It was now raining in a different part of Remnant. The previous rain that was falling near that bar had moved to a different area in Remnant, specifically around Vale and Beacon. Inside Beacon lots of different hunters-in-training were attending indoor classes. As most quests and contracts couldn't get completed during the rain period. Atleast not for students. The same could not be said for hunters already in the field. Luckily for the boss of the hunters, he could enjoy being indoors.
Sipping his cup of cacoa, Ozpin watched the rain fall outside his window. He was already entirely done with all the paperwork required to run the school. And was just relaxing a bit. Then suddenly the elevator sound rings and Glynda, his secretary, walked out of it. Carrying a small tablet and a scroll. A serious look on her face. Ozpin then turns to face her and gave a small smile.
"What brings you here unannounced?" Ozpin asked confused.
Glynda sighed as she taps on the tablet some more. "I got the information from Summer. She is returning from her trip to Mistral. There was once again no sign of Ruby there." She said disappointed.
"I see. What about Qrow?"
"He left to one of his favorite bars around Patch. Apparently there is a good whiskey there with his name on it." Glynda sighed, "Well atleast he is happy."
"How is Yang doing?" Ozpin asked as he turns to face the window once more.
"She is calmly enjoying Signal. Actually I have gotten reports that she is having difficulties making friends. And that she appears to be in a constant depressed state." Glynda said, a flash of empathy could be seen on her face. "Her combat style has become more reserved. Which had the surprising ability to improve her combat. She is not very predictable in her combat anymore. Instead she hids her skills until the last moment in which she nearly one-shots all her opponents."
"Impressive. Though I would love to see my little petal again. I won't deny the positives that has come from the lack of her presence." Ozpin said, though he quickly regretted it as the mere nickname of Ruby caused a deep sadness to reappear on his face. Glynda sighed, she agreed with Oz on the positives, she too misses the young excited child. Glynda then shook his head.
"I have got more-" A beep from Ozpin's scroll interrupted Glynda. Ozpin then heads to his scroll and looks at it. After reading it, the shock nearly caused him to drop his scroll.
"It's Qrow. He got a lead on Ruby's whereabouts and is coming here to explain it. Tai will also be joining us." Ozpin said shocked.
Glynda dropped what she was about to say when she heard that. She nodded and prepared some additional chairs to await Qrow's arrival with great excitement. It has been a while since the last lead, and while the last was a dead end, some of Ruby's belongings had been found during the last lead. It was enough to atleast convince Yang that Ruby was dead. Giving her a chance to move on with life and allowing her to cry her bottled up sadness away. Obviously however, Summer got renewed energy to search for her missing child from that. The same could be said for Qrow, as he stopped drinking all together and searched with even more fervor than Summer. And it seemed his stubborness finally paid out.
In less than an hour, both Taiyang and Qrow arrived at the same time at Ozpin's office. Qrow wordlessly sat down without being asked to do so. Tai was confused, but complied all the same. Glynda, Ozpin and Tai looked at Qrow as he sighed. They noticed clear signs of stress and sadness. It worried them, but any lead is a good lead.
"So, Qrow. You got some intel?" Tai said as he is the first to break the silence.
"That bartender used the free whiskey to get my attention and it worked." Qrow said, it was clear that he was preparing himself to tell them the information.
"So that was that all about." Glynda mused, "You had been sober for so long, I had forgotten what you were like when you are drunk. I am glad you are still sober though."
"Qrow. Why are you taking so long to tell us?" Tai asked getting impatient.
Qrow looked pale at the group, his aura clearly signs of instability. It worried Ozpin immensely. So much so, that he feared whatever information Qrow had received. "Is it... that bad?"
"I am glad Summer isn't here right now. Or this clocktower will no longer exist." Qrow muttered. This shocked the group. Tai knew that Summer is strong, but he had never seen such strength before. If the information was that extreme, how bad is the information to receive such extreme response.
Qrow finally took a deep breath. "Ruby had been spotted at that bar. She apparently revealed some critical information to the bartender. Then left once again." he said as he let the implications of that sink in. "She is definitely alive. The question stands for how much longer."
"Who got her Qrow?" Ozpin asked surprised with the information.
Qrow gulped, "The Metal Grimm."
The moment he spoke those two words, three actions happened at once. Ozpin dropped his favorite mug, Glynda dropped her tablet and Tai destroyed his chair. The weight of those words caused intense pressure in the room. Fear, anger and happiness was detectable. Qrow watched them turn pale at the implications of those two words.
"They were dead." Tai practically begged.
"She has been mutated already." Qrow added. "With some of the best gear that Remnant has to offer."
"What... were the mutations?" Ozpin asked, he took a seat in his chair to keep him from collapsing.
"Advanced Skeleton, arm and hand beowolf claw and frontal lobe replacement." Qrow replied.
"Oh my god." Tai said, "Salem might be cruel. But that isn't her style."
"Because it wasn't her." Ozpin quickly replied, "She rather kill the target then mutate it." Ozpin looked down, he was the ones to start that awful organization and it finally bit him in the back.
"There was one more thing Ruby had received." Qrow gulped again, "Curse of agelessness."
For the first time in Ozpin's life. He fell off his chair is pure shock. He then proceeded to copy Qrow in picking the chair up, crushing it into splinters and throwing it through the window of his office and down below. Also for the first time in Ozpin's life, Glynda did not stop him. No she was too busy thinking of ways to break their legs and then some. And Tai grabbed Ozpin's unused whiskey bottle and drank some from it. It became too much for him. Qrow was the most stable, emotions wise.
"Where is she?" Tai asked again.
"Well they said that her tech suggested that she was part of the elite side of the organization. Specifically those called war machines. And based on that, I presumed their main HQ is where Ruby is being held at." Qrow then offered them a smile, "They also commented that she could easily hold her own. That she is both their best and worst nightmare ever if she were to turn on them."
"I see. If we offer her a chance to escape. She might turn on them." Glynda said disappointed.
"Why do you sound so disappointed?" Qrow asked confused.
"I want to kill them myself." Glynda admitted.
"So do I. But Ruby's life has priority. If killing her own teachers will save her life. Then I will allow her to do whatever she pleases." Ozpin replied.
Then out of nowhere, Qrow's scroll went off. He looked down and got more serious as he began searching the area.
'You got a rat.' The unknown nummer typed.
"We got a rat among us." Qrow said as he stood up a lot more alert. Tai and Glynda assisted Qrow as they noticed the rat. He was sitting on the highest roof opposite to Beacon and in Vale. He was using a whisper device to listen in. And without any hesitation, Qrow appeared behind the rat and beheaded him. While the blood was spraying everywhere from the seperated neck to head area. He then checked the rat for any identification. He found it then headed back.
"Who?" Ozpin asked.
Qrow looked angry, "Metal Grimm." He then turns his attention to the nummer.
'Who are you?' He typed.
'A friend.' The reply was instantious.
'What?'
'Find me. I am deep in the mountains on Patch. Look for a valley. That is where you shall find me. -Roses.' They typed then went offline.
Without hesitation, he frantically looked at Ozpin as he showed them the scroll message. Shocked, Ozpin without missing a beat, called the best hunters-in-training down to his office. And called Summer to return immediately. "Tai stop drinking. Get ready to depart when the group is ready. I will send my best men to that location. Expect serious resistance." Ozpin ordered.
Tai placed the whiskey bottle back as he nodded. He then quickly left the office to prepare himself. Qrow nodded at Ozpin, he knew what to do without any orders as he transformed into a bird and quickly began moving to scout the base. Glynda began making lots of calls to prepare a small army of ships to head to the destination. And Ozpin began to prepare the paperwork for what is about to occure. But also he saw Summer's response.
'Oz, I am currently asking you. Why should I go home? I am close to a lead, I can feel it!' Summer had typed on her scroll.
'Because we got a solid lead on her whereabouts.' Ozpin quickly answered.
It took a second or so, 'Omw' Summer replied.
Meanwhile somewhere in Vale...
A small child with a red sweater was walking around. She spoke nothing as she went around to 'collect' her 'ally'. While she already knew that their friend was dead. Her superiors did not. And that is why she was given the 'Collect' Order. One of the many robotic-like orders she had received every so often. Regardless, she walked around. As she faked searching for him. She knew exactly where he was, but did as if she was unaware. Malicious compliance, if you will.
"Come in, R4DG1M." Red heard over her interal radio.
"Command?" Red replied.
"Our drones have spotted his last known location on his special badge. He is north of your position and seems to be on top of that building. Please make haste."
"Order received. Complying immediately." Red stated as she quickly jumped north and onto the building.
After a moment of 'fake' searching for Red's 'ally' she found him. Or what is left of him anyways. Red inspected the work, a clean cut right through the neck. Fast, efficient and effective. Based on the marks on the wound, it was either a scythe or a mecha weapon used on him. Not to mention, the badge he always carryed on his person was gone. Red gave a robotic-like smile, pleased with the results.
"Command?" Red said.
"Go ahead."
"Our ally has gone KIA." Red reported.
"Anything about his KIA?"
"He seemed to be spying on Beacon. Big mistake. He was spotted." Red added.
"Shit." Red's commander swore on the other side.
"Commander." Red saluted.
"How did he go?"
"Killed by mecha weapon. Clean cut. Signs of assassination type hunter. No trace of hunter. End of report." Red replied.
"Hm. Good work R4DG1M. Anything else you wish to do?"
"Return to base. Mission complete. Collect his body?" Red asked.
"Negative. Return to base granted. Dismissed." Red's commander ordered.
"Have a good night commander." Red said as she disconnected the communication.
"And fuck you too, commander." Red replied to herself. "I want to go home. I miss you... Mother."
Despite the lack of memories, certain memories simply couldn't get repressed. Like memories of her mother baking her favorite cookies. Or watching Yang train combat with... Someone. Yang and her mother. Those two never left her memories even after ten years of constant dirty work being performed for those assholes. As she then looked down, she sees a familiar face.
"Sir Torchwick. Huh?" Red said out loud, "Not today."
Red then leaped from building to building as she headed back to base. She was then about to use her speed semblence to run across the water, only to spot her sister among the crowd. A powerful sense of longing was engulfing Red. But she quickly shook it off as she headed to base. "Not yet. I will see you soon." she said as she proceeds to speed across the water like she is a god or something. Honestly her... masters called her a god. The people called her Red Grimm for some reason. But she likes the name Red for some personal reason. No matter the reason she had arrived back to base. Just like that. It took her even less time this time. Last time she got lost and fell a few times during her sprint. But they "Ironed out those bugs" In their words.
As she shook her head, she entered the base. And was immediately greeted by her personal helper bot. A little invention she made while she was imprisoned in this place. "Welcome back master. It has been five weeks since you last returned to this place."
"Hello, Helpy. How has your time been without me?"
Helpy giggled at Red. "Boring. But, I did what you asked of me. Where do I send it?"
"The thing in the thing. You know where. Listen, I got to go. My boss is getting anxious." Red said with a soft smile.
"Yes, Master. Will download it as soon as I can." Helpy said as it left Red alone.
"Commander." Red saluted after she was getting approached instead.
"Red. Be honest. Who likely killed him?"
"My apologies. My database contains no information on hunters." Red replied.
"Thomas! I thought you send her the data?!" The commander shouted at his human buddy.
"Sorry boss. I might have send it to the wrong bot then. Let me try that again." Thomas said as he began typing away on his laptop. "There, Red did you get that?"
"Downloading Data now." Red replied. "Data Installed. How may I help you, Commander?"
"Who could have made that cut?" He asked again.
"Searching the database now." Red said, "No match found. Beacon contains no assassination type hunters atleast according to their internal database."
"That is odd." The commander said, "I clearly remembered Oz having some of them."
"Warning. Unauthorized access detected. Unable to search deeper in the database, Commander." Red replied.
"Fuck. Red what is your clearance level?"
"Twelve Commander."
"What clearance required to access data?"
"Unknown. I have been locked out of the system." Red replied.
"Motherfuckers. I need to know. Attempt override now!" The commander ordered.
"Attempting... Attempting one failed, trying again... Failed again, trying again. Failed again, Warning my hacking skills are unable to bypass this type of security system. This is CCTS levels of security." Red warned.
That shocked the commander into silence. "Stop attempting. Go back into main unit mode."
"Switching... Switching complete. How may I help you, commander?" Red asked again.
"Standby modus. Go back to normal operations."
"No operations found. Requiring new operations to continue."
The commander face palms, "Prepare operation, go on standby and wait for further orders."
"Operation added, begin immediately?"
"Yes."
"Understood commander, Have a lovely day." Red said as she turns around and left to go to her personal room. Ever since she became an elite, her room has become nicer and nicer. As her missions became harder and harder. That said, it did give Red time to give her position away to her real allies. She also took a look at the data she had received. The truth is, she was easily able to hack it, but decided it was not worth sharing with the commander. She saw four files that held her in great interest. A file of her mother, a file of her sister, a file on her uncle and a file on her.
But before she did anything else, she received a beep from her interal communicator.
'Who are you?' The hunter she had communicated to asked.
'A friend.' Red replied without missing a beat. This would obviously confuse the hunter since as far as the hunter was aware of, he had no mysterious friends.
'What?' The hunter replied confused.
Red gave a mental smile at the communicator. "It's time to go home." 'Find me. I am deep in the mountains on Patch. Look for a valley. That is where you shall find me.' she typed, '-Roses' she added at the end as she send it across to the hunter. Now it was a matter of waiting and biding time. She looked out the window, "Please... hurry." She said out loud.