Chapter 28: Malice

In which Russel chooses to be the bigger man, Team Castle makes and breaks new friends, and Ruby loses her short-lived street cred.

Russel pretended to be playing on his scroll until Jaune stepped out of the dorm. Dove inhaled, then nodded at the remainder of Team Adventure. It was safe for them to speak freely about their matchmaking. Er, to debrief on Operation Arkos.

"Oh, man! That was bonkers! What a day," Russel said, falling backwards onto his bunk.

They'd come back from Professor Branwen's class, and it was the first time that just the three of them were alone.

"It was simply grand," Pyrrha snickered. "For a minute there, I was worried I'd actually have to go to the dance with Russel." She grimaced, realizing what she just implied. "Um, not that there's anything wrong with…I'm sure you'd be an excellent–"

Russel made a mock look of hurt. "Pyrrha! You don't want me to take dat fine ass of yours to the dance?"

Pyrrha burst into giggles. Dove started to chuckle to himself.

"And Dove, you did great, buddy!"

Both teammates ceased to laugh.

Russel kept going. "I thought we were screwed when Ruby frickin' asked Jaune out, but you totally saved the day, bro."

"T-Thank you, Thrush."

"Takin' one for the team, heh. Well, I guess we both got dates with cute girls, so it's not really a big deal."

Dove looked like he was lost for words. Pyrrha was frozen, probably terrified that she'd interrupt and screw it up. Looks like it was up to old Russel to patch things up once again.

"Dude, we're cool. I get it – you screwed up and you're sorry. And yeah, it pissed me off that you did that to Jaune after inviting him to join our terrible twosome. But you're trying to fix it, so I guess that it's okay. And, besides, if things keep going this way, you're probably gonna do something stupid like try to take a bullet for Jaune. So, yeah, we're good. We may not be as close as we were, and I may snap at ya a little, but I'm not gonna hold this grudge forever. Team Adventure's back on track."

"I'm glad to hear it." Dove said cautiously.

Russel fiddled with his mohawk and spoke just to fill the space. "I guess I was really only mad because, to me, it doesn't seem like team leader is some great prize worth fightin' over. Not just you – everyone's crazy about it. I'm pretty sure my new girlfriend Weiss had a little rough patch when she wasn't chosen, and everyone knows Cardin nearly lost his shit when he didn't get picked. I don't get it. What's so great about leading that it's worth all the hassle?"

"I didn't want to be leader," said Pyrrha.

"Yeah, you were cool about it, but can you honestly say that didn't have anything to do with you crushing on Big J?"

Pyrrha turned red and shut up.

"So why'd'ja do it, Lovey-Dovey?" It may have seemed like teasing, but Russel's words were calculated. He truly did want to know, but the tactical use of Ruby's little nickname for Dove kept it from sounding like an accusation or challenge. There was no point in riling Dove up, not after Russel himself had only just finished riling down.

"There's no big secret, Thrush. No master plan or deep meaning. I was upset with not being given the honor and power, and I doubted Arc's capabilities. The fact that I wasn't even there at the naming ceremony to witness it did little to quell my vexation over the results."

"I guess I just don't get that kinda thing. I see being the leader as a burden."

Pyrrha must've decided things were good enough to stop pretending she was invisible. "Well, you may not be leader Dove, but you're input and wisdom is still valued on this team. And Russel, you've doing a pretty great job and being everybody's mutual friend."

"I am honored by your praise, Nikos."

"Awww, thanks Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha beamed. "I'm really glad I came to Beacon. Headmaster Lionheart was right."

"Who?"

"Leonardo Lionheart. He's the headmaster of Haven Academy, the premiere hunter school in my homeland of Mistral. He suggested I come to Beacon. In fact, he practically begged."

"Why's that? Don't you think he'd want you to come to his school?"

"I suspect it was because he was worried I would outshine other students, particularly the children of big donors to his school. He mentioned that a powerful backer of Haven thought me coming to Beacon was a good idea. Lionheart seemed to be quite embarrassed about it – he even asked me not to tell Headmaster Ozpin. The poor man seemed ashamed of himself when he admitted that my application would likely not be accepted, if I tried to go to Haven."

"But not ashamed enough to change his mind. That's messed up."

"It all worked out, and I was leaning towards coming here anyways."

Russel shrugged and moved on, but Dove's scowl remained. "Still, the headmaster of a hunter academy bowing to an external power…"

"I know how the business world works after working with so many sponsors over the years. Speaking of sponsors, I was thinking of calling Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes and asking them about Penny being the new face of the cereal. I think she deserves it after what happened at lunch."

"Nikos, that is by far the greatest idea you've ever put forth."

"Ooh ooh! New friends! Let's go say hi!"

Sky rubbed his eyes. Given his team leader's red hair, chipper personality, and now apparent desire to introduce herself to random strangers, he wasn't sure if she'd switched places with Penny.

"Nora, those transfer students seem busy training," Ren said. "Perhaps we should wait."

The transfer team was comprised of a raven haired lady wielding a fiery bow and arrow and her companions. She fought alongside a dark skinned young woman against a man very prone to kicking and kneeing his opponents and a dainty little girl who seemed partial to flashy acrobatics. She was incredibly flippy for one so small.

"Nah, it's fine, Renny. They'll have plenty of chances to train, but you only ever get to meet Team Castle once."

Sky honestly wasn't sure why Ren was trying to fight it. In the short time he'd known Nora, he'd learned that surrender was the best route. Of course, he did have a bit of a problem with bending over backwards when someone asked for a favor. Or maybe bending over forwards if Ren asked for a favor…

Sky was unsure what to make of his relationship with Ren. After their date was confusingly interrupted, they'd left the restaurant. Sky had suggested reporting it to the police, but no laws were broken, and they'd barely had anything to report. Neither knew what to do in that situation so they ended up going to a café and grabbed a cup of coffee (Sky's choice), then ran a few laps around Beacon's track (Ren's choice). Ren agreed to go on a second date with Sky, but there was still the issue of Nora.

Sky believed Ren when he said that there was nothing going on there, but Ren had requested they keep 'us' a secret from their team leader. It seemed like he was one part worried about Nora's feelings and one part worried for Sky's heartbeat. Sky had agreed for now, but that wasn't a permanent solution. Were they supposed to hide their relationship from Ren's partner for the rest of their lives?

Of course, he'd kept these concerns private. No need to upset their yes together-together.

"Hiya, guys!"

Sky's thoughts were interrupted as Nora sauntered on up to a green haired woman, mid-spar, and offered a friendly hand. The woman stopped fighting and looked at the hand as though it would bite her.

Her voice was angry when she spoke. "Who–"

"Now, Emerald. Play nice with the other kiddies."

"Sorry, ma'am." Emerald reached down and shook Nora's hand.

The dark haired woman with whom she was sparring wiped some sweat from her brow. "Are you all students of Beacon?"

"Yeppers. I'm Nora Valkyrie, Queen of Team Castle."

"Only Cinder's a real queen. She's our team leader, and she can–"

"Emerald! I do apologize. I am Cinder Fall, leader of Team CMEN."

Se…oh, frick. Sky bit his tongue, and Nora looked like she was about to burst into giggles. Cinder must have noticed.

"It's pronounced Team Caiman, not…that. We're third years from Haven Academy." She motioned for her team to join them.

"This's my partner, Lie Ren. He's kind of a ninja! Sky's also really cool; he can do all sortas of things…" Nora continued to describe their team. Cinder seemed quite pleased to learn more about them. What a nice girl – Sky decided that he liked her.

"And last but sorta least is Cardin. Say hi, Cardy!"

Cardin stared at the transfers, then walked up to the tiny girl with black hair that had done the flips and stuff during the spar. His face was unreadable, and Sky had no idea why he'd singled out her in particular. To her credit, the girl grinned and looked up at the giant towering over her. Even Sky, as tall as he was, couldn't measure up to Cardin's massive height. The little huntress' head barely reached Cardin's breast, but she didn't seem intimidated. In fact, she reached out a hand for a shake.

Cardin grabbed her forearm instead of her hand. Then he twisted.

The girl doubled over in pain as her bones audibly snapped. Cardin only continued to twist the broken arm. After her momentary shock wore off, she got her aura up and stopped any further damage, but her arm was already bent at an inhuman angle, and Cardin was still trying to do even more damage.

Nora reacted first and slammed Magnhild into Cardin's chest, forcing him to let go and stumble backwards in a daze. The tiny huntress fell to her knees in pain, her eyes clenched shut. Emerald didn't seem all that worried, and the boy on their team actually looked amused, but Cinder was horrified.

"What's wrong with you? You broke Neo's fucking arm!"

Cardin shook his head. "I– I–"

"This injury is going to take weeks to heal, even with aura. She'll be lucky if they even let her into the tournament! What were you thinking?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Really, Cardin?" asked Nora furiously. "You didn't mean to reach out and nearly snap her in half?"

The poor girl in question was weakly trying to manually bend her arm around as though doing so might mend the bone. It looked like she was in shock.

Nora shook her head. "Cardin, I really trusted you. I thought you were done with bullshit like this. You…we…I'm ashamed to call you a member of Team Castle."

"N-No…"

"Cinder, the nurse's office is on the second floor. Just follow the signs. I'm going to take Cardin to the headmaster." Nora glared at Cardin. "This was your last chance. I let bullying Velvet slide, I let pranking Weiss slide, but no more. When we get to the office, I'm going to ask Ozpin to expel you."

Cardin tried to stutter something out, but upon seeing Nora's angry face, he hung his head in shame.

"Ren, Sky. Please restrain Cardin."

"I'm not going to–"

"Like I'd trust a word out of your mouth!" Nora screamed.

Sky grabbed one arm, and Ren took the other. When no one was looking, he nodded lightly at Ren, who nodded back.

Good. Ren had seen it too.

Ruby thumbed through her weapon magazine. Yang was doing homework, Blake was reading some 'totally non-erotic' book, and Weiss was watching some video about chess or something boring on her scroll.

It was truly a peaceful scene. Too peaceful.

Time for some Ruby!

"Hey, Blake. Now that Weiss is dating Russel, who're you goin' to the dance with?"

Blake's book fell out of her hands to the floor. Weiss snapped her scroll in two.

"For your information, I am not dating Russel! I'd never settle for such a ruffian. Or a man."

"But you did."

"Ruby, I was trying to support them in their quite childish ploy to get Jaune to got to the dance with Pyrrha. Was that not obvious?"

"It was quite obvious," said Blake to Ruby, rather condescendingly.

"Yeah, Rubes. Did you seriously not get what was going on?" asked her traitorous sister.

"Really? Was that what was going on? I'm kinda socially awkward and don't pick up on those cues."

A knock came from their door. Weiss opened the door and saw none other than Jaune Arc. In his hands were a stack of cardboard boxes. Why ever would he be here at this hour?

"Hey, Ruby. I just wanted to drop off the comic books."

"Aw, shucks. That's so sweet of you, Jaune."

Yang pulled the lid off of the top box. "Damn, Jaune. These're some really nice comics. Is that a limited edition X-Ray and Vav Issue # 68?"

"Yeah. I wanted the next one, but I couldn't afford it. Ruby, I hope this is enough."

Weiss peered at the boxes curiously. "Jaune, why are you bringing Ruby comics?"

Jaune smiled in a friendly manner. "Oh, that's an easy one. They're payment for helping me force my team to work together. I knew they were gonna pull something to get Pyrrha and me together, but if Russ was planning it, he'd exclude Dove. So I asked Ruby be my wild card to…to…why are you three staring at me?"

Click!

Ruby put down her scroll as the three girls rubbed their eyes. Now, she had a treasure trove of rare comics, mad street cred, and a picture commemorating the time she'd earned her team's eternal respect by being the sneakiest sneak. This was turning out to be quite the profitable endeavor.

"Y-Y-You?"

"Me."

"But…"

"It was quite obvious," Ruby said, impersonating Blake. She switched to her imitation of Yang's voice. "Did you seriously not get what was going on?"

Yang folded her arms and huffed. "Rhubarb Rook Rose! You little trickster!"

Weiss, Blake, and Jaune froze, then turned to gape at Yang.

Oh shoot. There goes my street cred. At least I still have the comics.

"Rhubarb? Ruby is short for Rhubarb?"

"Her initials spell R.R.R? What, is she a pirate?"

"Your middle name is Rook?"

"Yes, yes/no, and yes," answered Yang.

"There's no way that kind of alliteration is by accident," noted Jaune. "Yang, explain."

The fiend! And after everything she'd done to help him and his team.

"Well, the story goes that our dad was apparently was really good friends with some chess fanatic," explained Yang. "The guy was a mentor to him and Uncle Qrow, so they let him suggest a name. Rhubarb had been decided in advance, and–"

"They named you after a chess piece!" giggled Weiss. "And the most boring one, at that! Even a pawn is more interesting; at least it can become a queen!"

Ruby blushed in embarrassment. "Mom really liked it, too. She said Yang wasn't good enough to get my super cool middle name, so she gave it to me instead." Ruby spat out her sister's name with venom.

"And –snrk– Rhubarb? Rhubarb is your real name?" asked Weiss.

"Rhubarb is a pretty red plant, so it fits the color thing that people always do," Ruby mumbled. "S'not that weird…"

Even Blake, normally the stalwart stoic, was now snickering uncontrollably.

Yang. This was all her fault.

My pride. My dignity. My street cred.

Silver eyes opened, but Yang was not a Grimm and didn't turn to stone. Darn. That usually worked.

Why? Why did he do it?

He'd been looking over the new kids one by one. He remembered thinking that the fiery chick was kind of hot, then he looked to the next girl. After that, it was all a blur.

No, that wasn't right. He could recall every moment and feeling in vivid details, almost better than normal, but it was like he wasn't in control. Some external force was controlling his body, and Cardin was just along for the ride. It wasn't the same as when Professor Goodbitch used her mind powers to restrain his arm – that felt like an invisible grasp was holding him back. This was like his body moved of its accord. Like it wanted to hurt that Neo girl. No, like it needed to hurt her.

The most damning part was that Cardin knew he would've killed her if Nora hadn't stopped him. His other hand was about to reach for her neck.

The tiny girl had seemed angry, or something like that – the sensation was strange enough at the time, and it was already beginning to fade. He didn't know how to explain it, but she was full to the brim with malice. Or at least, that's what Cardin though. Her cute, innocent smile said otherwise.

Sky and Ren pushed him into the elevator. Sky looked down at his scroll. Cardin wanted to say that it was a bit of a poor time to be checking for messages, but he decided not to provoke the others by speaking.

Ren, from his other arm, was watching Nora like a hawk. Her face…well, if looks could kill…

Cardin started to cry. It was a pussy thing to do, but he couldn't hold it in. He hated himself right now more than ever. It was worse than when his father berated him for not being man enough, worse then when his mother burned him with her cigarettes, worse than when Nora pierced his soul with disappointed eyes for all that bullying.

It was over before Cardin even knew it started. Ren let go of Cardin, then slammed his hands over Nora's mouth. He recognized the pink-eyed man's semblance coming into effect as Nora struggling to break free weakened, though her arms never fully stopped. She had to be really pissed if even Ren couldn't calm her down.

"Cardin, this is important," Sky said, releasing his grip on Cardin and pressing the emergency stop button on the elevator. "You need to tell us exactly why you did that."

"I'm so fucking sorry, I swear!"

"Cardin." Sky's brownish blue eyes were so intense Cardin had to look away. "We NEED to know. What happened? Spare no detail, regardless of how small or insignificant it was."

"We're not mad at you, Cardin," clarified Ren. "There's more going on here than meets the eye."

Cardin relayed his story to the others, describing the weird feelings as best he could.

"What's going on, you guys? Do you know why I did that? I swear to the fucking Brothers, I didn't mean to."

"Nora, I'm going to let you go. I promise, I'll explain everything, but I think Cardin wasn't at fault."

Nora didn't scream for help or anything, but Cardin knew she could knock out Ren and Sky and beat him to death with their unconscious bodies if she so desired.

"Ren," she hissed. "Explain. Now."

"Sky and I went to Vale a few nights ago. We were…at a fast food place grabbing a bite to eat. The server was a mute man, and Sky thought something seemed up. We dug around and found out that the server was actually a woman who could disguise herself and create illusions. The girl Cardin attacked…"

Sky continued. "She didn't speak once the entire time. She didn't even scream when her arm was broken. She was completely mute."

"That doesn't mean–"

"Nora, it was her. That fake smile, that hungry look in her eyes…even if she changed her appearance, her expression was the same."

Nora's face lightened up. "And you knew it too, Cardin? Oh, thank Dust! I was so mad at you, but you were just trying to save Renny and Malarky!" She wrapped her arms around Cardin. "Oh, this is great! You're not secretly evil!"

Nora's embrace was all Cardin had dream it would be and more, but he had to tell her the truth. He wanted to earn her l̵o̵v̵e̵ forgiveness, not trick it out of her.

"Nora, I didn't know."

Nora, still hugging Cardin, stared up at him. "But…"

Sky held up his scroll. "Nora, how much does one Magnhild to the chest do to Cardin's aura?"

"12%, obviously," answered Nora without missing a beat. "It's a well-documented fact that we know through rigorously repeated testing."

"Cardin's aura is at 86%. Where's the missing 2%?"

Cardin was baffled, but Nora figured it out quickly. "His semblance."

"Exactly. Cardin, I think you unlocked your semblance just now."

"Breaking girl's arms?"

"Based on how you sensed her anger, probably something more like detecting malice, or instinctively reacting to an enemy's rage in kind," said Ren. "A semblance that's the opposite of mine. How curious."

"So, I wasn't evil?"

"No, Cardin. It sounds like you might have saved our asses," said Sky. "I'd bet my bottom lien Neo is scheming something that involves our team. Let's just hope you held her plans off for a little bit."

Omake

Ruby: I'm a wild card for Jaune's master plan. Secret Agent Rose – that's me!

Jaune: Yeah, you were a great help with Operation Russdove.

Weiss: Please, Jaune, don't enable her fantasies.

Yang: Did you just fucking say Enabler? *punches Weiss in the stomach* Don't ever say that word!

Next Chapter: Breaking Point – The castle walls finally come crumbling down.