Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth and Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. I own nothing of either of them and make no profit from them. I am only playing in the worlds they gave us.
Thankfully this didn't take as long as the last one did. I got on a good roll, getting quite a bit done everyday. Best I've felt for a while.
Enjoy.
A Chance Encounter
Chapter 21
Ichigo and Yoruichi's Apartment
Tired eyes slowly opened to the morning light only to immediately close again despite how muted that light was as it passed through the curtains of the bedroom window. At least her head didn't hurt now. A great thing it was how Aura or spirit energy could be directed to an injury to speed your recovery and she had been glad for it. A head on collision into an armoured robot while in cat form and performing shunpo was definitely on her list of things to avoid doing again anytime in the future.
After a boost of spirit energy from Ichigo perked her up a bit, her own energies began to work on her injuries that much faster. Even though it took a few hours and made for a bit of a late night, her head finally stopped aching, her vision returned to normal, and the sizable lump on her head went away. Only then did she spend the energy to return to human form and while it did give her head a little twinge of discomfort, it was nothing like it was right after she got hurt. Though, the healing might have gone a little faster if the volume and tension of the meeting that occurred in Ozpin's office had been ratcheted down a little.
Her fault she supposed. After all, it had been by her own insistence that she hung around for it after telling Ozpin and Glynda what she had found out on the General's ship, and Ironwood had actually showed up just as Ozpin was trying to settle himself down enough to call him. To say that he was angry would be a gross understatement. Storm clouds practically trailed him into Ozpin's office and he was spitting thunder the whole way. It didn't matter that she was in cat form and being held by Glynda at the time, if anything he seemed almost emboldened by it, either that or he was just so angry that it didn't dawn on him that he was yelling at a cat. It was so ridiculous it was funny and if she had been feeling better she definitely would have been laughing. As it was however, he was just loud and made her head throb.
But really though, the General in charge of the military of the Kingdom of Atlas, Headmaster of the Atlas Huntsman Academy, and holder of two seats on the Atlas council. A man with that kind of power and influence was hollering at a small, black cat. It was just too damn funny.
He was incensed that she had once again had the gall to infiltrate his ship as if she had some right to be there. More than bad enough that she had snuck aboard the first time in order to interrogate a prisoner in his custody, but she had seen fit to come back and repeat her crime, yes crime, yet again. Minus the interrogation, but she had illegally entered a military ship from another kingdom to snoop around as she pleased. It was an egregious violation of trust, proving without a doubt that she could not be trusted and that if it were up to him she would be chained up and tossed in the darkest hole he could find and then promptly forgotten about.
She thought that was a bit over the top but he was on a roll and he was the wounded party here, so to speak. Seemingly unaware of the foul looks he was getting from both Glynda and Ozpin... the old wizard's eyes were actually glowing. Whatever Kisuke had done in there to free up and bring back the man's power it was working in spades. The General was gloriously in full roar... right up until a garganta opened and Ichigo, who had heard the last bit as he was opening the exit, entered the room with his eyes already turning black and yellow and with his mask forming on his face.
Ironwood was rooted to the spot and it was clear he was having difficulty breathing as the weight of Ichigo's reiatsu settled solely upon him. Not enough to flatten him or even send him to his knees, but enough to render him immobile, silent, and if the sudden look on his face was any indication, afraid for his life. She was rather proud of him for displaying such a level of precise control.
Ichigo walked up to him, stopped, and looked him directly in the eyes, horns bracketing his head. 'Make that threat again General,' he growled, his voice double timbered. That was the only thing he needed to say. After a moment he turned away, mask dissipating and made his way toward her and past a bewildered looking Qrow who had come through the garganta with him.
Ah, her dear, sweet, overprotective Strawberry. What would she do without him? He thanked Professor Goodwitch, not Glynda, but Professor Goodwitch for looking after her until he arrived, then, with a worried scowl on his face he proceeded to make a fuss over her condition as he cradled her in his arms. She had resisted the urge to mewl pathetically and bury her head against his chest, that would have had him wanting to filet the General on the spot even though getting injured was entirely her fault. She simply told him that it was her fault and that she'd fill him in on the details later.
With Ichigo's arrival effectively cutting off and cooling off the General's tirade, Ozpin took over and judging by the look on the Atlesian's face he had never seen Ozpin look so irate and especially not with it directed at him. While impressed that James had decided to take the situation with all of the seriousness it deserved and finally bypass the Vale Council and their lack of concern, he was distinctly unimpressed that he had acted without telling any of them. He was even less impressed that he had seen fit to have Dr. Polendina eradicate the virus immediately upon discovering how to safely do so.
The General tried to argue his case, that getting rid of the virus now was for the best and that countermeasures installed by Dr. Polendina would prevent it from being reinstalled. Also, since he knew the work of the man responsible for its creation, who as suspected was indeed Arthur Watts, he knew how that man worked and could inoculate the system from any other attempts he might make. That in itself was a valid point and Ozpin said as much, however the bigger problem, one which James in his zeal to take care of the problem had failed to account for, was how suddenly being unable to access the functions of the virus she implanted would make Cinder react.
A much better solution would have been to let Polendina monitor her activity with the viral link, ready to kill that connection and the virus if she began to do anything critical. Until that particular moment she would have been none the wiser and had no reason to suspect that anything was wrong. A plan that would have been discussed had the good General seen fit to keep everyone in the loop.
Jumping the gun a bit at times apparently was one of his known character flaws and he did have the decency to look a bit sheepish about it. But, at the same time he tried to defend his not keeping everyone informed by circling back to her skulking around in secret. She reminded him that if he hadn't been so obviously evasive about Penny Polendina, she wouldn't have felt the need to go skulking around. Before he could speak again, Ozpin did.
"So why exactly is it James that you felt the need to bring a robot disguised as a student Huntress to the Vytal Festival, and why did you think it to be a good idea to not mention such a thing to me?"
Even now she couldn't help but smile at the look that had crossed the General's face. Obviously he had been hoping that she hadn't learned of that particular secret and had even felt that it was still unknown, since Ozpin hadn't led off with it rather than the issue with the virus. He might be the head of the entire Atlas military and the Headmaster of a Huntsman Academy, but he was suddenly reminded that despite that, when it came to the inner circle and all things pertaining to it, he was not the boss. He looked a little green, and like a kid lying about the missing cookies even though he had been caught with a mouth full of them and with his hand in the cookie jar. He kind of sputtered for a moment too, mouth opening and closing like a fish trying to breath out of water.
There was a loud, "What the fuck!" out of Qrow and things went ballistic for several minutes between him and the General and Glynda until Ozpin restored order. The noise really hadn't done her head any good. Apparently Penny had been created in large part as a proof of the concept that it could be done, which just happened to mesh nicely with Ironwood wanting to have a trump card in his hand to combat Salem with... which lasted until he discovered a few days ago that the woman was immortal. The Vytal Festival was to be proof that she could fight and adapt and as further proof that the technology of her creation was sound.
"Not to mention that you just might be able to cheat your way to a victory." Qrow had jabbed. "Nothing says 'celebrate the friendship and cooperation between kingdoms like throwing a ringer into the tournament."
Oh, the General did not take that well at all.
"And what do you think the reaction of the viewing public would have been if the truth of what she was got revealed during the festival?" Ozpin asked, making Ironwood go pale. Obviously that was yet another variable he hadn't considered. "During a match especially."
"And what if Cinder had discovered what she was and set up a match to exploit it?" Ichigo had asked. "Like a match between her and one of the tournament favourites, a student who's Semblance just happens to be the ability to control magnetism?"
She smiled widely at that memory. Her wonderful sexy Berryhead had made the General go as pale as a bloodless corpse that had been sucked dry by a vampire. The man very nearly swallowed his tongue, had a stroke and a heart attack at the same time. The potential outpouring of negativity from such a scenario would have had the Grimm flooding the city like a tsunami and the new seeds of distrust it would have sown against Altas would have been everything Cinder and Salem could have hoped for. That was even before you factored in the potential death toll.
She felt the mattress depress behind her and Ichigo's head appeared over her shoulder. "Is the Princess going to sleep all day?" he asked lightly before planting a kiss on her temple.
"Mmmm, she'd like to," she answered as she turned her head and captured his lips for a brief kiss. "But it's already nearly two hours later than our usual get up time."
"I think Remnant will survive our disrupted routine for one day," he said. "Amber is stable and can go a day without us checking in and if I remember you were told to take it easy today."
"Yes Dr. Strawberry, I remember," she smirked. "I am to rest and not unduly strain myself."
"Good girl," he said, kissing her nose. "You should always listen to your doctor."
"Always?" she asked with a knowing look.
"Always," he smiled. "And he did tell you that when you were feeling better he would give you a more thorough examination."
"And he's a man of his word." She kissed him again. "Something smells good, what's on the menu?"
"I made you waffles."
"I'll be right there then." They kissed again and he left to go back to the kitchen.
She rolled onto her back and made a full body stretch, letting out a satisfied sigh. Going back to sleep was tempting but the smell of the waffles had awakened her stomach and reminded her that she hadn't eaten since yesterday at lunch. Besides, Ichigo was a pretty good cook and she wasn't one to miss a meal that he made for her no matter what it was.
She swept the sheet aside and swung her legs over the side of the bed, taking a moment to give her shoulders and neck another stretch before rising to her feet. Stepping over to the dresser she took out a pair of grey shorts and a black tank top and put them on. She didn't bother putting her hair up in the ponytail or even combing it out, settling for running her fingers through it to lessen the bed head look. She'd worry about it later. Maybe. Silly Berry, he claimed that she looked cute with bed head.
Taking a quick glance around the room she was suddenly struck by a realization that she hadn't considered or even really noticed until now. Their bedroom, and the apartment in general for that matter, was distinctly lacking in any kind of personal touches. Aside from the contents of the closet and dressers there was virtually nothing in the bedroom that reflected upon those who occupied it. A lone picture of her and Ichigo on one of the dressers was the only personalized item in the room. That is, if you didn't count the lingerie and costumes she used to tantalize her Strawberry.
Stepping out to the main living space of the apartment the story was the same. There was another picture of them on one of the end tables and in the corner of the living room were a pair of electric guitars next to the stand that held Zangetsu. She had tried to persuade Ichigo to take up the instrument again, having remembered that he had owned one back in their old world, when she saw him eyeing one in a store window one day. She'd suggested that he buy it but he just shrugged and said he'd probably forgotten how to play it anyway.
She didn't buy that excuse for a minute and a couple of days later she bought it for him and one for herself, figuring it wouldn't hurt for her to learn something new and artistic and it would leave him with no choice but to teach her and take up playing again. He could either teach her or she would try to figure it out herself and drive him crazy with the discordant racket. They hadn't been able to make use of them very often yet, but she had found that the time they spent together as he tried to teach her was a fun and an enjoyable distraction, just as his cooking lessons were.
But those instruments and the two pictures were the only things in the entire apartment that wasn't just the furniture and appliances they had outfitted it with. No other pictures or artwork on the walls, no nick knacks or other little items, no personal touches or treasured mementos. For all intents and purposes the place could be mistaken for a furnished show unit to show off to prospective tenants rather than someone's home. It simply didn't look lived in. Nothing about it said 'home'.
Then again, it had been a very long time since they had lived anywhere that could be considered a home. After the impending circumstances of their immortality forced them to leave their home and family behind for their own safety, they became nomads once again, staying on the move as they hunted Grimm. They buried themselves in that task to try and hold the pain of leaving their family behind at bay. Always being on the move, they hadn't been able to take anything with them. No mementos or reminders, only what they could carry in their memory and in their heart. Perhaps there were such things still out there somewhere, pictures of family or items that had meaning as they had adorned their home, but they possessed no such nostalgic tokens themselves.
Months ago when they decided that the best thing they could do for themselves was settle down and try to somewhat normalize the way they lived, they had found themselves standing in this apartment with nothing to fill it but their presence. It had been a stark and startling moment of revelation for them. The place was as empty as their lives had been for the better part of the last three plus centuries and in a way it was like looking in a mirror. Yeah, they were past due for this and had been fools for letting things go on for as long as they had. Time to find some normal, or a different normal at least from what had become their constant.
Setting this place up had been a far different experience than the first home they had when they settled down to have their family. It was a house that had been abandoned after a Grimm attack, the family had tried to flee but hadn't made it and no one else wanted to take it over since it was outside of the relative protection of a village. It was fully furnished and stocked and any marauding Grimm that came around didn't stand a chance against them.
The apartment however was a different story as they had nothing and needed everything. Fortunately money hadn't been a problem. Their nomadic life had been pretty inexpensive and they saved every Lien they had made from Grimm killing missions... as well as ample funds that they had... liberated lets say, from a couple of criminal organizations. It had been funny to sneak into their alleged strongholds and clean them out, leaving them penniless and at the not so tender mercies of their rivals.
She smiled lightly. It was kind of funny, as they went out to buy all of the things they would need to set up house, the two of them had actually been as clueless and awkward about it as a pair of newlyweds starting out on their own and who had never lived on their own before. That was exactly what many of the merchants thought so they just ended up playing the role and had a bit of fun with it. Still, on the day they could finally declare that their home was now properly outfitted, it had still seemed to be missing something but they hadn't quite clued in to just exactly what that was.
The issue quickly got left behind as they tried, and admittedly struggled at first to adapt to their new lifestyle. They were away most of the time, taking Grimm hunts that they found listed on the kingdom's mission boards, or investigating rumours and potential sightings that they had read about on one of the Huntsman forums on the net. After a couple of months they realized what they were doing and restructured the way they were working, only spending three or four days during the week out hunting and earning commissions and bounties. Still, it wasn't until this moment that the thought of what was missing here came to her.
She seated herself on a stool at the breakfast bar in their kitchen, most meals were eaten here or in front of the TV rather than at the dining room table, and watched Ichigo take some more waffles out of the waffle iron.
"You know, we really need to start adding some personality and personal touches to this place," she said.
He looked over his shoulder at her and took a slow glance around the place. He blinked. "You're right. We have nice furniture and the place looks good but it's still kind of..."
"Empty? Sterile?" she suggested.
He nodded. "Yeah, there isn't anything here that really says that we live here, that this is our home."
"When this current problem is dealt with we'll have to do something about that," she said.
"Speaking of the current problem," he said as he set out two plates of waffles and two tall glasses of milk. "Neo sent you a text this morning."
Her hand stopped halfway to the syrup decanter. "Bad or worse than bad?"
"Not so bad I'd say," he answered as he sat down across from her. "At least not immediately terrible anyway. Cinder has discovered that the virus link isn't working while all of the other functions on her scroll still do. Since no one has come kicking down her door she is cautiously assuming that they haven't been found out. She's told her crew to be very cautious and wary of anyone who seems to be paying more attention to them than usual."
"Well I suppose that's about as good as we could have hoped for," she said, finally taking the syrup.
"She's also been grumbling that if it turns out that his work was defective, she's going to fry Watts to a crisp," he continued. "And apparently she did call him by name when she said that so it further confirms that he's alive and well and working for Salem."
"At least Ironwood hasn't already issued an arrest warrant for Watts," she said. "Having that happen right around the same time as his virus stops working would be far too coincidental and I don't think Cinder would miss that. With all of the other little things that have went sideways already that could be the last straw if she's not at that point already."
"I have to wonder about the decisions Ironwood has been making," he said. "Pushing to take over security for the Vytal Festival because he thinks Ozpin was being too cautious, bringing Polendina to crack the virus and having him wipe it out without telling anyone or discussing the options. Bringing a robot disguised as a student to the tournament and with no thought to the possible consequences... seems like a lot of aggressive behaviour without a lot of thought behind it."
She gave him a deadpan look and smirked. "Speaking from experience my Berry?"
"Yeah yeah," he waived her off. "I guess I walked into that one, but he has the benefit of experience that I didn't at the time. You would think that being an academy Headmaster and a member of the council that he would be more diplomatic and measured. He's more like a bull in a china shop."
"Not every battle can be fought the same way and I think he's approaching this like every other action he's been involved in," she speculated. "He's used to either straight up engagements or rooting out terrorist cells. Salem's playing a game of deception and manipulation and doesn't generally make outright attacks, using others as a proxy for that like the White Fang's role here. He's well suited to take that task on but could also easily fall right into whatever deception Salem has in mind."
He picked up the thread. "He hadn't fully considered what the virus might be for or what it could do. If he had left it alone like he originally planned there would be chaos and death on a ridiculous scale with Atlas getting most of the blame and with the CCT system down there would be no way to widely spread the truth of what really happened."
"Thing is, I don't believe he's someone who's wrapped up in his own power and authority," she said. "He wants to do the right thing to protect the people no matter what the threat is, but he's just a little too zealous about it and it makes him, and by extension Atlas, the perfect fall guy for this plan. He doesn't know his enemy as well as Ozpin does."
"And Ozpin has made enough mistakes of his own," Ichigo said. "Although, it's a bit of a stacked deck. He took on a near impossible task and he's been at it for so long and for a long while believing that there really wasn't a chance to succeed... I'm really not sure how he's managed to keep at it. I guess, he really didn't have any other option. Giving up certainly wasn't going to accomplish anything."
"Good thing he didn't," she by way of agreement. "It gave us time to get involved and throw a monkey wrench in the works." She grinned. "Or maybe more accurately, be in a position to cut the chains of fate."
"It's the only way to keep moving forward," he smirked.
"So what did I miss at the end of the meeting?" she asked. "I wasn't really able to focus well enough by then to take it in. I was too busy trying to stay awake."
"Ozpin wants to have a meeting between himself, Ironwood, Dr. Polendina, and Penny," he answered. "I think he's also pressing Ironwood to fill in his right hand, Weiss's sister, on what's going on. She would be loyal to the General of course but she just might also be able to play devil's advocate and be an avenue of sober second thought."
"I bet the General isn't in favour of all of that," she surmised.
"I don't think Ozpin is going to give him much choice in the matter," he said. "There's also the issue of Penny's participation in the tournament. I'm not sure what ticked Ozpin off more, the fact that Ironwood never told him about her, or that he didn't tell him and went ahead and entered her in the tournament. He was really pissed."
"Just from the standpoint of what the festival and tournament stands for it would be seen as a major subversion of that if the truth about her were to come out," she said as she speared a couple more waffles and put them on her plate. "The war may have ended eighty years ago but there are still a lot of people that are suspicious and distrusting of the Kingdom of Atlas."
"Having a constant reminder of their presence flying overhead isn't helping matters any," he said. "The nightly news magazine shows are still having debates over why Atlas has taken over security for an event in Vale and why there is such a large presence."
"If they knew the reality of the situation they'd probably want more," she countered.
"Speaking of that, we're going to fill the kids in on this today?" he asked.
"You think we shouldn't?"
"No, I think we should and we had planned to all along," he answered. "It's just that the timing kind of sucks. The tournament is about to start and we're going to hit them with this."
She sighed. "Yeah, I can't dispute that. We let the timing of this get away from us. But given their track record, the incident at the docks, the highway chase, Mountain Glenn... do you think they would have been able to resist getting even more in the middle of things if they knew about this sooner?"
He chuckled darkly. "Probably not and this would be the deep end of the pool compared to the rest. Mountain Glenn was a close shave for them but they'd be way over their heads going into this blindly."
"I don't think we need to tell them anything beyond Cinder's plan and what's led up to it," she said. "We can tell them about Salem later, she's not someone they need to know and worry about at this point. We will have to tell them about the Maidens since it's such a big part of what's going on, and to impress upon them that they are not to face off against Cinder. None of them would survive that."
"Same goes for Adam Taurus," he said. "I don't want any of them trying to take him on either."
She nodded. "We'll have to make sure we catch up to those two if it gets to the point of the shit really hitting the fan."
"As for Taurus and the White Fang, Qrow should be out there by now looking for their camp," he said. "He knows of a couple of places they may have used before out in the Emerald Forest and there are a few other spots that he thinks might make a decent hiding spot for them."
"He'll be flying lower than anything Ironwood has had overhead and his trained eye might spot anomalies that his ship's scanner won't," she surmised. "And if Adam's as paranoid right now as our information suggests, he'll be extra careful about being spotted. I just hope he's not so paranoid that he acts on his own instead of waiting for his cue."
In the aftermath of her humiliation of the terrorist and his going to ground, she had wondered if it might not have been better to just take him out entirely. Thinking about it she decided that doing so may have just made him a martyr to the cause. His death certainly would have been a blow to the White Fang. He was probably their strongest fighter and the most dangerous person in the organization and his loss may have shaken some in the ranks, but it might also give others, likely the most hardcore of the lot, more incentive to increase the frequency and ferocity of their attack to avenge their fallen icon.
Humiliating him however would shatter the aura of invincibility that he had among the hardcore and the more impressionable members. New recruits and those thinking about joining up might think twice if the White Fang's spear point and pillar of might was reduced to a stub and easily so at that. Confidence would be shaken and operations would be affected. The High Leader herself might even be inclined to pull the leash and want to know just what the hell was going on with the Vale branch. It could make them careless which would make them vulnerable.
"Nothing we can really do but deal with it if it happens," he shrugged. "We're playing a waiting game anyway. I just wish Cinder was out there with him then we could hunt them all down and go on the attack without having to worry about collateral damage. Bad enough someone with that kind of power and who isn't afraid to use it is hiding inside a school full of kids, but now we have thousands more people in the area for the festival. It was so crowded in the city last night that it took me and Qrow almost twenty minutes after Blake called to find a place where I could open the garganta without anyone seeing us."
"I was fortunate that when I bailed I was more or less above the school campus," she said. "Last thing I needed was to try and land somewhere in that mess, especially in the shape I was in."
"And of course you just happened to land on Ruby," he smirked.
"I was aiming for Yang," she chirped. "Bigger cushions. But it all worked out despite the ding to the head. If it had been a flesh and blood guard I would have felt his Aura and avoided him. After what I discovered getting out quick was a top priority. Went a little too quick I guess." She looked down and frowned. "Just like my waffles." She gave him a hopeful look but he just smiled and ate the last bite of his. "Meanie," she pouted.
He swiped some syrup off his plate with his finger and booped her nose.
"Careful," she said. "Start playing with the syrup and we'll miss our class altogether."
"Can't have that," he laughed. "And I don't think Glynda would buy a 'syrup mishap' as a reason for us to miss teaching a class."
"It would be funny to see her giving us hell with her face all red," she chuckled. "I think we're getting to her."
"That's my Kitten," he sighed with a grin. "Trying to corrupt the most serious and straight laced woman in the whole school."
"Eh, she needs to loosen up," she said, waving her hand. "Being so serious all the time isn't good for a person."
He shook his head. "Why do I have this sudden visual of you taking the poor woman out, getting her drunk, dragging her off to the bathhouse, and telling her risque stories until she passes out from the heat and embarrassment?"
Her grin was overflowing with mischief. "Because at some point I will, just like I'll take the girls from our class to the bathhouse like I promised and tell them stories about the harem you could have had."
He sighed again. "You're such a bad kitty."
"And proud of it." She deflated slightly. "I suppose Bad Kitty needs to go get ready for class. I'd rather sleep actually but I can't tell the kids what I promised if I do that."
"Why not bring them here?" he suggested. "It would be a smaller space than the arena to seal off with privacy Kido and we already have wards in place we can activate. Plus we still have some time so you could easily sleep for a couple more hours before I bring them."
"That'll work," she said. "Heh, our first house guests. Too bad it wasn't for movie night instead of telling them things that will likely ruin their experience for the tournament. Or potentially see them fighting for their lives."
"If it comes to that we'll be there to make sure they survive." He didn't say 'make sure they don't get hurt' because no matter how good they were or how fast they were, they couldn't be everywhere all at once.
"I know," she said, frowning. "But for some reason I'm starting to get that vibe that things are going be pretty ugly and I rather not see them stuck in the middle of it."
He leaned across the counter and kissed her on the nose. "So long as they don't tangle with Taurus or Cinder they'll be fine. They're talented and they've absorbed what we've been teaching them like a sponge. They'll hold their own and then some. Now, go take a nap before you turn Bad Kitty into Morbid Kitty."
She rolled her eyes and patted his cheek. "Yes Dr. Berryhead."
She sauntered off to the living room and flopped into a reclining chair while he did the dishes. She was asleep in no time.
Advanced Combat Class Arena
He arrived early so he sat in the front row of the spectator area and propped his sneaker clad feet up on the railing. He hadn't seen the need to change into his combat gear, sticking with the black warm up pants with two white stripes down the legs and the Beacon t-shirt he had been wearing at home. He held a travel cup full of coffee as he leaned back, looking up at no spot in particular on the ceiling.
Yoruichi's mention of the lack of personal touches in their home had gotten him to thinking about what home for him might have been like if everything hadn't gone into the cosmic wood chipper. It was a subject that they tried not to dwell on too much because it had a tendency to take one's thoughts to places they didn't want or need them to go. Qrow had actually asked him about it last night but it got lost in the commotion until this morning.
Back then, he had never really thought much about his future before or after gaining the powers of a Shinigami. He supposed he would have continued to be a substitute Shinigami but that wasn't going to be his full time occupation. Being a full time soul reaper wasn't something he wanted to consider while he still had a human life to live. Maybe once he had passed on it would be a viable option, but the Soul Society would have to change a lot and escape its antiquated ways before he'd be willing to commit to it.
It wasn't until he lost his powers after defeating Aizen that he really began to give his future much serious consideration and he had found himself at loose ends over it. He really didn't know. If his life had gone on largely undisturbed by the spirit world he knew he would have had to start giving it some serious thought and looking at options for his education beyond high school.
Reading Shakespeare was a favourite past time of his, but he didn't know if he had enough of an interest in literature to pursue that as a way to make a living. Becoming a doctor like his Dad hadn't really been a thing, he was more adept at causing injury than healing it and his ever present scowl would likely scare off the patients. Maybe he would have taken a couple of years after high school to travel around a little and work a few jobs. See some part of the world outside of Karakura Town and see if anything caught his attention.
He took a sip of his coffee and grinned. One thing he hadn't seen himself doing was teaching, he didn't figure he had the patience for it, but then again he wasn't a hot headed fifteen year old whose life was constantly being turned inside out and upside down anymore either. He also never figured that he would be teaching a combat class either, especially not after the way he learned to fight. While he had taken karate classes as a kid, most of his fighting acumen came from street brawling.
When it came to sword fighting the bulk of his instruction had come through the school of 'try not to die', be it at the hands of Kisuke, Zangetsu, or any number of enemies he had found himself up against and usually over matched by. It wasn't until Remnant that he began to learn proper techniques from both Yoruichi and his inner spirits. Over the time that they had been here his fighting style had become a hybrid of proper techniques and on the spot improvisation.
He supposed there was no greater teacher than experience and even if he couldn't teach their students textbook techniques, he could teach them how to improvise and survive and give them examples of what not to do. It also didn't hurt that he had gained a great deal of experience at the vocation they were all training for, being a Huntsman, and had faced a great many different types of Grimm.
When it had come to discussions of what their futures might have been, he always felt sad for Yoruichi because she had perhaps even less of an idea than he had. She had made it clear that she wasn't going to go back to Soul Society and resume her role as head of the clan. She had never really cared for the role anyway and had become even more of a free spirit during her exile with Kisuke than she already had been. She also had no desire to go back and fill in a vacant Captain's position in one of the other divisions either. She may have been born in the Soul Society but it had ceased being any sort of home to her. She would visit and have a little fun at the expense of others, as she was wont to do, or help out Soifon now and then, but it wasn't somewhere she wanted to stay.
Problem was, short of going around and investigating strange incidents tied to the spirit world, there really wasn't anything else that she did. Sure, she travelled around a bit just for fun, but she had admitted that after a while that lost its lustre. She really hadn't known what she would have done going forward in her life. Like him, perhaps hope that something caught her attention enough to pursue it. Of course, neither of them had foreseen the end of their world coming or that they would eventually awaken in a new one, but here they were and like usual they were caught up in more 'end of the world' madness.
He smirked around the rim of his coffee cup. If nothing else, at least they were consistent.
He heard the doors open, followed by the usual banter of his students, which he had to admit was like music to his ears. "Yo!" he called in greeting as he rolled his head to look in their direction and held up his travel cup.
"Yo yourself," Yang called back. "Must be casual day today."
"Are you the only one here?" Ruby asked, looking around like the rest of them all were.
"Is Yoruichi okay?" Blake asked.
He smiled at the genuine concern they seemed to have for her. "She's fine. She's catching some extra sleep but otherwise she's all healed up and will be back to her usual self by tomorrow."
"She said she was going to fill us in on some things today," Weiss said with a bit of a frown.
"That's still on the agenda," he assured them. "Only we figured we'd do it at our place instead of here. It lets her be lazy today and the apartment is less space to secure against potentially unfriendly ears than this place is."
"That makes it sound kind of serious," Jaune said.
"It is serious," he confirmed. "As serious as a dust shop robbery. As serious as a fight at the docks with the White Fang. As serious as fighting a Paladin under a highway overpass. As serious as Mountain Glenn and the breach of Vale. All of them are just parts of a much bigger picture."
He certainly had their undivided attention now.
"Those are all serious events on their own," Pyrrha said, worry in her voice. "And you're saying it gets worse?"
"It gets a lot worse," he affirmed as he stood. "And it has the potential to be catastrophic. We'll explain it all to you, or at least as much as you actually need to know right now. Anything else will have to wait until the current problem is taken care of so we ask that you be patient when it comes to anything we may reference that goes beyond that."
"Are we going through a garganta?" Ruby asked.
"Yes we are," he answered as he stepped up onto the arena floor. "You might as well leave your weapons here, there's no point in taking them." He waited for them to place them down in the front row of seats and return their attention to him.
"Remember what this is, the nothingness between dimensions. I will be making a pathway for us with my spirit energy. It will be plenty wide enough but I warn you to stay away from the edges and do not fall off. Now, form a line and take the hand of the person in front of you and behind you."
They did so, grouped first by team and then by partner, with Ruby in the lead.
"Do not let go until we are safely outside the garganta again and inside the apartment. Even going this short distance the trip will take at least a full minute. You will all feel that same uneasy feeling in there that you did when I came through one here a few days ago. Don't let that or anything else distract you. Keep your pace and concentrate on what you're doing and stay in the middle of the path. Is that clear?"
"Yes," they all spoke in agreement.
He gave them a look over to make sure they were ready before reaching out with his right hand and tapping the air in front of him. There was a slight distortion before the air seemed to split then pull back to either side like a curtain to reveal the eerie and chilling black void beyond. He held out his left hand for Ruby to take.
"Alright, lets go."
As soon as he stepped into the void a wide, pale blue pathway lit up before him. To a person, every one of them felt a shiver go down their spine as they stepped in and followed. The silence was oppressive and the light from the pathway only illuminated what was on it and didn't penetrate the gloom around them. It literally felt like a wall of darkness was about to close in on them and despite the fact that there was nothing there, it still felt a bit claustrophobic.
Ichigo felt Ruby's grip on his hand tighten and he imagined that same reaction had taken place all along the line. He took a look over his shoulder. He could tell that they all felt a bit fearful and it showed a little more on some faces than others. He could feel a bit of a tremble in Ruby's hand, but she had a determined look on her face. The determined look of a leader who was afraid but for the sake of her team she wasn't going to show it.
He certainly couldn't blame them for how they felt. Even without the spectre of what would happen if you went off the path, the garganta simply felt all kinds of wrong. It certainly did have an ominous feel to it and for all intents and purposes it pretty much was the endless nothingness and impenetrable darkness of the abyss that was referenced so often in literature. Even what he had been told about the garganta was as much speculation as any kind of actual proven theory. You might fall forever, you might end up in another time... no one actually knew. Anyone who ever had been unfortunate enough to fall into the void had never been seen or heard from again.
To them, the minute to transit the space must have seemed much longer and he could literally feel their relief in the fluctuations of their spirit energy when he told them they were there and the exit opened. While he was making sure everyone was safely out and weren't suffering any negative effects from their trip, someone else was playing interested observer.
Yoruichi had woken up a few minutes earlier and was just sitting back down after stretching out the kinks when the garganta opened. She had to put in an effort not to chuckle out loud as she saw the look on Ruby's reddened face as she realized she was still holding Ichigo's hand even when everyone else had let go. Upon letting go she looked around to see if anyone noticed and froze like a deer in the headlights when their eyes met. She just winked at the girl, making her face go even redder.
The way Weiss was absently clutching her hand to her chest and the look on her face told her that she was a little disappointed to no longer be holding Ruby's hand. Interesting. Yang looked rather pleased and was making some joke that had Blake rolling her eyes yet still sporting a light smile. Nora, well she didn't know whether to look happy or like she was in denial, which of course she was. She could practically see a little chibi Nora on one shoulder singing and doing a happy dance because she had held Ren's hand, while on the other shoulder another chibi was trying to drown her out claiming they weren't 'together together'.
As for Jaune and Pyrrha... she broke into a wide grin. She could tell by the way they were standing next to each other all fidgety with their hands still barely touching and the neon red glow on their faces that the redhead had finally gotten his attention, and she suspected that she had done it in the way that she had suggested. Judging by the way Pyrrha nearly swallowed her tongue when their eyes met, she knew she was right. She just had to take the girl aside and get those details. She knew Ichigo would get them all to hold hands and form a chain to come through the garganta and she had been hoping that it would produce the kind of teasing fodder that she now had.
She'd have to thank her Strawberry properly for that.
"Are you okay Yoruichi?" Ruby asked her after having a moment to compose herself.
"I'm fine Ruby," she smiled. "Good as new. How was your first trip through a garganta?"
"It was kind of creepy," she answered.
"Disturbing," Blake echoed.
"It was like taking a trip through the fun house and having your nerves get all on edge," Yang added.
Jaune nodded. "I kept expecting something to jump out at me."
"Very disconcerting," Ren said. "You could feel the nothingness and yet it still felt claustrophobic." Beside him Nora just nodded her agreement.
"All of that pretty much sums it up," she agreed. "So, why don't you all have a seat and then we can get started."
They all settled in on the large sectional couches in front of the television. She and Ichigo both sat in recliners left upright and turned to face their audience.
"You said last night that this was something we've already had some involvement with?" Weiss asked.
"Just a second," Ichigo said. He reached behind his chair and touched a space on the wall and released some of his spirit energy. For a few seconds the walls, ceiling, and floor of the apartment glowed a pale blue before returning to normal. "We have Kido wards scattered around the apartment," he explained with a smirk. "Keeps the neighbours from hearing things they probably don't want to."
"Oh yeah," Jaune said, gesturing towards the guitars in the corner. "Those would be kind of loud."
Ruby nodded in agreement. "Especially if you're really getting into it." That reminded her, she would have to check the net on her scroll later and see if her favourite band had put out their new release yet. She could use some new music to rock out to on her headphones.
The other six teens did an impressive job of not face faulting at their friend's inability to pick up the innuendo.
"Sometimes we let it all hang out," Yoruichi said with a Cheshire grin... which she was aiming at Pyrrha, whose complexion now matched her hair. She turned her attention to Weiss. "And the answer to your question is yes. The dust robbery that Ruby stopped, the incident at the docks when you fought Torchwick and the White Fang, your fight against Torchwick in the Paladin, and your mission with Dr. Oobleck to Mountain Glenn and the attack it spawned are all parts of a plot to attack the Vytal Festival and foster distrust between the kingdoms. In this case, Atlas and Vale."
"WHAT?!" was their collective reaction. She stalled any further outburst by holding up her hand.
"That's a reaction you will be having a lot today so take a breath and settle yourselves," she said.
"The White Fang are behind this, aren't they?" Blake asked morosely.
"They're part of it but they aren't the brains behind it," Ichigo said. "That would be someone who is posing as a student from Haven right now. Her name is Cinder Fall." Ruby gasped. "She's also the same person who showed up with the Bullhead to save Torchwick the night you stopped his robbery of that store."
"Her team for the festival tournament are also her accomplices," Yoruichi said. "Emerald Sustrai matches the description of a known street thief. Mercury Black is the son of a notorious assassin by the name of Marcus Black, who was found dead some time ago in a burned out house. The fourth member who none of you have probably seen on campus is Torchwick's partner Neo."
"What!?" Yang roared.
"Easy," Ichigo cautioned.
"How is any of this possible?" Pyrrha asked. "And why would they want to do this?"
"They are working at the direction of Cinder's employer, who is someone you don't need to know about yet," Yoruichi continued. "They are here to cause chaos and sow distrust, but they are also here to steal something. Two something's actually."
"To understand what that is and why they want it," Ichigo said. "I'm going to ask you something that you will think has nothing to do with this."
"What is that?" Ren asked.
"Are all of you familiar with the various fairy tales of this world?" he asked.
They looked at him in puzzlement as he expected they would. "Um, what does that have to do with this?" Nora asked.
"What if I were to tell you that most if not all of those tales we actually true?"
"That can't be possible," Weiss said.
"You didn't think us being immortal was possible either but here we are," Yoruichi grinned.
"You mean all of those stories Yang used to read to me are all true?" Ruby asked, her eyes wide.
"Most if not all, yes," Ichigo said. "The one in particular we're dealing with here is the story of The Four Maidens."
"Wait a minute," Yang interrupted. "If that story is true and the Maidens exist, why isn't it public knowledge?"
"If their existence was public knowledge they would never have a moment's peace," Yoruichi said. "And they would be open targets for anyone who would scheme to take their power."
"How would someone take their power?" Nora asked. "It's supposed to pass along randomly when they die or maybe to someone who was in their thoughts when they died?"
"What if that person was the one who killed them?" Jaune posed.
"Would anyone be powerful enough to kill a Maiden?" Ren asked.
"Is that what happened here?" Blake asked. "Did someone kill a Maiden and take their power?"
"They came close," Ichigo said. "Several months ago the Fall Maiden, Amber, was travelling through the countryside when she was ambushed by Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. They were able to overwhelm her and Cinder used a Grimm parasite to try and take her power. She got half of it before she was interrupted by Qrow Branwen."
"Uncle Qrow was there?" Ruby asked.
"He had been shadowing her for her protection but he got held up and was late getting to the scene," Yoruichi explained. "He saved her but she was in very bad shape. The attack itself left her with serious injuries, but trying to forcefully remove her powers tore her soul apart. Ever since then she's been hidden away at Beacon in a life support pod provided by General Ironwood."
"Will she survive?" Jaune asked.
"She will now," Ichigo answered. "Yoruichi was able to use healing Kaido to close the tear and keep her from losing anymore of her Aura."
"Since I'm not a healer by trade, it's a rough fix," she said. "Not nearly as neat and precise as a trained healer would manage and it means her recovery will be slower. We check on her every day and give her as much Aura as she can handle to supplement her own."
"You said Cinder used a Grimm parasite to take her power," Ren said, a concerned and puzzled look on his face. "How is that possible? How can a human manipulate a Grimm for any purpose?"
"Because of her boss," Ichigo answered. "And anything concerning her boss is one of those things I warned you to be patient about. Knowing right now won't change anything about what's going on so we want to concentrate on the things that do matter and that you do need to know right now."
"Sounds kind of ominous," Yang said with a frown.
"That's because it is," Yoruichi said, shocking them a bit. "Even more ominous than what we're telling you about now. We're not trying to spook you, but that's the way it is. All of this is well beyond serious and that's why some of what we have to tell you will have to wait. There are priorities here."
"We got ourselves into the middle of some deep crap didn't we?" Yang asked.
"Won't lie," she said. "But yeah, you did."
They were all silent for a minute while they digested that. Finally Weiss, who was massaging her temples to ward off an impending headache spoke up.
"Maybe I'm missing something here, but if you know what Cinder is up to why is she still free and not in jail?" she asked.
Ichigo sighed. "The first problem is that no one knew she was the one who attacked Amber or that she was already in place at Beacon until Yoruichi and I showed up. The day we came to meet with Professor Ozpin, we did what we always do when we go anywhere and felt out the spirit energy of everyone around us. By its strength we could tell the difference between the students and the staff, but hers was an anomaly. Stronger than any of the students or the staff and my Hollow abilities could detect the darkness in her. She could have been another staff member we didn't know about except for that and there being a strange feel to her energy."
"You could feel Amber's energy within her as well," Ren surmised.
"Correct," Yoruichi confirmed. "We could also feel Amber herself and were concerned about someone having an Aura level that low and feeling that weak. After talking with Professor Ozpin we were able to start putting things together. Leaving her alone and in place was the wise move until we could discover exactly what it was that she was up to."
"The second reason she's not sitting in jail is the difficulty in trying to take her down without getting a lot of people killed," Ichigo said. "She is either among all the rest of you for classes, or in her dorm room, and that room is right in the middle of a dorm block. No matter if we try to take her alive or dead, if one little thing goes wrong a lot of innocent students could die and unless it becomes an absolute necessity, trying to take her down under those conditions isn't a good idea."
"Outright killing her is actually the safer option," Yoruichi said gravely, causing them all to go wide eyed. "And either one of us has the power to accomplish that and minimize the risk to everyone else. However, if we were to do that and even if nothing went sideways in the attempt, the portion of the Fall Maiden's power that she stole would go back to Amber and given her current condition that much power flowing back into her would almost certainly kill her. She isn't strong enough yet to reclaim that power."
"We've been waiting for an opportunity to present itself where we could catch her out in the open and away from others but that hasn't happened," Ichigo said. "So we've been keeping tabs on her as we gather information and we know what her basic plan is. It can go along harmlessly to a certain point and if it gets that far we won't have a choice on how or when to take her out."
"Let me give you a time line on how things have happened and the way they are supposed to go," Yoruichi said. "At some point Cinder is instructed by her boss to go out and find the Fall Maiden and steal her power. Around that same time, we think it was probably after she took half of Amber's power, she makes a deal with Adam Taurus for the services of the White Fang. Lot's of Lien we believe, along with the chance to kill scores of humans."
"No need to hang your head Blake," Ichigo said gently as the girl began to fold in on herself. "His choices are his own. You're not responsible for him or what anyone following him does." She nodded and Yang put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"At some point probably not long after that, she hires Roman Torchwick to steal all the Dust he can get his hands on." Yoruichi smirked. "During one of those robberies he runs afoul of our very own Ruby Rose and is thwarted and has to be rescued by Cinder."
"That's my little sis!" Yang crowed proudly, ruffling her hair. Ruby blushed at the attention and smiled nervously while making a futile attempt to bat her sister's hand away.
She continued. "Needing a lot more Dust than what he's been able to get robbing small shops, Roman goes after a Schnee Dust Company shipment down at the docks where he's interrupted by Blake and Sun Wukong, backed up by Ruby and Penny Polendina. Shortly after, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury arrive at Beacon posing as students." She noticed that Ruby suddenly looked a bit worried at the mention of Penny's name.
Ichigo picked it up from there. "A while later, Team RWBY along with Sun and his partner Neptune go on an information hunt. While infiltrating a White Fang meeting, Blake and Sun discover that Torchwick has somehow gotten his hands on a bunch of Atlesian Paladins." He smirks. "The inevitable happens, Torchwick spots them and chases them with the Paladin he brought to show off and comes out on the losing end of the fight against Team RWBY."
"Hmmph," Nora grunted. "Some friends they are, they never invite us to all the fun stuff."
"Wasn't that much fun," Yang muttered. "I got punched through a concrete highway support pillar."
"Cinder's next move was to plant a virus in the CCT system on the night of the dance," Yoruichi said. "Which again, thanks to Ruby, didn't go completely unnoticed."
"That was Cinder?!" Ruby exclaimed. "Why would she plant a virus in the CCT?"
"Primarily it was so she could manipulate the matches at the tournament in order to give her team the best chance to advance and continue her plan. Emerald and Mercury's job prior to the tournament was to attend Professor Goodwitch's combat class and scout out the skills and abilities of the other students so Cinder could better make those manipulations. The aim was to get Mercury to the singles stage, where with the help of Emerald's Semblance they would stage an incident that would shock and upset the entire worldwide audience and foster negativity on a global scale. Mercury would make sure he loses the match and Emerald would use her Semblance, the ability to make someone see an illusion of her choosing, to fool the winner into thinking Mercury was being a sore loser and attacking them. To everyone else it would look like the winner brutally attacked their already defeated foe."
"Considering what the festival and tournament means that would cause a great deal of upset," Ren said, frowning. "People would be outraged."
"It gets worse," Ichigo said gravely. "The next stage was to happen later in the singles round, maybe during the final if not before. We believe the next incident would be set up somehow to ensure a fatality. At that point Cinder would completely take over the CCT and black out all communications out of Vale except for what she decided to let through. The White Fang would launch their attack, backed up by the hordes of Grimm that would be drawn by the immense outpouring of negativity."
They were all rendered speechless again. The scale and scope of what this plan was aiming to do was mind numbing.
Yoruichi picked it up again. "What Team RWBY found at Mountain Glenn was supposed to be part of that attack, but by discovering what they were doing there, Torchwick decided to launch his part of the attack right then even though they weren't fully ready. It wasn't according to Cinder's plan, but it was still useful to them in the effect it had on the people in its aftermath. Even though Torchwick was arrested, that also turned into an opportunity, and it's worth noting that it was Emerald and Mercury that marched him over to the authorities in the end, so take that for what it's worth."
"That doesn't seem like much of a coincidence," Weiss observed.
"Whether it was a planned contingency or something they came up with it on the spot, we're not sure," Yoruichi said. "During the White Fang's attack Neo was supposed to infiltrate General Ironwood's flagship, break Roman out of his cell, and they would introduce the virus into the Atlesian military network and corrupt their robotic soldiers, turning them against the people they were supposed to be protecting and making it look like Atlas was attacking Vale."
"All of this just so Cinder could get the rest of the Fall Maiden's power?" Jaune asked incredulously, looking just as sick as the rest of them.
"That would be an oversimplification, but yes," Yoruichi said. "There are more goals to be achieved here. Her employer wants the chaos and distrust between kingdoms. She wants humanity to be at each other's throats. We mentioned before that Cinder was here to achieve two things. One was to gain the entirety of the Fall Maiden's power, and one of the reasons for that is that it is literally the key to an item, a relic that she is trying to steal from Beacon. Without it she can't open its hiding place to get to it."
"What is this thing?" Yang asked. "It must be pretty damn important."
"It is," Ichigo said. "But what it is and what it's for is a story for after this crisis is done with."
"How can you say that?!" she countered, letting her temper boil over a bit. "If it's that important don't you think we have a right to know? That we deserve to know?"
"Knowing it now isn't going to change the situation," he shot back. "There are enough things to worry about for the moment as it is without adding more that can wait until this is done with. As we said before, this potential attack is what matters right now, not the wider aims of Cinder's boss or who that even is, and not a relic she wants to steal. What we have told you was due to the involvement you've already had in it and so that you won't be blindsided if the shit hits the fan, and there's a very real possibility that it will."
"So how did you find out what Cinder's plan was?" Blake asked.
"After we discovered Cinder and got filled in on a few things from Professor Ozpin," Yoruichi began. "We started to look at the incidents that had happened and put together a few ideas of what it might mean. In my cat form I snuck around and listened in on conversations in Cinder's dorm and I got aboard the General's flagship and interrogated Roman. He wouldn't tell the General anything, but I got him to tell me everything... and no, I didn't torture him... as such. I used some techniques with my spirit energy that left him feeling like he'd been worked over and some well chosen words and theatrics to get him to talk. He confirmed at lot of things we suspected and explained the bulk of the plan as he knew it. Cinder didn't tell him everything, but he was able to figure some things out on his own."
"We also have an insider that we turned into an informant that backed up his story and filled in a couple more holes," Ichigo said. "We've been getting information from Neo."
"How did you manage to turn Torchwick's little helper against him?" Blake asked.
"We introduced her to Ichigo's Hollow form," Yoruichi answered, making them all shudder. "And she didn't turn on Torchwick, she turned on Cinder. She and Roman found themselves in a bad situation. Cinder paid them a ridiculous amount of money, enough that Roman ignored his instincts and took the job. It didn't take him long to figure out that if he failed they'd both end up dead, and even if he didn't fail, the outcome might be the same. They both suspect that if they survived the outcome of her plan and didn't continue to work for her they just might become loose ends that she didn't want around. If they tried to jump ship and leave, they'd meet the same bad end. Hell, if he didn't take the job she may have killed them. We made both of them see just how serious this really was and just what exactly it was that they had signed up to do."
"Serves them right for being crooks and being part of this plan," Yang groused. "I can't believe that little runt has been hiding at Beacon all this time."
"Actually she wasn't at first," Ichigo said. "Remember the first day of our class when we called Emerald and Mercury out for not having the rest of their team there?" They agreed that they did. "And do you remember what Professor Goodwitch said?"
"She said that normally visiting students would not be disciplined by the staff for missing classes," Pyrrha answered. "That a report would be sent to their school's Headmaster and they would deal with it."
"We used that to mess with them," he said. "Cinder would have stayed in the dorm as much as possible to avoid being seen too much, plus her arrogance meant she saw herself above attending classes. Since all the members of Team RWBY knew what Neo looked like, she was to stay away until needed. She can disguise herself with her Semblance but they didn't want to risk the chance of her being found out. Emerald and Mercury were to attend combat class to scout the other students and wander the campus to see what else they could discover."
"The incident that first day saw them confined to their dorm and forced to do make up work for the classes they missed," Yoruichi said. "They weren't allowed out until they finished it and Professor Ozpin got in touch with Haven's Headmaster, Professor Lionheart. Neo got the same treatment when they got her back to the dorms. The night we turned her she had snuck out of the dorm to get away from Emerald and Mercury's constant squabbling. I found her in a training room, promised I wouldn't rat her out and talked her into a spar. After a bit I told her that we knew what she was really doing here and I made her try and fight her way past me. I gave her an opening and she took it and ran right straight into Ichigo in his Hollow form. Almost felt sorry for her, she was terrified."
"I wish I had seen it," Yang said. "When I fought her on the train from Mountain Glenn she just kept smiling at me as she kicked my ass."
"So what were you trying to find out last night?" Weiss asked.
"A week or so ago there was a student that Emerald and Mercury were trailing with a little more curiosity and intent than they have been observed showing so far," she began. "So I trailed them in cat form to see if I could figure out why."
"Who were they trailing?" Pyrrha asked.
"Penny Polendina," she answered. Ruby nearly fell off the couch. "According to Neo the report Roman gave about the fight at the docks made some observations about how Penny fought that seemed a little odd. So this made her worth looking into for Cinder. The day I was following them, Penny and her partner were walking to the air dock and crossed a piece of soft ground and something about it caught Emerald and Mercury's attention. After they moved on I had a look and was puzzled by what I saw. The footprint impression that Penny left in the soft earth was far deeper than her partners, and far deeper than her size would dictate."
"When we let the General know that Cinder's group was watching her and when Yoruichi told him what she had seen, he became evasive and tried to brush it off," Ichigo said. "Which set off alarm bells for us and my little kitten decided to go snooping."
"Ruby, are you okay?" Yang asked worriedly.
"You know, don't you?" the little reaper asked, clearly distressed.
"You found out somehow and she asked you to keep her secret," Yoruichi said more than asked. Ruby nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Yang demanded. "Ruby, what's going on?"
She remained silent, her head down and Yoruichi thought she would have explain it before Ruby finally spoke up again. "Penny... isn't human," she said, he voice breaking a little. "She's the world's first artificial person to have an Aura."
"Artificial person?" Nora asked, obviously confused. "What, like a robot or something?"
"No!" Ruby exclaimed. "She's not a robot... well, she is, but she has a soul!"
"She's right," Yoruichi confirmed.
"But how is something like that even possible?" Weiss asked.
"Her creator... and father, Dr. Pietro Polendina is probably the most brilliant cybernetic scientist on Remnant," she explained. "Her design would have to be far more advanced than the latest generation of Atlesian Knights, and he gave her a soul by giving her a great deal of his own Aura. I watched her talking with him and other than the way she talks being a bit odd, you wouldn't suspect that she wasn't made of flesh and blood like the rest of us. And I did see her plug herself into some sort of a docking station so he could give her a software upgrade for her power systems. Blew my mind, I couldn't believe what I was seeing at first."
"How long have you known Ruby?" Yang asked gently, taking her little sister's hand and trying ease her distress.
"Since the day we fought Torchwick in the Paladin," she answered. She went on to quickly tell how she found out. "Cinder doesn't know does she?" she asked when she was done.
"No," Yoruichi answered. "And she won't have the chance to send her lackeys to snoop after her. The General is going to have her stay aboard his ship with her father. She won't be participating in the tournament either. Apparently the good General never considered the possible ramifications if her secret was discovered at some point, like during a match."
"Even though the war ended eighty years ago there is still some distrust between the other kingdoms toward Atlas," Weiss said. "If her secret came out Atlas would be accused of everything from cheating to win the tournament to using robots in disguise to infiltrate the other kingdoms. It would be a mess."
"Exactly," Ichigo said. "If Cinder did know we're pretty sure she would have tried to rig something up where it came out in as shocking a manner as possible during a match." He didn't mention the theory that they had come up with where Pyrrha would have been the one they would exploit to make it happen. The girl didn't need the spectre of that in her head.
"That wasn't the only thing I found out last night," Yoruichi continued. "We didn't even know that Dr. Polendina was here. When the CCT was infiltrated the Vale Council had the systems checked and determined that there was nothing wrong. The system has been targeted by hackers before and none have been successful and in their complacency they never considered that someone might succeed. This time however was the first time someone actually broke into the building and accessed the systems directly, which should have been enough reason to shut the system down for a few hours and do a more comprehensive check. There are only two reasons why you would risk discovery by attacking the guards and breaking in. You're either trying to get something out of the system, or trying to put something into it."
"The politicians didn't want to take the system down so close to the start of the festival," Ichigo said with a certain amount of disdain in his voice. "They were worried that it might make them look bad and didn't want anyone to think there might be a problem. Since he's in charge of security for the festival the General tried to talk them into it but they wouldn't budge. We suggested that he go behind their backs and have an expert on the system look into it. That was an option he wasn't wild about."
"Apparently he had a change of heart and brought Dr. Polendina to Vale," Yoruichi continued. "Just before I arrived on the ship last night he had completed the antidote for the virus and had eradicated it from the system. Problem is General Ironwood didn't let us or Professor Ozpin know what he was doing. If he had we would have suggested leaving it in place until Cinder went to cut all access off so that we could easily monitor what she was doing with it."
"Won't she know that something's wrong if she cant use the virus now?" Jaune asked.
"We heard from Neo this morning and she already knows," she answered. "She's suspicious, but since no one has come pounding on their door to arrest them she's choosing to be cautious and wondering if maybe the virus program wasn't faulty to start with. So long as she thinks she can still carry this plan off she'll stick with it and adapt if she needs to."
"Perhaps I'm wrong," Ren began. "But to use a metaphor this looks like it started as trying to balance on the head of a pin, and now it's more like trying to balance on the point."
"That's a good analogy," Ichigo said. "You're not wrong. It's gone from delicate to fragile and quite frankly it could blow up at any time. But we know the guts of the plan and have eyes on Cinder and her team. For good or bad in the moment, her ability to control the CCT is gone. Qrow is out right now in the Emerald Forest trying to find where Adam Taurus and the White Fang are hiding. All of the advantages she had have been narrowed down and her options are limited."
"Thus far we haven't seen or heard anything that suggests that she has a back up plan," Yoruichi said. "But that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. Her arrogance suggests that she wasn't expecting any major obstacles to pop up and until now with her no longer being able to use the CCT virus, nothing crippling to her plans has. Even Adam fleeing into the woods with the White Fang isn't a hindrance since he was never going to be able to hide all of the people and equipment he needed for the attack in the city anyway and he certainly wasn't going to be able to marshal them together there to launch the attack. His state of agitation has been more of a problem for her than anything else."
"This whole thing is just... I don't even know what to call it," Yang said, obviously exasperated. "I mean, fairy tales that are true, a magic girl wannabe looking to steal some relic, terrorists, and someone who wants to stir up trouble between the kingdoms? What the hell?"
Yoruichi began snickering. "Sorry," she apologized. "I was just picturing the look on Cinder's face at being called a magic girl wannabe. I want to do that so bad."
"This is all just so much to take in," Pyrrha said. "I never expected that what we hear today would something like this and not this serious."
"That's why we didn't tell you all of the other things beyond this plot," Ichigo said. "We knew this was going to be overwhelming enough."
"It certainly is that," Weiss agreed with a heavy sigh.
"So it's possible that we could end up in the middle of a fight here at Beacon with the White Fang and whatever Grimm come storming in," Ruby said calmly. She had slipped into leader mode and was rolling things over in her mind.
"It is a definite possibility," Ichigo confirmed. "Hopefully it won't come to that but it is a very real possibility."
"And the grounds and the stadium will be full of people," she continued gravely. "How will we be able to protect them all?"
"Most likely, we won't be able to," he said seriously, looking each of them in the eye. "But we do whatever we can to try and we protect as many as we can."
"It won't be just the ten of us," Yoruichi said. "If an attack comes there are all of General Ironwood's forces, there will be any Huntsmen and teachers that are here and there will be any student who chooses to take up their weapons and get involved. Ichigo and I will take on Cinder and Adam, under no circumstances are any of you to tangle with them unless you have absolutely no choice and even then you take the first chance you have to get away from them."
"All of you are good, but you're still first year students," Ichigo said before anyone could protest and none of them should have. "Professor Goodwitch has been able to gauge the fighting ability of Cinder's group since they were forced to start actually participating in her class. She couldn't give us a full accounting, but they are all very good and it's obvious to her that they have been holding back quite a bit. Plus Cinder has half of the powers of a Maiden. We don't have much on Adam's fighting ability but we both have a lot of experience in figuring out unknown opponents pretty quickly."
"I can tell you how Adam fights," Blake spoke up quietly. "And his Semblance is actually similar to Yang's, only he uses his sword to absorb the blows and energy so he can fire it back."
"Hmph, all the benefits but none of the pain huh?" Yang grumbled. "Cheating bastard."
"We can fill you in on what Professor Goodwitch told us about how Emerald and Mercury fight," Yoruichi said. "But first I think you could use a little break, take a deep breath and let some of this settle a bit before we continue. We hit you with a lot." She stood. "Drinks are on us, no booze though. Maybe after we beat the snot out of these losers and cram their plans right down their throats."
"Hah! I even know a good bar we could go to," Yang chirped. "I bet they'd be glad to see me again."
"Junior's?" Yoruichi asked with a knowing smirk, causing the blonde to falter. "We heard. We know him and have dealt with him from time to time. Last time we talked to him he didn't seem too eager for a return visit."
"What did you do?" Weiss asked, narrowing her eyes at her team mate.
"You might as well tell them," Yoruichi said as she grabbed Ichigo's hand and started leading him to the kitchen. "If you don't, I will and I might embellish it a little."
"Which means she'll make it sound really embarrassing," Ichigo chimed in.
"That's not fair!" she protested. Yoruichi just shrugged and in seconds the others were pressing the blonde brawler for details.
"They took all of that fairly well," Ichigo said as he got some glasses and a tray out of the cupboard. "Better than I expected."
"I think they put up a bit of a front sometimes because they think they'll disappoint us," she said as she got a large pitcher of water and some ice out of the fridge. "You could tell though that this really hit them. It wasn't everything but it was still a lot."
"Having already been involved in some stuff helped Team RWBY I think," Ichigo said. "JNPR had a little more of the deer in the headlights look but I think they'll be fine."
"I agree," she said. "We've been hammering into them all along to trust their training and trust in their skills and know what their limitations are. So long as they stay away from Adam and Cinder they should be able to handle anything else they run into."
"Given what they've done already do you wanna take any bets that they don't end up running up against them?" he asked.
She looked over at them as they continued to pry information out of Yang. She sighed. "No, I'm not that big of a sucker. I just hope they don't get killed if they do."
AN: If you'd be so kind, leave me a review and let me know what you think.
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