With the Power of an Avalanche
Chapter 11
-Whitley-
"Well guys, here we are." Whitley grinned as they entered the Mini Golf Park, the place bright and colorful, "So, there's a group size cap so how we splitting up?"
"I guess three and three?" Fox asks with a shrug, seeming curious to try the game even with his blindness. Then again it would probably be good precision practice for however the second year got around and fought.
"Whitley? Jaune?" hearing a familiar pair of voices, Whitley worked to suppress his amused grin as he turned to see the twins.
"Hey girls." He nodded to them, "Care to join us? It'll let us have even groups of four and four. Jaune and Velvet were about to go first, Velvet's been eager to see this place. Especially since she found out that Jaune designed most of the holes."
"This place is amazing!" Velvet was damn near sparkling as she bounced around, eyes wide and smile eager. The sight had Jaune turn red, just as Whitley expected. The twins noticed as well, also like Whitley expected.
"We'd love to." Melanie narrowed her eyes.
"We'll join Jaune and, 'Velvet', was it?" Militia copied her sister, Velvet oblivious to the tension as the four signed in and got their putters from the manager who greeted the group warmly, fox ears twitching.
"Uh…am I missing something?" Coco raised an eyebrow, "Is Jaune dating one of them or…?"
"Hah! No." Whitley snickered as the four started on hole one, Melanie and Militia clearly, to him at least, trying to fluster Jaune only for it to not work as usual "They're just determined to get him to blush. But they can't for the same reason you wouldn't be able to."
Fox coughed at that while Coco narrowed her eyes, "Confident in the golden boy, aren't ya?"
"Not for the reasons you're thinking of." Whitley shook his head, "Jaune…well he's a spiteful little troll. When we first met the twins, it was a pretty stressful situation. Jaune's default response whenever he's stressed enough is to go straight into being sassy. Seeing them getting annoyed and trying harder was the motivation he needed to keep going. All their attempts, plus watching one of our classmates doing similar to other guys, has let him get pretty used to being able to tell when a girl is flirting just to get a reaction. Because that's all they keep trying to do, it'll never work."
"Meanwhile Velvet is just being her usual sincere cinnamon roll self." Coco realized.
"Exactly." Whitley nodded as Jaune's group moved on to hole two, Velvet's excitement at getting a hole in one having Jaune flush again, "Jaune can resist teasing for the sake of getting a blush. But actual sincerity from a pretty girl? Oh, he's putty."
"So truly a foe that Coco could never best." Yatsuhashi nodded solemnly, ignoring Coco's affronted look.
"Hey, I can be sincere!" Coco protested, Fox raising an eyebrow, "Oh fuck you."
"Oh, are you saying Velvet has some competition?" Whitley gave a mock gasp, "Jaune apparently has far more 'game' than he realizes."
"I'm sorry Coco, but I believe your love will have to remain unrequited." Yatsuhashi sounded genuinely sincere and comforting as he patted Coco's shoulder, only the sparkle in his eyes and incredibly faint twitching of his lips indicated that, while a zem gentle giant, the man could still tease his friends.
"Oh, fuck all of you." Coco huffed good naturedly as she stepped up to take her first put.
It was too easy, and Whitley couldn't resist "Kinky."
-Neo-
Kicking her feet on the stool, Neo happily zoned out as she sipped at her milkshake. This place had rapidly become one of her favorite hangout spots for the milkshakes and ice cream options alone. Whoever had made the recipes for the cafeteria in this 'Arcade' place was a damned genius and she'd happily gut anyone who said otherwise.
"Oh, Mr. Arc, Mr. Schnee!" the man behind the counter nodded to someone over her shoulder as Neo subtly used a mirror to observe the group. She wasn't worried about being attacked, not with every employee of this place being a member of the Red Axe gang. Those here wanted to avoid combat roles but could still fight, using the place as an easy money laundering scheme given how the machines at the front let people swap out cash for tokens. Tokens could be refunded meaning it was surprisingly easy to launder cash here if they were careful. They'd even changed out the usual red axe gang uniforms for ones in white and gold.
"Hey James." A blond grinned as he approached, shaking the ice cream bar tender's hand, "How're things selling?"
"Excellently sir." The Axe Gang Member, James, laughed happily "Your recipes are excellent. And given that none of your businesses serve the same food we have our own niche." This was the guy who made the best ice cream to ever ice cream?!
"Glad to hear it James." The ice cream master, she was pretty sure he was 'Arc' given the Schnees were all albino, and she could see said Atlesian in the group her new person of interest had split off from, "Let me know if anything starts dipping in sales or goes above and beyond. I can work on making new recipes as needed. I'm already making new stuff for the Café anyway."
"Thanks sir. Oh," the man looked around, not spotting Neo who was used to being able to go unnoticed despite how colorful her outfit "thanks for that recipe you taught me. My girlfriend loved it when I made it for her." So, this guy was apparently generous, a master of the sacred art of ice cream, and decently cute. Hmmm, this would require more intense observation. Shooting off a text to Roman that she'd be later coming back than planned, Neo began to follow the group. Stealing anything worth grabbing tended to require observation. That's what Roman had said at least.
-Ironwood-
"Thanks for the heads up, Oz." Ironwood ran a tired hand down his face as his old friend and mentor filled him in on the current political shitstorm brewing over in Vale, "I'll be in Vale in a couple of weeks. There's a situation I need to read you in on. It's too sensitive to simply do over call."
"I look forward to it James." Ozpin sounded both tired and relieved, "Hopefully you can help calm Glynda down. The situation with the students has her most stressed. I'd call Qrow in to try and take some work off her hands but…"
"But Qrow has never done anything to calm Glynda down." Ironwood laughed good naturedly. Qrow was certainly a character, and while he had dozens of stories involving the drunk that were quite fun in hindsight, they were far from stress free when they were actually happening.
"Exactly." Ozpin chuckled, "I'll see you soon James." And with that the call ended with a click. Swiping away the call app for his scroll, he sent a message to Winter and Clover to have them head for his office. They arrived swiftly, standing to attention.
"At ease you two." He gestured for them to relax, the two doing so confused.
"Is there a mission for us sir?" Clover asked, the man usually laisse faire but knowing when to get serious for their jobs.
"I'll be going to Vale in a couple weeks. On the surface it's just heading to prepare for the Vytal festival and assisting in some groundwork given the Arena is being sent from Atlas." Ironwood explained, "That's just the surface though. A prototype Paladin Class Mech was recently stolen from one of our labs. No survivors."
"Fang?" Winter asked, eyes narrowed in fury at the thought of the murder and robbery.
"I don't think so actually." Ironwood shook his head as he handed over the dossier on the incident, "There were Fang masks left at the scene but none of the blood or bodies tested positive for Faunus. Added to that the thieves destroyed the security cameras."
"The Fang never bothered with that before." Clover picked it up right away.
"Exactly. Not to mention that everyone at the base was killed in one of the same three ways. Cut throats with no other signs of injuries, a bullet to the forehead, or they were burnt to death. Fang raids on this scale would typically show the signs of their known heavy hitters, these don't match."
"So, you think, what, that it's someone who's framing the Fang?" Clover asked with a frown as he inspected the pictures more, Winter remaining silent.
"If I had to guess, it's a narcissist. One who doesn't just think that they're smarter than everyone around them, but that everyone else is an idiot." Ironwood explained as Clover rolled his eyes.
"One of them, got it. Hoping to use my semblance to help tip the scales as I look into it?" Clover figured it out quickly.
"Exactly. If they're this brazen, then they're cocky. Cockiness just begs for a bit of 'bad luck' to come their way." Ironwood smirked as Winter finally looked up.
"And me sir? What is my role in the investigation to be?" the eldest Schnee daughter asked.
"Along with assisting Clover as needed? Your brother is now involved in a lawsuit down in Vale. I thought you would appreciate the chance to go and support your brother." Ironwood explained, noting the stiffening in Winter's posture, the tightness in her eyes. He'd never really pried into her family life, knowing that she had a poor relationship with her father and cared about her sister. He was only now really registering that she'd never once spoken about her brother.
"I see. Is that all sir?" Winter's tone was clipped, showing an apathetic view at best of the thought of helping her brother.
"You both have two weeks to get your gear prepared. Clover, figure out who else you can use for the investigation and have their names on my desk ASAP." Ironwood decided to drop it for now, but he would be looking into things.
"Sir." The two saluted and departed, Winter's reaction having Ironwood more than a little on edge.