A/N: Real life has been hectic but got this to where I feel is a good stopping point so here it is. To address a few of the reviews, Yes this is still active, I plan to finish the entire thing, I just can't list out a consistent time frame for updates. The goal is once a month at least but life can sometimes force those goals to be put on the back burner, you know? Anyway, thank you for catching the accidental name mix up, I appreciate it and it will be fixed. Yes Willow becoming younger does actually serve a purpose plot wise so look forward to that. I will be busy this weekend celebrating my birthday so if you pm me, apologies in advance for the possibly delayed response. Now, on with the show.
Chapter 19
Beacon Academy
Headmaster Ozpin's Office
"So with the knowledge we have now about this woman and her team what do we do?" Ironwood asked his fellow headmaster.
"For now we wait to call Leo and inquire about other matters. Such as if this turns out to be true how soon can we get a team ready to deal with this."
"Surely you aren't suggesting a team of students?" Ironwood asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No James, I'm talking about a team of trusted elite huntsmen." Ozpin clarified.
"The Ace Ops then and maybe Qrow as well."
"Indeed James. Qrow should be resting but I'll give him a call after the talk with Leo as he is local. You call your team and see when they can get here."
"With the speed some of our smaller military aircraft have, they should be able to get here about an hour, maybe a little more, before the flight from Haven were to be crossing into Vale proper airspace." Ironwood answered.
"Good, that means they'll have time to transform from Atlas soldiers into something else after being briefed. In flight if necessary."
"You want them to change?"
"It would look a little strange to see Atlasean operatives doing things in Vale wouldn't it? We simply have to alter some perspectives. All the better to make the suspecting unexpected." Ozpin answered
"Oz that doesn't answer much." Ironwood said as Ozpin clicked a few times on his computer and then ushered for the General to come around his desk to view the screen.
"Oh, oh that's good." Ironwood said with a smirk as he began relaying the plans to his specialists.
Meanwhile in downtown Vale, Qrow decided to try and get a head start on finding Roman Torchwick and decided to hit up a usual information spot
After walking into the rundown looking hole in the wall bar aptly named "The Hole" Qrow motioned the bartender over and asked if Cetacean was in.
With a nod to the "employees only" door, Qrow saw the answer for what it was and left a lien chip on the counter as he made his way to the door and entered.
Walking down the hall before stopping at the last office on the right, Qrow knocked twice and then once on the door with the "C" hanging on it.
After a few seconds a gruff voice came through from the other side. "Yeah come on in, it's unlocked."
Upon hearing the answer, Qrow turned the doorknob and opened the door to see a gruff older man sitting behind a wooden desk. He was wearing a dark blue pinstripe suit with a white dress shirt underneath.
"Ah Qrow, come in and shut the door behind you." The man said as he gave Qrow a wave.
Nodding at the man's request, Qrow walked in and shut the door behind him before taking a seat at the desk.
"So what can I do you for? I doubt this is a friendly visit seeing as you brought no liquor." Cetacean said.
"Well Cetacean, I need some information and I figured you might be the best one to ask."
"Oh yeah and why's that? You know what goes on at this bar Qrow and it is not an information hub. If you want that, someone else is in that business. Someone I'm sure you're familiar with, or your niece is anyway."
"Aw shit, you mean?"
"Yes Qrow, Junior will probably know more. Thankfully he might not put the Branwen name and the Xiao-Long name as your sister didn't hang around too long. You'll just have to find out though."
"Well I guess I'll head over there then. Thanks anyways Cetacean, I'll see you around." Qrow said with a wave as he got up and exited through the office.
As Qrow's talk with Cetacean was finishing up another two people were sitting down to have their talk at Beacon.
"Hey Winter." Pyrrha said as she sat down at one of the small tables Winter was at.
"How were your classes today Pyrrha?" Winter asked, trying to make a little small talk as the redhead sat down across from her.
"They were alright, a few seemed a bit longer and more dragged out than the others but that's nothing new." Pyrrha replied.
"So I've heard. Port wasn't it? The one that goes on about his stories of old?"
"That's putting it lightly." Pyrrha said with a smile and a laugh.
"Anyway, what did you want to talk about?" Winter asked as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Well you remember our last conversation, right?"
"Yes, you were trying to figure out what you could do to prove yourself to mother that you did indeed love Jaune."
"Right and well I think I made a little step towards that and I began keeping a journal about the interactions and listed things I love about him as well as things I don't like as much but that I still accept these imperfections and how we're working to make it better." Pyrrha said as she pulled out a small notebook from her bag and handed it to the specialist for inspection.
"Wow, this is very thorough." Winter said as she flipped through the pages before looking back up at Pyrrha. "You seem pretty serious about this."
"I am serious Winter, that's why I want to make sure I can prove myself to Willow."
"Alright, fair point but I do have to ask a question. A very critical one at that."
"Go on." Pyrrha said as she gave Winter her full attention to ensure she heard the question right.
"What if Willow isn't the one you have to worry about?"
"You don't mean…" Pyrrha said as she sat back in her chair with wide eyes.
"Yes Pyrrha I mean-" Winter said as she tried to explain only to be cut off by Pyrrha mid sentence.
"I have to compete with you too!?" Pyrrha said in shock causing Winter to groan at the misunderstanding.
"Pyrrha, tunnel vision much?" Winter said with a sigh before regaining her composure and focusing on the redhead across the table.
"No Pyrrha, what I mean is something completely different. Not competition from me. Not competition from some other woman also pining over him. What I mean is what if he is unwilling, or physically unable to."
"If Willow is okay with it why wouldn't he be?"
"Pyrrha, Jaune is a very sweet, almost too innocent guy. What if he doesn't want to take you up on an offer of red hot spartan served on a bronze platter? What if he wants to stand firm in his promise to Willow? What if even if he wants to he can't as that would break his marriage vow?" Winter asked as she saw the color draining from the face of the spartan with each question.
"He didn't have that in his vow, right?" Pyrrha asked nervously.
"Truth be told Pyrrha, I don't know. I was not there the night of the wedding and I will not claim to know what was said. I do however have a simple solution to this that doesn't involve finding out the specific wording of Jaune's wedding vow."
"What is that?"
"Have you tried asking him? Like point blank asking if the Arc vow allows for polygamy? I've been told men can be rather dense and from what I've seen with Jaune you probably need to be as obvious as possible with him."
"So that means I need to…" Pyrrha said before trailing off.
"Yes, ask him. Proving yourself to mother is great and all, but going through all that trouble just to be told it's not even possible would be even worse, wouldn't it? I mean this is something you thought about, right?" Winter asked as she gauged the redhead's reaction.
"I mean, I um-" Pyrrha said as she averted her eyes from Winter's gaze, telling the specialist all she needed to know.
"Look, it's not a hard task, just go talk to him. He's awake right now, as I've told you so you can march right in there and ask him point blank. Or at the very minimum pull out your scroll and send him a text. Or I can." Winter said as she made the motion of reaching for her own scroll to see the redhead's reaction.
"No!" Pyrrha yelled before looking around and restraining her voice before speaking again. "Please, don't do that. I'll do it myself."
"Well you know where to find him and speaking of finding someone, I have been summoned to see the Headmasters, but do reach out to me if you need to talk with me again or just need someone to talk to that isn't a teammate. I quite enjoy our conversation and I'd hate to see you go through some emotional stress if I can help alleviate at least some of it." Winter said as she stood up.
"Thank you Winter, for everything. I'll go ask him soon and get an answer."
"Ensure that you do. The feelings of a first love is something that has a very big effect on everyone. Sometimes it can be grand but in the instances where it doesn't work out, it can be just as bad as it can be good. No one should have to navigate that road alone so I'm here if you need me." Winter said with a sincere smile before giving a quick side hug and walking off to begin her trek to Ozpin's office leaving Pyrrha to her thoughts.
Meanwhile back in Vale, Qrow had walked into The Club and began discussions with Junior.
"This better be good Branwen. Your kind put my people on edge and you know that." Junior said as he finished up polishing one of the mugs before placing it behind the bar as Qrow took a seat at the bar.
"It is good and from what I hear I might be able to help you." Qrow said with a grin as he laid down a few lien chips of various amounts.
"Word on the streets is that some of your boys were arrested after they tried robbing a dust store with a 15 year old huntress in training in it. Heard they all got caught and sent to the slammer. Apparently they were being forced to do the crime against their will. If you can tell me where the real mastermind, Roman Torchwick is, well we might be able to see about getting those poor innocent guys out of jail and make this all go away." Qrow said with a grin as he leaned back in his seat.
"You seriously expect me to turn on Roman? Look, even if I wanted to, and believe me after what he did I want to, but I have no idea where he is." Junior said with a scoff as he looked away from Qrow.
"Bingo." Qrow thought to himself as he decided to make this quick and pull out his trump card. "Look Junior," Qrow began as he leaned over the bar and changed his tone to a more serious one. "Ozpin himself is going after Torchwick now. So unless you want you and ALL of your clan to be dragged down with him, I'd offer up some knowledge no matter how menial. Ozpin allows your group to exist in Vale because he knows the things you do are on the more 'respectable' side of the underworld. He could change that very easily." Qrow said as he gauged the other man's reaction.
Junior realizing the seriousness of the tone Qrow was using put the glass he started shining down and looked at the huntsman. "It's really that serious huh?"
"This mission he's given me is, and I can't stress this enough, the most important mission he's put on me in a long time. He made sure to stress that part before sending me to hunt like some bloodhound." Qrow said as he leaned back in his chair a little.
"Fine, I'll help with what I can. HOWEVER, all I know right now is some locations of his safehouses he keeps in a few different blocks of the old warehouse district. Try your luck there and leave me out of this. You didn't get this info from me." Junior said as he took out a pen and began scribbling a few addresses on a napkin.
"What info?" Qrow asked as he pulled out his scroll and sent a photo of the image to Ozpin before he received a message back.
"Glad to see you are awake. I will need you at the Valean Airport pronto. See what you can do about commendering a runway as far away from the main strips as possible. We're going after Her agents. Ironwood's Ace Ops will be joining when they arrive.
-Ozpin"
"Well shit it's about time." Qrow said as he grabbed the napkin and headed for the door.
Back at Beacon, Winter had made her way up to Ozpin's office and saw General Ironwood standing a little off to the side of Ozpin.
Before she could say anything Ironwood held a finger up to his lip in a quiet motion and motioned her over.
Seeing these signs, Winter quietly made her way towards the general while making sure to say out a line of sight from Ozpin's desk.
"What's going on sir?" Winter asked in a hushed whisper.
"Ozpin is about to call Headmaster Leonardo Lionheart of Haven Academy. I am observing from a background view to determine if he exhibits any signs of lying during the discussion too. You will assist in that and then I'll brief you after the call ends." Ironwood replied back in a hushed whisper of his own.
This answer only further served to confuse Winter more, something that must have been obvious as Ironwood looked over and decided to give more input.
"We suspect Lionheart may have become a turncoat and is providing access to Beacon under the guise of the Vytal Festival for Her agents." Ironwood said in a very hushed whisper as the sound of a call going through became clear.
Winter's eyes went wide as she turned back to face Ozpin's desk so as to observe the Haven Headmaster as the sound of the call connecting was made.
"Hello Ozpin, it's good to hear from you again but I must ask what is the purpose of this call? I'm afraid I'm a little busy at the moment." Lionheart said before glancing off to the side and appearing to grab a paper from the side of his desk.
"I'm just calling to check in and make sure everything is alright, old friend. It's been a while since the incident." Ozpin said in his most serious tone as he watched for any reaction.
"No nothing to report so far, I can understand why you're on edge though given that recent transgression." Lionheart replied back.
"Indeed and if my sources are to be believed correctly we believe she is making her move soon. More than likely trying to time it with the Vytal festival to cause as much negativity as possible."
"That would make sense." Lionheart said as he brought a hand up to stroke his beard in thought.
"We believe we have narrowed it down to a certain strategy. Is this line secure?" Ozpin asked.
"Indeed it is. Now do tell me, what do you think this strategy of hers is?" Lionheart said as he leaned forward a little.
"Me and my sources believe the agents have gone undercover and have disguised themselves as students. Of course going into Beacon itself would be out of the question due to its proximity to me, as would Atlas for all its rigorous background checks. So that would leave Shade academy in Vacuo and your academy of Haven." Ozpin stated plainly.
"And um, how reliable are these sources? I'm not doubting the integrity of our admissions process but I'm fairly certain nothing like that would be able to slip past us." Lionheart said quickly.
"They are incredibly reliable sources and all of them have stated the same thing so that is why we believe what we do. As far as narrowing it down with the actual schools we have narrowed it down to a few teams." Ozpin stated as he tried to bait the headmaster into getting a reaction.
It worked somewhat as the man on the other end of the call appeared to become a little nervous.
"Well let me know of the teams and I can look into them further." Lionheart responded as he wiped his brow with a handkerchief.
"There is no need for that Leo, we are already looking into them. Plus they attend Shade anyway so I'm not sure how much you could find out." Ozpin stated as the lion faunus appeared to relax at hearing that, something that did not go unnoticed by everyone present.
"Anyways I was just calling to let you know and also make you aware so you could be on the lookout for any irregularities in case anymore try to sneak into the school in the future." Ozpin said, trying to "clarify" the purpose of the call.
"Ah, understood. I will be on alert for anything and I will tell my staff as well. I can disguise it as bandits trying to sneak people in. Have a good day Ozpin." Leonardo said before cutting off the call after hearing a "you too" from Ozpin.
With a sigh Ozpin turned to Ironwood and Winter before speaking. "Well?"
"Well Ozpin, I think the answer was plain as day. What do you think, Winter?" Ironwood said as he turned towards the specialist.
"I think if that was an interrogation we'd be looking at scheduling a court date. The nervousness was practically written on his face and the nervous ticks definitely matched what we studied to be on the lookout for." Winter said.
"It was as suspected then. Ugh, Qrow is never going to let me hear the end of this for him being right and me not being." Ozpin said with a sigh before looking back up to Ironwood with a stern face.
"James, get your ace ops to the Valean airport pronto and get me their uniform sizes. I'm going to go make sure we have the necessary supplies and then I will meet you all at the Valean airport." Ozpin said as he stood, grabbed his cane, and began walking towards the open elevator. "We have rats to catch." Ozpin said with a smile as he pushed the elevator door close button and a whirring was heard as the lights signaled the elevator had begun its descent.
"Alright Winter you heard the man, go make sure we have transportation prepped to get us to the Valean airport. I'm going to send the uniform sizes to Ozpin so he can acquire the required supplies and then meet us there." Ironwood said as he pulled out his scroll to check on the status of his specialists.
"Yes sir." Winter said with a salute as she made her way over to the elevator Ozpin had just taken and pushed the button to bring it back up.
"Clover ETA to Vale Airport?" Ironwood said upon hearing the sound of the call connect chime.
"Roughly one hour sir. We grabbed our weapons and dispatched immediately so we should be there before the time you sent for us."
"Good deal. Have you all gone over the plan forwarded to you?" Ironwood asked.
"Yes sir we have and we will await further instructions upon arrival from either you or Headmaster Ozpin."
"Very good specialist, I will see you in an hour." Ironwood said as he disconnected the call and put his scroll in his pocket as he strode over to the elevator down to the ground floor.
"Looks like things are about to get interesting." Ironwood thought to himself as the elevator doors closed and the elevator began its descent to the ground floor.
Meanwhile over at the Vale Airport Qrow had walked in and immediately requested the manager or whoever is in charge and could be present soonest. He made sure to flash his Huntsman ID and say it was official business so they didn't assume he was trying to abuse his Huntsman privilege or act like one of those "I want to speak to your manager" types.
After a minute or two of waiting a man came hurriedly walking over to him. He was a dog faunus with black eyes and wavy cream colored hair that had somewhat of an amber gradient in it. On his back Qrow could make out a quiver of arrows, a warhammer and a dog tail of the same coloring as his hair.
He was wearing a white military style coat with gold patterns and amber accents along with a pair of matching pants and combat style boots as well. Falling off his shoulders you could see a cloak of the same amber color falling down to his lower back.
"Qrow, it's good to see you." The man said as he approached the fellow huntsman.
"Hey Brendan, are you working here now? Last time I saw you had a falling out with your team and were heading back to Menagerie." Qrow said as he reached out his hand to shake hands.
"Nah a few things happened and I ultimately decided against it and did some field work for a bit before settling down here in Vale. I'm in charge of all the security aspects of the airport now." The dog faunus replied as he shook Qrow's hand.
"That's good to hear man and I see your sense of style certainly hasn't changed since Beacon." Qrow said with a laugh.
"Of course not, my individuality is what sets me apart." Brendan said with a laugh before his face returned to a more serious look. "I doubt you're here for pleasantries and small talk as much as that would be nice right now." The man said before finishing with a sigh.
"You've been busy I'm guessing?" Qrow half asked half stated.
"Indeed, it's almost like a festival is being held or something and I have a sneaking suspicion it's about to get busier." Brendan said with a sigh.
"You'd be right about that." Qrow said before giving out a small sigh and continuing. "I need an airstrip quarantined off and it needs to be as far away from civies as possible."
"Do I even want to ask what or who is being brought to my airport?" The faunus said with a sigh.
"We have a lead that a group of attempted murders, who have targeted people who are currently at Beacon in the past, are trying to sneak into the school to finish the job by posing as students." Qrow explained making sure to leave out any information his fellow huntsman wasn't privy to.
"For the love of, you know what fine. Take care of it. I'll arrange for landing strip 7 to have all flights halted except the one that is being given directions there. That's the one the furthest distance from the main area. I'll also make sure landing strip 6 is to be unoccupied so there's no possibilities of any crossfire collateral." The man said as he pulled out his scroll and began typing away.
"Thanks for this man, we owe you one." Qrow said as he patted Brendan's shoulder.
"If I recall correctly you owe quite a few now as does Ozpin, but alright. "I'm assuming you'll want snipers in position as well? I can come to provide additional backup if needed. Oh and I'll also need the approximate time of arrival and the flight number."
"The flight number is not something I know of but it should be the only flight from Haven academy to here. As far as approximate time it should be here within an hour, maybe two. And yeah if you could come provide some help that would be good, being this needs to look official and all."
"Alright, when should I expect to receive everyone else for this party?"
"Probably within half an hour or so. Ozpin is going to be on his way here after he acquires the needed supplies and General Tincan and his little assistant shouldn't be too far behind him."
"General Tincan? Do you mean General James Ironwood of Atlas? He's also showing? I swear I'm demanding a raise after this. Fine, let me go get things prepared and make sure messages are relayed. I'll be back here in ten or so minutes." The dog faunus said before walking off and pulling out a radio.
As he was doing that, Qrow pulled out his scroll and dialed Ozpin. After two rings the call connected and Ozpin's voice came through the other side.
"Qrow tell me you have good news." Ozpin said as his voice came through.
"As a matter of fact I do. We have not one but two runways shut down incase of stray bullets."
"Really? I must say Qrow I'm quite happy to hear that." Ozpin said in a pleased tone.
"And get this. You remember that dog faunus from the year below us? The one that came from Menagerie. Well he's in charge here and offered to give us some backup as well." Qrow said enthusiastically.
"Mr. Howlite? Well that's wonderful news. He had a surefire aim with his bow so that might be of good use. Well done Qrow. I managed to scrape together enough uniforms in the correct or as close to the correct sizes for the Ace Ops as I could so I am headed that way now."
"Perfect, oh and by the way I kind of implied the people we are after are wanted for attempted murder on some Beacon students so go with that story if you're asked." Qrow said, making sure to clue Ozpin in.
"Hmm, a close enough story to be believable. Good to know. I'll call James and pass along the information to him and his cohort."
"Good I'll be waiting here for everyone's arrival then. Talk to you later Oz." Qrow said as he ended the call.
About 15 minutes later a car was seen quickly pulling up to the main doors and after coming to a stop the driver's side door opened and out came Ozpin.
Moving to the passenger door behind him he got out a box and promptly closed the door before walking to the airport main doors with the box, pausing though for a few seconds to make sure to lock the car.
Satisfied with hearing the beeping noise that indicated the car as locked, Ozpin walked through the automatic doors and looked around for a few seconds before spotting Qrow and walking over towards him.
"Qrow, I have arrived with the items in tow. Have you seen or heard anything from James and his entourage?" Ozpin said as he placed the box down.
"Not yet but I figure you're probably the one that's going to be contacted by them, not me." Qrow said as he took a sip from his flask.
"That is a fair point. I'll call them and see where they are." Ozpin said as he pulled out his scroll and pushed a few buttons before the sound of a call going through was heard. After a few rings however, it went to voicemail.
"Hello James, just calling to see where you are. Our little party can't start without you and your guests after all. Give me a call back when you can so I can make sure to have the preparation ready for them." Ozpin said before hitting the disconnect button and closing his scroll.
"Code words really?" Qrow asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well you can't be too careful, that is technically a non secured line after all. Plus you never know who may be listening around you." Ozpin explained.
As Ozpin was saying that, General Ironwood walked in with Winter close behind.
Ironwood quickly looked around before spotting the pair and began making his way over to pair with Winter.
"Did you get the equipment?" Ironwood asked as he looked at Ozpin.
"Naturally." Came the spectacled man's reply.
Shifting his attention to Qrow he asked him a question as well.
"Did you secure a runway for us to use?"
"Of course I did, Jimmy. I even got a second runway to help clear out the area. It's the two furthest ones away from the airport. This way we can help minimize collateral. I even got us some extra help too." Qrow said with a grin as he leaned back on the wall he was by.
"Very good, the Ace Ops are enroute and should be shortly, and what do you mean help?" Ironwood asked.
"Just as I said Jimmy. Got us a sharpshooter just in case. He's in charge of security here. Oh and by the way, the people we are after are attempted murders who tried to go after some Beacon students. That's what I implied anyway."
"Ok good that is accurate enough to be believable but still obfuscates the truth. Well done Qrow." Ironwood said, giving the man the rare compliment, before turning to Winter.
"What is the ETA of the Ace Ops?"
"They're coming in for a landing now." Winter answered.
"Good, have them tell us which runway they land at."
"They're landing at runway 4 sir. It said in the message. Clover says they should be offboarding in less than 5 mins, landing time and all." Winter said quickly.
"Gentleman," Ozpins says as he gripped his cane and gave an almost sinister smile, "I believe we are in business. Let's go catch some attempted murderers." Ozpin finished as he pushed off the wall and began making his way towards the runway.
Oh boy, here comes the fun. Jaune awakes, Velvet remains unconscious. Pyrrha got some life advice, and Ozpin is gearing up for a strike against Cinder and her team. Qrow actually has info on Torchwick but speaking of which he may not even be needed anymore for Salem's side if all goes well for Ozpin. Will it all go according to plan though? Does any plan actually survive enemy contact? Find out next time on A Royal Knight's Drunken Marriage!