A/N: Hi, quick note: This chapter jumps in time starting most recently and working backwards in the timeline. See you at the bottom.
Chapter Nineteen: Interlude Around The World.
Adam watched as his Lieutenant rained blows down upon the pitiful man tied to the chair. The man worked for a large corporation in Vale and had access to their account numbers and codes he would need to get the money. He hadn't expected two members of the White Fang to grab him from his motel room where he had been entertaining his mistress, who was currently in Adam's own bed, drugged and brought to a camp deep in the frontier where he was now being beaten and tortured. He had given up the information hours ago, now he was just holding out on the final piece of intel Adam wanted. And it was the Lieutenants job to loosen his lips again.
His Lieutenant was a sadist if there ever was one. Adam was actually convinced that the burly Faunus found no joy in anything else other than the act or thought of putting someone in pain. Adam himself understood the usefulness of putting a person in pain, it was a very fast way of getting the needed information but he really didn't understand how someone could derive pleasure from it. "Enough." He said cutting over the cries of the man.
Slowly his Lieutenant backed away, his gloved hands dripping with the man's blood. The larger Faunus chuckled behind his mask as he looked down at his gloves. Adam looked over the man, his nose had been broken and was pouring blood down his face, both eyes were swollen shut, his lips were split open and the bull Faunus could see some of his teeth were chipped or missing, his breathing ragged and labored. "So do you want to tell me yet?"
"Y-You'll… Ne-ever… Get….it fr…" The man dissolved into a fit of coughs, flecks of blood sprayed into the air.
Adam flexed his hands in annoyance, compared to the bank accounts this man was very stubbornly holding on to this information, "You know, once you tell me all of this pain will be over. All you have to is tell me where Leviathan is."
The man tried look defiant but his ruined features defeated his attempt, "Y-you'll… never… find…." Again the man dissolved into wheezes.
Adam struck the man across the face loosing his patients with him. Turning back to his Lieutenant he nodded and left the tent, the sounds of the man being tortured filled the air again.
Adam clenched his hands into fists, his anger rising with each passing second. It had taken him months, years even to get a hold of the finical information he needed on the SDC, reports of money being moved, where it was being laundered, what new projects it was funding but there was always a large sum going to one somewhere he couldn't locate. He had finally tracked down the money flow but it had taken much longer than he would have liked.
The money was being split and divided through multiple accounts them brought all back together in the company the man worked for before being sent back out again as one lump sum to somewhere. The only hint as to what it was for was the memo that had been found on the last attack on a Dust refinery. It was in a file he almost over looked but the foreman had given it away at the last second glancing at it on his desk, he had learned that if someone looked at something right before they were killed odds were it was important. Now he had a name for where the money was going, 'Leviathan'.
From the amount of money that was being channeled into it Adam was sure it was a weapon and if there was that much going into a weapon then he wanted it. He could turn it against his enemies and make them burn; make them quake in fear at the mere mention of the White Fang. But he was behind in his timetable, all because she had left.
Anger rippled through Adam frame as he thought back to his old love. How could she just leave him like that stranded on railway with an army of Atlasian Knights at his back. He had destroyed all of them in his rage cursing her name. He had loved her and given her a place to call home when she was alone, given her a purpose again but she had betrayed him. She had been weak, she had doubted him and there was no room for the weak in his White Fang. Once she left everything had changed again, the moment he detected weakness he removed it. There would be no more weakness under his watch.
Taking a deep breath Adam turned and walked back into the tent, the man's screaming had stop which either meant he was dead or had fallen unconscious, again. His Lieutenant backed away from the man revealing an extremely pitiful sight, cuts and slashes cover the man's torso and legs, his shoulders slumped at unnatural angles. With one glance Adam could barely see the rise and fall of his chest. "Wake him up." He ordered, his Lieutenant nodded and brought a vile under the man's broken nose. Slowly the man groaned as he came back to reality. "Ready to talk yet?"
The man slumped back and looked up through his swollen eyes, a small smirk on his lips. "Go… to… hell." Somehow he summoned the energy to spit up at his tormentors, the bloody spittle landing on Adam's face.
Adam lost all reason as he glared down at the man, his hand shot towards his sword. In one smooth, quick motion that no eye could follow the sword was out of its sheath and through the man's neck parting his head with his shoulders. The head thudded to the ground as the body slumped forward, blood spilling on to the ground. Flicking his blade clean Adam returned it to the sheath and turned his back on the corpse. "Clean this mess up and dispose of it properly." The Lieutenant nodded before barking out for two of the younger recruits, his mood souring now that his plaything was dead.
Leaving the tent behind Adam strode towards his command center, someone had should have been useful in locating the next target. But he knew better than to actually expect results, any good intel usually came through her and now even the simplest of leads would go unnoticed. Entering the tent Adam looked around, nearly every eye avoided his, something was wrong.
As he narrowed his eyes he pointed to a new recruit that had joined last month, "You, your name."
"Uh, Ceacl, sir." The horned Faunus replied quickly as he stood up and saluted, he must have been a Ram Faunus.
"Any news from Vale?" Adam asked, his latest plan involved amassing large amount of Dust and ammo in order to launch an attack on the Kingdom, the only down side that he now had to rely on a human to run the operations inside the kingdom. Granted the man was good at his job, it just rubbed him the wrong way to have to rely on a human.
He watched as the ram Faunus drop his eyes to the ground, "Uh, we, uh just received a, uh, report." Adam was slowly losing his temper again, if that boy said 'uh' one more time he might kill him out of sheer annoyance.
"And?" The bull Faunus prompted.
"It seems that the warehouse where we were storing our cache was discovered and everything was confiscated by the police." Ceacl answered as he folded in on himself.
Adam saw red as he quickly crossed over to the unfortunate boy and grabbed him by the neck hoisting him up into the air, "What?" He snarled making everyone around him cower.
The boy grasped at the hand on his throat struggling for air, "Two… Huntresses in training… stumbled on to them… and there was a fight…" The boy tried to explain, his voice broken and weak from the lack of air. "Crowley didn't make it." Adam squeezed harder causing the boy to struggle even harder.
"Why was I not informed of this sooner?" He growled glaring about the room ignoring the boy's pitiful attempts to live.
"Because we only just received the information from Torchwich." Another Faunus spoke up. Adam looked at the woman who stood before him, her skin resembling scales. "In the report Perry talked to the member who managed to escape and said Crowley recognized one of the scents, from the others we put together is was Belladonna sir."
Adam felt his hand release the boy from his grasp dropping him to the floor in a heap. "Repeat that." He ordered her as he walked over to her his hand resting on his swords hilt, the woman's eyes darted to the sword before back up at him.
"Blake Belladonna was one of the Huntress who found the warehouse." The woman answered.
Adam turned on his heel and left without another word. Finally after a year of looking he had found her again. Whatever Leviathan was could wait; he had better things to do.
The Doctor smiled as he typed steadily at his keyboard. He couldn't believe it, had found it after all this time, finally his work could continue. Years of research that he had feared had been for nothing could finally be put back to good use. The problem was he actually had to get close to it, which was going to prove problematic, as it currently resided at Beacon.
Thinking about Beacon made the Doctor smile just a bit wider. He actually couldn't have picked a better situation to test its current capabilities, after all accident did happen. Oh he could already imagine how he was going to test it, all the things he needed to set up in order for his plans to take fruition.
"Doctor, are you sure that it's the same one as before?" His assistant asked as she walked into the room, her platinum hair done up in a bun just like he liked.
"Oh most certainly Klon." The Doctor replied, "It as all the attributes that it did back then. And look at whom it's drawn to. It's like it knows who it belongs to."
"But didn't the experiment fail the last time?" Klon asked cocking her head to the side.
The Doctor sighed as he spun in his chair to face her; the last experiment had not gone according to plan. Originally he had intended to try and enrage it by showing it the death of all of those useless villagers and then unleashing a horde of Grimm he had collected upon it hoping that if its team was killed it would enrage to the point of awakening but it had gotten hurt at the last second, its team was a bit better than he had counted on, although he was sure it was to be suspected. He had seen to Miss Schnee's training himself.
"Oh look the little miss." Klon clapped happily at the picture on his screen showing it and the Heiress, "My she has grown. I wonder what mother would think if she could see her now."
"Sylvia did have a fondness for Miss Schnee, I could never understand that." The Doctor shrugged, he did miss his old assistant she was always so helpful and willing to do whatever was needed. He had made sure to keep her best qualities when making Klon, though he had made a few changes like her height and eye color. While Sylvia's was a deep forest green he had made Klon's a light fresh green, he liked it much better. "But back to your question yes the last experiment did end in failure, but do to recent revelations I have decided that the direct approach may be more detrimental. I'm going to try a more subtle approach for the next few times and see if that will yield any useful data."
Klon considered his words, "That sound's most excellent Doctor. But can I ask you something?" The Doctor nodded, he always enjoyed it when Klon was inquisitive. "Why is it holding the little miss like that?" She pointed at the picture that showed it with its arm intertwined with Miss Schnee's.
"Well you see Klon I believe that it may have become attracted to Miss Schnee." The Doctor explained.
"Attracted?" Klon tested the word, her confusion growing. "What does that mean Doctor?"
The Doctor smiled, "Well it could be said that it feels affection for Miss Schnee, its something that happens when two people form a strong bond of friendship. Like when a man is attracted to a woman because of her looks or something like that."
"So like you and mother?" Klon questioned, her face brightening hoping she had understood.
"No Klon, your mother and I were simply like minded colleagues who understood the need for the advancement of science." The Doctor corrected. Klon nodded in understanding.
"So will you use this 'attraction' to continue your experiments?" Klon asked.
The Doctor nodded, "Yes, you see I have learned that such attractions can be exploited for such matters. And since it has already once gotten hurt for the sake of Miss Schnee I believe that it will be quite easy to manipulate this attraction for my needs."
"Hmmm then are there any preparations that I should get ready?" Klon inquired with a smile.
The Doctor considered her offer, "No not right away but we should be making our plans so soon I'll have things for you to do."
"Alright Doctor." Klon nodded, "Should I fetch your tea for you now or would you rather wait?"
"Now would be nice." The Doctor replied, Klon gave a small bow and left to fetch his tea as he spun back to face his computer screen. "Now how should we start?" He mused aloud, "Hmm it seems to react when Miss Schnee is in danger so maybe that will be the way to go."
A smile pulled at his uneven lips as he began to type, finally 'Prometheus' could continue, finally all his work would be complete. As he continued to work he began to hum a tune to himself, a little waltz he learned in his youth so very long ago.
Augustus William Schnee the Fifth stood tall before the panoramic window of his office that overlooked the capitol city of Mantel, Atlas. His hard ice blue eyes glared down at the city below him, his city. Anyone who believed that the politicians ran Mantel was a fool. On the surface it did appear that way but who did they think funding their campaigns? Supplied the funds for their ads? Provided the ideas? Certainly not the men with the fancy suites, well trimmed hair, and friendly smiles. No he was the man who ran the Kingdom, he was the one who made the policies and made sure it all went his way. Of course he had to allow some of the 'wants of the people' to go through from time to time just to appease them and keep the peons quiet, but so long as they didn't interfere with his plans then he didn't mind.
But now the peons were agitated over something so mediocre it barely called for his attention that was until the protests had started disrupting all the work he had accomplished. Did those creatures really believe that they were at the same level as human? He scoffed at the vary notion. And how could his own kind deliberately stand beside those beasts? It was sickening. He had worked so hard to keep those creatures in their place and now they were trying to rise up. His eyes narrowed, he was going to crush them.
A buzz from his desk made brought him from his thoughts, "What is it?" He growled. He had strictly ordered his secretary to not disturb him unless it was of the utmost importance.
"I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but a Mr. Weber here to see you." Came the reply.
The Schnee patriarch raised an eyebrow as he turned back to his desk, "Allow him in." He instructed as he sat down behind his large desk, the deep rich leather crinkling slightly as he took his seat. After a few moments the door to his office opened allowing a man in a dark gray business suite to enter the room. He was an ordinary looking man with deep brown hair, hazel eyes and an average height.
"Lord Schnee." The man bowed as the door closed. "I have information for you from Vale."
Augustus Schnee remained passive as he continued to look at the man. "Continue."
The man relaxed slightly, "Our contact has tracked down the subject and is going to begin their tests."
Irritation rose in the chest of the CEO, was this all he was interrupted for? A simple report that could have been saved for when they had results? His ice blue eyes hardened into glaciers. "Is that it?" He asked in a harsh biting tone, not bothering to hide his irritation.
The man before him gulped as he looked back down at the ground, "There has been an development that was unexpected." The man fidgeted nervously, "It seems that the subject has come into contact with you daughter." The man pulled out his scroll and placed it on the large desk.
What Augustus saw made his blood boil. His daughter had her arm interlinked with that thing. His own flesh and blood was interacting with it betraying all that his name stood for, how dare she think she could do that. He had always been disappointed in his second daughter; she was so unlike her sister.
Winter had been a worthy candidate to be his heir, she had been strong and courageous, she had never flinched in the face of danger passing all of her training without hesitation or complaint. Winter had accepted his ideals and views following his orders without question. But she was no longer capable and it left everything to Weiss.
Weiss was not a worthy candidate to be his heir, she was weak and fearful, she was timid and indecisive, she had struggled and strained with her training barely completing a full session without injury. Weiss questioned him and plotted against him, she thought he didn't know but he had seen her calculating gaze upon his empire formulating the best way to topple it.
And now she was interacting with that thing.
Standing up again the CEO dismissed the man who quickly retreated from the room. Once again he stood before the window again looking out over his city, his Kingdom. The people could wait, there would be time to crush them later, now he had to deal with his rebellious daughter. "It seems that she hasn't learned her lesson yet. Well Weiss I hope that you've enjoyed your time at Beacon, but it's time that it ended." Turning back to his desk he picked up his phone and began to dial, his eyes drifted back to the scroll on his desk still showing the picture in a flash of anger he slammed fist down onto the device crushing it just as the other end of the line was picked up.
Ozpin sat at his desk ideal watching the holoscreens sipping lightly at his coffee. He knew he should have been working on the papers James had asked for before his arrival but he couldn't find it in himself to pull his eyes away from the screens, one showing a crying wolf being comforted by a panther while the other showed a stand off confrontation between a fiery brawler and an icy Heiress. It was always amusing to him to see which pairs grew into relationships, most of the time he was right as to which ones would grow though from time to time he was surprised. Now was not one of those times however.
He watched as one pair headed off towards the other and decided it was time to switch the screens off, whatever was about to happen was going to be private and not for his eyes. With a sigh took another sip of his coffee while he leaned back in his chair so much had happened in the past few months that it was hard to believe that the chaos hadn't spread further.
Mantel was on the cusps of a civil war, the people calling for the blood of the corrupt politicians. Vacuo was in turmoil over the latest election results, protests and riots breaking out all over the capital. Menagerie was fighting export tariffs that threatened to throw their economy down the drain. Dragnaire was experiencing an influx of Grimm attack causing pandemonium in the already unstable land. And Vale was now subject to thefts of vast quantities of Dust and ammo. The world was descending into madness and there was little he could do about it.
Hopefully Ironwood would listen to reason and help the people of Mantel dispose of the corruption in the government, more specifically of the man behind it. Vacuo would calm down after a few more weeks once a recount was preformed and the actual election results fulfilled. The economy of Menagerie was a bit more concerning, if it fell then it would spell bad new for the rest of the Kingdom's economies but with a new trade agreement it might survive. Grimm was nothing new to Dragnaire, it just meant that more Huntsman and Huntress would be there and hopefully stabilizing the situation before it got worse. While the thefts were concerning it didn't take much thought to guess who was behind it, the White Fang. The question was why were they amassing Dust and ammo?
Ozpin sighed, so many questions and not enough answers for his liking. His thoughts were broken as a red tear opened up in the middle of his office; this was going to be interesting.
He calmly sipped at is coffee as a woman strode through the tear, her outfit consisted of red and black cloth, red metal gauntlets on her arm, black boots reaching to the middle of her thighs, and a cylindrical sheath at her hip. Even years after her time at Beacon the woman hadn't changed much, she was only slightly taller now, her black hair longer, her cold demeanor still radiating from her body language. The only real change was the large white mask that obscured her face giving her the look of a Nevermore.
"Good evening Raven." Ozpin greeted the woman as the tear closed behind her. "To what do I owe the pleasure for your sudden appearance?"
"Prometheus. Where is it?" Raven said from behind her mask, her voice muffled by the obstruction.
Ozpin sighed, "Raven there is no need for your mask here. Please take it off so I may see the face of one of my students again." He sensed the hesitation of the woman before she slowly reached up and removed the bulky mask.
Below the mask was the face of the student he once knew. Her face looking just like her daughter's only more mature and with bright red eyes. He could still remember the day she and her brother had formed the rest of one of the best teams Beacon had ever housed. He could still recall the laughter of two young girls as they walked beside each other, one with a stark white cape the other teasing her about it with a playful smile. How he missed those days when they both had a cheerful smile.
"Answer me Ozpin." Raven spoke breaking through his memories, her voice was huskier than he remembered. "Where is Prometheus?"
Ozpin shook his head, "After all these years that's what bring you here? A long dead project of a madman, I'm disappointed in you."
Raven actually flinched at his words but she quickly recovered, "A project that should have never existed. Now answer me: where is Prometheus?"
"You know the answer." Ozpin responded sipping at his coffee, "Summer destroyed Prometheus sixteen years ago." Again Raven flinched, but this time at the name of the woman.
"I have reason to believe otherwise." Raven narrowed her eyes at the man before her.
Ozpin merely chuckled, "Do you honestly believed Summer would have left a job unfinished? She was many things but a shirker was not one of them, you should know that better than anyone." Raven broke her gaze looking down at the ground, her shoulders slightly slumping. "Tell me Raven, have you seen your daughter yet?"
Raven shook her head weakly, "I gave up my right to be her mother long ago."
"You should at least look in on her, she's a lot like you. Though some would argue she's more like Taiyang." Ozpin chuckled, "But she has your wanderlust." Raven flinched again. "You know she's been looking for you."
"And she'll never find me." Raven shook her head as she squared her shoulder, "Now I'll ask one more time: where is Prometheus?"
Ozpin ignored the question and walked over to his coffee pot refilling his cup. "You know, she never got over you." He didn't need to see the woman to know her reaction; he heard the mask thud to the ground. He had mere second before a long red blade was pressed against his neck, the only thing holding back the blow were two of his fingers lightly pressing back against her force.
"You bastard." Raven sheeted at him venomously, a fire of hatred raging in her eyes. "She moved on, married Tai then adopted Ruby and made a family with them. She moved on." She pressed her sword harder towards the headmaster wanting nothing more than to take his head. Ozpin never increased his pressure against the sword.
Ozpin sighed, "No dear Raven, Summer never married Taiyang, she only helped him raise your daughter and Ruby so they would have a family that cared for them. She never got over you." The fire in her red eyes faltered as she listened, "She looked for you for years while she was on her missions, she hoped to bring you back. Even if it was just as friends she wanted you back in her life." Raven was shaking her head trying to block the words out, she couldn't believe him, Summer hadn't looked for her, she would have known, she always knew. Slowly the pressure from the sword let up and Ozpin guided the blade away from his neck. "Raven you need to come back."
At those words the woman stepped back still shaking her head, her thoughts jumbled together. "She looked?" She muttered.
"Yes Raven, Summer never gave up looking for you." Ozpin nodded as Raven continued to back away, "She always took missions to the last places you were known to be. She always kept looking for you. Even to her last mission." The moment he said those word he knew he had made a mistake.
Raven's eyes whipped up to him, again full of fire and anger. "SUMMER DIED LOOKING FOR ME?" Her face contorted into one of rage and despair, her Aura flaring wildly around her body.
Ozpin took a step forward but he was too late. The air around Raven rippled and tore itself open swallowing the woman in a rush of wind before closing just as quickly. Silence hung in the air as a few loose papers fluttered to the ground. The only sign that Raven had been there was her mask, which still rested on the ground where she dropped it. Slowly Ozpin walked over to the mask and picked it up off the ground just as the door to his office burst open. Glynda's eyes darted about the room, crop drawn.
"Headmaster, are you aright?" She asked quickly as she walked over to the man. She spotted the mask in the older man's hands and gasped, "Is that…"
Ozpin nodded as he walked back over to his desk examining the mask, he could tell Raven had made it herself from the detail of the craftsmanship, she had always had a talent in sculpting and artwork. "Yes she stopped by asking about the past. You only just missed her."
Glynda's eyes misted over, she had been in the same year as Team STRQ and had been close to both Summer and Raven, the three of them had been like sisters during their time at Beacon. "Is there anything I can do?"
Ozpin sat down in his chair placing the mask before him still looking into its empty eyes, "Contact Qrow. I fear we may need him soon."
A/N: Did everybody make it? Good. So I did this chapter as a small break in the action to start setting up the drama RWBY is going to face. Yes I am implying SummerxRaven in this story but things happened (hehehe). Klon is literally clone in German, I'm not original on names sorry. And yes Qrow will be staying close to cannon Qrow, drunk uncle is fun.
With that: Please except my deepest and heart felt thanks, come on in a say how I'm doing, and may you find a reason to smile.