With the Power of an Avalanche

Chapter 13

-Ironwood-

Back straight, James stepped out of the elevator, nodding to Ozpin and Glynda who were thankfully waiting for him.

"James," Glynda gave him a tired but welcoming nod as Ozpin gave a silent nod while sipping coffee, "it's good to see you again."

"The same to you." He gave the woman a gentle smile before holding up a small bag "I come bearing gifts." He set it on the desk, the inside having a few assorted little cakes from the café young Whitley Schnee and his friend had opened.

"They smell heavenly." Glynda selected a rich chocolate treat, humming happily as she popped it into her mouth.

"Ah, from the café of the young Arc and Schnee boys." Ozpin noted the logo on the bag, "Yes, they do good work. Peter and Bart are quite fond of the place themselves."

"Having met those two I'm not surprised." James laughed, honestly glad to see his oldest friends again. It was often lonely being up in Atlas, the only one who was in the knowledge of the worlds greatest secret and having no one he could truly confide in. Not with Freya, the current winter maiden, getting on in years and struggling to recognize people.

"So, James, you said you had something you wished to discuss with us?" Ozpin refilled his mug as the smile fell from James' face.

"Yes. A high value prototype was stolen from an Atlas R&D lab. A war mech specifically." He set down an image of the mechanical titan to show the scale and severity of the situation, "The thieves I believe were framing the White Fang given the details of the robbery. But more than that, intel says it's being moved into Vale proper. I believe it's for a planned attack on the Vytal festival."

"Fucking damnit, not again." Ozpin groaned into his coffee "Can we just go one festival without some lunatic, or Salem, or both trying to attack the festival in some grand political clusterfuck statement?"

"It has some of the most influential people from all the major kingdoms in attendance as well as the best and brightest of each Academy Ozpin." James shook his head with a sigh, "That kind of a target is too tempting for these kind of people to resist. What we need to do now is focus on how to handle this without inciting a panic." Panic would only lead to Grimm after all.

"Have you already started any operations in the area to get it back?" Ozpin sighed, taking a long pull from his drink.

"I have one of my specialists in the area looking into things." James smirked, "He's my best agent. Along with a great deal of skill and tactical ability, he possesses the semblance of good fortune. Pair that with the thief showing signs of arrogance in how they handled the heist and I have high hopes. I've also brought Winter Schnee along to assist him. Last I checked she was heading to visit her sister in the dorms." He'd keep his concerns about her familial issues to himself for now, that wasn't something Ozpin or Glynda would hopefully need to be made aware of.

-Ilia-

Fighting off a sigh of boredom, Ilia stood silently in the corner of the room she was forced to share with Weiss Schnee. Her semblance was a gift from the brothers for her tasks of spying and observation. She was so used to having to hide who she was, to trying not to be noticed growing up in a mostly human environment, that her soul had expanded on that. So long as she didn't do anything to draw attention to herself, nobody would notice her presence. Having the ability to change her skin color to camouflage with the area only made it that much more effective.

Silently praying that something would happen soon, Ilia held her mouth shut tight when a knock sounded at the door. "Coming!" Weiss hurried over and straightened up, seemingly excited "Winter!"

"Weiss." The eldest of the Schnee children nodded stiffly, stepping past Weiss as if the room was hers, "I see your partner is not in the room at present. Who are they?"

"Ilia Amitola." Weiss rattled off Ilia's name without hesitation, "Uses an electrical whip, spends most of her time down in Vale at some part time job when she isn't working on homework. Honestly, I'm upset that my chosen partner, Pyrrha, got stolen by that stupid child Ruby Rose. But at least Amitola isn't the worst potential candidate. I could have been stuck with Whitley, his blond toady, or a Fang member." The last part was said with utter revulsion.

"Yes, Whitley." Winter's upper lip curled a hair, "I've been informed he is involved in some sort of lawsuit currently?"

"I haven't heard about it, but I'm not surprised." Weiss scoffed, "Whitley has apparently been working on starting some sort of business or another in Vale. I guess he finally realized he'd never be named the heir to the SDC. He probably stole someone else's creation or design or business model and is suing them into silence." Ilia rolled her eyes, the silent action not enough to break her semblance while still letting her vent at least somewhat at the albino girl's insufferable attitude. Thankfully her phone was recording every word.

"Quite possibly." Winter nodded, not bothering to even attempt to defend Whitley, "I will have to look into this regardless. Now, you mentioned that Whitley had acquired a 'blond toady'?"

"Yes, some nobody named Jaune Arc." Weiss scoffed, "As if that scraggly fool could actually be from the prestigious Arc family. Probably faked his name or changed it hoping for attention."

"Yet something else to dig into." Winter sighed but once again felt no need to defend Whitley or Jaune. The recordings would probably be of help to Adam and Sienna's new strategy, assuming using them wouldn't oust her. They'd have to be careful, but either way this was quite the potential." Settling in to spy on and record the whole conversation, Ilia wondered if the Red Axe gang had any friends in the Media they could utilize. From what Adam had gathered the leader of the Axes was fond of both Jaune and Whitley and would probably be on board with helping drag the Schnee girl's attitudes into the light.

-Whitley-

"So, you wanted to help me design a weapon that doesn't utilize dust?" Whitley asked Ruby as they relaxed in the training arena, watching Jaune as he sparred against Velvet. Having someone who can mimic fighting styles was a gift from the brothers to Jaune who, while he learned astonishingly fast, still didn't have the experience to use all his weapons properly.

Plus, it gave both him and Velvet's teammates more chances to tease the two.

"Yeah!" Ruby nodded excitedly, the little silver eyed reaper having been very excited at seeing his various creations, even if they weren't technically weapons, "You'd need something if your aura ever ran out. Your dust stuff is rechargeable so there's no real concern of that, not unless you start using powdered dust tools."

"No, I prefer what I have." Whitley shook his head, "I have been working on a new dust cane so perhaps a cane sword? Keep the dust in the cane head and casing?"

"That could work, yeah." Ruby's eyes sparkled as she started sketching out ideas, "It would fit with your whole theme and it's mainly a backup weapon, so it doesn't have to be designed as the primary way of fighting.

"Honestly the theme part might be the most important for my health." Whitley laughed, bumping Ruby's shoulder playfully, "Something tells me Coco would be quite unamused if I broke up the look that she'd 'every so painstakingly created' for me."

"Yeah, Coco's…intense." Ruby shuddered in fear at the notion as Whitley laughed louder, Ruby being someone he felt he could relax around. Not have to worry about politics, or advantages, or the other thoughts almost always in his head. If Jaune was becoming the brother Whitley had never had, then Ruby was definitely the sister he wished his had been.

"That's one way to put it." Whitley grinned as Velvet and Jaune continued to train together, sending a pic of Jaune getting flustered by Velvet helping his stance to the twins. The middle finger emoji warmed his frigid heart, truly.

"So, want to work on forging it this weekend?" Ruby bounced back to 'excited weapon nerd' mode in an instant, pouting like a kicked puppy when he shook his head.

"Sorry Ruby, but my lawsuit is going to court this weekend." He explained as Ruby got an 'ooooh' face of understanding.

"Right, you mentioned that!" Ruby slammed a fist into her palm, "You're suing that jerk Cardin, right?" Ruby let out a little growl as she clutched her weapon "Grrrr, I wish I'd been there. I'd have shown him the business end of Crescent Rose!"

"I'm sure you would have Ruby." He assured her, "I'm glad at least someone besides her teammates or my partner and I would have done so."

"We're gonna have to celebrate once you win." Ruby insisted, "Big time!"

"How about a barbeque at my house in Vale after I win?" He suggested with a laugh, "We can tie Jaune to the grill and see if Velvet faints once we put him in a 'kiss the cook' apron."

"Whitley, that's mean!" Ruby tried scolding him but was too busy giggling.

"Yes. And?" He grinned with a vicious smirk, "By the way, can you give a message to Pyrrha for me? Her agent reached out to me about trying to set up sponsorships for her through my businesses. I'm pretty sure she was trying to avoid all that though and wanted to make sure that she was even aware of this before I gave him an answer either way."

"I'll let her know." Ruby made a face, "She's terrified of even saying she likes a brand or a café online to avoid people trying to destroy competitors or some other weird crap. And she actually likes the stuff from the café!"

"The cakes or the cook?" Whitley gave a teasing smirk as Ruby swatted his shoulder, "Wow, so violent. Maybe you are Yang's sister!"

"Uuuuuuugh."