"This is an... interesting turn of events."
"I'm going to skin somebody."
Upon returning to Beacon after getting word of Neo's... unconventional method of attaining victory during a fight, Cinder got a front row seat to the secondary change introduced into Beacon's ecosystem, and he was standing right in the middle of the auditorium while goofing around and occasionally poking at each of the kids.
Roman Torchwick, while shadowed openly by one barely-restraining-her-scowl Winter Schnee, looked to be having a jolly old time shoveling his personal input into everyone's faces. They were debating something, most likely to do with the strange collection of haunting decorations strewn about, but all Cinder could hear was the welling hiss of logs in the fireplace of her mind; just waiting to combust.
Calm yourself! Her internal command unfortunately carried little weight; she was, in essence, squirting a water gun into a house fire. Don't say a word.
"Hi Missus Mint's Leader!" The quick, almost desperate wave from one Ruby Rose nearly had her falling into the dark temptations to just let it all go and eradicate the matchstick behind her, who himself froze up under the headlights of her stare. That intoxicating jerk of raw, wanton terror to rend his body momentarily stiff put a damp cloth over her burning desire to kill.
"Hello to you as well~" Her saucy voice, the kind that made men giddy, probably wasn't the right call, but it was the only one she could kick past her lips without spitting raw acidic venom. Ruby flinched a little, her cheeks reddening as she tried to keep up a steady wave - clearly recognising the context her tone was often applied to.
With ease she pulled up before the rest, picking up a small plastic cup with a picture of a spider taped to the bottom. Letting her confoundment towards whatever this was overtake the urge to strangle, she waved it a little before looking between everyone - besides Roman.
"What is this?"
"Mint's idea." The blonde one wore a rocky smile, her eyes every now and then flicking over at Roman and Winter. Cinder refrained from tensing her shoulders while following along, chaining them to Yang with the same mental shackles she used to keep her free hand still. "We couldn't find any cups without silly cartoon spiders, so Mint printed out thirty or so tarantula pics, and now we're cutting and taping them below the glasses. Is it spooky?"
"A touch unsettling." Cinder set the cup back down; this wasn't the weirdest thing she'd seen before. "But I'm more accustomed to far worse."
"Then maybe we should have gotten you in on this." Weiss then huffed, setting down a pair of scissors before grumbling and turning to Neo. "What do you think? Should we gather her input and invite her to help?"
"She's afraid of fun and happiness." Neo was quite ballsy today, almost challenging even with that shit-eating grin. With fingers swift as ever, Neo then proceeded to get under her skin, flashing the next message with a prideful glint in her eye. "And Emerald too, but everyone gets a shiver looking at her."
"Ha ha." Emerald's falsified grin couldn't fool her own mother, let alone anyone else. "How funny."
"Yeah..." Weiss blinked. "Right."
"We'd love to help." Although the words stung her tongue, Cinder paired them with what she hoped to be a cute expression - Ruby's second flinch told her it needed work. "But unfortunately, Emerald and I have some work to catch up on."
Making a turn, a strong arm stopped her, and she soon spun to face Winter Schnee.
"Actually..." Upon release, the muscles around Cinder's neck tightened under the cold recommendation blown bitterly her way. "I believe a team union exercise would be most beneficial."
Cinder lifted her head, just barely getting a solid look at Winter, and being challenged by that far too chipper evil grin flaring out from the corners of her eyelashes. Narrowed eyes did not match her voice, but Cinder didn't care about that. She heard intent in those words: pre-calculated words.
Roman standing alongside Winter; Qrow knowing she and the Fang were related; Neo carrying around the cock of a horse when addressing her. Winter and Roman weren't here by mere chance. No no no. There was only one possible explanation as to why the Gentleman Thief himself wasn't up in prison, and why the Ghoul Princess could sport such a brazen face.
They snitched...
It may be one thing to assume something, but getting hard confirmation flipped the table. This setup: a secluded space with many many methods of hiding and looking in - a piece of bait meant to draw her curiosity - and a lack of fear and bickering from those who should be at each other's throats.
Roman sold us out!
.
.
Finally…
Some would say delegating extra work onto others shoulders could be categorized as rude. Winter Schnee was not one of those people; resourcefulness would be a better descriptor. Cinder Fall: Mint's team leader, and the supposed orchestrator of the breach down in Vale. The General said not to interfere. She had been tasked with watching Roman, and Roman alone. While a part of her wished to immediately handcuff the woman, that would be going against whatever plan the general had in store.
Relenting into a spearheaded glare would suffice to get her anger out; although the woman probably had no idea why she'd received that stab of hostility.
"Hey..." Yang said, slowly approaching Miss Fall. "You uh... You feeling alright there champ?"
"Never better. Why?"
Miss Xiao Long appeared halfway towards pointing out how choppily their secretive terrorist's eyes were darting to the shadows, but she seemingly settled for a less direct approach.
"Meh, forget it. We all have bad hair days." Strolling back, Yang returned to the conversation from before. "So, are we all just going to accept this bologna, or are we going to fill that petition?"
"For the last time." Weiss breathed in harshly, and Winter wondered just how many times on a daily basis that same action played out. "We are not turning this into a creep show."
"Ah ah! Bikini Bash." Yang swiftly slid up to Weiss's side, wrapping one arm around her while the other cleared the air in one fell motion. "Think about it now: thin webs struggling to keep the egg-sacs in place as the queen of spiders descends from the shadows above~ The vixen of violence, having uprooted herself from the grave, strutting in wearing nothing but mud and patches of her old life~ The mistress of the night in naught but a v-string, licking fresh blood from her pores by the punch bowl~ And the guys uhh~"
Slapping her forehead, Winter enjoyed a strike of pride shooting up her spine as Weiss stood up for dignity and virtue.
"For the last time! The staff will never allow this!"
.
.
"Shut up, Xiao Long."
To be completely honest, Roman himself stood in awe as the blondie kept to her word, rolling around in a bikini so thin it got a chuckle out of him. Ah, kids these days thought they were the stuff of legends. Shaking his head, he continued to man the podium and beckon people in here and there as his job had dictated.
Over the past few weeks since his introduction into Beacon, Cinder had all but vanished, stalking the halls with shaky eyes sometimes, but bolting it - or finding ways to bolt - whenever he or the rest of Team RWBY lingered anywhere within the general vicinity. He'd say he enjoyed the peace, but knowing her, she had nothing short of a missile barrage situated patiently on the backburner.
"Sup." Mercury, on the other hand, grew into quite the relatable guy; Roman didn't trust him for a second, but at least the kid treated people and situations depending on business. So far, Cinder had yet to dish out any real commands, and so Mercury had popped by from time to time - usually accompanied by Neo - to partake in whatever ridiculous nonsense the kids had strung up.
"She got you into it too, huh?"
"You bet." Mercury winked, flexing his moderately above average biceps. Backed by a bow tie and pants, the only thing to distinguish him as any sort of creature would be the patched on fur covering most of him. Werewolf Butler wasn't something Roman expected to see tonight, but Winter skipped in sporting a skin-colored wetsuit, so all plays were valid. Was it a little bit racist to slap fur all over yourself when you weren't a faunus? By chance, but that rarely tripped the lad.
Besides, Beacon was throwing a Halloween shindig, so nobody really questioned anyone else on what constituted offensive stereotyping and whatnot.
There were some limits though, but so long as it wouldn't strike an adult rating and get them canceled on social media, the school basically told everyone to go ham. Heck, Roman half expected Neo to pop by and prance about while absolutely slathered in paint and nothing else. But, as both she and her new buddy in Little Red had yet to show, he experienced a state of total soul-healing sensibility.
Surely they'd bury it any second now.
"By the way." Mercury cast his head around. "Have you seen Mint anywhere? She kinda disappeared on us an hour ago."
"Cinder's asking?"
"Is it ever any different?"
"Fair enough." Roman sighed, sifting through the schedule of names. Of course, he never saw Neo, but Winter took post around twenty minutes ago so he could jolt to the little pickpocket's room; the two could have melted into the sea of party goers under her supervision.
Or he could be completely wrong; that was okay too.
"Doesn't look like it."
"Bummer." A shrug later and the boy passed alongside him on route for the punch bowl, mumbling "I tried" under his breath.
Wherever those two ended up, it better not be in Cinder's hands.
.
.
"A-are you sure I should go d-dressed like this?"
Ruby considered herself brave; always had. When accosted by Roman Torchwick or a train full of bombs, she'd kept her cool. When focused, she could out freeze a block of solid ice; cubed and wedged. But this? Even for her, this seemed a tad, maybe even an inch overboard for the night.
Plus, the wind pinched every centimeter of unwrapped skin.
Mint nodded, both thumbs launched skyward as she stumbled around. Sure, Ruby had worn a swimsuit before, and one could argue this was no different. However, swimsuits were worn at the beach, and almost never accompanied by a series of random belts strapping every other section of untouched skin. Five or six per limb, with a set of weighty iron shackles clamped over her wrists and ankles. At least she'd gotten a cool brown cloak and some rub-off tattoo stitches; the cape worked hard to defend her dignity.
And would it kill Mint to let her wear some socks? Having her soles scratched up by cement and filth hardly constituted for fun.
'The vengeful angel of death.' Mint called it. With a title like that, how could she say no?
Easily, especially with the one suggesting it herself completely covered from the neck down. Honestly, she'd swear by the light of day this had only been decided because Mint wanted to swap places with her. Could this be her friend's way of letting her experience what it's like to strut around with pride?
When did the "pride" part come into effect?
Wrapped in muddy brown, she trudged behind as Mint led the pack of three. Penny, in contrast to her, wore a single eyepatch and her regular getup. That was it; nothing else exciting.
"I'm pirating software!" Sweet loveable Penny had been so enthusiastic about her first use of a pun that Ruby hadn't the heart to tell her that no one besides them would understand the joke. Oh well... certainly someone would batten down the hatches and get it; a soldier, most likely, unless they too were in the dark on Penny's nature.
"Friend Mint?" Penny's voice reverberated along the wind - an intentional jitter she emulated to better represent the destructive effects of viruses often constructed to pirate media, or so she claimed. "Will we be joining the festivities soon? I am curious to see the many creative costumes the other students are wearing."
Mint held her scroll back.
"In a minute. Just follow."
Penny gave a salute.
"Aye aye, captain."
Wherever this place was, Ruby hoped they had heaters.
.
.
Rendering unconscious the last of the CCT's defenders, Cinder rolled her wrist before stuffing the final body away under a desk. Swiping a bottle of booze from her backpack, she emptied half the bottle all over the man's uniform before letting it fall.
Ordinarily, she would have killed everyone present, but with Roman and Neo all but confirmed defacto traitors, a level of tack was necessary. This way, any mentions of shadowy invaders assaulting the entirety of the unit would face a certain jab of scrutiny - supposing no one saw her. Cinder had been deathly careful not to let anyone, under any circumstances, spot her while she took out another.
One by one, under the shroud of ignorance, she'd disabled an entire squad of Atlas Soldiers.
The security feed, though, posed a problem if Neo chose to turn her back on the earlier request. She sent a text, but whether that skittering weasel chose to attend could be decided by the flip of a coin.
When the double doors opened, and in stepped one Neo Politan backed by two others, Cinder sighed internally.
"What has happened here?" the ginger one with the eyepatch asked, zipping her line of sight between them.
"Don't know." And now came the fun part; wrangling in the cattle. "I came across them like this a bit ago. Looks like they've been drinking too much."
"That is incorrect." Eyepatch squinted slightly, and Cinder saw something about her eyes change: a shift in color for a few seconds. "There are no traces of alcohol escaping in the breaths of any of these men, and furthermore, several appear to have bruises circling their necks, and traces of chloroform around their lips."
Everyone blinked towards Miss medical professional; literally everyone, and for that, Cinder sang many shadowed thanks behind her fuming boiler. Ten more words, just ten, and she'd call it quits, yell "forget this" and do what she should have done the moment she arrived.
Release the extent of her Maiden Power's to rinse the school in ashes. Forget Ozpin and Atlas and all the other insignificant fuck-wads who believed they held a candle to her-
"Oops." The ginger bitch covered her mouth. "I mean, it looks like they might have gotten hurt some other way. Friend Cinder, do you know what happened?"
"Not a clue." Inner peace. Inner peace. Go with the flow of the river, and let the flames steady across the water, swimming through the oils of your mind. "That's why I called Mint over. I wanted her help investigating, because as you can see: no one else is available."
"I-ignore Penny." Spouted Ozpin's little gamble, her arms extending to shove Penny playfully. "She's just got a thing for murder mysteries!"
Questioning how the heck any of that worked should have been on Cinder's mind, but she'd become awestruck, downright stupefied by what poisoned her vision.
"Excuse me, Miss Rose."
"Yeah?"
"What are you wearing?"
Beat red and steaming out the ears, Ruby thus shadowed her body underneath the earthy cover slacked around her shoulders.
"I-it was Mint's idea!"
That explained so, so very much.
But beggars couldn't be choosers, and supposing Penny didn't uproot the balance of her dwindling psyche any more than dealing with Beacon's near omnipotence over these past few weeks had, then they could get down to business proper. Sighing visibly for all to see, she graced a hand over her forehead; just the fingertips.
"I won't question it." A quick, raspy clear of her throat later and she laid out the cards for this evening. "Look. These guys clearly weren't given all this booze on their own, and if what Penny said is true, then I'd argue the liquor was left here on purpose to distract people like us from thinking otherwise."
Thank Brothers she wore gloves with this outfit; no fingerprints here.
"Um... Are you saying that someone attacked these guys?" Ruby's fretful pause aside, the girl played her improvised part expertly.
Cinder of course nodded.
"I am." Craning her neck, she stared towards the elevator doors. "And I think they might still be here."
"We must alert Atlas immediately." Penny proclaimed, forcing Cinder to take drastic measures.
"Or, and here me out: we can catch the culprit ourselves, and cement our legacy into Beacon dance history as the heroes who stopped... whatever is going on here." Doing everything in her power not to cringe, Cinder harbored bated breath while the trio looked to ponder her proposal.
Neo agreed, because she had to. Ruby flinched at the word 'hero,' so chances were she was halfway decided on breaking away from conventional logic already. Penny, though, seemed to be the wildcard. Not appearing aroused by the thought of heroism or legacy, she straightened her posture.
Hopefully, a democratic vote of three against one might ensure the plan charts ahead.
"I am detective ready!"
Or this could be the easiest effort ever; that worked too.
Author's note
...
Ba-bingus. We're back.
That's right: speed running the dance. To be honest, I never really cared for it to begin with, but I had to do something. What could be more fun than letting a bunch of teenagers do something stupid? Why, letting three others mess around in an empty government building - technically belonging to Beacon, but whatever.
Cinder's not all that happy, but how can she be? Everyone seems to know her next move, and she's just barely keeping up. Winter was ordered to leave Cindy alone, but whatever for? And Roman?
He's just along for the ride, or so it appears.
Anyway, that's it for now. Catch you later.