Author's Notes:
-Wow, 200 followers and counting. Thanks guys!
-I apologize for this chapter being late. Luckily you won't have to wait so long for the next one. Who knew trying to write a slice of life chapter would be so difficult?
Now then, let's get rolling!
Nora and Ren walked into Beachside News, the former looking at the calendar on the wall nearby the entrance to the employee lounge. November 18th. It was day two of the internship. The two former Beacon Academy students were trying to adjust to civilian life. So far most their duties consisted of editing and/or looking over final drafts, minimal tasks such as janitor work, and occasionally, making and bringing coffee to the writers.
Nora looked at the clock, the minute hand on the nine and the hour hand on the eight. "Well we're here early."
"Yes we are. But we can use that time wisely. Rita needs her cup of coffee, and with the usual secretary gone, it seems us two interns are the replacements."
"Rita... Wasn't her last name Seeker?"
"No, it's Rita Kin. Where did you get that idea?" Nora shrugged. Ren shrugged it off and proceeded to start up the coffee machine. He grabbed a white ceramic mug, pressed a few buttons and within a few minutes, a cup of coffee had been freshly brewed. He took a small package of cream and poured it in, then stirred it with a small rod. He smiled to himself. "Perfect." A woman with blondish white hair and blue eyes came up to them. Upon her arrival, Ren handed the cup to her. "Your coffee, Ms. Kin. No sugar, a little cream."
"Ah, thank you Mr. Ren, and you've memorized how I like it. Most secretaries get it wrong consistently." She blew on the steaming hot beverage before taking a small sip before walking away.
"It feels strange hearing the word mister in front of your name."
Ren faintly smiled. "It's not the only strange thing here."
"Now Mr. Black said that we have to do... how many days of work to complete our internships?"
"Twenty-eight days. This is day two." He chuckled to himself. "Never thought we'd be working 9-5 job."
The clock struck nine. Nora looked at her partner in crime. "Guess we better get started then."
The two went off to their separate stations and looked at files on flashdrives that they were given.
Day 7
Ren looked over a draft on the word processing program.
It seeems that many blame Atlas for the Fall of Beacon, but Glydna Goodwitch argues that this is nott the case. A staf member at Beacon for nearly thirty years, she said she saw General Ironwood during the Fall of Beacon as the two of them and many others fought against the forces of Grimm. Goodwitch says that he id not responsible for the Atlas military drones attacking the school, which rises the question- if he is not responsible, who is?
He clicked the mouse in various parts of the paragraph to fix the spelling and grammer errors so that it read- It seems that many blame Atlas for the Fall of Beacon, but Glydna Goodwitch argues that this is not the case. A staff member at Beacon for nearly thirty years, she said she saw General Ironwood during the Fall of Beacon as the two of them and many others fought against the forces of Grimm. Goodwitch says that he is not responsible for the Atlas military drones attacking the school, which raises the question- if he is not responsible, who is?
The young ninja wrote on a sticky note- Add "Beacon Academy professor" before Glynda Goodwitch, and "in the streets of Vale" after Grimm as a form of advice for the writer, smiling to himself after placing said sticky note on the desk.
Nora was looking over a draft as well. Many are wondering who specificaly is responsible for the Fall of Beacon. One of the suspects is a faunus by the name of Adam Taurus. Taurus has been on the run since the Fall of Beacon. No one knows where he is, and little is known about what he looks like, but thanks to an anonymous entry, we have a rough hand sketch of what he looks like.
In the middle of the draft, there was a hand drawn picture of Adam Taurus next to that same hand drawn image, colorized in paint to further visualize how the criminal could look in real life. Probably to be set up in the middle of the front page of the newspaper.
It is currrently advised to leave hunting him down to the authorities. He is said to be armed and dangerous.
She made some edits.
The images went untouched but the final draft now read- Many are wondering who specifically is responsible for the Fall of Beacon. One of the many suspects is a bull horned faunus by the name of Adam Taurus. Taurus has been on the run since the Fall of Beacon. No one knows where he is, and little is known about what he looks like, but thanks to an anonymous entry, we have a rough hand sketch of what he looks like. It is currently advised to leave hunting him down to the authorities, as he is said to be armed and highly dangerous.
She smiled to herself with her work.
Day 15
Nora was running a tray with piles of papers back and forth from place to place, including the writer's area, the office and through the halls. She unintentionally ran into Mr. Black, causing papers to fly everywhere. He gave her a glare, so she nervously giggled. She quickly got up from the ground and picked up the papers as best as she could.
Ren took the mop, dipped it into the bucket and started to mop the floor of the bathroom. He sighed to himself as he mopped the floors. He then saw the yellow sign he forgot to put up and sighed. He put up the wet floor sign and continued mopping.
Day 19
Ren and Nora were looking over drafts. Ren opened the third file on the flashdrive and began reading. It was a short file on the update of an outlaw's bounty.
Mistralian White Fang leader Maura Celandine has been on the run ever since the Storming of Sanctum Academy. Many people in Mistral are seeking her out to bring her to justice. A small few foreigners from outside the kingdom have come to bring her to justice. The price on her head is now 150,000 Lien.
Perfect. No errors.
Day 22
Ms. Kin was receiving her cup of coffee from Ren. She took the mug from him and took a sip, carefully sipping on the steaming hot liquid to try and not burn her tongue. She smiled and gave Ren an expression of approval.
Ren and Nora were giving copies of drafts to be printed onto the printing press, smiling as several copies of newspapers were made.
December 27th. It had been the 28th day of their internship. If they could make it through the end of the day, they would be able to get out of internships and get real jobs.
"Well, just one more day to go." Ren smiled.
"Yes! Real jobs, here we come!" Nora exclaimed.
"Nora, keep your voice down."
She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."
"AHH!"
"What was that?!" Rita asked in alarm.
"Sounds like trouble. From the office!" Ren exclaimed, taking Nora by the hand as they ran in the sound of the scream. The flower power duo ran to Mr. Black's office. Nora shook off his grasp, ran forth, and kicked down the door only to find...
She gasped in horror. "No..."
He was dead. Blood dripped from his skull onto the floor. The name tag with the name Nero Black had been crushed into pieces on the ground. The duo of cloaked assassins stood in the office, a slender one in black and a bulky one in white. The black cloaked assassin held a knife, blood dripping in droplets onto the floor below them.
Ren was so shocked he was speechless.
Outraged, Nora asked, "Who are you?!"
"That is for us to know, and for you to never find out, little Valkyrie." the black cloaked assassin answered in a feminine voice.
Little Valkyrie? Who is this woman and how does she...?
Ren got out and started to fire his weapons at the black cloaked fiend, only for him to be grabbed at the neck with a huge deep-skinned hand belonging to the white cloaked fiend and thrown into the wall. Upon hearing him thrown against the wall, her train of thought was disrupted and she watched in terror as he fell helplessly to the ground, his weapons clattering against the wall before hitting the ground.
"Ren!" She ran over to and knelt by his side. He wasn't bleeding, but he was outcold. Still, he looked lifeless. A tear fell down her cheek and she began charging herself with electricity. "No one hurts my Ren!"
Pink lightning surged through her muscles and she charged towards the white cloaked killer, getting out Magnhild as she ran. She swung her hammer right into his chest, sending him flying right through the wall, destroying it and knocking him on his stomach into the ground.
As the employees witnessed the scene, the white cloaked fiend's hood fell down, revealing short white hair underneath. They quickly pulled the cloak back up and got up, looking at the terrified witnesses before the black cloaked killer ordered, "Don't just stand there! Get her!"
"Does the electricity surging around her not concern you?!" the white cloaked killer asked in a masculine voice.
What she didn't realize was that the lightning surrounding her spread to the electrical plugs in the wall outlets. As the plugs short-circuited from electric overload, they soon caught on fire and the place began to burn. The office caught on fire as Nora charged towards the white cloaked killer, sending him flying right through the glass revolving door, shattering it into pieces. The office workers swiftly fled the building as it started to burn.
He swiftly got up from the sidewalk and gasped as the building was on the fire.
"We have to get out of here!" the black cloaked fiend exclaimed.
The white cloaked fiend threw his accomplice over his shoulder and ran off with her. Nora was about to pursue them, but...
"Nora!" Ren called out.
She gasped in relieved surprise. "Ren!" She collapsed her hammer, stowed it away and threw her arms around Ren. "Oh, Ren, I'm so glad you're okay!"
He returned the embrace before he widened his eyes as he heard a sound. A siren, coming closer and closer... "Uh, Nora..."
The police showed up with three cars, along with two ambulances and a fire truck.
"Oh no..." Nora said.
Police Do Not Cross type was made around the area. Mr. Black's deceased body was lifted into an ambulance by a worker as fire fighters worked to put out the fighters. Another ambulance was seen with injured spectators. Xanthe watched the ordeal from afar as Ren and Nora were interrogated by the police.
"I don't understand. Why would anyone target Mr. Black?" Nora asked the officer. "He never did anything wrong."
"It is said that Mr. Nero Black was once part of a group called the Noire Armada." he answered. "At least, that's what some people claimed about him."
"What? No, that... that just sounds crazy." Nora said.
"Do you even know what the Noire Armada is?"
Nora nodded her head. "No? Why, who are they?"
"According to local rumor, the Noire Armada is a human supremacist group. Originally created to stop the White Fang, but they shifted to the desire to kill all faunus. It is rumored that they sail the seven seas to hunt faunus down and some even say that they spread anti-faunus propaganda via news networks. Some argue that the Noire Armada doesn't exist at all."
"But even if the Noire Armada exists, is it really possible that Mr. Black could have been secretly involved with them?" Ren asked.
"We'll have to verify the claims. If the Noire Armada is real and as dangerous as they say, then they must be stopped. Now then, Mr. Ren and Ms. Valkyrie. Tell us what happened."
Ren and Nora told them, honestly, everything that happened. They were not found to be at fault for any of the events. The cops turned away from them, spoke to each other for a while before entering their cars and driving away. Upon their departure, Xanthe ran off. Nora and Ren sighed sadly and walked away as the scene transitioned to them walking through the forest sadly.
"Well... that wasn't supposed to happen." Ren said.
"I can't believe it. All that hard work to try and become normal civilized people with real jobs just went right down the toilet..." Nora sadly groaned. "Could this day get any worse?"
"Please don't say that."
The two went back to their treehouse. The two climbed up the ladder and entered through the trapdoor entrance. After shutting the trapdoor, Nora plopped herself onto the couch, her legs hanging over the edge of the couch. Ren slumped down on the other end of the couch. "I will admit, this day has gone less than well."
Nora lifted her leg up slightly, folded her arms and gave her partner in crime a questioning look. "Ren, stop trying to sugar coat it. This day sucks."
He sighed. "Who am I kidding? It does." He sat there silently for a moment. "I was just trying to find a silver lining." A knock was heard on the trapdoor. The orange haired warrior suddenly sprung up from the couch, her weapon in hand as Ren got up and put his fists up. "Who goes there?" Ren asked defensively.
"Nora? Ren?" a familiar feminine voice called out. "It's Pyrrha. And Jaune!"
The door slowly opened as the two climbed in and entered the treehouse. Ren smiled at his other two teammates. "Well long time no see."