"How?"
Penny clearly never expected to meet her virtual rival in person, and she hadn't considered the possibility of said opponent being so young. Clover couldn't blame her either; who would ever guess that her digital foe was a Schnee of all people?
"You're predictable." Whitley Schnee smirked, amused. "Although, I assume that's to be expected. Every move I attempted to make would be countered with an almost computerized response; perfectly calculated. I guess, in a way, my idea had been closer than I thought."
"So that is why you allowed me the first move: to ensure I couldn't take control of the fight."
"I had to flip the tables somehow." And flip the tables he did. Regardless of it being a game, the kid had still outplayed one of Atlas's greatest creations, and that deserved more merit than Clover knew it would realistically get.
Deciding to leave the pair to discuss whatever it was they would, Clover made for the main group who were talking tactics. Leading the charge was Robyn - not a surprise - who outlined several routes throughout Mantle, starting from the outer rim and making their ways in.
"Splitting apart is our best bet. We should be able to get everyone in the know just before everything goes to the Grimm."
Yang, in contrast, hissed under her collar. "A whole city between all of us? I don't know. It feels like we're stretching ourselves thin, especially since Ruby will need to rush back here once the fighting starts."
"All the more reason to head out now." Robyn argued. "We need to get at least half of them on the move, and if we go quick, we can have some of the braver ones carry out the mission too."
"Yeah, but won't the people here want to bring their stuff with 'em too?" Yang shot back carefully. "I mean, we're telling them to abandon their homes and rush to a camp in the center of the city. If they go through with it, their luggage will only slow them down; not to mention, it'll take up space. We'd need to convince them to abandon everything they've worked so hard for."
Robyn scoffed, showing hints of the barest bit of amusement. "Maybe that'll be an issue for the jerks up top, but haven't you taken a look around? Down here, the people barely have enough money for food, let alone anything all that valuable. At best, they've got a small family heirloom or two, and maybe a home, but not enough to make a suitable difference."
Blake chose then to throw in her two lien. "Will they even listen to us, though?"
"One look at the sky should have 'em rearing to go." Robyn affirmed, and the shadow of team RWBY had nothing more to add. Seeing this as the mic being handed back to her, Robyn continued. "Okay, with all that settled, I presume we're in agreement for the plan?" They all nodded. "Good."
"I have one more question." Weiss shot in, earning a huff from Robyn, but nevertheless she motioned for the younger woman to ask. "With everyone being huddled deeper inside, how will we keep the panic to a minimum? Between the Grimm and our stretched effort, who's to say they won't flee out into the ice?"
"Besides common sense?" Robyn grumbled again, no doubt understanding just how illogical people could be in a crisis. "Look, we've got people there to keep them calm. My girls will be doing the same as us: huddling people inside, with a few already there to provide defense. Along with that, we're lucky enough that Ironwood sent a few officials down to deal with the media."
"Who?" Weiss, ever skeptical, showed no signs of relaxing. Clover wouldn't fault her either; half of the time, most officials from up in Atlas were better at making mockeries of themselves than they were providing genuine comfort.
"A chairholder, going by Beck." Robyn rolled her eyes, all the while Clover froze in place. "Apparently, Ironwood thinks she's the only one on the board trustworthy enough to do the job, which really says more about the state of Atlas officials more than anything."
"Hold on, Robyn." Clover just couldn't keep quiet: he needed confirmation. Robyn's critical eye locked on to him, and he spoke as cautiously as he could. "You wouldn't happen to be speaking of Julia Beck, would you?"
"Probably." She spat, creasing her brow. "I don't care enough to learn their names, or even get to know them. All I care about is getting Mantle's people to safety."
Okay, so dealing with Inky's mother wasn't far away at all; it was just a matter of when they evacuated the pharmacy.
.
.
"This is our lab."
Whitley couldn't deny, the little girl's chipper excitement to show him around was fairly adorable. Again, most of the women - even the little children - he'd met with were completely full of themselves. Deceitful and cruel, they sought only advantages to push them up the ladder of prominence and status. At the very least, the men up top were direct with their mockery, making it easy to tell they only cared about business. Then again, that was probably just them being comfortable around themselves; by chance, women might be the same with one another, although he could never tell.
And so, seeing one who genuinely wanted to share her excitement and joy was something pleasantly new; a trend he was beginning to see more of in his time away from the skies of the kingdom's floating paradise. Still, he had little doubt it would all be soured by an intervention. It all came down to what said intrusion came out to be: a sour note, or the ending of the song.
"Intriguing."
"Isn't it?" Whitley jumped a little, although he wouldn't ever admit it. The pudgy man in his wheelchair laughed, apparently having gotten some decent fun out of the fright. "Don't worry, it's just me. Pietro Polendina: practitioner and professional engineer of prosthetics in the medical world."
"I see." Straightening himself again, Whitley puffed. "Finding joy in what little time we have left; I suppose I cannot fault you for that. Whitley Schnee, of the Schnee Dust Company."
"Ah... It is looking rather dire, isn't it?" Rolling around, the man maneuvered over to his collection of monitors. "Pleasure to meet you, even if it is under unfortunate circumstances. But we cannot allow ourselves to be counted out just yet."
"I fail to see why not. The sky is black with doom, and while I may look young, even someone such as myself can see the writing on the wall."
"I wasn't factoring your age into anything, but it's good to know you're mature." Following some chuckles, the man went to work at something. "Believe it or not, I've met plenty of full grown adults up where you're from, and I sadly can't apply that same stability to all of them."
"Growing up with everything handed to them will do that to a person; a sense of entitlement is hardly rare up there."
"And what about you, if I may be so bold? You were brought up in wealth too, were you not?"
Whitley snorted. "Of course, but I wouldn't exactly say it was handed to me on a silver platter."
"How so?"
"My privilege was a reward earned for upholding a perfect image. Or, in a more direct manner of speech: I'm granted carefully curated benefits for enacting my father's decrees."
"Yes... I can see how that would beckon some resentment." Whitley sensed the pity at the back of the doctor's throat, but ignored it. Rather, he moved in a little closer, now curious as to what the man seemed so intently focused on.
"You appear quite invested in your work, I must say. May I be enlightened as to what it is you're building towards at the moment? Especially with all that's befallen our home?"
"Simply a curiosity. Just a moment." Some more typing went on, and a holographic image projected itself out before the legitimate screen against the wall. Said screen in the background whirred to life as well, showing graphs and diagnostics alike. From a glance, Whitley felt he could tell what it was.
"Is this not an aura scan?"
"Quick on the draw." The doctor chuckled. "Although not from pure coincidence I hope."
"I had a lot of time as a child." Whitley admitted. "My free time activities were decided for me, and I figured learning as much about the technologies our kingdom functions by would prove useful in my coming future."
"That I am sure it will." Rolling up beside him, the doctor began anew. "Seeing as you've recognised what this is, might I test the extent of your knowledge?" Whitley nodded, and the man carried on. "Tell me, what issue do you see with this scan?"
"If I say the almost patchwork appearance of what should be the aura signature, would I be correct?"
"That you would."
"Seems a little obvious." Whitley added, curling a brow. "I'd figured there was more to it than that."
"Most people wouldn't even question it. Usually they assume the missing pieces are a visual representation of low aura."
"I suppose."
Once more he was snuck up on, and once again he did not jump - let no one say otherwise. The guardian of Mantle, Penny, entered his peripherals this time, facing him curiously.
"You are knowledgeable in more fields than expected; is friend Weiss the same?"
"Remember your manners, Penny." Pietro scolded lightly, and the protector stiffened a bit.
"Apologies. I only wished to know if Weiss knows as much about technology as you do."
"Unfortunately, that is not the case." Honestly, had Weiss not spent all her time focused on battle and studying for Beacon, then maybe she might have taken up similar hobbies. Heck, had he been able to use the family semblance he might have done the same. That, though, is where their lives differed, and Whitley was far from upset about it.
They all had their earned and unique skills; it just so happened his were better suited for running the S.D.C.
"I see." Penny pulled back a bit. "And is that how you became so skilled in video games?"
Whitley had to suppress a laugh at that. The funniest part about that question was the amount of truth within it. To an extent: yes, it did help get him "skilled in video games'' as it were. Heck, he'd first discovered them by bypassing the parental settings on the network as a boy; not too difficult a feat, but for one so fresh faced as him at the time, it might as well have been full blown hacking, even if all he did was overlook his father putting in a password an hour before.
That had been what intrigued him most about technology: the ability to take whatever information you pleased. While he had only moderate practice, Whitley felt he might just be good enough to work his way into his father's personal desk if given the opportunity.
"Somewhat." He decided on giving a basic response, before turning his focus back to the image. "Might I ask something myself?"
"Go right ahead."
"There have been theories in some online circles of experiments regarding the partial removal of aura, stating that it may in some way weaken or even render the application of an individual's semblance unusable. This isn't one of those cases, is it?"
"No." Dr. Polendina was quick to respond, and yet his voice dipped. "Removing parts of aura, also, has been discovered to have little, or in the tested case, no effect on the person's semblance."
"Oh?" Whitley looked over, curious. "I haven't been able to find a study either way."
"You wouldn't." He stated, and then the light flowed over his body, and Whitley got to witness the experiment first hand. "As you can see, I'm telling you from experience."
Whitley stayed quiet for a bit before speaking again. "I'm guessing you wished to keep news of your involvement private?"
"In a way."
"I don't suppose you'll state why you went along with it either?"
"No, sorry."
"It's your decision to make, not mine." Whitley returned his eyes to the screen... and then he spied something. "Hold on. His aura, it's not cut apart: it's undetectable."
"So you've noticed." Pietro hummed an irksome tune. "Even with our most updated and accurate tracking software, we still fail to properly register it."
"That shouldn't be possible." Whitley wasn't a pure expert on it, but he recalled the basic beats of how aura detection was run. "The system should be attuned to the specific energy output of aura, reflecting its scan off anything matching it."
"Which allows us to pick out the unique energy outputs which separate one user from another, or, as we simply call it, a person's aura signature."
"Then it should show up whole."
"I'm aware, believe me." The doctor tapped his chin. "It's puzzling to me as well. With our latest update, we've gotten an almost perfect reading; certainly more accurate than before. We can detect aura signatures farther than ever before, and yet this one still comes off illegible."
Whitley would have remained puzzled, had he not immediately seen Pietro's own broken aura. It was a bit brazen, and more of an in the moment thought, but he found himself compelled to ask; his curiosity too great to withhold.
"Is there a chance that, perhaps, the owner of this scan had their aura tampered with."
"Hmm?" Dr. Polendina turned, and Whitley saw fit to elaborate.
"You yourself have removed a chunk for your own reasons, and that has me thinking: what if this scan belongs to someone who hasn't so much removed a piece, but instead tampered with it?"
He'd never before heard of someone losing a chunk of aura, but the doctor showed him just that. Maybe it was because of the game he'd recently played before coming, but his main character was straight out of a comic book; I.E. he had his aura mixed with heavy amounts of experimentally altered dust which allowed the use of magic. It was a dumb idea, but perhaps there were those who tried to infuse dust within the very core of their aura?
Said fantasy, shockingly, earned a serious eye from the man.
"You just may be on to something." Pietro stared hard at the scan. "Perhaps not in the way you're thinking about it, but in a state similar."
.
.
He wasn't sure why he'd never considered such a thing before.
Pietro almost wanted to slap himself upside the face, but instead he moved over to his desk again. When it came to V, he really should have thought of this sooner. Penny newest hardware allowed for the processing of multiple threads and streams of information. Now, it simply came down to isolating the desired thread of information. He'd been going about this all wrong, only ever reading the aura and Grimm essence of the man.
But what if they were to check the Grimm's newly discovered energy levels as well? Their supposed version of a soul.
Just a bit of attuning there and... Done. Pulling away, Pietro let it run its course, drafting up a secondary compilation of information exclusively centered around the newly requested info. Unlike her old scanners, Penny's new advanced hardware collected every known type of information during each scan, and he could sift over or ignore whatever he did, or did not, need at any given moment. No matter what it was, be it thermal, physical, or even aura related: the one scan was all they needed. Granted, this new variant was made to specialize mainly in aura and Grimm, but it could still do it all.
So far, she'd sent a single, complete and secretive scan back silently, taken during the televised meeting shortly before the arrival of Salem. Now they would see if it bore fruit.
Two solid minutes of silence were all it took before they were looking at a copy of the initial aura scan, showing the other half lit up. Pietro would have cheered, had he not seen another issue. While the previously invisible portion was now displayed, it too was patchwork...
And those slivers of rice scattered about were partially transparent on both the invisible and visible ends, leaving trails; a sign they were actively moving, just as the detected aura itself had.
"That's Grimm, isn't it?"
"You're familiar with this also?" Whitley's knowledge was proving larger than even he expected. The boy didn't know it was only a part of the Grimm, but how could he when its discovery was still a closely guarded secret, exclusive to Atlas due to the CCT being destroyed. It didn't make a difference either way as it seemed both energies were mixed in this diagram.
"Most aura scanners also have built-in Grimm detection, in case of emergency."
"You did more than your fair share of research. Yes, this is very much Grimm, but it too is fragmented." The Grimm essence, the original disconnected from the pieces scattered throughout, was instead mixed in the visible portion, leaving the emptier side still barren, save the newly discovered energy.
"Is there anything else you can scan for next time, like Dust?" Whitley's suggestion was a decent one, however he couldn't test it.
"Unfortunately not. Ordinary Dust would have shown up in the initial scan, blocking out aura in spots of pure black. This, however, is still transparent, meaning we cannot register what it is."
It was a shame too, as it really felt like they were making some headway. Whatever the rest of V's invisible aura was composed of, they didn't have it on file.
"Can... Can I show him around some more?" And in came the innocent voice of Inky; good brothers, Whitley was their guest, not his own. Turning with a smile, he allowed it.
"Of course. I'm sorry, I got so excited about our friend's experience that I completely forgot you were showing him around." Turning to Whitley, he shooed the boy off. "It was nice chatting with you, but I believe there's a young girl who still has yet to finish her duty as tour guide."
"I guess you're right." Whitley handed out his own apologetic smile. He turned, being pulled back in by the duo to see the rest of their little home.
Meanwhile, Pietro returned to the image. Thanks to Whitley's out of the box thinking, they now had a bit more knowledge on V's aura. Apparently, it bore multiple ties to differing sources. Now, it merely came down to identifying said sources, and unlocking the puzzle as to why it near perfectly resembled that of Ruby Rose.
Sadly, with how things were going, Pietro had an itch he wouldn't get to see said investigation through.
…
Author's note
…
Another mild one, but with implications.
Being cooped up with nothing to do but study; even if he got into gaming later on, Whitley still had a bunch of time to read and catch up on various approved topics - probably a hell of a business man too.
We also know Inky's mom has made her way down; local news is most likely making a killing with a council chairholder ordering people to evacuate to the center and remain calm.
Robyn also laid out the plan. It's basic, but effective. After all, they have a moment of peace before the fighting, so they might as well make the most of it.
Until next time.