preparing the interrogation. Knowing it was only a matter of time for them to figure that it was he who stole the key cards, Sun had to come up with something, and quickly.
He looked around and noticed the plant pot, in which he hid the cards, was on the way of a cart. '… And with enough speed… Bingo!' Sun thought. 'Now, all that is missing is someone to-' "Hey Sun!".
Sun was startled by the voice of Maurice who was standing behind him. The mouse faunus just looked at him with surprise, but continued. "Sun, I want to tell you that you don't have to worry at all. It's just standard procedure and, to tell you the truth, I have full confidence in your innocence!".
That made Sun feel a little guilty. But then another idea popped in his head. "Thanks Maurice, but you saw how they looked at me. I'd be surprised if I'm not the first person they call". He then started to walk next to the cart and Maurice followed just as he wanted.
"I… I can… will vouch for you! I've never seen an employee work with so much passion. You can't be guilty of anything!". They reached the cart and Sun very carefully removed the safety lock to the cart without Maurice or the others noticing.
"Really? Your best employee? I've been here for less than a week!".
"Well yeah… But the way you treat everyone as a friend, the energy you bring to your post" as he was listing his praises, Maurice then leaned on the cart. "And your very infectious smiiii-". As soon as he placed pressure on the cart, the vehicle rolled forward, and sure enough, crashed into the pot and a loud crashing noise alerted everyone on the floor.
As all the employees gathered to see what happened to Maurice, Sun pulled him up. Embarrassed, Maurice fixed his suit and began to ramble. "When I find who was responsible for leaving that thing unlocked, I'm gonna… hey, look!". Maurice then pointed at the remains of the pot; everyone was then able to see both cards… along with strange white dirt mixed with the normal black dirt. Everyone moved to the site and both guards kneeled.
"It's not my Moon Rock, I swear!" yelled Mr. Montes.
Everyone then looked at him with eyes wide open. Maurice stepped forward with a quizzical look in his eyes. "Salvatore… Sal… how do you know it's Moon Rock?". Sal was now sweating and stuttering. He then tried to run away but was tackled to the ground by the security guards. "Ok, maybe it is mine, but how do explain that the cards were there without me knowing!? I took a polygraph!".
One of the guards then answered him in a perfectly monotonous voice. "Moon Rock is known to cause memory loss on long time users".
Sal blinked a few times. "Oh yeah… forgot that…".
Maurice then stood in front of him with his hands behind his back. "Salvatore Montes, you have violated the trust we at The Night Beetle gave you. But we believe in second chances, so by the powers given to me as head of human resources, you'll be sent to The Pyramid, effective immediately". Without anything more to say, He was taken to the elevators.
In the meantime, Sun had gone to the closet with a different cart. He was thankful that neither Ren nor Blake wanted to scold him and instead hid as soon as the door was open enough for them to get out. Immediately after, they heard Maurice calling for everyone's attention once again.
"I am very sorry for what has happened today. I know everyone is worried about Mr. Taakoizu and now this, but we can't let events like these distract us from doing our best. Hopefully, this will be an isolated incident and something similar will not happen again. Now please, return to your normal duties".
With that final sentence, all the waiters left to the kitchen. Sun was the last one to enter and left his cart conveniently close to the garbage shoot, and while he and the others cleaned the plates Ren and Blake jumped and fell all the way to the dumpster. They climbed out of it as fast as they could, retrieved their normal clothes and ran as far from The Night Beetle as they could.
Once far enough, they entered a public bathroom and changed to their regular attires. Now they knew how Ruby felt that night. Even now they were afraid that one of those faunus had been following them.
Ren then turned around to face Blake. "Where is it?".
Blake took out the scroll. "It only loaded about 78% of all the data".
"It'll have to do. Neptune must be waiting. Let's go".
After what they experienced today. They would demand changes to Thursday's plan.
That had been the most awkward dinner for Jaune ever since entering Beacon. Even though Yang had been the one to be embarrassed along with him and therefore there was no teasing throughout it, it didn't make it any less comfortable because if KHTE started to spread rumors about them, it would make everything weirder among the teams. Although, to their credit, the boys just sat at their table and ate in silence, minding their own business.
It didn't help that Pyrrha, for some strange reason to him was now very passive-aggressive towards Yang; even after she apologized to her many times, Pyrrha still seemed mad for some reason and wouldn't even talk to him. He knew that look; she was mad at both. But just like his sister's countless times before her, he needed to give her some space and try again when she was had calmed down.
Fortunately, Blake and Ren sent them updates through simple text messages; a few hours late considering they were supposed to report as soon as they got out of The Night Beetle. But it had been Neptune who reported their successful infiltration. They got to decoding the data they gathered from Seido right away, but it was complete silence after that.
Once everyone was present at their usual spots in the library, they noticed Rena and Blake's disappointed faces. They then placed the scroll at the center of the table. Ren then began their report. "We have some of the financial reports, they, however, look normal, and I doubt anyone of you knows how to file taxes and accounting tables to know where to begin with". Everyone at the table then looked at Weiss.
"… I… was going to learn all about that after I graduated…" she confessed with some grade of embarrassment.
Blake then opened another folder and different posters and videos of every kind of celebrity imaginable popped up; even mockups of publicity with Pyrrha's face. "They are not just interested in Pyrrha. Actors, musicians, all sorts of entertainers have been cast by these people". They saw some of them were promoting the Zaphyre along with different gun models and even something by the name of 'The Scarab'.
"What are all those things about?" Asked Jaune.
Ren and Blake sighed and sat down again; Sun then took the stage. "Sadly, this brings us to point three…". He opened the third folder but a warning of 'corrupted data' filled the screen. "They were only able to secure some of the information. Whatever those things were, cannot be retrieved by common means. And despite our best efforts and telling them that they did good, they won't come out of their self-loathing state".
Blake and Ren exchanged glances and then looked at their friends. "We are not like this because of that" Ren said.
"What that Malachite twin said, is more than true. The security team that almost captured us… they were not… normal anymore. They were like living machines, they even had robot-like body parts. If we want to pull the heist at the Dragon Room, we need to be more than precise". After that, they explained in detail what had happened in the server room.