Note: Okay, so here's the thing: OCs are one of those necessary fanfiction evils. No one likes OCs, because in many ways an original character detracts from the very essence of fanfiction. Fanfiction appeals to people because it takes the characters and stories that you already love and does new, interesting things with them. No one reads RWBY fanfiction so they can see all the author's self-inserts. We know that's ironic coming from us, given how wildly different our takes on the main characters are. But we would defend our characters as reasonable interpretations in a transformative medium. We don't actually like writing OCs, and we have tried very hard to write this story without including them. When we do include OCs, we try to make them limited and give them a specific role that assists in the story of the real characters. Dr. Noetal exists purely to serve as a sounding board for team drama and relationships. Team ATMC are wacky side characters that show up in like three chapters specifically to make jokes about original side characters. Even when OCs played an important role in arcs like Zelina Zaripova, we used them to build a bigger world and we kept them contained to that part of the story. We try our hardest not to flood you with a bunch of characters we know you won't care about.
But of course, this goes back to OCs being necessary evils. Because fanfiction often tells new stories, and new stories inevitably involve new roles that must be filled by new characters. There simply aren't enough relevant RWBY characters for us to do what we want in the story we want to tell. So, yes, as you could tell from the end of the last chapter, we're introducing some new characters. These are characters that we've had in the back of our mind for years, and we knew if the story ever got to this point, we would have a chance to use them. But, since they are new characters, we are going to try very hard to not make them awful. We think we've come up with a way to integrate them into the story in a way that services the real characters nicely and further expounds upon the world we've built, so hopefully, you come to like them as much as we do. Then again, "like" may not be the relevant term...
Enjoy.
"I mean, damn… what the hell happened in here?" The woman let out a dry laugh as she examined the destruction left in the students' wake. "I thought you Atlasians were supposed to be classy or somethin'. This place is a mess—not that it'd look better with this shitty décor."
From behind the woman, three more people climbed out of the wreckage of the elevator. Team RWBY watched as they clamored out from the wreckage and spread out through Ironwood's office. The first was a woman the size of a tank, belly somewhat bloated, her cheeks heavy, hair in dreadlocks, and two large braces running down each of her arms. She had blasted apart the elevator doors herself, and she slung about the two tools she used to do it: great sledgehammers, each thicker than a human head and cast from a heavy iron. The second was a petite woman in dressed in a white tunic that flowed over her form and hid its true shape. Her eyes were the darkest among her group, constantly scanning between the many students. A tiara of gold and diamond rested beneath a peak of short black hair. On her shoulder, a small red-crested falcon sat unperturbed; a bird plucked from the Atlas air and made her own.
And then the last: a strange, creeping figure in black with an androgynous face and a sickly posture. Dressed from head-to-toe in darkness, they lurched into the room with a cocky grin, face adorned with piercings on the lips and noses, and hair striped blue like a burning flame. Many chains, hooked and rattling, wrapped around their neck and arms, each laced down to a tight metal contraption on their wrist. They lingered instead to their leader and stalked behind her, casting Ironwood dubious sideways glances. The leader huffed and returned her attention back to the General, smirking at him.
The General spoke without any change in tone.
"Who are you supposed to be?"
Ironwood's response was cold and unimpressed. He remained seated in his chair, not giving his new guest the courtesy of rising to meet her face. His question was earnest. He didn't know who she was and he didn't particularly care. The young woman's face briefly flicked into something sinister, but she caught herself and flashed a cocky smile instead. She puffed out her white fur coat and cocked her head to the side, grinding together her teeth as she stared down at the General. She had a lanky figure, easily over six feet, and the coat did well to hide the intense musculature that was laying beneath. She reached out a single, sparking finger and pointed toward Ozpin.
"You're kidding… Ozzy never told you about us?"
Ironwood cast his gaze toward his friend. Ozpin bowed his head, sullen, possibly ashamed. He was well aware of the party crasher and her new friends. So was Goodwitch. So was Team RWBY. So was Pyrrha. Anyone from Beacon Academy knew about her. They would be damned if they didn't.
Beacon Academy divided its students into teams. Teams were given rankings. Team Ten was the lowest in the class. Team One was the highest. Each grade received its own rankings, reshuffled, and rescored at the end of each semester. Staying at the top of a team ranking was nearly an impossible task. Competition, infighting, and burnout made caused teams to collapse in on themselves. It was rare that a team could stay at the top for more than two years. It was almost unheard of to be ranked as Team One for three.
That was why it was so astonishing—so terrifying—for the newer students to learn that the current highest-ranking team in the senior class hadn't just been Team One for four years straight… but that they had done it so effortlessly, standing so far above their closest competition that they had stopped being seen as students and ascended into infamy. They were, by their own admission, the very best that Beacon Academy had to offer.
"My apologies for not introducing you sooner," Ozpin said quietly. "James, this Team JJWL, one of our finest Huntsmen teams. This young lady is their leader… Vivian Jupitarian."
Vivian Jupitarian.
Nevan Jupitarian.
Luci Wyld.
Calaheart Luvcano.
The other students had seen their faces in the halls and heard of their claims of power. The student body at Beacon accumulated several nicknames for them, most spread around by Team JJWL themselves. The Crown JJWL of Beacon. The Greatest Ever. The Mountaintop. One of the more prominent nicknames that came about, however, was an alternate team name some of the juniors came up with: Team VLNC—Violence. In addition to four consecutive years of dominance at the top of the team rankings, Team JJWL had accumulated a record with thirty-four consecutive Challenge of the Honors won. They defeated upperclassmen and lowerclassmen, and fought over bitter grudges and the slightest of misgivings. More impressively, eight of those battles were won by Vivian singlehandedly. With that legacy, it earned the leader of Team JJWL a new nickname: King of the Huntsmen.
The woman with the fractal scar tilted her head toward the General, going for something simpler. "My friends call me Viv."
General Ironwood did not humor the girl's advances. "If I may, Viv, I—"
"I'm sorry, you ain't my friend," Vivian cut him off bluntly. "Sounds like you never even heard of us until five seconds ago. Not very friendly, is it? You can call me Miss Jupitarian. Your Highness will also be acceptable."
Ironwood's scowl only deepened as the rest of Vivian sighed and started to march around the office, wandering around as if it was her home. He talked more directly. "What are you doing here… Miss Jupitarian?"
"What? Wasn't I invited?" Vivian feigned a gasp. "Oh, wait, no. I wasn't invited. Isn't that strange? All today, I kept hearing these rumors that you were holding a dinner for the top students in all of Beacon. I spent all day waiting for your invitation, but for some reason, no one ever came by to see us. That's so weird. Nevan, isn't that weird?"
"Pretty weird, sis," Nevan answered. They lurked in the center of the room, eyes never leaving the unhappy General.
"That's weird," Vivian stated. She walked in long strides, moving in a circle to strafe past each student. They were all stuck looking up at her, unwilling to move lest she lunged at them like a viper. "See, there was a time in this school when people understood respect. People used to put respect on the name Team JJWL. But lately, it seems the only team anyone is interested in talking about is Team R-Wee-BY. I've seen them on late-night tv, I've seen them plastered on billboards, and craziest of all, I see them getting a bunch of special treatment from our Headmasters." Vivian paused in front of Ruby and Weiss. She read through their defiance and fear of her and smirked. "Now… how do you think I feel about that?"
Weiss sneered, holding Ruby close to her. Vivian only saw it as a sign of weakness and turned away before the ex-heiress could answer her. Yang, the only one in a somewhat competent position, stood her ground against the seniors, but she was soon encircled by Vivian, leering at her with open disdain.
"It's not our fault we're Heroes and you're not," Yang countered, but Vivian laughed.
"Ooh… the popular one is fighting back. Catch the snark on her." Vivian leaned in close to Yang's ear, seeing just how long Yang would allow her to violate her personal space. "Listen, kid. I don't give a shit if you saved Vale or not. Good for you if ya did. What I'm talking about is respect for your peers. You follow?"
Vivian pressed herself up against Yang's cheek, and the dragon quivered slightly under the pressure. Her mind was still aflame, and it took everything she had to hold back a punch. A quick scan of the other members of Team JJWL was all that held her back. They were watching her, waiting to put her down like a dog. She kept her fists clenched by her sides.
"Miss Jupitarian, no disrespect was intended," Ozpin tried to reason. "No one is denying that you are excellent students. This dinner was to discuss matters with Team RWBY that do not concern you."
"Really? Then why is she here then?" Vivian asked. Her head snapped to the side, and suddenly, all the attention in the room was focused on Pyrrha Nikos, standing silently in the corner away from the drama. She tried so hard to keep her mouth shut as the tension grew, and now with Vivian, there was nowhere else to turn. The lanky Huntress took careful steps toward her younger peer, small bursts of electricity flowing freely between her knuckles. Her voice carried a cruel rhythm. "Pyrrha fucking Nikos. Pretty Pyrrha. The great prodigy from Mistral, coming to my school and thinking she's the shit. Team R-Wee-BY, I can at least understand people's obsession with them. But you? What the fuck have you done to deserve all the praise you've gotten, huh? Won a few low-rent tournaments and you're supposedly the greatest Huntsmen alive?"
Pyrrha averted her gaze. "I… I don't think—"
"Nah, nah, don't fucking look away from me," Vivian demanded, backing Pyrrha further into the corner. "I won tournaments when I was your age. Real ones, against real competition, not against whatever pathetic lot come from Mistral these days. I never got any of that fancy attention you got. So why do you think you're so deserving of the spotlight?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "I never asked for—"
Vivian snapped forward. One of her spindly legs shot up and slammed against Pyrrha's shoulder, forcing her back against Ironwood's bookshelf. Vivian displayed her flexibility by keeping her boot firmly pressed against Pyrrha's collarbone as she leaned forward, staring down the lesser Huntress. "I don't give a fuck what you asked for. I give a fuck about what you did, and you took the damn spotlight. What the fuck is up with that?"
Pyrrha stammered. She didn't know what to do. Vivian was hurting her. Could she fight back? Would they let her? The pink-haired Huntress stared daggers through her, and Pyrrha could feel small shocks striking her flesh from the electricity that crackled off Vivian's fingers. For once, her instincts were telling her to gith back, and she didn't want to listen to them.
"Miss Jupitarian." General Ironwood's booming voice silenced Vivian's temporary fury. Her disposition cooled as she pulled away from Pyrrha, removing her boot from her flesh. Almost instantly, Pyrrha fell down against the bookshelf, knocking several more books to the floor. Vivian cracked her neck and puffed out her fur coat before giving the General her full attention.
"Yes?"
"You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?" Ironwood was stiff, and Vivian liked that. She admired the way he puffed out his chest and tried to make her feel small. There was almost enough power there for her to respect. She shrugged and approached the General, reclaiming her position in the center of the room as her teammates watched calmly from the sidelines.
"We just wanted to say hello," Vivian admitted. "Nothing more, really. God knows we don't want to eat your fucking food. Does this shit look good to any of you?" She turned back toward her teammates. Calaheart shrugged. Nevan just stood there. Luci—the girl in the white tunic with the bird on her shoulder, answered dryly.
"It probably looked nicer before it got spilled everywhere."
"Hey, no one asked you," Vivian jested.
"You literally just asked me."
"Ha! Guess I did!" Vivian laughed to herself and returned to Ironwood. She stepped right up to the General, hovering a few inches away from his face. He had several inches on her, yet it was clear to all watching that despite his position of power, she was the one in control.
"But I also wanted to give you a warning. The Vytal Festival is this year. I know you guys must be thinking real hard about who to select as your competitors, but I want you to get one thing straight. I don't care if you pick Pretty Pyrrha, or the Schnee, or that fucking smiling dumbass over there." Vivian cocked her head toward Penny, and the Living Weapon—still having not released Blake as a hostage the whole conversation—gave Vivian a friendly wave. "It don't matter. I'm winning that tournament. I want you to remember the next time you're giving out fancy dinners and special treatment. I am the King of the Huntsmen. You are going to remember that, you'll appreciate that, and you're gonna respect the fuck out of that. Got it… James?"
Ironwood clasped his hands behind his back, lowering his brow. "Well, let me make sure you understand something, Miss Jupitarian. You have destroyed the elevator to my office. You have damaged my security forces. You are using language and threats unbecoming of a Huntress or a student. I do not care what you could get away with in Beacon. You are in Atlas Academy, and that means you are going to follow my rules. You are going to apologize to me for damaging my property, and you are going to apologize to your fellow students for assaulting them. Since you weren't raised right, I will make myself clear. I do not have to show respect to you if you are not deserving of it. Until you are—"
And, before Ironwood could finish, Vivian's palm whipped up and smacked the General clean across the cheek.
The slap was like a gunshot, and an audible shock rippled through the room. The students from Beacon's mouths dropped open in disbelief. Ciel called out the General's name. Penny dropped Blake and instantly turned her focus toward Vivian. The General pressed his fingers to his cheek, turned a deep shade of red from contact, and then he snapped up straight, his eyes wide and burning with an unmistakable rage. Subtle electric shocks lingered on his flesh. Vivian just… stood there.
She tilted her head to the side. "Huh? Sorry, I missed that last bit. Could you repeat it for me?"
Ironwood's fury became unbound. In a mere second, he brought his hand back, unrestrained from his professional ambitions, and then he threw it forward—only for the blow to quickly be intercepted by Ozpin and Goodwitch, who held the General back before any harm could come to his student.
"That's enough," Ozpin said hastily. He held Ironwood back with his cane, and his light smile did a poor job of hiding his concern. Goodwitch grabbed Ironwood by the arm to restrain him, and Ozpin held out a palm to stop Penny before she charged forward to intervene.
"She—"
"Miss Jupitarian is just acting out, and she won't do it again," Ozpin insisted. "There's no need for anyone to get hurt now. I will speak to her in private and we will ensure this never happens again. Right, Vivian?"
The Huntress studied Ozpin's face long enough to catch the glimpse of fear behind his eyes, and then she broke out into hiccupping, rapturous laughter.
"Ha! I knew you wouldn't disappoint, Ozzy. Always willing to protect your investments."
"Vivian, please," Ozpin implored her. "Let's behave ourselves." Ironwood, against his wishes, lowered his fist, and Penny stood down, standing at attention and waiting for further orders. Vivian flashed a toothy grin at the General and stuck her chin forward, begging for him to try to strike her again.
"As long as you remember who's in charge here, we aren't going to have any problems," she stated innocently. She spun on her heel and marched toward the door. "Well, I think we've made our point. It's been fun meeting you, James. Ozzy, great talking as always. Glynda, looking ravishing. The rest of you… Team R-Wee-BY. Pretty Pyrrha. Other girls. Looking forward to the Vytal Festival." Vivian strolled up to the broken elevator and glanced over it once or twice. She looked over to Calaheart, the large woman with two hammers. "Cala, lend a hand, love."
Calaheart sighed and approached the elevator, her two massive hammers dragging behind her and scraping the floor as they went.
"You know, we shouldn't have broken the elevator," Cala protested.
"I told her not to do it," Luci said, shaking her head.
"Oh, you two are no fun," Vivian lovingly sighed. "Crash it."
Cala picked up her hammers, and with one incredible swing, she smashed her hammers through the gap in the door and onto the floor of the elevator. The machine life snapped off its cables and plummeted down the chute, it's descended a deafening roar of scraping metal. Vivian peered through the broken entrance into the stretching darkness of the elevator shaft. When she heard the sound of a great crash at the bottom, she looked back at Ironwood's office one last time.
"See ya around, mates."
Vivian stepped into the darkness and disappeared. Her team followed closely behind without another word. The office became silent. As far as they were concerned, the rest of the dinner was canceled.
By the time Team RWBY returned to their dorm, they were in full-on panic mode. Ruby was pacing around the room. Weiss stood by trying to comfort her. Yang angrily looked through her Scroll, and Blake just sat on her bunk with a bitter stare.
"I thought you said we had the leverage," Blake protested.
"I did. We should," Ruby countered. "It doesn't make any sense."
"Well, make it make sense," Blake stated. As far as they were concerned, Team JJWL's interruption was irrelevant. Its only benefit was saving them from getting into another fight with Penny. Ironwood was still the only real threat, and the threats he and Ozpin made were their sole focus.
"I'm trying."
"Try harder," Blake demanded.
"Hey, be patient with her," Weiss said defensively. "Ruby's trying."
"We don't have time for patience," Blake growled. "He threatened my mom. How the fuck am I supposed to be patient after that?"
Ruby stopped in her tracks and argued back. "Blake, I know. He threatened our dad, too. I'm just as worried as you are."
"And my family as well," Weiss noted. "I'm just… trying to keep us on the same page. We can't go back to fighting each other."
"We have to fight something," Yang pointed out. She tried to be calm, but her anger was seeping out in every syllable. "Ruby, what happened?"
"I don't know," Ruby insisted. "We should have the leverage over him. Weiss is extremely important to him. At least, she should be. He spent months torturing us just to get her powers to develop. It doesn't make sense that he would just be willing to abandon all of that."
"He said he found a replacement," Yang recalled. "Who could replace Weiss?"
"Weiss, do you have anyone else in your family who can use Fable powers?" Ruby asked.
Weiss shook her head, struggling to think of anyone in her extensive lineage. "Not that I know of. My sister, obviously, and my dad, but that's it. No one else has the powers to stop the Grimm."
"There has to be someone," Ruby reasoned. "Maybe… maybe he's discovered a new way to fight Grimm. One that doesn't require the use of Fables."
Yang groaned, searching the depths of her memory. "I mean, there was that one-time Blake and I got kidnapped and brought to Forever Fall. Mrs. Glass was there with these super powerful prototype weapons she wanted us to use on the Grimm as a test. She did say she got them from Atlas. So, maybe Ironwood's military really developed a new technology to kill Grimm."
Ruby closed her eyes, letting the possibility stew in her brain for a few moments. "I… no, I don't feel like that'd be it."
"Why not?"
"Because… it just seems wrong somehow," Ruby explained. "The Grimm are mythological. The Fables are supernatural. Our weapons only damaged the Grimm when we combined them with Weiss's Melodies, or when we used our Semblances. Whatever harms the Grimm is something beyond the technological. I feel like no amount of weapon development would ever make a difference. That's just my gut reaction."
"Okay, then we have no explanation at all," Yang complained. "Ironwood isn't replacing us with anyone or anything, but he is replacing us. What can we do with that?"
"Nothing," Ruby admitted. "All we know is that something happened in the past few weeks that changed Ironwood and Ozpin's minds about us. If we're going to regain our leverage over him, we need to find out what that is. If we can discover what this replacement is supposed to be, then maybe we can—"
"Hey, dumbasses!"
Blake suddenly slammed her fist against the wall, cutting Ruby off and drawing their attention. Blake was barely holding herself together, and she was visibly shaking as she started to scream at them. "You guys don't get it. We're fucked. There's no leverage we can use or plan we enact. Ozpin got us. He has our families held at fucking gunpoint, and unless we do everything he wants, they are going to die. We are trapped on this floating hell island under the rule of a psychopath, and there is nothing we can do to fight back. And I told you… I fucking told you we needed to be careful, and that playing with Ozpin was a bad idea, and no one listened to me. You all just fucking walked gun-ho, ready to treat this literal fascist like you could just say a few clever lines and outsmart him. I told you that you didn't understand Atlas."
"Blake, now is not the time to be pointing fingers," Weiss said sternly, but Blake only became louder.
"And you… you were the one who acted like I didn't know what I was talking about. You acted like you knew Atlas better than I did, but you were so eager to go along with your fucking girlfriend that you didn't listen to me! You never listen to my experiences or my feelings about this shit."
Ruby groaned in frustration. "Blake, this is really not helpful."
"I don't know what else to do. We don't have a plan!" Blake exclaimed. "We don't have any way out of this, and now they know my mom's name, Ruby. Don't you understand that shit? I have tried so fucking hard to keep her out of this, and now, because of how stupid we are, she's in danger. Of all people, don't you understand how serious this is?"
"Of course, I understand!" Ruby snapped. "How could I not? I'm trying to make things right. Don't you understand that?"
Blake slammed her fists on her bed. "If you wanted to make things right, you should have let him throw me in jail!"
Ruby had no response to that. She took a few steps backward in surprise. She had always suspected, but as the tears started to crawl down Blake's cheeks, the truth finally came to spill into the open.
"I told you… I told you to take his deal," Blake confessed, furiously wiping away tears. "I told you not to save me, but you just had to be a fucking hero. You just had to play games with Ozpin. If you just let him arrest me, he wouldn't have felt threatened and he wouldn't be so desperate to get revenge on you. All of this is just him punishing us for letting me escape. Don't you all see that? You should have just accepted the deal he offered back in Vale. Now, he's using my family as leverage against you. I warned you all what Atlas was capable of and none of you wanted to hear it, but now we're stuck being his fucking puppets, and if we try to fight back, he'll just make everything worse. It's just… fuck…"
Blake buried her head into her hands, holding back sobs. The others watched her helplessly. It all made sense. This wasn't just a spontaneous reaction to Ozpin's threats. This was the culmination of weeks of mental torment at Goodwitch's hands combined with years and years of buried guilt. They knew that Blake's acceptance of their forgiveness wouldn't be so simple. Blake, despite her cynical insistence otherwise, always believed in a sort of necessary karmic justice. It was what fueled her rebellion against oppression and kept her fighting against impossible odds: that the monsters that lived among them would eventually, inevitably, be made to suffer for what they did. Blake didn't just dodge Ozpin's punishment back in Vale; she dodged destiny. And now, it had come to punish her and all those who thought they could escape its clutches. Weiss sympathized with her, perhaps understanding that self-destructive belief system better than any other. Ruby took the longest to process what Blake was going through, holding back without saying anything. Yang felt the need to reach out and protect Blake as she had in the past, but something held her back that she couldn't quite understand. It was like she knew the right words wouldn't come to her in time.
Weiss ended up stepping toward the bed, and taking a seat next to Blake. She rested a gent hand on Blake's shoulder, yet her voice was authoritative. "Blake, none of this is your fault. We chose to give you a second chance, and none of us regret that. Blaming yourself for this is just what they want us to do."
"I know, I know," Blake insisted. "But I—"
"We find a way out of this. Focus on that," Weiss stated. "No one is going to hurt your mom. I promise."
Blake forcefully rubbed the tears out of her eyes with her palm. She sniffed something down and looked down at her feet. "You know, promises from you don't really mean much to me."
Weiss tried to smile. "At least they mean something."
Yang, feeling as if she should say something, awkwardly threw her hands into the air. "Look, at the end of the day, this sucks, but… why don't we just take his deal. So, we'll let Atlas interview us and make some videos. At least it will keep our families safe and buy us time to figure out a plan."
"You know that it's not that simple," Blake claimed. "This is the first step. Once they know they can manipulate us, they're not going to stop. Who knows what else they're going to make us do after this?"
"I'm just saying it's a better option," Yang reasoned. "It's not good, but it's better."
"Atlas is a propaganda machine, Yang," Blake argued back. "I was raised on that shit. We don't know how much damage they can cause to our reputation and the Kingdoms with just a few videos. Their media is ruthless. Obviously, it's better, but it's still unacceptable."
"Then, we'd need to come up with a plan fast," Weiss explained. "I agree. I don't want Atlas using us at all. We have a week to find a way to get leverage on Ironwood or else we'll be forced back under their thumb."
"Yeah, which we don't know how to do. So, now we're back to square one," Blake pointed out. "What was our original plan again? Gather information on them?"
"R-Right," Ruby stated, her mind still racing so fast she could barely follow the conversation anymore. She was revisiting old options, thinking, planning, and calculating. Old ideas were rising to the surface. She felt like she was on the right path. She just had to keep digging. "Did you get a good look at the route to Ironwood's office, Blake?"
"Yeah," Blake sighed. "I'm sure he has some unsavory files in there, but I don't know how to get in. There were a million cameras all along the way, and the only way up was through that elevator. I can't see any way to sneak in."
"Team JJWL broke in," Yang noted.
"With an explosion," Blake reminded her. "Plus, even if I got there and found some incriminating information, we never figured out what I'm supposed to do with it. Leak it to the press? If it isn't obvious, Ironwood and Ozpin don't feel threatened by the press. We can't send it to the government either. Not like they'd care. How are we supposed to gain leverage on the most powerful people in the world?"
"There has to be someone Ozpin and Ironwood respect. Or fear," Weiss reasoned. "In Atlas, no one is truly invincible. There are deep family connections and cultural ties. Those in power are only propped up because others allow them to be."
Yang grunted. "Shit, if it's a matter of respect, how does Team JJWL get away with slapping Ironwood in the face?"
Weiss groaned. "Yang, seriously, there are more important things than Team JJWL."
"Don't you think it's weird, though?" Yang argued. "Those girls walked in there and literally slapped the General in the face, and Ozpin did nothing to stop them. I doubt they are even going to get punished. Somehow, they can do what they want. Why don't we ask them?"
"We know why Team JJWL can get away with things. They're popular," Weiss explained.
"We're popular."
"But they are popular with Ozpin," Ruby chimed in. "We aren't, and we won't ever be again. It's what Vivian said. Ozpin has always been willing to protect his—"
Then, all at once, it snapped into place.
Ruby cut herself off, freezing at the stark revelation of what she just said. She had been pulling from her own thoughts, and one returned to her now glistening like uncovered gold. It was something she first noticed on their first day in Atlas, a stray thought that caught her like a bullet stored away for safekeeping. It was awful, likely the reason she so easily disregarded it in the first place. However, with Blake's torture, the threats against her family, the intensity of their training, and their isolation, it finally dawned on her that awfulness was not a toxin, but a necessary tool for their survival. They were going about this all wrong. It wasn't about appealing to their popularity. It wasn't about respect. Not fear either, or information, or integrity, or anything else of the sort. Her enemies didn't have integrity, fear, or shame. What they did have was power, and that was what made them strong—and also left them so exposed.
Her teammates stared at her worriedly. She knew their reaction would be harsh, so she had to be sure before she said anything. She swallowed her concern and asked her girlfriend a simple question.
"Weiss… are you sure that your sister isn't Ozpin's replacement?"
Weiss wasn't following but answered honestly, expecting something strange and brilliant from her girlfriend. "I'm pretty sure."
"How do you know?"
"Because she's my father's daughter," Weiss explained, "and to him, fighting Grimm would be far too big of a risk for someone bearing his name."
Ruby nodded. She was afraid of that. "Okay. So… you are all going to hate me, but I think I have a plan."