Scaring off another couple that found supposed privacy on their way back, Caelum and Raiden met Lukas and Niel taking a break from the dance floor as their dates sat with their teams for a short intermission. The boys found a table to occupy for a short time until Lukas caught sight of a figure and pulled his team inward.
"That guy there, with the gray hair. Mercury was it? Something struck me as off with him the first time I saw him. It's been eating away at me ever since."
"And what's that?" asked Raiden. "Not just cause he's from Mistral is it?"
"I think I've seen him before."
The mood soured slightly as Niel leaned in. "In your…" he glanced around once more. "Private life?"
"His father to be precise. Looked just like him. Guy sent shivers down my spine. See my dad used to hire certain people to make problems go away. The man I remember was always a little too happy to go out and collect and he did say he had a son my age once."
Caelum drummed his fingers against the table. "Then that means his team may be of concern as well. A risk to us no less."
"Well I mean look at us. We're 'all in' as they say. Want me to have the syndicate look into him? Same as with Torchwick and that Neo girl?"
"Does this count as a favor owed?" asked Caelum.
"Consider it a freebie."
"Even I know not to trust you when you say 'free' Lukas" interrupted Niel.
"Do it, I won't have any undue risks" finished Caelum finishing the topic.
The team's subtle glances at the man in question soon revealed his teammates waiting for him. Emerald as they had learned her name was, awaited him with a smug smile. Approaching the two from afar was their leader. The woman who had cowed Niel with a look and earned Caelum's immediate distrust.
In a glittering dress that accentuated her appeal, Cinder strutted to her teammates and soon looked in their direction. The four boys averted their eyes promptly. Niel spoke with his back to her. "That woman is trouble."
Lukas concurred. "Trouble for my heart. Those looks are to die for."
"Even I have to agree" conceded Caelum. "I don't think I'd ever want to be in a room alone with her, however.
Raiden slowly looked up again only to make direct eye contact with Cinder. Seeing his meek wide-eyed face, she cast a sultry smile at him. He froze momentarily, lost in her fiery eyes at a distance before snapping too and turning away. Deeply satisfied, she engaged in conversation with her teammates once more.
Caelum cast another glance not longer after and found the shortest member of the strange woman's team to be staring in their direction with a cryptic smile. Unnerved by the fact their team seemed to now be focusing on them Caelum looked around for a way to meld back into the crowd and leave his seat.
Out on a distant wall he caught sight of a small wallflower. Ruby was standing alone and in a daze, uncaring for the music and laughter around her. He wasn't the most sociable but it beat being watched like an exhibit by others he wanted nothing to do with.
Standing, he made a beeline for his peer when a pair of hands grabbed his arm. A surprised glance revealed Coco laughing and pulling him away. Her demands for a dance were irrefutable as she dragged the reluctant boy out and against his will. His team watched with smirks and were equally surprised to find their leader could dance the bare minimum at least
Invigorated by his lead, Lukas rallied Niel to go find their dates once more. Raiden was left alone and watched with a smile as his teammates enjoyed the dance. At least all but Caelum who was now trying to slip away from Coco as she tried to pass him to Velvet and try in vain to force him to dance with Yatsu and Fox too.
A glance to the side and Raiden saw Ruby still not having moved. A moment of contemplation and he took a deep breath. Awkwardly approaching the younger girl with an offered drink he felt as if he looked like the most suspicious man in the world. Yet as he arrived Ruby regarded him with despondent eyes to see him extending a glass of punch.
With a small reassuring smile, he joined her side in being a wallflower. At least they'd seem more natural as a pair. He assumed she didn't want to speak and so simply kept her company. Eventually, she caught on to the awkward silence and spoke first.
"Was… Is… he always like that?" she asked.
Raiden hummed in thought. Obviously, she referred to Caelum since the only similarity they shared was training under him. "An asshole? Yeah," he laughed, surprising the red-dressed girl. "He even told me that if we hadn't made eye contact at initiation, he would've left me to die. I probably would've too."
Ruby cast a confused look at Raiden as he laughed off his own words. "And… you're alright with that?"
Raiden snorted slightly at the question. "He's a bit of a hardass for sure but he brings us all back into the fold. I won't even tell you about how he handled Lukas."
Despite her curious gaze, he refrained from detailing that tantalizing venture. As her thoughts began to sink back to herself, Raiden made a suggestion. "Judging by what you told him… it sounds like your team might need the same."
Ruby stood stiff and gave a bewildered look, hesitantly asking "Are you saying I should behave like him?"
Raiden shrugged. "Do you?" He asked taking a sip as Ruby copied him, contemplating just what he meant.
"Hey…" said Ruby quietly. "What does cloud chaser mean? I overheard him call General Ironwood that"
Raiden cocked his head in thought recalling whenever the only person he had heard it from used it. "Someone from the upper echelons of Atlas I believe."
"Huh" replied Ruby with another sip of her drink.
The dance was innocuous and uneventful outside of normal expectations for the rest of the night. At midnight, the teachers held a toast for all participants and then dismissed them. Once the ballroom was empty, team RWBY was left to clean up the refreshments and food, saving the rest of the mess for the next day.
Silence pervaded the four as they set about their tasks, avoiding any talk between each other. Ruby watched her friends as they avoided one another, Blake wobbling on her feet from sleep deprivation while Yang and Weiss rushed to finish. Looking at the broom in her hands, Ruby thought Back to Raiden's advice.
Caelum never seemed flustered like she had. He was even a better fighter, something she prided herself on. Comparing herself to him felt displeasingly humbling but that was because they were completely different wasn't it?
She could never be as callous as him. Could never say such harsh things. Could never be him. Her eyes glimmered as she recalled a specific word. 'Act' as Raiden had said. She couldn't be such a person but out of necessity, she could act like him.
Taking a deep breath, Ruby dropped the broom and strode over to Weiss. She was at her partner's side before the wooden handle clacked against the tile floor. Taking her friend's hand with a surprised response of "Ruby! What are you-?!" The small leader defiantly pulled her partner along to Yang who had turned to the sudden clattering of the broom.
Yang turned again to see Ruby with a confused Weiss in hand. A raised eyebrow begged to ask what her little sister wanted. Ruby sternly stared at her sister and extended an open hand.
"Not now Ruby" Yang somberly replied.
Ruby's hand shot out in front of Yang stopping her from turning away. "Yes now, Yang!" demanded Ruby in a huff. Displeased, Yang frowned down at her sister with a glare. The younger sister didn't wilt under the gaze.
With a tired sigh, Yang relented and took her hand. "Fine sis. Make it quick."
With a moment of surprise followed by a successful smirk, Ruby dragged Yang and Weiss along to Blake, now supporting herself up with a mop. The exhausted faunus blinked slowly as sleep threatened her consciousness. As her eyelids opened again she saw her three teammates standing before her.
Blinking away the strain in her eyes, Blake looked at each of them for an answer. Yang and Weiss shook their heads unsure of what was happening either. Ruby looked around to see all eyes on her before speaking.
"Before you say anything let me finish." she declared. "I'm sick and tired of this. Of everyone being upset. Of the silence in our dorm and when we're alone with each other."
"Ruby…" spoke up Yang with a hint of comfort in her voice.
"Not yet" grit Ruby, unfinished and raising a finger to her sister's lips. Yang recoiled at the stern reply. "Most of all, I'm tired of worrying if we're going to be okay the next day."
"Did he get into your head Ruby?" asked Weiss in disbelief.
"Does it matter?!" snipped Ruby. "I don't want to lose my friends and family! I don't want to worry that just because we were defeated once we all turn away from each other. We made it out safely when we could have died! Do none of you realize that?! How grateful I am? How we all should be?"
"Of course I do" answered Blake through narrowed eyes. "Which is why we can't let them do any more damage-"
"By doing what?!" demanded Ruby in a high-pitched shout, her youth showing through her anger. "If they attacked now could you do anything? Could you fight? Could you even defend yourself?" Blake bit her lip in frustration, knowing the answer.
The petite leader's voice softened as she took a step back and looked up at her teammates. "I'm not saying we quit. I never suggested that. But we need to take a step back. We need to train and most importantly trust each other. We all joined to save lives but that includes our own. We're team RWBY. Don't let that get taken away from us. Please."
The begging voice of their leader and threat of tears stinging her eyes tore shame into the veil of pride and anger her teammates held. "Blake, none of us look at you any differently because of who you are" clarified Ruby.
Blake's ears perked up beneath her bow. A distrusting glance sent at Weiss. "Are you sure?"
Weiss snubbed Blake's insulting remark, turning her head. "I care about your birth matters as much as you do regarding my own. It's up to you where that will lay. I assume we both came here for new starts. As unreputable as both our pasts may be are we not looking to make a life away from our pasts?"
"Is that your way of being shy?" quipped Yang.
Weiss turned sharply, her white dress fluttering from the movement. Pointing a finger at Blake she declared "It's an ultimatum. What will we be from here on? Constituents of our pasts? Or friends, allies, who can lay each other's life in one another's hands?" Weiss lowered her finger and loosened her fist. Blake glanced at the gesture and the fair complexion of Weiss whose eyes showed a fraction of vulnerability.
With hesitancy, Blake took the hand and shook it. Surprised, Weiss smiled softly. "Perhaps you could speak with us before your monkey friend the next time life-threatening matters are involved too?" asked Weiss rhetorically.
"Sorry… desperate times and all that" apologized Blake meekly. The sudden relief made her feel even more exhausted. Suddenly the two girls were taken in by a strong pair of arms as Yang embraced them.
As Yang held down the two struggling girls in an endearing hug, choking at the relief of emotions in herself, a small voice coughed. "Ah-hem."
The three stopped to look at Ruby staring at the ground. As she looked up, the damn of tears reached a breaking point as she held a quivering lip. Her facade of harshness, as soft as it was, now gone. 'Uh-oh" muttered Yang as Ruby's semblance instantly launched her into the three girls and knocked them all to the ground with grunts as she happily embraced them.
While Team RWBY had resolved its interpersonal issues, Team CRLN had long since left the ball. Being a weekend, Lukas took the opportunity to continue the party out in town insisting on a club he was a regular at. Niel, their dates, and even team CFVY tagged along for the continuation as Caelum slipped away, dragging a gracious Raiden with him upon seeing the despair on his face at the suggestion.
Seeing the bullhead take away their party-going acquaintances, the two partners began heading back to their dorm. The dance had been over only a half hour but Raiden was aching to remove his stiff suit. Taking off his jacket, he removed his scroll and saw a flashing alert. Having been silent, it left him unaware of the notice.
Walking alongside Caelum he read the notification and stopped in place. Caelum glanced over his shoulder, wondering why he had stopped. Concern grew as he saw shock on Radien's face. "What?" he demanded.
"It's the Nyx," said Raiden in a hoarse voice.
Both stared with wide eyes before breaking into a sprint toward the main school building. Caelum pulled Raiden into the foyer and stopped him before they entered a security camera's view. Without a second thought, Caelum pulled a scroll from his pocket and chucked it at the camera with enough force to break it.
"What about your scroll?" asked Raiden as Caelum dragged him to a nearby mirror.
"It's a burner I wiped clean now in you go!" he ordered, throwing his partner into the reflective surface.
Raiden landed against the stiff material of a new seat within the bridge of the Nyx as Caelum marched after him, the mirror behind rippling before dimming into dormancy. Caelum began turning on the bridge's power and systems as he ordered Raiden to explain what was going on.
"It's the system interface!" he explained rushing to disconnect the Nyx's local server. "Somethings forcefully downloading itself onto the NYX via the CCT! Every vessel within the kingdoms is required to be registered and connected to the tower but I've never heard of a forceful download overriding a ship's system! It's like some kind of malware or virus!"
"Is that even possible from the CCT?" asked Caelum rushing to mirror Raiden's hurried salvage.
"Of course it is! But not like this! Besides being Illegal it would cause an uproar within the kingdoms if everyone knew their ships could be hacked by the government!"
"Then why is it happening to my ship!"
"I don't know but I don't think it's Vale or Atlas. Whatever it is we need to disconnect the ship from the server!"
Caelum stepped away from his console and turned to the mirror. "I'll be right back." Raiden watched as his team leader left him momentarily before the ship's lights flickered from purple, to red, and back. Suddenly, the download stopped and the ship's systems returned to normal. As he began running a diagnostic, Caelum returned with his weapon in hand.
"What did you do?" asked Raiden turning his seat.
"Severed the long-range and short-range signal receivers. Ships now dead comm-wise but I'll just add that to the wishlist for Roman and the syndicate. Now tell me. What the hell just happened?"
"Like I said. I'm unsure just what it was but it wasn't any good for us. What I can tell is that we were an unintentional target. It seemed aimed at Atlesian fleet ships. Maybe this one's electronic system is still tagged as such. Thankfully the new protections being different prevented an immediate hack and the download was trying to eat its way into the system. That gave us enough time to stop it. Otherwise, we'd never have known."
Caelum sat in a seat adjacent to Raiden, contemplating what it may have been. 'Could it have been his allies? No, they would've informed him of such a move involving the CCT. Nor would they risk such a valuable asset.'
Not noticing Caelum's dilemma, Raiden continued. "I've started a hard wipe of the local system and any CCT or foreign data. We'll need to get our hands on new updated security and software protection but I assume that can come later. My main question is, do we tell anyone? I mean the CCT was just hacked, that's an international incident and I think we're the only ones who know."
"Not if you value your life" warned Caelum. "Don't mention this to another soul, not even our teammates. Understood?"
Raiden nodded, scared by the threatening words but dared to ask "Why?"
"How would we explain this to anyone?" asked Caelum gesturing to the ship around them. "Even anonymously they'd focus on hunting us down as they'd assume we'd know more. It'd be a target on our backs and the perpetrators would get away. Let's just hope Vale and Atlas take notice, not that I'd get my hopes up in that case."
"So we just sit and watch?" asked Raiden, seemingly lost at the concept.
Caelum stood and gestured him to follow. "Sometimes that's all we can do. Just know it's for greater results in the future. Once you're done let me know and we'll head back. I'm going to inspect the ship and place an order for parts. From now on, we only communicate about our covert operations via third-party server providers that are local and outside of CCT usage."
"Sounds good" agreed Raiden, slinking into his seat. Such a fun and relaxing night had turned into one of panic and hefty responsibility mere moments before they planned to rest. He hoped it wouldn't be like this too often but was wiser than to bet against the trend.
-Chapter End-