I've been quite busy with legal paperwork and getting a lawyer, so I'm surprised this chapter didn't take longer to write. Then again, it's also a pretty short chapter.
Now, on to the reviews.
Singular Ash: Yes, as much as I disagreed with it being the characters "dumbed down for plot", there's a reason why I conceded you had a point. Also, how did you post two reviews under chapter 28? I thought the site only allowed one review per chapter?
Yog-sothsoth: Oh wow. You're pretty enthusiastic about Adam and Weiss getting together lol. Your bullet points were entertaining to read, and as for whether the ship will happen or not… I technically can't answer that without spoiling the story, but I think at this point I've made it pretty obvious that I'm not afraid of going into weird and chaotic writing choices.
vastoisshin: Canon is indeed destroyed, and Remnant hasn't finished turning into an insane asylum. It will keep getting worse. Much worse. Do you think the Two Brothers stay out of Remnant because they too, fear what they left on it?
As for Ozpin feeling like he's not taking the threat seriously… Well, he's taking it more seriously than in canon, where he basically just enabled RWBY to go vigilante on the White Fang and Salem's agents. Although that's mainly because of the issue of identifying who and where the enemy was while being busy everyday maintaining the school and the system, which doesn't lend much flexibility to act. As headmaster of Beacon, he's basically stuck playing defensive and leaving the initiative to the enemy, until they start acting openly.
zharshoul: Nah, Oz wouldn't play Dark Magician. If he had a Deck it would be Archfiend. I'm talking specifically about the part of the archetype based on chess pieces, because what else would Ozpin play if not a deck based on chess? Glad to see you're having fun with the stupid in the fic, though. It's not the case for everyone.
Speaking of…
Insane Wombat: Boy, you didn't mince your words, uh? Your critic left me with quite a bit to think about, and I'll start with Augur.
So far, he's been more of an obstacle, a wall, put in the path of others than a well fleshed out character, yes. So I understand not liking him and his writing. I however very much disagree with calling him a Mary Sue.
A Mary Sue is a character that's strong without proper in-universe justification for their strength. Augur is under the same semblance as Gemini, but as a Grimm, getting xp is no challenge for him. So that he reached max level easily, plus the advantages of being a Grimm, and it's being any weaker than he is that wouldn't make in-universe sense.
A Mary Sue is also a character that's presented as perfect and without flaws. Or if they have a flaw, it's an inconsequential one that doesn't affect the story. Augur isn't presented as flawless. He isn't presented as perfect. He's been presented as an evil piece of shit and an obstacle that's been getting his ass beaten half the time he makes an appearance.
A Mary Sue is also a character that's overly loved by every other character in the story, even from characters whom it wouldn't make sense to like the Mary Sue character. Augur isn't liked. He's hated by the good guys, and viewed as good for nothing more than being a pawn with brute force by Salem. He's not even liked by his 'own side'.
You don't like Augur and find his writing boring? That's fair. I have no issue recognizing he hasn't been the most interesting part of the fic, especially so far. But the definition of a Mary Sue isn't "character I don't like", and Augur is objectively not a Mary Sue for the simple reason that he fits none of the major characteristics of a Mary Sue.
As for the glass cannon line, the notion of Augur being a glass cannon was dismissed in the very same line of the dialogue it was brought up. It wasn't written to try and convince the readers that "oh, he's got a weakness so see? He's not that strong", but to point out that the lack of aura protecting his body was mitigated by him being plenty tough enough without it. It was written black-on-white that he isn't a glass cannon, and you somehow read the opposite.
Then there's your critic about crossover elements… I'll readily admit I didn't handle the presentation and categorization of the fic well and that your frustration on that point is fair.
That being said, if I put it in the Yu-Gi-OhxRWBY crossover sections, I'll probably just get complaints that it doesn't belong there as well because the crossover elements are too light to be considered a proper crossover or something. I've also seen fics in the RWBY sections that incorporated crossover elements from other franchises and only had it said in the summary, without getting a fraction of the flak I've been getting for this fic.
That's probably because in their case, it was noted in the summary since the first chapter. I did admit I didn't handle the presentation of the fic well, and that's mostly what I mean.
There are also other, spoiler, reasons why this fic wouldn't fit in the Yu-Gi-OhxRWBY section and thus why I shouldn't put it there. "If only ffn had a multi-crossover section", I thought while thinking about the issue, and lo and behold, there is one… I guess that makes me more the fool for it. At least that should solve the issue for good. I should have thought of checking sooner.
The last point you criticized me on that I want to address is your accusation that I suddenly took the fic where I did because I was bored with writing it. That's not the case. The fic is going more or less as planned, at least in the wide strokes, since the beginning.
Of course, you might consider it a worse thing that the developments you dislike were planned in advance. When planning for the fic, I didn't ask myself "Is it a good or a bad idea to include this plot point in the fic?", but "What'll happen if I include this plot point? Can that even be pulled off?", and there's only one way to find out and learn from the attempt. It's to try it.
I won't lie to you and say I'll stop writing that way. I'll be honest and tell it to you straight that I'm going to continue being… experimental with my fic, and that it's likely just going to get worse (or better, for the few who've been enjoying the stupid.) If that makes you unhappy or pisses you off, all I can say at that point is that this fic is probably just not for you, and sorry for having wasted your time reading it.
I think this is all I had to say about your review. With that, on to the chapter.
Disclaimer: RWBY is the legal property of VIZ Media. Yu-Gi-Oh is the legal property of Shueisha.
Credit and thanks to G119 for beta reading the chapter and helping spot my mistakes.
Yang stood still, her eyes blindfolded as she tried to feel her surroundings with aura. She had started training in aura sensing under Ozpin in the weeks preceding initiation, but she struggled to get the skill down.
Taking a deep breath, she focused.
"You're… to my left?" Yang asked, unsure of her answer.
"To your right, actually." She heard Ozpin say. "Were you just guessing, or?..."
Yang let out a frustrated sigh. "No. I swear I felt something on my left."
"Hmm… Well, that is the direction the rest of your team and Team PERV are training. Perhaps it was them you felt. That, or the sound they are making skewed your perception." Ozpin said.
"Didn't I need silence to train this skill? Why did that change?" Yang asked. Before, she was starting to be able to feel out other's aura if she focused hard enough, but doing it next to the others while they trained was basically going back to square one.
"The goal is for you to be able to sense someone else's location in the middle of combat, so that you can have the best odds of defeating Neo instead of the two of you being equally matched." Ozpin reminded her. Then he put a hand on her shoulder, and pressed his aura against hers. "Can you feel my aura?"
"... Yeah. It's faint, and I don't know how to put it into words, but I feel it." Yang said, and then frowned. "Actually, I'm not sure. I feel a warmth, kinda like when I sensed the other on my left before, but I can't tell if it's what I'm supposed to feel, or if I'm just feeling warm on my shoulder because of your hand."
Ozpin chuckled. "Focus on your own aura and how it feels. Try to feel the warmth on your aura, separately from your skin's thermoception."
Yang listened, and tried to feel out her own aura coating her body. Minutes passed, until she noticed she was feeling two warmth sensations. One on her skin, and the other on her aura.
Seeing her perk up, Ozpin smiled. "It looks like you managed it."
"Yeah, I do." She said, relieved. Her head was starting to hurt, but finally, progress!
"Good. It is my soul that you are feeling with your aura. Keep your attention on it." Ozpin instructed as he took his hand off Yang and stepped back. "Do you still feel me?"
Yang frowned, feeling Ozpin's soul almost slip away from her aura's sixth sense. Almost. She could still feel his presence a couple feet away from her, even if it felt like the slightest drop in focus would make her lose him.
"Barely." She said, doing her best to keep her attention on Ozpin's soul amidst the clangs of metal from her peers' training.
"Excellent. I will move around you. Keep sensing me, and once I stop, try to hit me." Ozpin said.
He walked in circles around Yang, purposefully flaring his aura toward his student to make it easier for her to feel it. As soon as he stopped and stood still right behind her, Yang turned around and threw a punch at him. It missed, barely grazing his coat.
"Good work, Miss Xiao-Long." Ozpin said, satisfied. "That will be all for this training session. Continue to practice, and your sensing will grow easier and more precise."
Yang took the blindfold off, and collapsed on the ground.
"Ugh… I hate being so tired despite having basically not moved." She complained as she grabbed her head "And I've got a killer headache to boot.".
"It's quite normal. You're straining a 'muscle' you've never used before. Your fatigue is entirely mental, so just take a break until it calms down." Ozpin smiled.
"I don't suppose you've got a training secret that can make learning this faster?" Yang asked. The sooner she got that skill down, the sooner she could go after Gemini's head.
He chuckled at the girl's impatience. The answer wasn't quite what she might want it to be. "None other than regular and daily practice. Try to feel the people around you when in the dorm, in the cafeteria, while walking in the halls, etc. You only need your mind to train sensing, so you can do it while multitasking."
"I guess I should have expected that." She sighed.
On Team PERV and the rest of Team JASY's side, Ren and Jaune were testing out the later's semblance, and discovered that while using it on someone else, it boosted not just their aura's basic abilities such as its self-healing and speed of recovery, but also their semblance, as Ren found it much easier to extend his semblance to other people.
"So, you couldn't use your semblance on someone else before?" Jaune asked for clarification, as Ren's semblance covered both of them.
The Mistrali student shook his head. "No, I was always able to extend it to someone else since the day I unlocked it, and with time I became able to raise that number to three other people. I'm saying that this takes a lot less effort with your semblance's help, and I think I could cover both of our teams at the same time. Perhaps even more people."
"Oh, cool. I guess I'll have to test it with everyone to know what their limits when boosted by my semblance is." Jaune, already thinking about his semblance's potential applications.
Ren hummed in agreement, before giving a glance to Pyrrha and Emerald's spar against Adam and Weiss. It… wasn't going well for Jaune's teammates.
Pyrrha spearheaded the offense, while Emerald supported her with rapid bullet fire to force the other side on the defensive. Their teamwork was basic and unpolished, but at least they were fighting together. The same couldn't be said for their opponents.
Seeing that Pyrrha was too good for him to get the upper hand against her while Emerald was helping her, as anytime he had an opportunity to press the offensive, she forced him to block her bullets while Pyrrha attacked him, Adam feinted Pyrrha and used the second it gained him to sidestep her and lunged at Emerald.
Unfortunately, this was at the same moment Weiss went after Emerald as well, poised for a thrust that she had to cancel when Adam cut her off.
"Hey, watch out!" Weiss hissed at the Faunus.
He ignored her, and pressed his offensive against Emerald, who narrowly avoided his blade before blocking the following blow.
Emerald knew she couldn't beat this guy, who was obviously stronger than her in a straight fight, but her semblance was a card she had to keep hidden. As far as anyone in Beacon had to know, she had yet to discover her semblance.
Pushing against her with his superior strength, Adam forced her to step back, while behind him, Pyrrha went after Weiss, who conjured a glyph between her and the Mistrali champion to stop her incoming attack. Pyrrha pivoted on her feet and moved around the glyph, before striking Weiss in the jaw with the edge of her shield, and the girl in white yelped as the blow knocked her down.
Rattled by the hit, Weiss panicked and slammed the point of Myrtenaster on the floor, using her ice Dust to cover it with slipping ice.
The Schnee heiress had hoped it would mess with Pyrrha's footing, but the latter subtly used her semblance on her greaves to keep her footing stable. Meanwhile, Adam yelped in surprise as he fell because of the sudden ice. Emerald didn't waste the opening, and pounced on the man.
"Damnit, Schnee! If you're going to get in the way, then you should have stayed in your manor to play with your dolls." Adam growled in anger as he attempted to push Emerald back while regaining his balance.
"Excuse me!? How dare you blame me for this" Weiss snarled. It was him who led Pyrrha toward her in the first place!
Watching from the sides as Team PERV's duo swept Team JASY's, Ren could feel both second hand embarrassment and exasperation at the spectacle.
"So… Do you have any idea what to do with these two?"
"Not at all." Jaune sighed. "Apparently part of it is because of her family's discrimination of the Faunus. Not only do I have no idea how to approach a problem like that, but it feels pretty intense for an impersonal conflict between two people who've never met before…"
"I mean, the Schnee family do get blamed quite often for mistreatment of Faunus." Ren said. It wasn't like he was familiar with any specific example, but it was hard to never hear of someone talking about it.
"Yeah, I picked up that Adam doesn't like Weiss' family. He's not exactly subtle about it." Jaune said. "Honestly, both of them can get pretty intense."
"Enough!" Glynda interrupted the fight, as Pyrrha downed Weiss' aura into the red. "One of Team JASY's duo has been defeated, thus, the victory goes to Team PERV."
"Tch." Adam clicked his tongue, before throwing Weiss a glare. "This would have been easier had I been on my own."
"Excuse me!? Are you calling me deadweight?" Weiss glared back, outraged.
Adam was about to answer with another insult, when Glynda snapped her crop, cutting off the argument before it could get worse.
"I said enough." Glynda repeated. "This spar was supposed to be a teamwork exercise, to practice working together. But with this atrocious display from both of you, you two would have a failing grade even if you had won."
Adam huffed, not caring to listen, while Weiss lowered her head in shame at being scolded by a teacher.
Seeing that these two had nothing more to say, the professor turned to the other student pair. "As for you two, you performed quite well, at least for two people unused to each other. Miss Nikos, be careful to not give an opponent the opportunity to go after a teammate supporting you. Miss Sustrai, you seem to excel at fighting at midrange, but I suggest practicing your close range skills to be able to support a teammate while sticking closer to them. Were it not for your opponents' lacking teamwork, exploiting the distance between yourself and Miss Nikos as Mr. Taurus did could have cost you the victory." Glynda said, giving her students the advice they needed. "Overall, your opponents could learn a few things from you two." She added, giving Adam and Weiss a pointed look.
"That will be all for today. Don't be late for your next class with Professor Port." Glynda said, dismissing the students. Emerald and Pyrrha left the training area together, but Adam and Weiss, predictably, each went their separate way.
Beacon's disciplinarian sighed as the first years left.
"Quite the unruly kids we have on our hands." Ozpin commented, a small smile in the corner of his lips as he approached Glynda.
"Quite so." The woman agreed. "These two teams are skilled beyond their years, some of them more so than even the members of Team STRQ were, but no amount of individual strength will save them from the enemy if they can't work together."
"Give them time, Glynda, give them time." Ozpin said.
The old man quickly realized that Adam Taurus didn't leave the White Fang because he came to disagree with the organization. He lacked the full picture on the man's departure, but something had happened with the two high ranked members he killed when leaving the White Fang that led him to judge that killing them was worth losing his own status in the group he was fighting for.
Either way… The Schnee heiress, and the strongest fighter and commander, well ex-commander, of the White Fang. If these two could just realize they aren't enemies, they could accomplish so much good for the world.
/-/
After class, the members of Team JASY went back to their dorm. Weiss sat down on her bed, disheartened, while Adam went to his own at the opposite end of the room.
"Err… guys?" Jaune spoke up tentatively. "I think we need to have a talk. A team talk."
"Agreed." Yang nodded, her face neutral as she stepped in front of Weiss. "Gemini. You should be able to find him, right?"
"That's not… Nevermind." Jaune said weakly.
He meant to talk about Adam and Weiss and try to reach an understanding instead of having these two continue to be at each other's throat. Gemini was also a subject they needed to talk about, so he supposed the order of conversation didn't matter.
"Yes, and what of it?" Weiss asked back, holding Yang's gaze without flinching.
"The fuck you mean, 'what of it'? Did you forget that Grimm clone of him who attacked us? Shouldn't take a genius to figure out why I'm asking about him." Yang said, almost growling her words out.
"Don't give me that. You were asking me about Gemini before initiation." Weiss huffed and crossed her arms. "This isn't about the Grimm, so out with it. What's your deal?"
If Yang was some fangirl of his, she was welcomed to keep him as far as Weiss was concerned.
"That bastard murdered my little sister. There, happy?" Yang said with an angry snarl.
At her words, both Weiss and Jaune's eyes widened in shock, and Adam's head snapped toward their teammate at the unexpected news.
"Wait, what?" Weiss asked, confused. Gemini was an A-grade jerk, but she thought he was just a selfish, immature brat, not a murderer. "How- What happened? Why did he do that?"
"I don't know! I thought Ruby and him were close, but-"
"Hang on. Ruby?" Weiss cut Yang off. "As in, a bit taller than him, with black hair with red tips, silver eyes, black dress and red hooded cape? That Ruby?"
Yang blinked in confusion. "Yes, that's her. How did… You know her?"
"I met her briefly at the landing pad when Gemini returned to Patch." Weiss answered, still reeling. "So that girl, she's… she's really dead? And you're certain Gemini was the culprit?"
"I saw him cut her head off with my own eyes." Yang said, clenching her fists.
"Oh…" Weiss breathed out, her shoulders lumping.
"I don't understand. If Gemini is evil, why did he help with my training?" Jaune thought out loud, causing Yang to raise an eyebrow at him.
"The fuck… You met him?" Yang stared at Jaune, unsure what to think.
"Not really? All I know is that the huntsman who showed up at my hometown to train me was hired by a kid named Gemini." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know how he knew about me and wanting to be a huntsman, or why he paid someone to train me, but I was hoping I could get answers here in Vale. So far though, I have only more questions."
"Now I'm lost. Does Gemini always… not make sense?" Weiss asked, perplexed. As far as she could tell, there seemed to be no clear logic directing Gemini's actions.
"Yeah, it's pretty much business as usual." Yang deadpanned. Then she turned toward Adam. "So, what about you? At this point I'm half expecting you to have met him too." She asked him in a snarky tone.
"Well…" Adam started, not sure how much to say.
"Oh, you have to be kidding. I was being sarcastic!" Yang gave up, throwing her hands up and letting herself crash on her bed next to Weiss'.
"So… How did your encounter with Gemini go?" Jaune asked the Faunus man.
"He ambushed me and… friends of mine, then blew himself up along with the whole building to escape." Adam answered, choosing to leave out the part about having been a terrorist back then. "He set the explosives before springing the ambush, so it seemed like the explosion wasn't a desperate move, but… his intended route of escape?" He finished in a hesitant tone.
"Uh… Original, I guess." Jaune blinked. "Do you have any idea why he attacked you and your friends?"
"No." Adam said, somewhat truthfully. Sure, his men and him were terrorists, but what beef Gemini had with the White Fang back then, he had no idea.
"I guess we all have questions for him before I kill him, then. We just need a plan to find and catch him." Yang said.
"My father insists that Gemini and I go on 'dates' while I study at Beacon, and he can't refuse my father's demands." Weiss said, trying to not let the disgust at the thought of going on a date with Gemini show on her face. Her feelings on the matter showed in her tone, however, and Adam gave her a confused look as he picked up on it. "We can spring a trap on him anytime.''
"Wait, I'm confused." Adam spoke. "Gemini's your fiance, and you're… okay with killing him?"
"Hey now, don't get things wrong, and don't put words in my mouth." Weiss scowled. "I have no feelings for that fiend, and I'd rather we capture him than kill if possible, but I understand Yang wanting to kill him considering he murdered her sister." She herself would want nothing less if Winter was killed, and knew Winter would be similarly enraged if it was her. "Although, I must stress that while I won't hold it against you if you take his life in the middle of a fight, I will be aiming to capture for interrogation and will not execute someone already defeated." She said to Yang.
"No problem. I don't mind doing it myself." Yang said coldly.
"... Yeah, I'm with Weiss on that." Jaune said. "I am not doing a vigilante execution. Yang, let's just let the proper authorities deal with his sentence rather than deliver it ourselves. If he's that much of a menace, I doubt a judge or General Ironwood would spare his life anyway."
"Nope." Yang glared at her team leader. "Screw that noise. He's a slippery fuck, I'm not letting the 'proper authorities' get the chance to screw it up and let him escape."
Jaune gave Adam a look, hoping he'd help convince her, but the redhead just shrugged. He didn't care either way.
"I know Gemini's illusion semblance would be a great help to escape, but don't be ridiculous, Yang. Atlas has ways to ensure criminals with a problematic semblance can't free themselves." Weiss rolled her eyes.
The red-eyed girl dropped her glare and gave her a puzzled look.
"What? Gemini doesn't have an illusion semblance." Yang said. "His semblance is video game mimicry, through which his body is adjusted and maintained by stats and his aura takes in items in an inventory. It probably does the same thing with his aura, come to think of it, hence the whole 'artificial' thing."
Jaune tilted his head. Gemini's aura being called artificial by the headmaster was something he was wondering about, but Yang's explanation made sense.
"Uh?" Weiss blinked at her. "No, it's glass-like illusory constructs, and he could even turn invisible. I watched him use it to win a spar against my sister."
"Err… The glass illusions are his sister's semblance." Yang said.
"What sister? He came to my family's manor… alone…" Weiss began, her voice growing slower as her mind connected the dots. "THAT CHEATING LITTLE BASTARD!"
"How dare he embarrass my sister like that!? I'll give him a piece of my mind." Weiss continued, fuming as she grabbed her scroll and began tapping on it. "Is tomorrow fine with everyone? Or should we ambush him on a day we don't have school?"
"No, we can't go yet." Jaune said, shaking his head.
"What? Jaune, you better have a good reason for that." Yang, back to glaring at him.
"Look at our team, Yang. We've barely met, have no idea how to work together, and two members of our team are at each other's throats whenever they interact directly." Jaune said, putting his foot down on that one. "We are not going after criminals or supervillains unless we're a functional team. Team leader's order."
Adam and Weiss glowered at each other.
"Jaune's right. It's foolish to go out on a mission if the members aren't ready to." Adam ended up conceding after grumbling a bit. He knew perfectly well what it was like to lead, and couldn't deny Jaune's decision was the wise one. "But don't expect me to start getting along with a Schnee." He added, causing Weiss to huff in annoyance.
"… Tch!" Yang clicked her tongue. "If in a month top you don't decide it's time, then I'll go alone if I have to." She told Jaune, before walking out of the room, leaving him alone with Adam and Weiss.
"What's your problem anyway? You've hated me since the moment we met." Weiss said, glaring at Adam.
"Yeah, and? With everything your family does to the Faunus."
"I am not my family!'' Weiss interrupted him. ''More importantly, I am not my father!"
"But you don't renounce their acts, and wear your family name with pride." Adam scoffed. "So what difference does it make?"
Jaune sighed. This was going to be a long four years.
/-/
Tomorrow's morning, Team JASY woke up,and Adam and Weiss prepared for classes and training without exchanging a word.
Just before leaving their dorm, Weiss gasped in surprise as she looked outside the window and saw a familiar ship.
She ran to the window, with a bright smile on her face. "It's her."
"Who?" Jaune asked. This was by far the happiest he'd seen the girl be so far.
"My sister!" Weiss said louder, before running out of the room and to the landing pads in the courtyard.
Jaune watched her leave, and turned toward his two teammates. "So… I guess I'll follow her. Are you guys coming?"
"Sure, why not?" Yang shrugged.
"I'm good." Adam said, leaving in the opposite direction from Weiss and towards Dr Oobleck's classroom. No way was he going to willingly seek the company of Atlesian Specialists.
Weiss arrived just in time to greet her sister as she left her ship. "Winter! Oh, I can't believe you're here. Do you have a mission in Vale?"
"I am part of the Specialist squad General Ironwood assigned to Beacon Academy. The rest is classified." Winter said coolly, maintaining her professional demeanor.
"Of course. I won't pry." Weiss said with a quick bow, unable to stop her happiness from showing in her smile. "Does that mean we'll get to see each other often?"
"My duties will keep me too occupied to have anything more than short chats, but I suppose I will be around, yes." The older Schnee answered. "I presumed these are your teammates?" She asked, as Jaune and Yang approached.
Yang had kept up her sensing while following Weiss. She could tell there were more auras in Winter's ship, but couldn't distinguish between them enough to tell them apart and count how many.
"Yes, they are. Allow me to introduce my team leader, Jaune Arc, and his partner, Yang Xiao-long." Weiss said, holding a hand toward them.
"Ah, uh… It's an honor?" Jaune said awkwardly, not sure what else to say as Weiss' older sister gave Yang and him an unreadable look.
Unimpressed, Winter ignored them.
"I see a member of the team is missing. Where is your partner?" She asked, and Weiss shifted uncomfortably on her feet.
"Oh, well… That is to say… We haven't quite figured out how to work together yet." Weiss said, trying to hide her embarrassment.
Winter hummed, and said nothing.
She had no trust for this Adam Taurus. Pardoned he might have been because Atlas wanted to show they wouldn't punish White Fang defectors, as far as she was concerned, an 'ex'-terrorist who hasn't paid for his crimes might as well still be a terrorist. If he ever did anything to her little sister…
Before an uncomfortable silence could settle on the teenagers, a dark-skinned woman in uniform stepped out of Winter's ship.
"Look at that, what an adorable little family reunion." Harriet said with a wide, cocky grin. She walked down the ship's ramp, and leaned on Winter's shoulder. "You ain't gonna go soft on us, right Schnee?"
Winter narrowed her eyes at her older coworker, and pushed her arm off her. "Keep your hands to yourself, Specialist Bree." She replied coldly. "And worry about your own behavior. If anyone could use more discipline, it would be you."
"Harriet, are you bothering Winter again?" A woman with brown skin and messy, shoulder-length dark green hair whose fringe covered her eyes said as she walked down, followed by a thin, pale man, a large muscular woman, and a clean-looking man with short, brown hair. "Can you please stop? This mission doesn't need to be anymore of a drag than it already is." She punctuated her words with a lazy yawn.
"Tch. Fine, fine." Harriet shrugged, and took a step back from Winter.
"And you are?" Weiss asked with wide eyes, amazed despite herself at seeing so many Atlesian Specialists gathered. Then she remembered her manners, and lifted the sides of her skirt and gave them a formal curtsy. "I am Weiss, Winter's little sister. It's an honor to meet experienced huntsmen."
The man with short brown hair gave her a warm smile. "Hello Weiss, I'm-"
"Clover!" Ironwood exclaimed as he approached with open arms, Ozpin right behind him. "I'm glad to see you've finally arrived." The general said, shaking the man's arm. Then he turned toward the three students, and gave them a quizzical look. "Aren't you students supposed to be in class soon?"
"O-oh! My apologies, sir. I saw my sister's ship and…"
"It's no trouble, Miss Schnee." Ozpin chuckled. "You still have a few minutes before your classes start. But since you're here already…" He said, giving a nod to Ironwood that the Atlesian General returned.
"Students, I introduce to you Specialists Harriet Bree, Tortuga, Elm Ederne, Vine Zeki, and their squad leader, Specialist Clover Ebi. And I don't believe I need to introduce Winter." Ironwood said. "The six of them are the Ace-Ops, and are Atlas' finest, chosen for both their exceptional skills and their loyalty, and they are the huntsmen who will be bolstering Beacon's defenses in case the enemy tries something, along with investigating Gemini Torchwick."
"You can rest assured, kids, you are in good hands." Clover said confidently.
"Now, I'll be showing our guests where they will be staying during their time at Beacon. I believe it's time for you to run along." Ozpin said, gesturing in the direction of the school with his head.
"RIght, of course. Let's not be late, guys." Jaune said, and turned around. Yang had an odd, pensive look on her face, but followed him.
"See you later, Winter. Headmaster, General." Weiss waved goodbye to her sister, before giving a slight, polite bow toward the two men and skipping after her teammates.
"Well, looks like the problems with Gemini are going to be solved soon. That's reassuring." Jaune said in relief.
Weiss nodded happily at his words, confident her 'fiance' stood no chance against the best Atlas could offer.
"Is it?" Yang scoffed. "You do realize that if these Specialists catch Gemini, then our team can say goodbye to getting answers to our questions, right?"
Weiss and Jaune tensed at her words, having not thought of that problem.
"I mean… What matters is that Gemini won't hurt any more people, right?" Weiss said, her tone hesitant and unsure.
Jaune nodded in agreement. "Weiss is right. As much as I want answers too, that's secondary. The real priority is that he's stopped."
And as team leader, he was especially nervous about getting his team into something that could get them hurt. Or worse.
"Yes, we're only students. Our concerns are training and studying, not stopping supervillains." Weiss said with more assurance. "Don't get me wrong, I still want to confront Gemini and demand answers from him. I'm just saying that as nice as it would be to capture him on our own, it doesn't matter if he escapes us instead, because the Ace-Ops are much better suited to take care of him and whatever nefarious schemes he's working on."
Yang glared at the two of them, with cold anger in her red eyes.
"Cowards." Was all she said, before turning around and walking away without waiting for them.
/-/
After class, Emerald excused herself to the bathroom and opened her scroll after making sure she was alone. She couldn't use Beacon's issued scroll, not unless she wanted Ozpin to learn of her true allegiance, but she had her own that she kept hidden for making her reports to Cinder.
"Ah, Emerald. How are things on your end?" Cinder answered the call.
"Excellent ma'am." Emerald said. "I managed to find my place in a team, and they don't suspect a thing. One of them is even Pyrrha Nikos, the Mistrali champion."
"Good, good." Cinder said with a satisfied tone. Pyrrha was a target of interest. Less so than in Salem's original backup plans, as Cinder's attack on the Fall Maiden succeeded in full, but the girl was still someone of note, given her reputation. "Now, I am curious. What did Ozpin conclude from Augur's attack?"
"There's not much he told the students about it. Just that the exact link between Gemini and the human Grimm is 'unknown'. He did tell us that the good general is sending a team of Atlesian Specialists to bolster Beacon, though. I even managed to get the name of these Specialists. Harriet Bree, Tortuga, Vine Zeki, Elm Ederne, Clover Ebi, and Winter Schnee." Emerald said. Team JASY sat alongside Team PERV during lunchtime, since their leader apparently made friends with Ren and Nora right before initiation, and Weiss was more than happy to gloat about her 'awesome' big sister and how she'd be here at Beacon.
The rich bitch was a bore to listen to, but at least she could get some useful information from her. Maybe she should do something nice for Weiss in exchange? Like only stealing the lien in her wallet, instead of the whole wallet itself? Spare her the chore of getting new ID cards and all that stuff.
"Wonderful. I wasn't expecting such results so soon." Cinder gave her a pleased smirk. "Good job, Emerald. Is there anything else I should know?"
Emerald preened at Cinder's praises, and happily continued. "Yes. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but all four members of Team JASY had a previous encounter with Gemini."
"Really now?" Cinder arched an eyebrow. His official relation with Weiss was public knowledge, and they already knew from his presence when Tyrian attempted to capture the silver-eyed girl that her older sister would know him. But the rest of the team as well? "Their other two teammates are…"
"Jaune Arc and Adam Taurus, ma'am." Emerald said.
"Right. And how are they linked to him?"
"Apparently, Jaune's tutor was hired by Gemini to train him, although they never met. As for Adam Taurus, he was attacked by Gemini a few years ago, although he didn't share the details, so who knows what exactly transpired." Emerald answered. "In fact, he didn't even seem to want to talk about it to begin with, but the others didn't even pick up on that." Or at least she was somewhat certain they didn't. She suspected one or two of them might have, but it was hard to tell for sure.
"I see…" Cinder said in deep thought.
From what Salem had mentioned, this Adam Taurus should have been the leader of the cell she had recruited, instead of Blake. A shame that things changed, but…
Cinder narrowed her eyes, a small whisper of flames momentarily forming around them as she realized what happened. Gemini Torchwick had been trying to undermine Salem's side since the beginning, even years before they started moving. He had made contact with the wannabe little heroes that were to stand against Salem and made them stronger so that they would be better prepared against them. And he somehow managed to make Adam switch sides, making him unrecruitable for her and thus utterly ruining the plans to destroy Beacon by leaving her with Blake. That brat was the reason those didn't work and failed at the very onset.
Taking a slow breath, Cinder calmed down. Now she understood why Salem wanted to make sure Gemini had no option but to stay on their side. To force his hand by guaranteeing Ozpin's side would never trust or accept him.
"Very well." Cinder finally spoke up after a few long seconds of silence. "Continue to keep your ears open, and to note every piece of intel that could be useful."
Emerald nodded. "I will." She said, before showing worry on her face. "Err… Ma'am, if it's not too much, there's something that's been bothering me."
"What is it?" Cinder said, arching an eyebrow.
"Well, during initiation, I came across Augur, and… he attacked me." Emerald began, her voice hesitant, hoping Cinder would see why she had a problem with what happened. "I know there was a need to keep up appearances, but he didn't seem to hold back at all. It felt like he genuinely tried to kill me."
Cinder frowned, taken aback by Emerald's words. Augur had always been somewhat hostile toward anyone but Salem, but would he go so far as to brazenly try to kill one of them?
"Either he sold the act really well, or… In any case, there is nothing we can do about it. Just stay wary of him, in case he tries something again." Cinder said. As useful of a tool as Emerald's semblance made her, Cinder wasn't going to risk the immortality promised by Salem for her sake. A stray she picked up was just not worth going against the human Grimm for. "That will be all. See you next time."
Emerald nodded as Cinder cut the line, her shoulders slumping as she was a bit disheartened that the woman hadn't reacted more to Augur's actions. Well, she just had to do her job correctly so that Cinder will know to value her more, right? So she stood up, and left to resume her fake life at Beacon.
/-/
I couldn't believe my ears. The absolute gall of these gutless bureaucrats!
I was walking restlessly in circles in one of my father's hideouts while listening to the witless fool on the other end of my scroll, under the amused eyes of my father and sister. Cinder demanding to talk to us already put me in a bad mood, but this call I got while waiting for her to arrive was just another shade of bullshit and got me seething.
"Look, I'm just passing the message. The Council of Vale has decided the design isn't appropriate-"
"The Council can shove their 'appropriate' up their ignorant assholes!" I cut the government employee off. "Zork is the god of darkness and evil. He's meant to be as grotesque and repulsive as he is powerful."
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!" In my head, Ruby was laughing at the top of her lungs, apparently finding this affront to art hilarious.
I wasn't laughing. Children's card games were a serious matter.
And of course, Cinder chose that moment to open the door and enter the room, with all the swagger of someone who felt in control.
I didn't let her put in a word, and raised a finger to her face right as she opened her mouth, interrupting her from interrupting me. "Shhhhh!"
"... Did he just shush me?" Cinder asked my father, looking baffled.
Ignoring her, and ignoring the senseless drivel coming out of my scroll, I continued. "I don't care what the Council has to say. The dragon dick stays and that's final!" I said, before ending the call and grumbling. "Uncultured swines, the lot of them."
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!"
Cinder stared at me, unsure she heard that right. "Dragon d... No, I'm not even going to ask." She said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Are you done?"
"What do you want?" I turned around toward her with a snarl. Suddenly, my father and sister's amused looks turned concerned, and they became wary of the situation.
"First, watch your tone, brat" Cinder glared at me, clearly not liking my attitude.
"Not in the mood." I replied stubbornly.
That was the wrong thing to say, and my father hastily covered my mouth with his hand.
"Son, if you can't control what comes out of your mouth, then stay silent." He hissed, half angered and half panicked, before turning to Cinder. "So, uh… Can we pretend the past couple seconds didn't happen and try that again?"
Cinder took a slow, deep breath, and with her patience tested, proceeded to tell us why she demanded us to be here. "In a few days, Atlas will move prototypes of their new war machine, which they call the 'Atlesian Paladin'. I want you to derail that train, and steal them."
Oh, so that was acquiring the Paladins from canon. Except there are no White Fang to operate them… Nor was the Mountain Glenn scheme still in the cards. Even if Cinder was planning to forcefully recruit the White Fang again after making an example of Blake for going against her, the preparations would be done too late to get that plan off in time.
"Is that all? Neo and I can handle that easily enough. "My father said, confident that between his and Neo's semblance, such a task would be no problem. "Atlas won't even know who snatched their new toys from them."
"No." Cinder shook her head, to our confusion. "The point is to be seen, and Gemini must be at the forefront of this operation."
What? I had a bad feeling about this.
"Hang on, we don't even need to steal them. The arms company that had the contract with the military is a subsidiary of the SDC. I could just get the blueprints of the machine and get them build in Vale." I said.
Cinder raised an eyebrow at that, and seemed to think about it, before she ended up shaking her head again. "By all means, do that, but the heist must still happen."
Uh?
"I'm confused. If acquiring the Paladins isn't the objective of the operation, then what is?" My father asked, mirroring my confusion. Then, he tensed. "Cinder… why is my son being in the forefront so important in the first place?"
"To send a message." I said instead of her, understanding the reason before she said it. "A message announcing to Ozpin's circle that we're working together."
"Exactly. And to that end, you'll be working alongside a very special someone." Cinder smirked. Right after her words, that 'someone' stepped from around the corner of the door.
"Oh no, not him again." Ruby said in my head as I swore internally. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to deal with him so soon."
That made two of us, as Augur grinned at me.
"Why, look who it is. We were long overdue for a proper face to face meeting, were we not?" He said as I glared at the Grimm wearing my face.
"Why, look who it is." I repeated his words in a mocking tone. "It's the bug that slammed into my windshield back in Atlas. Wanna do that again?"
Augur immediately lost his grin, and scowled. "Fuck you! I'm not doing that a third time, jackass."
Third time? The hell did he mean by that? As far as Augur should be concerned, the only times we had come across each other was when I interrupted his attack against Penny. What was the second time?
I had a bad feeling about this.
"Augur will join you in the operation, but will be staying out of sight." Cinder said, before Augur and I antagonized each other more. "His role will be to only control Grimm while your family will be robbing the train, and we'll pass you off as the one controlling the Grimm."
My eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And what conclusion is Salem wanting Ozpin to make of this?"
"Whichever he will make." Cinder said simply.
So they didn't care what he'll think as long as it includes knowing I was now 'working' with them. Well that was official; the whole point of this operation was just to screw me over. Likely to force me to throw my lot in with Salem's side for good.
Fortunately, I had an ally up my sleeve with a lie detection semblance to confirm my word once I told Ozpin about it. Keeping Robyn an unknown from Salem's faction was now even more of a necessity than before.
"I see. Well, I guess all that's left is to prepare for the mission. Since I only need to be present to be seen during the heist, I'll leave that part of the job to my father, if that's alright with you." I said, maintaining my calm facade as I gave my father a look. He shrugged and nodded. Good. "Until then, I have business to run and paperwork to fill."
/-/
Not much later, I was in front of a computer, filing paperwork to print after I was done with it. It was dull work I usually paid someone else to do, but dull was exactly what I needed it to be right now, because Augur has been following and watching me like a hawk since earlier.
At first he kept staring at the screen, but quickly grew bored of the tedious work he was watching, and instead went to sit further away to wait until I was done, although he was still keeping an eye on me. Hey, as long as he didn't have his eyes on the screen, that was exactly what I was waiting for.
Next to me, Neo was herself watching him, unwilling to leave me alone with Augur if she could help it.
Right now we can talk like this, I typed on the screen.
"Oh, good." Ruby said, and I could hear the obvious relief in her voice. Now that she had read it, I erased the sentence I wrote. "So what are we going to do? We can't just fight Augur off every time, the last fight had too many close calls as it was."
I know. We need a more reliable way to counter him than outnumbering him, I typed.
But what? The best thing I could think of were Ruby's eyes, but with her current condition, that option was out.
Or was it? Maria couldn't use her powers after losing her eyes, but the power itself was in a silver-eyed warrior's soul. If both were needed to use the silver eyes' power…
No, that was an insane idea. I must have watched too much Naruto back on earth. There was no way such Sharingan shenanigans could work. On the other hand, I also lost nothing to try. Apart from the idea being very much uncomfortable and icky.
There's maybe one thing we could do, but it's not something I can go ahead with. Not without your explicit permission.
"Eh? It's that bad?" Ruby asked, her confusion obvious in her voice.
I restrained a sigh, as to not alert Augur, and typed the ludicrous idea on the screen.
What the fuck!?
"What Neo said. Where did you get an idea like that and how can I stop you from ever going there again?" Ruby agreed with the letters my sister's semblance conjured on the screen, astonished by the preposterous proposition. "... Can that even work?"
I have no idea. In theory I think it could, but we won't know before trying it. I answered honestly.
Ruby remained silent for a while, during which I continued filing paperwork and pretending to be doing nothing but normal work.
"... Fine. I'll accept." Ruby ended up saying, shocking me.
Are you sure? I didn't actually think you'd agree.
"I mean, I can't say I'm comfortable with this, but…" Her voice trailed off as she mulled her words over. "In my current state, I can't do anything to help. So if it'll allow me to protect people, then I'll do it."
Right… I supposed all I had left to do was to go through the surgery. Although the question now was how to pull it off without Augur realizing what I was doing. He was going to ask questions, ones I didn't want him to know the answers to.
I think I had an idea for that.
Cardboard box moves in the background.
Uh? Picks the box up.
Ilia: "Damnit! I knew I should have put eye holes in to know when you're looking in my direction."
Ilia! I finally found you. I missed my free, unpaid worker.
Ilia: "Do you want me to shoot you again?"