Mercury didn't expect a lot from his teammates, really, he didn't. But at the very least, he considered them capable enough to play it cool when Neo scampered off to help the White Fang with some extra transport and security.
Sighing far harder than he should have, Mercury leaned back into the seat of the bench, earning a hum from the man next to him.
"Something up?" Tall, scraggly, partially shaven, and very much the same man he recalled spying the tail-end, back in the midst of their getaway with half of the Fall Maiden's powers. If Emerald was good at one thing, it was keeping their opponents blind.
"Meh." He played off coolly, raising his hand with a mockingly lazy 'so-so' gesture, shaking it back and forth before dropping it again and slipping on his tired face. "Nothing much, just dreading the drills my team 'll put me through tomorrow."
Emerald, unlike him, had not put all that great of a performance when it came to blending in. When Neo vanished down to Vale and they told the girl she usually hung out with, Emmi took it upon herself to fill the void... In the most unsettling way possible. You can't just stroll on in like it's nothing, he wanted to say, but ultimately held back; she wouldn't heed that warning even if he did tell her. And so, Emerald went on a round trip, dressing herself up as perhaps the most mentally unhinged woman in the school.
While she was busy becoming the new weirdo, Mercury continued to behave the way he always had since their arrival, and ironically, this ended up gaining him some endearment from Ruby's crew during the few times they crossed paths. Weiss Schnee, the ultimate hard-ass according to the Ghoul Princess - killer nickname, and one he low-key wished he had a version of. However, with Emerald bashing her face against their door almost twenty-four seven, the mere sight of respectful indifference he propped up on display had her verbally thanking him for knowing how to behave.
This same thing happened for almost all of the team, and he took it in stride and painted Emmi - probably to her eventual dismay when she inevitably found out - as a... not-all-there type of girl. At the same time, he got to know their motley crew a little better during those few minutes of hallway traffic, and out of all of them, he found Yang the most interesting. Her fighting style echoed closely to his own, not so much in physical technique, but mental prowess.
Yang was the type to play off and rely on her opponents' fried nerves, taunting them to piss 'em off, which would cause them to slip up on the regular, and thus make every action predictable. Most would call it cheap and scummy, but Mercury considered it not only smart, but vital to any serious fighter; in a real fight, victory was all that mattered - there was no such thing as "dirty fighting," not when losing meant death or worse.
It would be quite a shame when she died; Mercury really thought she'd be kinda cool to hang around with.
"Ha." The older man, Qrow, spat a cheeky little look his way. "Another team with another hard-ass leader." Leaning back himself, the older huntsmen took in the bright sunlight of the day. "Starting to think Beacon might be creating them on purpose; there can't be that many natural-born tightwads clumped up in a place like this at the same time."
"I echo that." Mercury agreed, mimicking the guy and cementing their placement in the school's part as the bench potatoes - for now.
And then there was Qrow... Oh boy, was there Qrow. These past few days without Neo, while annoying at times to put up with, were exemplified by Cinder's downright hermit behavior. She'd been spotted down in Vale, by the man now relaxing with him outside under the sunlight. Again, this was a man Mercury didn't really have any negative feelings towards - business just demanded they be enemies.
But Cinder? Qrow had business with Cinder.
From what Mercury could gather over the past ten minutes of enjoying one of the last calm days Beacon Academy would ever see, Qrow was here on business for the school. On a side note, he was also here visiting his nieces, and upon hearing that, Merc took the opportunity to strike up a conversation about them, not only earning the man's favor when he learned the decent relationship - as friends - they shared, but also relaxing significantly. Qrow trusted his family's friends, because he trusted their judgment; Mercury gathered that much on his own.
But sadly, no matter how good a judge of character you were, with enough time someone would eventually pull the wool over your eyes.
"Yeah; they're downright predictable nowadays." Qrow snorted next, letting loose a smooth sigh. "Let me guess: one can't accept anything less than perfection, and the other sucks up so tight you'd swear they had a thing for 'em."
"It's not much of a secret that she has a thing for her." Merc had no trouble throwing Emerald under the bus here, because it got a chuckle from Qrow.
"I still got it." Following that happy quip, he strangely lowered his mood, exclaiming almost tiredly, "The team dynamic never changes." Expelling a deeper sigh, clearly laced with disappointment, Qrow popped out another question. "At least tell me there's no love triangle going down. Believe me, that'll do numbers on your crew; and not in a fun way either."
Just what kind of team did you have? Shaking away his perplexed expression, Mercury put the old man's mind at ease - well, he wasn't that old, but the point remained the same.
"Nah. We only have one suck-up in our batch. The second gal and I couldn't care less about how demanding our leader can be, so long as we get to avoid the bickering and whining they like going on about."
"Smart lad." Qrow pulled himself up, standing and stretching before taking a step out. "Well, it's been fun hearing about the new generation and their attempts to grapple with old problems, but I need to get going. Being an instructor, while it has its benefits, can be a real spike up the ass if I don't keep everything on schedule."
"Looks like I'm not the only one being beaten down by people who really should stop and smell the roses." Mercury sported a devious smirk, knowing exactly what he'd just done. And as expected, Qrow hit him with a dastardly look all his own, even as hints of smoke dusted the light behind his eyes.
"Yeah, but they won't. But do me a favor and make sure to keep your nose out of the wrong bunch; thorns can be a bitch to handle."
With that soft, half-hearted threat out of the way, Qrow took his leave, allowing Mercury to just bask in the warmth once again. He really should just tell Cinder that Qrow wasn't here specifically to hunt her... but then again...
Why spoil his copious amounts of free time so early?
.
.
"I can't believe that actually happened."
Weiss went on to be the only one shocked by the headmaster's choice, as when Yang spoke up from her side, it was with a much brighter expression.
"What did you expect, Weiss-cream?" With Yang tossing her arm around the woman's shoulders, Ruby felt a little sorry for her partner. "Somebody had to do the mission, and with our stellar reputation, who better to hand it off to than us?"
"I highly doubt our brand of trouble is "stellar" Xiao Long." Weiss grumbled after, crossing her arms with a huff. "We've created far too much trouble as it is."
"C'mon. We're not that bad," Yang attempted to point out, only to be shoved back down in her place when Weiss glared hard, getting up in the blonde's face.
"Not that bad, huh? Well tell that to the White Fang we've been hounding constantly."
"Last I checked," Yang put a finger to Weiss's nose, pushing her back an inch while grinning. "That makes us heroes; not criminals."
"We were never even supposed to be there in the first place." A decent argument, although ineffective on the elder sister.
"Well neither were they." Yang dropped her hand, casually slipping both in her pockets and spouting coolly, "So I count that as a fair trade."
"Fair tra-" Nearly short circuiting, Weiss quickly took charge once again. "We were both in the wrong! But the difference between us, Yang, is that they are criminals; now, guess what we are."
"Heroes." She spouted, cheerfully. "Like I said before."
Clearly unable to get through to the brawler, Weiss finally appeared to give up; good call, as last Ruby checked, there was no winning against her older sister when she got an idea in her head. And besides, what did it matter if they didn't know why the headmaster gave them the mission? From what they were told, it was only a simple grimm clearing job.
Get in, slay some grimm, and get out; simple as that.
But as they drew closer to their room, Ruby did have one disturbing thought. Recently, she'd not experienced any 'moments' of hers since Mint left to visit her family. Now, this meant nothing at all to most people, but Ruby couldn't get it out of her head that Mint showed off her semblance at the exact same time as when she herself went through a moment. Again, this was no cause for concern when taking into account their individual lives, but the timing wasn't just similar when it happened: it was exact.
And she also couldn't shake the... unusual feeling she'd gotten.
"Is something wrong?" Ruby nearly jumped, having let herself meander off into her mind. Turning, she saw Blake having appeared to huddle closer, letting Yang and Weiss continue whatever argument they were having ahead. Blake looked a little concerned, but it was mellowed out by her usual indifferent expression. "You look like you're zoning out." Her eyes sharpened a bit. "Is it one of your moments?"
"No." Ruby was quick to whisper, and her sudden action nearly had Yang's partner poke her mind again, but Ruby carried on. "No. I was just thinking about a few things."
"Like what?"
"Like..." Like how Mint has been gone for a while and I miss talking to her. Or maybe, how I can't shake the feeling that my moments share a connection with her semblance, solely because I saw them line up once. Grumbling a little under her breath, Ruby threw away those nonsensical thoughts, instead focusing on something else. "I'm thinking about how we'll do with the mission."
That excellent save - yes, she was proud of it - garnered the exact response she wanted from Blake: redirected intrigue.
"Are you worried we'll fail?"
"Not really "fail," but..." Rubbing the back of her neck, Ruby searched for the word, and being unable to find it, settled on the second best alternative. "I guess I'm just a little worried we might not be ready. When listening to everyone else, it sounds like the missions are separated by grade because we don't get taught what we need to finish them until then; get what I mean?"
"Mostly." Blake affirmed, albeit with a small smile. "But there's also the chance that they simply want us to better master what we already know before putting our skills to the test. The headmaster said it himself; it's just a scout and clear mission. We shouldn't need any higher level techniques to handle that; not when we have one of the teachers chaperoning it."
"And not when we've already kicked Torchwick's ass before, right?" Yang popped in from behind, and Blake curiously sent an eye forward to see nobody ahead. Weiss had fallen back by Ruby's side, and it seems the black and red pair hadn't noticed how their conversation gained a couple of listeners.
Thankfully, Weiss softened the blow of panic she felt, whereas Yang sent another cheeky grin out.
"We'll be dealing with grimm, not people," Weiss interjected, smoothly brushing her hair to the side with her right hand. "Our experience with that rogue is meaningless in terms of how we'll do."
"C'mon, don't downplay our victory like that." Yang fawned a fake frown; her illusory disappointment shattered to pieces by the sheer playfulness in her voice. "Kicking criminal butt has to overlap with slaying grimm to some extent, doesn't it?"
"I mean," Blake began, trying to pull out of Yang's arm, but soon gave up when she realized that wasn't happening any time soon, "they're both simple opponents. The grimm are usually predictable in their behavior, and Roman is much the same."
"Yep." Yang proceeded to sing a happy tune. "The grimm always charge blindly ahead, and Roman's always on the backpedal; practically the exact same."
"Not at all," Weiss paired that with a sigh, "But it's not like I can convince you otherwise."
Admitting that belief, as the Schnee would soon learn, was a terrible mistake.
"Oh, really?" Yang's hunger for mischief grew tenfold, and her eyes shot between them all. "Looks like it's finally happening: I'm thawing the popsicle. She's beginning to believe~"
"Never mind!" Weiss spat, pushing off and marching ahead. "I'm doubling my efforts!"
Ruby looked on as Yang followed quickly after, more than ready for the challenge of bringing Weiss down off her pedestal and onto their level.
.
.
We're fucked! Roman Torchwick was ready to give up; this was it, he was throwing in the towel. We. Are. Fucked!
Now what could bother the normally complex and calm Gentleman Thief: the man who, regardless of pressure, had a way out of every trap, trial, or tribulation.
I'm giving up!
Well, it all came down to a little figure known as Salem.
If Cindy doesn't do us in, then the grimm truth will!
Fumbling his drink, Roman hacked and coughed, spitting out the lukewarm mouthful he'd been swishing around his tongue for the past minute; he knew it was bad when he'd unknowingly resorted to puns in his own damn thoughts. Perry - bless that boy - noticed his half-physical distress, vocalizing his concern quickly.
"Are you alright?" Moving in quickly, the spectacled faunus laid a hand on his back, looking ready to roll around and begin helping him cough up whatever clog blocked up his windpipe. Fortunately for both of their dignities combined, Roman didn't need to go through such extremes.
"Never been better," he spat, whipping around his tongue while hissing. Giving a few extra clicks, Roman wore his best salty scowl. "Don't mind me, I just forgot how to swallow for half a second."
"You sure?" Perry always was a little brighter than the rest of these animals, to the point Roman questioned why he joined up with these meat-heads to begin with. No, wait: he knew the answer. Like everyone else here in this backwater collection of inbreeds, both delightful and dull, Perry sought to enact some form of 'justice' upon the people of Remnant. Sadly for all of them, this wasn't so much justice as it was dolled-up revenge.
That little distinction was the only thing keeping Roman from being able to truly respect Perry. He had, like everyone else, deluded himself into believing they were in the right, and someone so easily fooled could never truly make good on their potential; at least, not until they got over the mental hurdle blocking their path.
"Positive." Shooting a sly grin, Roman then turned his attention to the other goobers moving the goods. Even if he felt like yesterday's lunch, he still had to at least 'look' in control. "Anyway, give me the scoop. What are we looking at here?"
Accepting his claims - although not fully believing them, if his momentary silence meant anything - Perry quickly flipped through the list of papers in his hands. That was another quirk with him too: Perry wasn't a big fan of hoarding sensitive info in technology. Sure, it was convenient, but he didn't trust the security. Anyone can pickpocket a scroll, and if they got lucky and guessed the password, then all the secrets were revealed to whoever had it.
Paper was just as easily steal-able, but what modern-day crook would eye the papers over electronics? Roman would at least give Perry points for effort.
"Most of the charges are in place, and at the rate we're loading up, we should be prepared to go by tomorrow morning."
"Sounds good." Roman nodded, offhandedly commenting afterwards, "Although knowing the boss lady, she'll have us waiting until the weekend before we set these off."
He wasn't entirely wrong, but at the same time he wasn't entirely right either. Cinder had, upon moving him here for the rest of the week to help the Fang prepare the invasion, exposed a bit of the plan to him. They would wait until General Ironwood himself prepared another show for the people, and then they would put their own show on the road. If Cinder's information was correct, then Atlas would be hosting several expositions over the coming month, showing off whatever new tech they had available in what many people like him had come to call the "Cock Show."
Where Atlas would proceed to whip out its cock every day of the month, as if pissing on the other kingdoms throughout the entire build-up to the festival proper.
And yet, the biggest wanker belongs to the bitch currently plowing the whole of Remnant; slowly, and methodically, while we're all soundly asleep, completely ignorant that our drawers are down around our ankles with our rectums being stretched just a little bit wider.
Normally, he wasn't so crass in his wordplay, but Salem's very existence had him stumped. Just what the heck were they supposed to do? Actually... On the topic of crass, would it be possible they could give her something like a boyfriend and solve all their problems?
Oh, would you look at that: his sanity just walked out the door, and it took the kids.
What the dust am I thinking? Get the Queen Of Grimm a boyfriend; ha! As if! She was a monster who ruled over 90% of the planet with her hoards of blood-thirsty beasts; she couldn't possibly be interested in men... Although, then again, didn't that make her like one of those crazy cat ladies? Oh man, he really was losing it, but hey: it's not like they had a feasible chance anyways, so where was the harm in a sprinkle of insanity?
Now, if he were all alone with nobody but animalistic beasts for company, Roman knew he'd be kind of cranky. His mind really was going to some strange places because of the fear, wasn't it? He was actually beginning to believe in the idea that piece-by-piece began to fill the jigsaw in his mind.
Roman Torchwick was the Gentleman Thief; a robber of both wealth and hearts. Would it be possible he might have a chance to perhaps charm the lady of darkness?
Slapping himself across the cheek, Roman had once again spooked the poor bastard who he'd labeled as more important.
"Sir?"
"Never mind that." Without a second thought, Roman proceeded to put himself back into the current job. "I'm just waking myself up; clearly, the coffee choking me out a second ago wasn't strong enough." Adam only knew that Salem ruled over the grimm, and by extension was also Cinder's boss. Adam himself got that information from Cinder, meaning everything they knew was based on Cinder's word. "Come on. It's time we make sure this train is in running condition; I don't want any technical problems during the last few minutes before Cinder tells us to scoot."
If he were to have any chance of coming up with a plan, then he needed more info. And to get it, he'd need to go through Cinder herself.
Momma always told you not to play with fire, but here you are, about to make searing love to a roaring furnace.
He could already imagine the burns along his pecker, and shivered as they moved along.
Author's note
…
Mercury, Qrow, RWBY, and even Roman: all stuffed within a single chapter.
Technically, not much happened this time, and to add onto it we didn't even get to see Neo this time. But things need to fall into place, because at the speed this story is moving, we're soon going to hit some pretty major events like the train prepped for action.
I will warn you though: when things get moving, this tale will, not might, will get a little… wild. Nothing outright insane or incredibly stupid, but definitely a little unexpected; you'll see what I mean later.
With that ominous warning out of the way, I leave you all here.
Until next time.