Author's Opening Note: This was a big chapter with almost 11,000 words. That's to be expected though, since each chapter of this adaptation will cover about 20 minutes of film time. Plus, I'll be putting up a poll for the next one-shot adaptation in the next chapter. I'm pretty sure it'll be a video game series.
Review Responses
Blackwing8: Hahaha! I can't wait to write that scene either. It'll be one of the biggest laughs the entire cast has XD I might use a few deleted scenes if I have the time. You'll probably like who I chose for Mirage. Stay tuned. You'll like this one.
Shay Clark: That would make a decent adaptation for the one-shot fic.
JPHardin1999: I'm sorry, but "The Incredibles" will be the last full-length adaptation. But, Ghostbusters would make a great one-shot adaptation. I like your casting ideas too.
Lector: I loved that one. I'll probably write an adaptation for that in the one-shot fic.
DYnoJackal19: Ding! Ding! Ding! Good guess.
XenoGenerator: Oh yeah. I think the Roses and Xiao Longs had their shot in the multiverse. I feel the Belladonnas are a better fit for the Parr family. And yes, Yang will be giving Blake hell about her counterpart lol
LoamyCoffee: I'm glad you like my choices.
Zweig: My bad. I could have kept the surprise in. Oh well.
VirusChris: I'm glad you like my casting choices and that your so excited to see this adaptation. I'm gonna have a blast writing this one. By the way, I notice you haven't updated your own multiverse fic for a while. What happened? Not enough time on your hands?
Angel lara451: Bahahaha! I knew at least one reviewer would mention that. Blake had to inherit it from someone.
korrd: You're absolutely right. Unfortunately, by this period in time, the government had been trying to get supers.
Luffy L Deathwalker: Lol. Indeed. I'm gonna enjoy writing that scene.
TheFishKing: I can't promise that all of the casting choices will be to your liking. But in this chapter, at least one will be.
QrowxBar: Of course. I noticed that little Easter egg too.
Monster King: I'm glad your excited to read this one. Plus, I think there's already a fanfiction where RWBY reads the original Incredibles.
Inspiration: The Incredibles
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. "RWBY" is the property of director and animator Monty Oum (RIP) and production company Rooster Teeth, and "The Incredibles is the property of director Brad Bird, production companies Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
Open to Kali opening a door to an elementary school office. A tall, black-haired man in a blue suit was seated behind the desk with another bearded man standing beside him.
"I appreciate you coming down here, Mrs. Belladonna," Principal Ironwood greeted.
Ironwood looked a little surprised. "That may not be the same as prestigious position as headmaster of Atlas, but it must be less stressful," he reasoned.
"And there's Lionheart again," Ozpin said with a hint of venom.
"Great," Oscar said impassively.
Kali shot a glare at a girl with short black hair and silver eyes, who quickly averted her gaze from her irritated mother.
"Ruby?" a few surprised people said.
"She looks to be about ten or so here," Weiss noted.
"Awww! She's so cute at that age," Yang gushed to see her sister at age ten again.
Ruby recoiled slightly. "And Ms. Belladonna is my mother here? I didn't see that coming."
"Me neither. The multiverse really is full of surprises," Blake chimed in as she munched on some sardines in a can.
Kali sat next to Ruby. "What's this about? Has Ruby done something wrong?"
Leonardo cleared his throat. "She's a disruptive influence and she openly mocks me in front of the class," he claimed.
"He says," Ruby mumbled almost under her breath.
Leonardo shot a finger at Ruby. "Look, I know it's you!" he accused angrily. "She puts thumbtacks on my stool."
A few people chuckled or snickered at the classic prank.
Weiss wagged her finger at Ruby. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Ruby," she teased.
"You saw her do this?" Kali questioned.
Leonardo stuttered a little. "Well... Not really. No. Actually, not," he admitted.
Ruby tilted her head. "Hmmm? What does he mean?"
Yang smirked and crossed her arms. "So, where's your proof, buddy?"
"Oh, then how do you know it was her?" Kali asked, a little confused.
Leonardo grinned in triumph. "I hid a camera. Yeah, and this time, I've got her!" he declared.
Ruby looked worried while her mother glared at her. Leonardo slid the tape into a VCR and hit the play button. The screen flickered on, then showed a black and white recording of Ruby's 4th, grade class. Leonardo was shown walking toward his desk from the far side of the room towards an empty chair while his students watched.
Ruby scanned the screen. "Where am I sitting?" she asked.
"I think I see you in the back row," Penny pointed out with her enhanced eyesight. "But how can she put tacks on someone's seat from there?"
Harriet smirked mischievously, having an idea on what Ruby's power was.
But just as Leonardo sat down, the recorded Ruby blurred for a split-second to his chair, then back to her desk. Leonardo sat down, only to jolt back up with a yelp, eliciting laughter from the classroom.
A few of the younger audience members laughed or snickered at the juvenile but amusing little prank. Everyone else was impressed by just how fast Ruby was.
"Wow! Other me might be as fast as real me," Ruby commented, wondering what her counterparts top speed was.
Harriet nodded in respect. "Not bad. Not bad at all," she complimented her fellow speedster.
Yang recovered from laughing. "She might be a pain in the butt, but you gotta admit that's pretty funny," she joked.
Blake frowned. "And you're a pain in the butt with your puns," she complained under her breath.
Leonardo stopped the tape. "See? You see? You don't see it?"
But everyone looked at him skeptically, especially Principal Ironwood. Ruby was moving too fast.
Sighing, Leonardo rewound the tape. "She moves!" He stopped it. "Right there! Wait, wait!" He rewound it again and tapped his finger on Ruby onscreen. "Right… there! Right as I'm sitting down!"
Again, Ruby only blurred for an instant, but it could hardly have been called proof.
"Impressive they caught her on that low frame tape," Vine noted.
"But they can barely see it. And Ironwood doesn't see it at all," Yang smirked, feeling Ruby would walk away from it.
The frustrated Leonardo went on. "I don't know, I don't know how she does it, but there's no tack on my stool before she moves and after she moves, there's a tack! Coincidence? I think not!" he snapped while leaning in close.
Everyone either flinched slightly or burst out laughing at Leonardo's line and hilarious expression.
"You see his face?" Ruby gasped out in between laughs.
"I'm getting some serious meme-vibes from him right now," Nora noted with a wide grin.
Ironwood put a hand on Leonardo's shoulder. "Uh…Leo," he started softly.
Leonardo brushed off the hand. "Don't "Leo" me. "This little rat is guilty!"
"Don't you call my sister a little rat!" Yang shouted protectively.
"That's most inappropriate behavior for a teacher, even if Ruby did do something wrong," Penny defended Ruby.
"Plus, he's not helping his case speaking to her that way," Harriet finished.
Ironwood turned to Kali. "You and your daughter can go now, Mrs. Belladonna. I'm sorry for the trouble," he apologized.
With that Kali and Ruby stood up and headed for the door.
Leonardo was outraged. "You're letting her go again?! She's guilty!" he shouted, pointing at Ruby as she walked out with a little smirk on her face. "You can see it on her smug little face. Guilty, I say! Guilty guilty guilty!"
Before the door closed, Leonardo could be seen angrily shaking a chair.
Most of the audience laughed again at Leonardo's little adult-tantrum.
"You're too reckless, Ruby," Clover scolded. "You may have gotten away with it this time, but next time you could attract negative attention."
"He's right. You could risk exposing your family," Ironwood shared Clover's sentiments.
Cut to Kali driving Ruby and Adrian home. The middle Belladonna child was looking out the passenger side window with a deep frown on her face.
"Ruby, this is the third time this year you've been sent to the office," Kali started. "We need to find a better outlet. A more constructive outlet."
"The third time? Does that mean I'm a troublemaker?" Ruby asked sadly, thinking the tack stunt was a one-time thing.
"I think you're more of a prankster, but using your powers for such a thing is a bad idea," Weiss agreed with Clover's earlier statement.
"Maybe I could, if you'd let me go out for sports," Ruby shot back.
"Honey, you know why we can't do that," Kali refused.
Ruby looked at her mother. "I promise I'll slow up. I'll only be the best by a tiny bit," she assured.
"I understand the kid wants to compete, but it's still too risky," Elm shared Kali's thoughts.
"But technically, it's illegal for them to operate as superheroes, not use their powers," Ren recalled.
"Even so, it could attract unwanted attention from anti-super activists," Ironwood countered Ren's point.
Kali looked weary. "Ruby Belladonna, you are an incredibly competitive girl. And a bit of a showoff. The last thing you need is temptation," she reasoned.
Ruby slumped into her seat. "You always say, "Do your best." But you don't really mean it. Why can't I do the best that I can do?"
Adrian babbled in the backseat.
"Right now, honey, the world just wants us to fit in, and to fit in, we just gotta be like everybody else," Kali said.
"Dad always said our powers were nothing to be ashamed of. Our powers made us special," Ruby reminded.
"Everyone's special, Ruby," Kali assured her daughter.
"Which is another way of saying no one is," Ruby griped as she gazed back out the window.
Oscar pondered Kali and Ruby's words. "Wouldn't that mean there's no such thing as special?" he reasoned.
"That's not true, Oscar," Ozpin said. "You just don't need superpowers to be special. Plenty of people, like world rulers, scientists, artists, musicians and others, have changed the world without any aura or semblances," he said wisely.
Ironwood nodded at Ozpin's words. "And on the other hand, our semblances are a representation of who we are. Whether we use that power in battle, to help others, or in everyday life doesn't matter. It's nothing to hide or be ashamed of," he weighed in.
Cut to a white building labelled "West Vale Junior High". Standing next to the schools the front steps was a girl with black hair and eyes. With one hand, she was covering one of her eyes with her hair and clutching some schoolbooks with the other.
"There's me," Blake pointed at the screen, noticing she was younger here like Ruby.
"I knew you'd turn up," Yang smiled at her partner onscreen.
"I wonder what her power is," Ruby wondered aloud as she chowed on some strawberries.
The school bell rang, and a group of students emerged from the front door, including a handsome, athletically built blonde boy with eyes. Behind him, his friends followed.
"Wukong, where you headed?" one boy asked.
A girl waved. "Hi, Sun," she said in a flirty voice.
"Hey," Sun waved back.
Sun's friends laughed and began to tease him.
"Hey, Sun, can I carry your books?"
"That's kind of funny," Sun admitted.
"Hey, Sun, do you play football?"
"Looks like Sun's the big man on campus," Yang noted with a sip of her soda.
As this was happening, Blake peered over at Sun while his friends teased him. He momentarily locked eyes with her before looking away, then as he reached the final step, he did a double take and looked back. But she was gone.
The audience looked puzzled at Blake seemingly vanishing.
"Where'd she go?" Marrow asked as he scanned the screen. "Did she just crouch down?"
Maria tapped her cheek. "Hmmm. I think I just figured out what her powers is."
Sun blinked in confusion before walking off when one of his friends beckoned him with "Sun, I thought we were gonna go swimming."
As it turns out, Blake hadn't moved an inch. She reappeared as if from thin air. Although her clothes remained. "He looked at me," she whispered with wide-eyed joy.
Maria held up her finger. "I knew it! She can turn invisible."
"Cool," Ruby, Jaune, and Oscar all commented together.
"Only herself though, not her clothes," Winter noticed a flaw in Blake's power.
"Oooh, and it looks like she's pining for Sun," Yangs shipping sense went off while Blake blushed slightly.
But Blake's joy was ruined by a car horn honking nearby. She looked over and saw her mother was there to pick her up.
"Come on, Blake!" Ruby called impatiently from Kali's car, and Blake rushed over to them.
"Ruby. You ruined it for me," Blake complained lightly.
"Sorry. My bad," Ruby said sheepishly.
Elsewhere, Ghira was on his way home in a small light-blue car stuck in traffic on the interstate. All around him, cars were beeping while he impatiently tapped his thumb against the steering wheel with a scowl on his face.
"This is hard to watch. It's like all the incredible has just been sucked out of him," Oscar noted, prompting nods from the others.
"He's driving in that little thing?" Yang gestured to the little car. "What happened to his superhero car?"
Maria shrugged. "Maybe the government confiscated it after he retired."
Finally, Ghira arrived home. He pulled the hatchback into the driveway, and the car's engine sputtered to a stop. Ghira opened the door and stepped out…then narrowly avoided falling with a yelp after stepping onto a skateboard in the driveway.
Ghira kicked the skateboard away. "Darn kids…in the driveway..." he muttered angrily before noticing his fingers left indentations onto the roof after grabbing it for support. "Oh, great," he rolled his eyes.
Elm grimaced at the damage. "Oh jeez. I hope he's got good car insurance,"
"Whatever his plan is, it's gotta be better than Insuricare," Harriet said half-jokingly.
Ghira tried to shut the car door, only for it to squeak back out because of the finger shaped dents blocking it. He tried again, to no avail. Losing his patience, Ghira slammed the door shut hard. So hard, it shattered the window, the glass shards clattering onto the driveway.
Half the audience couldn't help but laugh while the other half frowned sadly for Ghira's bad day.
"Man, this isn't his day, is it?" Qrow muttered.
"I'll say," Marrow cleared his throat, feeling a little guilty for laughing at Ghira's misfortune.
Fed up, Ghira muttered angrily before lifting the car over his head, perhaps preparing to smash it onto the ground. Only to freeze upon seeing a little boy on a red tricycle staring at him with wide eyes, a blown gum bubble covering his mouth. There was an awkward pause between the two of them until the boy's chewing gum pop, revealing his mouth gaping open.
"Uh-oh. Busted~" Nora said in a sing-song voice.
"Put the car down, Ghira, before someone else sees you!" Ren gestured in a downward motion.
Ghira gently lowered the car back onto the driveway as the boy continued to gape and stare at him. Ghira clapped his hands and headed inside.
Chuckles echoed through the theater at Ghira's awkwardness.
"Oh yeah. Real casual," Qrow rolled his eyes.
"Don't sweat it. Nobody else saw it," Yang assured.
"Lucky for him, since it's daylight," Harriet noted.
Cut to inside the house. The Belladonna family was eating dinner table. Ghira and Kali sat on opposite sides of the table, as did Ruby and Blake as well at the rectangular table. Adrien sat in a highchair next to his mother who spoon fed him baby food while making baby sounds.
Ruby "Mom. You're making weird faces again,"
"Noooo, I'm not," Kali denied without looking at Ruby.
Ghira read a newspaper next to his plate. "You make weird faces, honey," he agreed with Ruby.
Kali glared at her husband. "Do you
have to read at the table?" she asked irritably.
Ghira nodded. "Uh-huh. Yeah."
Harriet looked annoyed. "You'd think he'd wait until after dinner to read."
"You're right. It's a bit neglectful towards his family to do that during dinner," Ozpin criticized, having always focused on Salem and the children when they all sat down for dinner.
Kali sighed at Ruby as she gave up cutting her steak and instead tried to bite off a chunk.
"Smaller bites, Ruby. Yikes!" Kali chided. "Ghira, could you help the carnivore cut her meat?"
Ghira stood up with a sigh and began carving up Ruby's steak.
"Ruby, you have something you wanna tell your father about school?" Kali brought up the tack incident.
Ruby nervously cleared her threat. "Well, we dissected a frog," she lied through her teeth.
A few people scowled in disgust at the mention of dissecting frogs.
Yang snorted. "Yeah. Nice try sis."
"Oh boy…" Ruby muttered, feeling her counterpart might get grounded.
"Ruby got sent to the office again," Kali revealed bluntly.
"Good. Good," Ghira muttered, too distracted by his current task.
"No, Ghira, that's bad."
Ghira snapped to attention. "What?"
"Ruby. Got sent. To the office again," Kali repeated with emphasis.
"What?! What for?" Ghira asked seriously.
"Nothing!" Ruby glared at her mother.
"She put a tack on the teacher's chair, during class," Kali revealed.
"Nobody saw me. You could barely see it on the tape," Ruby grumbled.
"They caught you on tape and you still got away with it? Whoa!" Ghira exclaimed with pride. "You must have been booking. How fast were you going?"
Qrow glanced at Ruby. "This reminds me of talks between your parents when you discovered your semblance," he looked back on brighter days.
"But I never used it to play pranks on people," Ruby defended.
Yang nodded. "Good thing. They wouldn't have been happy about that."
"Dad, watch what your doing with the knife," Blake warned.
"Ghira. We are not encouraging this," Kali reprimanded her husband.
"I'm not encouraging, I'm just asking how fast-" Ghira defended, still cutting the steak.
Kali's wide eyes looked down at something. "Honey!"
There was a cracking sound, and Ghira stopped cutting and looked down. The knife he was holding had cut through the steak, cracked the plate in half, and was now embedded into the table.
"Nice one, dad," Blake facepalmed.
"That's why you always pay attention to what you're doing," Winter gave good advice.
"Especially if you've got super strength," Jaune finished.
"Great," Ghira slumped back into his seat. "First the car, now I gotta pay to fix the table..."
"The car? What happened to the car?" Kali asked in confusion.
"Oh, not much," Nora said sarcastically. "He just dented the roof, smashed a window, and nearly threw it at a little boy on a tricycle," she grinned, eliciting snickers from her friends.
Ghira just shot Kali a glare before passing her plate to Ruby. "Here. I'm getting a new plate," he got up, removed the knife, folded up his newspaper, and walked away.
Kali cleared her throat and turned to Blake. "So, how about you, Blake? How was school?"
Blake prodded her food with a fork. "Nothing to report," she answered quietly.
"You've hardly touched your food."
"I'm not hungry for meatloaf," Blake said dully, pushing her food around with a fork.
"Awww, I see what's happening," Yang said sympathetically. "She's too shy to talk to Sun."
Blake's ears flattened. "And it's got other-me down in the dumps. Who could eat feeling like that."
"That's the worst feeling in the world," Nora agreed
"Well, it is leftover night. We have steak, pasta. What are you hungry for?" Kali asked.
"Sun Wukong," Ruby teased.
"Shut up!" Blake snapped at her little sister.
"Well, you are," Ruby stated matter-of-factly.
"I said, shut up, you little insect," Blake snarled, pointing her fork at Ruby.
Ruby looked at Kali. "Well, she is!"
"Do not shout at the table!" Kali scolded before calling out. "Honey!"
"Kids! Listen to your mother," Ghira called back from offscreen.
"Real helpful, Ghira," Harriet muttered sarcastically.
"I know it's hard for him being retired from superhero work, but that's no excuse to be distant from his family," Ironwood criticized with a sip of water.
Kali looked annoyed, but at least the kids seemed to calm down.
But then Ruby started up again. "She'd eat if we were having Sun loaf," she teased again into her drinking cup.
"Uh-oh," Ruby muttered, knowing what was going to happen next.
"Oh, here we go now," Harriet said in amusement.
"I think you just poked the bear, kiddo," Qrow rolled his eyes.
Blake threw her fork onto the table. "That's it!" she shouted as she jumped across the table and tackled Ruby to the floor, becoming invisible as she landed.
Blake and Ruby began slapping and wrestling with each other. Adrian giggled and babbled in enjoyment while Kali shouted at them to stop.
Weiss sighed. "I knew this was coming," she said, having experienced scuffles with her siblings as a child.
Yang half-smiled. "The same thing happened with Ruby and me a few times.
"Yeah. But they weren't this bad," Ruby reminded.
Elm giggled. "Well, at least Adrien's enjoying it," she noted.
"Stop it!" Kali shouted again.
Ruby pushed Blake off of her, the latter becoming visible as a result.
"You're gonna be toast!" Ruby shouted as she quickly circled around the table, smacking Blake upside the head every time she passed her.
"Stop running in the house! Kali demanded. "You sit down!"
"Why not use her powers to stop her?" Marrow questioned before sipping his soda.
"Well, they are trying to stay hidden. Stands to reason she'd want to use her powers a little as possible," Vine reasoned.
Blake then became angry. She waited until Ruby was on the opposite side of the table, and she thrust her hand forward. A violet forcefield suddenly materialized in front of Ruby. She ran into it and bounced off, landing on the floor. Blake chuckled at the sight.
A few people recoiled. "Whoa!" they exclaimed.
"I can turn invisible and create forcefields?" Blake said in awe. "That's like having two semblances."
"Awesome!" Nora and Ruby squeaked in tandem.
"Wow. You really lucked out with superpowers, Blake," Yang complimented.
"Hey, no force fields!" Ruby protested as she rubbed her sore head.
"You started it," Blake retorted.
Ruby was about to start running again but Kali wrapped her right arm around her waist. "You sit down!" She then repeated the move with her left arm when Blake tried to jump over the table again. "You sit down!"
But Blake just ran under the table, ignoring Kali's protests. "Blake!"
"Ow!" Kali yelped as Ruby met Blake underneath and they continued fighting.
Blake winced. "It can't be easy for my mom having to handle three superpowered children," she commented.
"Well, she probably has it easier than my mom ever did. Remember, I grew up with seven sisters," Jaune remarked as he looked back on when he and his siblings fought. It was like the Great War all over again.
Meanwhile, Ghira had gotten a new plate, but was still fixated on his newspaper, ignoring the fight in the dining room. Some of the headlines read "SCIENTISTS FIND THE MISSING LINK" and "CATASTROPHE SEEN AS CRISIS LOOMS".
Maria pinched the bridge of her nose. "Your family is squabbling and you're still reading that stupid newspaper," she grumbled.
"Dad! Put that down, get back in there and break up that fight," Blake demanded.
Ghira noticed one particular article: there was a photo of Bartholomew Oobleck with the headline, "MAN MISSING" written it. "Bartholomew Oobleck, longtime advocate of superhero rights, is missing." Ghira read aloud, a look of concern in his eyes. "Gazerbeam…" he mumbled.
"So that was his superhero name," Ozpin realized, suddenly feeling concerned for his old colleague.
"What was his power? Laser vision?" Nora guessed as she nibbled on some pancake snacks.
"I would imagine so with a name like that," Ren said logically.
"But what do you think happened to him?" Ruby questioned with a hint of suspicion. "Why would he go missing?"
"Ghiraaa! It's time to engage!" Kali shouted, snapping Ghira out of it.
Ghira returned to the dining room to see Kali slumped over the table, both arms still wrapped around Blake and Ruby as they continued fighting. "Do something!" She shouted at him. "Don't just stand there! I need you to... intervene!"
"You want me to intervene?" Ghira approached the table, grabbed it, and lifted it up. "Okay! I'm intervening, I'm intervening!"
But Ghira's "intervening" was fruitless. Dangling from Kali's arms, Ruby and Blake were now fighting in midair while Adrian continued to laugh.
"Blake, let go of your sister!" Kali demanded angrily.
"Summer and Taiyang always told me there's no greater battle than raising children," Qrow chuckled.
"Coming from two people who killed Grimm for a living, that's saying something," Marrow commented.
"I just hope fights like this don't happen often," Blake muttered.
Then the entire family froze at the sound of the doorbell ringing.
"Hello?" Adrian babbled.
Within seconds, Ghira set the table back down and the Belladonna family all retook their seats.
Oscar looked impressed. "Wow. That was quick."
"They have to be to avoid detection," Ozpin reasoned.
Outside, the visitor was revealed to be Whitley Schnee.
"Get the door," Ghira said from inside.
A moment later, the door opened to reveal Ruby who immediately looked happy as she identified the visitor. "Hey, Whitley!"
"Hey, Speedo!" Whitley greeted. "Hey, Kali, Blake, Adrian."
Ruby quickly returned to her seat while Kali extended her arm to stop the overhead lamp from swinging.
"It's good to see Whitley's stayed in contact with the Belladonna's all these years," Weiss said happily.
"Hey!" Ghira waved to his best friend. "Ice of you to drop by."
Whitley's face was revealed. He now had some lines on his face but was otherwise still slender and in good shape.
Whitley let out a fake "Ha!" before changing to a deadpan. "Never heard that one before…" at Ghira's pun.
A few people groaned or sighed at the lame pun. Except for Yang who laughed. "That was a great one!" she barked. [1]
Ruby swallowed some water. "Hey, Whitley!" she gargled out before spitting some into the air.
"Whoa!" Whitley exclaimed as he leaped forward and shot out an ice blast that froze the water midair. With a front flip, he caught it before it hit the ground, then presented it to the family in triumph.
"Aw..." Ruby whined slightly. "I like it when it shatters."
Weiss and Winter clapped for their brother. "Nicely done, Whitley. At least he's stayed in shape after all these years."
Blake sighed. "I get it. He's fat. Don't rub it in," she whined slightly.
Ghira got up excitedly. "I'll be back later.
"Hey, where are you two going?" Kali asked.
Ghira was pushing a waving Whitley towards the door. "It's Wednesday," the former answered as he grabbed his jacket
"Right. Bowling night," Kali sighed. "Say hello to Velvet for me, Whitley."
"He must really like bowling if he's that excited," Marrow remarked before chowing on a hotdog.
"He didn't even finish his dinner," Winter pointed out.
Ironwood looked skeptical. "He seems a little too excited just to go bowling."
"Will do," Whitley called as Ghira shoved him out the front door. "Good night, Kali. Good night, kids," a final wave before Ghira closed the door.
Weiss blinked in surprise. "Whitley and Velvet are married in this universe?" [2]
"That's surprising. And it's fortunate that this is a different universe. My…sperm donor," Winter refrained from calling Jacques her father before continuing, "would disown Whitley if he ever married a Faunus."
"I remember going bowling with Taiyang," Qrow looked back on brighter days. "Now that I'm on the wagon, I should have more time for things like that."
Kali turned to Ruby, who smiled nervously.
"Don't think you've avoided talking about the principal's office, young lady," Kali said sternly. "Your father and I are still gonna discuss it."
"I'm not the only kid who's been sent to the office," Ruby grumbled as she pushed the broccoli on her dinner plate.
"Other kids don't have superpowers," Kali retorted. "Now, it's perfectly normal-"
"Normal?" Blake angrily cut her mother off. "What do you know about normal? What does anyone in this family know about normal?"
Harriet winced slightly. "Oooh, sounds like she just hit a sore spot," she noted.
"I believe her powers prevent her from having a social life since they're triggered by strong emotions," Ozpin presumed.
"So, she can't date or make friends until she learns to control her abilities," Penny deducted, then paused with a frown. "Assuming her parents allowed such a thing."
"Now, wait a minute, young lady," Kali started.
But again, Blake interrupted. "We act normal, mom. I wanna be normal," she said yearningly before gesturing to her baby brother. "The only normal one is Adrian, and he's not even toilet trained!"
Adrian let out a cute giggle.
Many of the girls cooed and giggled at how adorable they found Adrien while Jaune smiled fondly at his nephew, having missed the little guy.
Vine cupped his chin. "So, I take it that Adrian has no superpowers?" he assumed.
Ren pursed his lips in thought. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"Lucky," Ruby muttered before his mother glared at him, and she stammered out "I meant about being normal."
Meanwhile, Ghira and Whitley were sitting in the latter's parked car in a dark alley and chatting over some coffee. There was a police radio sitting on the dashboard.
Oscar pointed at the screen. "That's a police scanner, isn't it?"
"So, they've been moonlighting as vigilantes," Ren realized.
"Bowling. Yeah right," Harriet scoffed as she ate a handful of popcorn.
"So, now, I'm in deep trouble. I mean, one more jolt of this death ray and I'm an epitaph," Whitley continued his story from the old days. "Somehow, I managed to find cover and what does Baron von Ruthless do?"
"He starts monologuing," Ghira snickered around his coffee
"He starts monologuing!" Whitley confirmed, amused. "He starts like this prepared speech about how feeble I am compared to him. How inevitable my defeat is, how the world will soon be his! Yada, yada, yada."
"Yammering," Ghira said.
Whitley shook his head. "Yammering! I mean, the guy has me on a platter, and he won't shut up."
Most of the audience laughed at the story. The comic book fans knew exactly what Whitley was talking about.
"That's such a big comic book cliché. Giving the heroes the opportunity to get a second wind and beat them," Oscar recalled some of his favorite comic reading experiences.
Ruby reminisced on her past. "Roman died like that. Only he was killed by a Griffin when he should have taken off when he had the chance,"
"Mm-hmm," Maria smiled and nodded. "Pride comes before the fall."
The radio crackled to life: Municiberg, we have a 23-56..." the officer reported.
"23-56, what is that? Robbery?" Ghira excitedly asked.
"This is just sad," Whitley shook his head again.
"Want to catch a robber?" Ghira asked.
"I want you to," Yang said, wanting to see some action.
"No," Whitley answered bluntly. "Tell you the truth, I'd rather go bowling. Look, what if we actually did what our wives think we're doing? Just to shake things up."
Weiss nodded. "Good idea. That way they won't risk getting exposed," she agreed with her brother.
"But he just wants to help people," Ruby insisted.
"Mr. Incredible is certainly well-intentioned, but this is vigilantism he's engaging in, Ms. Rose," Ironwood reminded while the red reaper deflated a little.
"You're right, general," Elm agreed with her commander. "Besides, he has a wife and children to support now. If he gets caught, it'll cause problems for them," she added.
Little did the two men know was that they were being watched. A woman with brown skin and green, bowl-cut hair was spying on them from inside a sleek black car behind them. Sunglasses covered her eyes.
"He's not alone," "The fat guy's still with him. They're just… talking," the woman reported into her car-phone.
Blake's eyes widened. "I know that voice. It's Emerald!" she identified the woman. "It looks like she's spying on them."
"Yes…but why?" Maria scratched her chin.
Back inside Whitley's car. "What are we doing here, Ghira?" the driver asked, slumped over the steering wheel.
Ghira sipped his coffee. "We're protecting people."
"Nobody asked us."
"You need an invitation?" Ghira asked rhetorically.
"Come on, Whitley. Where's that heroic spirit you once had?" Yang questioned.
"Yeah. You don't need an invitation to do the right thing," Marrow agreed.
"While I don't approve of vigilantism, they should be heroes to help people, not personal gain," Ironwood said wisely.
"I'd like one, yes." Whitley gazed out the window. "We keep sneaking out to do this, and..." he trailed before looking back at Ghira and asked. "You remember Gazerbeam?"
"Yeah," Ghira looked serious. "There was something about him in the paper."
"He had trouble adjusting to civilian life, too." Whitley went on sympathetically.
"No surprise there, Bart was probably a superhero for years as well," Ozpin remarked.
"When's the last time you saw him?" Ghira asked.
"I don't see anyone from the old days, Ghira. Just you. And we're pushing our luck as it is."
"Oh, that's a shame," Maria lamented. "I've seen that happen only too often with Huntsman teams who separate over time."
The youngsters all looked at each other with concern about potentially falling out of contact one day.
"I hope that doesn't happen with us," Ruby said in a small voice.
"No way, sis. We'll always stick together and be a team," Yang vowed as she hugged her sister, which Weiss and Blake joined in on.
"Oh, come on. Come on-" Ghira tried to protest.
But Whitley cut him off. "It was fun the first time, but if we keep doing this, we're gonna get-"
Then the scanner cut Whitley off. "We have a report on a fire..."
Ghira turned up the volume. "A fire. We're close!" he then hollered excitedly. "YEAH, BABY!"
Whitley was reluctant, but then he relented and fired up the engine. "We're gonna get caught."
Ghira cheered as the car peeled out of the ally and down the street. "Fire! Yeah!" Ghira's whooping echoed through the air.
Behind them, the woman's car followed them.
Winter facepalmed. "Way to be subtle, Ghira."
"It seems like Whitley is the more responsible of the two if he's reluctant to do this," Clover noted correctly.
"How long do you think they've been doing this?" Penny asked curiously, only to receive a few clueless shrugs in response.
Ruby furrowed her brow. "And why is Emerald following them?"
With the sound of a trumpet, the scene shifted to a burning four-story building. The camera zoomed in through a patch of fire to the interior. Whitley was seen wearing a baklava and carrying three unconscious people over his shoulders.
"Is that everybody!?" Whitley asked Ghira who was descended some stairs with even more people on him.
"Yeah, that's everyone!" Ghira answered right before the stairs behind him and a section of the ceiling collapsed.
"It better be," Whitley griped as ice puffed from his hand. But it quickly dissipated before it even reached the fire. He tried again a few times to no avail.
"Can't you put this out?" Ghira asked.
"I can't lay down a layer thick enough! It's evaporating too fast!"
"Well, what's that mean?" Ghira asked, not understanding.
Whitley gave up on using his power. "It means it's hot! And I'm dehydrated, Ghira!" he shouted.
Winter looked pensive before speaking. "I get it. His powers rely on moisture around him and coldness in his body to turn it into ice," she deducted, well-aware that it suited a Schnee.
"But with so much heat surrounding him, he can't use it effectively to put out the fire," Vine added.
"So how are they supposed to get out of there?" Nora worriedly asked the important question.
"You're out of ice?!" Ghira asked in disbelief. "You can't run out of ice! I thought you can use water in the air!"
Whitley gestured to the surrounding blaze. "There is no water in this air! What's your excuse, run out of muscle?!"
Despite the severity of the situation, a few people chuckled or snickered at Whitley's wisecrack.
"I've gotta use that line one day," Yang remarked while her teammates sighed.
"I just can't go smashing into walls! The building's getting weaker by the second! It's gonna come down on top of us!" Ghira shouted urgently.
"I wanted to go bowling!" Whitley yelled before more of ceiling collapsed, stopping their argument.
The two heroes shielded the people they rescued from the falling debris.
Weiss gasped. "They need to get out of there right now."
"I'm fairly certain my father will be unharmed…but Whitley and the survivors will be" Blake fretted.
"All right!" Ghira moved aside and shifted his passengers, so they were all draped over one shoulder. "Stay right on my tail! This is gonna get hot!"
With that, Ghira broke into a bellowing sprint straight ahead, Whitley trailing him. The music intensified as the scene dragged on. A brick wall up ahead grew closer, until Ghira barreled through it and both rescuers fell to the floor of the opposite building, flinging the civilians in front of them.
And just in the nick of time, as the building collapsed flames spewing in all directions. Both men looked up as a cloud of dust fell over them, then back the way they'd come from. In front of them, the people they rescued coughed and groaned softly.
"Yeah…" Ghira chuckled and shared a prone fist-bump with Whitley.
"All right. They made it out!" Nora cheered with a fist raised.
"Not a moment too soon. And they got everyone out alive," Blake added.
"Wait a second. What building did they just break into?" Jaune asked a bit hesitantly.
Ghira coughed as he grabbed onto the nearest object to hoist himself to his feet, looked up…and realized he was leaning on a display and that he'd accidentally broken into a jewelry store.
"Uh-oh."
"Sorry I asked…" Jaune mumbled with his gaze lowered.
Maria chuckled mirthlessly. "They broke into a jewelry store."
"I think they're in trouble," Ruby mumbled.
Ghira straightened up, eager to make Whitley and himself scarce.
Unfortunately, he moved into couple of security beams. "Oh, good."
Instantly, the lights flashed on, and an alarm sounded off within the shop.
"Both of them are wearing ski masks in a jewelry store, there's a big hole in the wall, and there's a bunch of by unconscious people," Vine listed matter of factly before sighing deeply. "Yes. You're right Ruby. They're in big trouble."
Weiss shook her head. "You two really should have gone bowling tonight."
"Of all the rotten luck," Elm remarked.
"Oh, now," Whitley groaned as he got up. "That ain't right."
Soon a group of patrol cars converged in front of the store. Inside, the two friends were arguing about the predicament they were now in.
"We look like bad guys! Incompetent bad guys!" Whitley ranted at his friend.
"They can still use their powers to escape from the cops," Oscar reasoned.
Clover shook his head. "Too risky. With Ghira's tremendous strength, he may injure the cops by mistake."
"Then maybe Whitley can freeze them if his powers have recharged," Weiss gave an alternative idea.
"You can get water out of the air!" Ghira reminded.
A young VPD officer kicked open the front door and aimed his handgun at the pair. "Freeze!"
The two obeyed and raised their hands. But Whitley glanced to his left to reveal a water cooler about half-way full. Thinking fast, he grabbed a paper cup and placed it under the dispenser.
"Freeze!" the cop repeated as he began to tremble.
"I'm thirsty," Whitley said simply and calmly as he hit the tab to pour water into the cup.
Marrow snapped his finger in understanding. "I see what he's doing. He's going to rehydrate himself to use his ice powers."
"Let's hope it works. That cop's got an itchy trigger finger," Harriet said warily.
"He's probably a rookie. He looks pretty young," Ironwood commented on the cop's youthful appearance.
"I said freeze!" the cop demanded as he stepped closer.
"I'm just getting a drink," Whitley said calmly as he picked up the cup and took a swig of water with a relieved sigh.
The audience became a little tense, especially Weiss and Winter for obvious reasons.
"Alright," the rookie cop said. "You've had your drink. Now I want you to-"
Whitley dropped the cop, cutting the cop off. "I know. I know," he grinned and nodded before firing an ice blast from his hands. "Freeze."
The young officer was suddenly engulfed by the ice blast and a gunshot rang out.
Outside, more cops heard the gunshot. "Shots fired!" one of them shouted, spurring the others into action.
"Police officers!" the cops yelled as they barged into the store with their weapons drawn.
But Ghira and Whitley had given them the slip.
The tension faded away as the audience calmed down.
"They got away," Winter said with relief.
"But where's the cop?" Oscar asked.
A few of the cops went to check on the survivors from the burning building as they were beginning to regain consciousness.
Another cop walked around and then gasped at something offscreen, prompting the others to follow his gaze. The rookie cop was encased in ice, the bullet he fired was suspended in midair, connected via ice to the muzzle of his handgun.
"Amazing. He even froze the bullet in mid-air," Weiss said in awe. "I doubt I could do that with Myrtenaster."
"I just hope it doesn't hurt the cop," Penny fretted, imagining he would have serious freezer burn. [3]
"Nah. That would be a little too cold-hearted for Whitley," Yang smirked while the others groaned.
Elsewhere, Ghira smashed through another wall, allowing the pair to return to Whitley's car.
Whitley was angry. "That was way too close," he said as they both entered the car.
"We are not doing that again," Whitley snapped as he started the car and sped off, while Ghira sagged.
"You'll have to stick to bowling now, dad," Blake remarked.
"Probably for the best. I understand wants to be active and help people, but those days are over now," Maria said simply.
Once again, though, the two men failed to spot the green-haired woman from earlier sitting in her car right behind them.
"Verify you want to switch targets? Over." Emerald's car-phone asked.
"Trust me," Emerald replied. "This is the one he's been looking for."
Oscar stared at the screen. "What are you up to, Emerald? Why were you following them?"
"And who is this he she's referring to?" Ren questioned.
"Well, whatever it is…I don't like it," Ruby stated, sensing trouble already.
Cut back to the now darkened Belladonna residence as Ghira returned home. He quietly opened the door to the kitchen, closed and locked it, and began to tiptoe with a soft whistle through the house. He spotted a large piece of chocolate cake on a tray on the table and hungrily grabbed it with a soft chuckle, munching on it as he walked out of the kitchen.
"Well, there's another reason for the weight gain," Harriett gestured at the screen.
"Reminds me of Ruby's little cookie addiction," Yang smiled at her sister.
"I am not addicted to cookies," Ruby pouted. "And I still get plenty of exercise in with killing Grimm. Plus, I'm only seventeen."
Then as Ghira walked through the living room, he paused and then spun around, right arm outstretched and left hand still holding the cake.
A lamp switched on, and a chair rotated around to reveal a surly Kali in a pink bathrobe, arms crossed, and one leg over the other.
Cake crumbs dropped from Ghira's mouth as he stared at his wife like a kid who got his hand caught in the cookie jar.
"Uh-oh. He's in trouble again," Jaune commented.
Nora laughed at Ghira's pose. "What was he gonna do, throw the cake at her?" she asked, attracting a few laughs.
"I thought you'd be back by 11:00," Kalii said irritably.
Ghira lowered his arms. "I said I'd be 'back later'."
"I assumed you'd be back later. If you came back at all, you'd be "back later," Kalis last two words were accompanied by air quotes.
"This is one of the reasons I never wanted to marry," Qrow sighed as he sipped a glass of water.
"Why? Because you wouldn't be able to stand an earful after coming home reeking of whiskey at 3 or 4 in the morning?" Winter dryly.
Qrow rounded on Winter. "Hey! I already told you, Ice Queen. I'm clean now," he defended.
"Well... I'm back, okay?" Ghira spread his arms out and began to walk off, chewing on his cake.
But Kali stopped him and turned him around with an extended arm to pluck a pebble from Ghira's jacket. As she got up from the chair, her brow furrowed at her husband. "Is this... rubble?"
"Wow. Good eye," Maria complimented. "Even I didn't spot that."
"She must have developed some detective skills during the good old days," Ren presumed.
"That makes sense," Elm agreed with a nod. "Not calling Ghira stupid by any means, but Kali seems brighter and more observant than him," she noted.
"It was just a little workout," Ghira said with his mouth full. "Just to stay loose."
"You know how I feel about that, Ghira!" Kali shouted, dropping the pebble. "Darn you, we can't blow our cover again!"
Blake blinked. "Again? What's that supposed mean?" she asked with concern.
"The building was coming down anyway," Ghira slipped up as he tried to turn away again.
But Kali overheard him. "What? You knocked down a building?!" she near shrieked as she blocked her husband's path, who cringed upon realizing his screw up.
"Way to go," Qrow sighed. "You and your big mouth, Ghira."
"I feel an argument coming," Blake murmured as she slowly kept eating her anchovies.
"It was on fire. Structurally unsound. It was coming down," Ghira reasoned, gesticulating the buildings fall.
Kali put a hand to her forehead. "Tell me you haven't been listening to the police scanner again…" she said in exasperation.
"Seriously, how long has Ghira been sneaking out to play hero again?" Jaune questioned.
"Enough for Kali to catch him at least once," Vine answered.
Blake frowned. "That must be how he blew their cover," she guessed.
Ghira began to get irritated. "Look, I performed a public service. You act like that's a bad thing!"
"It is a bad thing, Ghira!" Kali retorted to her husband. "Uprooting our family again, so you can relive the glory days is a very bad thing!"
"Well, he had to do something. People were in trouble," Ruby defended Ghira.
"There's always someone in trouble, Ms. Rose. But that's no excuse for Ghira jeopardizing the wellbeing of his family," Ozpin gave some wisdom.
"Reliving the glory days is better than acting like they didn't happen!" Ghira reasoned.
"Yes! They happened! But this, our family, is what's happening now, Ghira. And you are missing this! I can't believe you don't want to go to your own daughter's graduation!"
"She's right, Ghira. You have to stop living in the past now that you have a family," Clover agreed with Kali.
Weiss blinked. "Wait. Whose graduation is she talking about?"
"Yeah. I thought Ruby was still in grammar school. And Blake is just starting middle school," Yang said, scratching her head.
"It's not a graduation," Ghira said through clenched teeth. "Ruby's moving from the fourth grade to the fifth grade."
Kali held her forehead again. "It's a ceremony!"
"It's psychotic!" Ghira held his own forehead.
"Eh…" Qrow made a 'kinda' gesture. "He's got a point. Graduating high school or from a Huntsman academy is one thing, but moving from one grade to the next isn't something to celebrate."
"But even if it's not such a big accomplishment, he should still make time for his daughter," Winter countered Qrow's point.
"I know my real father would," Ruby said, knowing Taiyang would never let her down.
"They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity," Ghira paced around a little and gesticulated strongly as he made his point. "But if someone is exceptional, then-"
Kali cut Ghira off. "This is not about you, Ghira. This is about Ruby."
"You want to do something for Ruby?" Ghira asked loudly. "Then let her actually compete. Let her go out for sports!"
"I will not be made the enemy! You know why we can't do that."
"Because she'd be great!" Ghira shouted angrily.
"This is not. About. You!" Kali shouted back, stretching her neck to tower over him with each punctuation.
The audience felt strong discomfort from the argument as it intensified.
"Mom…dad…Please stop fighting," Blake pleaded feebly.
Yang and Ruby both frowned and placed comforting hands over Blake's.
Weiss' eyes welled up a little as she was reminded of that horrible argument on her 10th birthday when her father admitted he only married Willow for the Schnee fortune. She sniffled and wiped her eyes while Winter gave her a tissue.
The two suddenly paused in their argument as they heard a magazine flapping on the table. While Kali returned to her normal height, the husband hung his head.
"Alright, Ruby. I know you're listening. Come on out," he said Kali folded her arms. "Blake? You, too, young lady," she added. "Come on. Come on out."
Ruby slowly emerged from behind a chair while Blake, after regaining visibility, rose from behind the sofa, both kids looking anxious in their pajamas.
"It's okay, kids," Ghira walked into the living room. "We're just having a discussion," he claimed as he looked back at Kali.
"Pretty loud discussion," Ruby remarked as she swiveled around in the chair.
"Yeah. But that's okay. Because what's important is that Mommy and I are always a team." He beckoned Kali to join him, and when she did, Ghira put an arm around her shoulder. "We're always united against, uh…the forces of…uh..." he tried to come up with something.
"Pigheadedness?" Kali offered dully.
"I was gonna say evil or something," Ghira muttered.
"I would have said egotism," Weiss said with a shrug.
"I'd go with hypocrisy," Blake chimed in.
"Recklessness," Oscar said.
"Stupidity."
The last one from Harriet got a few laughs out of the audience.
"We're sorry we woke you," Kali apologized to the kids. "Everything's okay. Go back to bed. It's late."
The kids listened and returned to the bedrooms. "Good night, Mom. Good night, Dad," they wished their parents.
Kali nudged Ghira's arm. "In fact, we should all be in bed," she suggested.
Ghira followed the kids, heading for the master bedroom. Kali stayed behind to turn off the lamp.
Marrow smacked his lips. "Well, hopefully Ghira won't be sneaking out to relive the glory days anymore."
Harriet sighed. "Something tells me he's far from finished."
Cut to the next day. Ghira was back at work, glumly typing something on his keyboard.
"Request claim on claim numbers 158183..." a woman announced over an intercom.
"Great. Back at the old salt mines," Qrow groaned, feeling bad that Ghira was stuck in such a workplace.
Ghira's office phone beeped, and he pressed a button to answer it. Cordovin's angry voice emanated from it, prompting Ghira to cringe. "Haven't you got him yet? Where is he?!" Cordovin demanded.
"Mrs. Cordovin would like to talk to you in her office," Cordovin's secretary dully informed Ghira via intercom.
"Now?" Ghira asked.
"Now," she said emphatically.
Blake sagged in her seat. "Oh great. Dad's gotta listen to another earful from her again."
Ghira stood up, slipped out of his cubicle, and headed for Cordovin's office.
Meanwhile, Emerald appeared and silently slipped inside the cubicle Ghira had just left as soft but ominous music played.
The audience became suspicious again at the sight of Emerald.
"Now what is she doing at his workplace?" Oscar asked aloud.
"Judging from the music, I doubt it's anything good," Ozpin answered.
Inside her office, Cordovin was sharpening a pencil with the inscription "Your Life is in Our Hands" on it into an electric sharpener. She then placed it onto a calendrer mat on her desk with three other sharpened pencils sitting perfectly straight and parallel to each other.
Ren squinted a little. "Your life is in our hands?" he read the pencils logo.
"Oh, that's reassuring," Yang scoffed.
"Sit down, Ghira," Cordovin said calmly with a gesture.
Ghira complied and slumped heavily into a small chair, shaking Cordovin's desk enough to send one of the pencils rolling away. Cordovin placed it back into place.
I'm not happy, Ghira," Cordovin leaned to glare at Ghira. "Not.
Happy." She then stood up and walked around her desk to pace in front of Ghira. "Ask me why."
"When is she ever happy," Harriet questioned.
Jaune chuckled. "That's a good point."
"Okay. Why?" Ghira asked as he stared ahead.
Cordovin paused. "Why what? Be specific, Ghira."
"Why are you unhappy?"
"Your customers make me unhappy."
That piqued Ghira's interest. "What, you've gotten complaints?
"Complaints I can handle," Cordovin straightened her necktie with assurance before she continued pacing. "What I can't handle is your customers' inexplicable knowledge of Insuricare's inner workings!" Cordovin's voice rose to a shout. "They're experts. Experts, Ghira! Exploiting every loophole, dodging every obstacle! They're penetrating the bureaucracy!"
Some people couldn't help but laugh at Cordovin's loud hammy behavior.
"Wouldn't it be more lucrative to grant more claims?" Penny began to reason. "That way, when word gets out that Insuricare is a reliable provider, then the company will get more clients."
Weiss shook her head. "Possibly. But unfortunately, Cordovin seems too greedy and impatient, so she's only interested in short-term profit," she retorted.
"Did I do something illegal?" Ghira questioned.
"No," Cordovin grounded out reluctantly.
Ironwood looked impressed. "I see. He's smart enough to understand Insuricare's policies so he can find and reveal loopholes to his customers. He's not just some dumb muscle who relies on brute force to solve his problems," he said astutely.
"And avoid breaking any rules so he won't get in trouble, with Cordovin or the law," Clover added.
"Are you saying we shouldn't help our customers?" Ghira asked with some strength.
Cordovin paced a bit more. "The law requires that I answer no."
"Which is a way of saying yes," Blake said dryly.
"We're supposed to help people!" Ghira asserted.
"We're supposed to help our people!" Cordovin snapped. "Starting with our stockholders, Ghira. Who's helping them out, huh?"
"Greedy, greedy, greedy," Marrow shook his head. "All she cares about is making a profit."
"If my father was an insurance CEO, you could bet he'd act exactly like this," Weiss stated bluntly.
Cordovin exhaled to relax. "You know, Ghira," her hand settled on a memo on her desk. "a company..."
"What does that memo say?" Winter asked curiously.
Penny irises expanded as her eyesight zoomed in on the document, which she read aloud: "Due to financial cutbacks, you will be expected to self-expense all office supplies, including but not limited to pencils, erasers, pens, paper, stationery, folders, staples, paper clips, brads, and photocopies. All parking will now be metered by the hour. Electricity consumption and all telephone charges will be deducted from your paycheck."
"The Board of Directors at Insuricare wishes to thank you for your selfless sacrifice through this time of financial uncertainty. It is because of you, the employee, that Insuricare has recorded its highest profit in years. Remember, a successful company makes for successful employees. Every penny you save is another penny that goes in…" and that's all I can read."
The entire audience looked outraged at the nerve of Cordovin's counterpart.
"Huh?! You mean she's basically forcing people to pay her for working?!" Elm asked in disbelief.
"That's ridiculous! I don't even think that's legal," Weiss proclaimed.
"You're right. It isn't," Maria confirmed Weiss' words. "At least not when it comes to the elecricity bills to phones, computers, and other appliances."
Ghira's eyes rolled upward. "Is like an enormous clock," he muttered.
"Is like an enormous cl..." Cordovin paused, then she smiled at Ghira. "Yes. Precisely! It only works if all the little cogs mesh together," she interlocked her fingers together emphasize her point.
Cordovin started pacing again. "Now, a clock needs to be cleaned, well-lubricated and wound tight. The best clocks have jewel movements, cogs that fit, that cooperate by design."
Blake scowled at the screen. "My father is not just a cog, you greedy old crone."
"I've heard my father and other arrogant managers at the SDC give these lectures to their employees about life and how they don't belong in it," Winter angrily remembered.[4]
Weiss nodded slowly. "Me too. People like that make me sick."
Cordovin chuckled a little. "I'm being metaphorical, Ghira. Know what I mean by cooperative cogs?" but she received no answer. "Ghira?"
The reason he hadn't gotten any response was because Ghira had drifted off towards the right, but then something caught his attention. He looked to his left and saw a man drag second man into a dark alley right outside the window. The victim was thrown behind a dumpster, concealing him from Ghira's sight, while his attacker started kicking him.
Penny gasped with a hand over her mouth. "There's a man being mugged outside!"
"Maybe Ghira can help him," Nora said hopefully.
"I don't think Cordovin will allow it," Ironwood doubted.
"No. She can't be that ruthless…can she?" Ruby questioned, though she felt she already knew the answer.
"Ghira?" Cordovin repeated before she reached over and pulled Ghira's face over. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, Belladonna!"
"That man out there, he needs help," Ghira pointed out the window.
"Do not change the subject, Ghira! We're discussing your attitude!" Cordovin jabbed her finger at Ghira.
"He is getting mugged!" Ghira pointed out the window again.
Cordovin paused as she looked out the window. "Well, let's hope we don't cover him," she sneered.
"Are you serious?" Weiss scoffed. "That's all you have to say?!"
Yang gripped their armrests. "You cold-blooded bitch!" the latter snarled as her eyes glowed crimson.
"She's even worse than the real Cordovin. And believe me, that's saying something," Maria declared.
Ghira rose from his seat. "I'll be right back," he began to walk toward the door.
But just as Ghira opened the door. "Stop right now or you're fired!" Cordovin threatened loudly.
Ghira stopped dead in his tracks while Cordovin smirked in triumph.
A surge of anger swept over the entire audience. Blake was especially pissed as she tightly clenched her fists.
Penny narrowed her eyes. "Did I say I disliked her? Because now, I think it's more along the lines of hate," she declared. [5]
"Close the door," Cordovin softly ordered.
Ghira reluctantly did so, anger visible on his face.
Cordovin tapped her foot. "Get over here, now," she demanded, pointing to the floor.
"If Ghira can't help the man, he could always call the police," Penny suggested desperately.
"I don't think it'll do any good, Penny," Winter said doubtfully.
"She's right. They won't make it in time," Elm agreed sadly.
Ghira released the doorknob, now crushed by his superstrong grip as he turned around and returned to Cordovin.
But Cordovin didn't notice the crushed doorknob. "I'm not happy, Ghira. Not happy," she repeated.
Ghira looked out the window again and saw the mugger toss the wallet aside, look around, and then take off from the alley, his victim lying motionless behind the dumpster. Possibly dead.
Everyone felt sorrow for the victim and Ghira for his inability to help. And no shortage of hate and disgust for Cordovin's counterpart.
Ruby gasped softly. "Oh no…"
"You see. He got away," Winter shook her head sadly.
Ghira's eyes narrowed. "He got away..." he growled.
"Good thing, too," Cordovin scoffed offscreen, snapping Ghira's eyes open in shock.
Cordovin held her fingers an inch apart. "You were this close to losing your j-" her next word became a choked gasp as Ghira's a massive hand wrapped around her neck, the words dying in her throat. The bug-eyed woman could only grasp pathetically at Ghira's thick fingers as the big, enraged man held her in the air.
"Ooooh, man. You're in for it now!" Nora hollered, knowing what was coming next.
"You're about to become even more unhappy!" Marrow called out.
Meanwhile, other Insuricare workers were milling about their business when a series of rapid, muffled thuds emanated from a wall. Next, the wall burst open as Cordovin came crashing headfirst through it. The short woman then rolled across the floor, slammed against a metal cabinet, then slumped down to the floor with a pained moan.
Yang and Harriet could help but burst out laughing at Cordovin's karma. Ruby, Weiss, Qrow, and Elm all joined in laughing after a pause.
"Oooh!" Jaune, Oscar, Marrow, and Ren all winced at Cordovin hitting the filing cabinet.
"As cathartic as that was, there will undoubtedly be repercussions for this," Ozpin brought up.
The dumbstruck office workers all stared at their injured boss, then through a series of holes smashed through four separate walls, then finally at Ghira standing in Cordovin's office.
"Uh-oh..." Ghira murmured.
The audience's satisfaction turned to worry and concern as they realized this act of blowing cover would undoubtedly get Ghira in big trouble with the Vale council.
Author's Notes
[1]- Of course Yang would like Ghira's ice joke.
[2]- Very ironic the son and current heir to the SDC would be married to a Faunus. Jacques himself would probably be outraged if he were watching this.
[3]- This was a concern of mine when I first watched that scene. Hopefully that cop was thawed out before suffering any serious frost bite.
[4]- This is partially derived from the audio commentary from "The Incredibles" DVD. Director Brad Bird based Gilbert Huph on middle-managers he had to put up with in his first two jobs and how they gave nasty lectures on life and how he didn't deserve to be in it.
[5]- You know someone is a despicable and loathsome person when Penny says she hates them.
Cast
Ruby Rose as Dash Parr
Blake Belladonna as Violet Parr
Emerald as Mirage
Sun Wukong as Tony Rydinger
Velvet Scarlatina as Honey Best (Mentioned)
Leonardo Lionheart as Bernie
James Ironwood as the Principal