Cinder you imbecile!
Nope, nope, following a brief shake of his head, Watts merely ran back through the initial plan. Cinder's sudden lapse in common sense aside, not much had changed from the expected schedule. They could still save this, and so, rather than relying on a double powered maiden to tank everyone's attention, he instead used this new scene.
Vermillion Rose... what a curious fellow he was turning out to be. Indeed, that boy gravitated destruction around him like moths to the proverbial flame, although the moths themselves were guided by their natural instincts; did this boy too follow some undiscovered instinctual need? Or, did he adhere to basic rationality, with the accompanying destruction merely a coincidental side effect?
Regardless of which thought turned out to be true, Watts instead carried along with their plan. Cinder would distract everyone, but that wasn't supposed to occur until after James' big plot was discovered. The runaround he'd so carefully cultivated was, by this point, moot, and thus, with the idea of constant conspiratorial discoveries in quick succession being kicked to the wayside, he instead opted for a new strategy.
Sporting a wicked grin, and enticed by the glimmering light that was his own genius, Arthur Watts opted to yet again make use of the toy he'd often saved for special occasions. His dear friend's daughter...
What? His eyes widened, staring scrutinizingly at the readings he'd gotten. What is the meaning of this?!
Why had his connection suddenly been cut off?
.
.
"I got her!" Pyrrha felt a sudden increase in Penny's physical weight, meaning her internal systems had completely shut down, or that's what she assumed anyways.
"Nice going!" The man jogged over, leaving the frightened crowd to the rest of their combined teams. So maybe it was a bit weird to see a leader sprinting over and away from his position, but from the outside looking in it appeared as though he was merely rushing over to aid in helping a downed comrade. His eyes trailed over the girl, and he nodded. "Yep, this is it."
"What's happening?" Pyrrha found herself a bit lost, but maybe that was just her old multitude of memories mucking with the here and now.
"Someone tried hacking into Penny's systems." He was grinning as he spoke. "Penny's not exactly going to be happy to learn about it, but she will be when we track our criminal friend down." He took the mechanical woman into his arms, tossing her over his shoulder with a slight puff. "Ho... I forgot how heavy she was without her auto stability systems running." He must have caught her look then, as he quickly apologized. "Sorry if you didn't get the memo, but we need to find the general as soon as possible so he can get her a ship down to Dr. Polendina. Can't exactly risk using scrolls with a hacker on the loose, on the off chance he catches what we're doing with her."
"It's alright." Pyrrha looked into Penny's dysfunctional eyes, feeling a strange sense of loneliness from what stared back at her. "Time is of the essence. I'm assuming you want us all to keep focusing on the civilians."
"That's right." He offered up a short, almost apologetic grin. "I'll be back in a jiff, so try and hold out, alright."
Pyrrha nodded. "I'll relay the news to the others."
With that, Clover began the short jog back into the building. Whereas the rest of them were stationed with keeping the civilians and students safe, the general himself, along with Robyn Hill, had formed a two person squad. She probably didn't know where she was going, but if Clover had to guess, there was a distinct reason it was only the two of them.
They were headed for the relic.
.
.
James hated that he'd been forced to act so quickly, and so rashly too, but they were out of options. So far, James saw a rash, emotionally unstable woman who had a patent for screaming and making noise. However, underneath all of that, he'd caught the sparks of potential, and upon witnessing everything she said and did up top, he could see that her love for Mantle was genuine.
If she was a spy, then she was either the best spy out there, or a spy only inches away from turning on her employers.
"Where are we going?"
James gave her an emotionless glance, knowing this was a heavy gamble, but it was one he unfortunately needed to take.
"You'll see."
Robyn's response to this was a curt huff, followed up by a complaint.
"See, my ass; in case you haven't noticed, there are people outside facing who knows what. So why the heck are we headed deeper into the school?!"
Jamming himself into the elevator while being followed by an irritated Robyn, he punched in a specific series of numbers on the keypad: a fourteen digit code, followed by holding the 'close doors' button until they forced themselves shut automatically. This was the precise password which would take him down to the final entryway before their ultimate goal.
The resting place of the vault.
"Hello, I'm talking to you, dammit!" Robyn yelled, brandishing her weapon this time. "Don't you fucking ignore me."
He merely returned her glare with an observant eye.
"You agreed to follow my lead, remember?"
"Yeah, but that's when I thought we would be protecting people." She nudged her head towards the elevator door. "And burying ourselves away from the danger is doing nothing to help the people above."
"You and I are the only ones on this trip." James knew she'd react... less than receptive to the strange orders; he'd probably feel the same if he was as ignorant as her. It was due to this that he wouldn't judge her immediately; no, that came when they finally got to their destination.
Robyn's eyes stretched wide, before flattening as she seethed.
"You flat-faced cowardly cobble!" Once again she shoved her crossbow under his chin. "This better not be taking us to a shelter! I swear on each and every one of my crew that if this is just an attempt to flee I'll -"
A ding shut her up, and as he'd been banking on, the sight of the vast open resting place of the vault was enough to crumble her anger momentarily. He stepped out, turning to beckon her forth, and she did so while keeping her bow locked onto him. Again, this was fine, as he merely needed her to follow.
Stepping onto the lift with her, she locked up for a second as it began to descend, and it was here James made his move.
"I've had my eye on your crew for a very long time."
"Yeah." She managed a frown at least. "We've noticed."
"But this wasn't out of any desire to control, or limit either you or Mantle."
"Do you really expect me to believe that?"
"No." He said, marching forward to wait at the edge. She followed along, carefully, and eventually the lift arrived at its destination. He stepped out, cautious and with his hand ready for a draw. However, he held off on taking his personal firearm, Due Process, and instead lifted his head to gaze upon the vault door.
"Tell me, did you know the maiden's themselves are no longer required to get inside."
"What?" Robyn raised a brow, and James tapped out an artificial laugh.
"Once upon a time it may have been true, but we've since managed to, in a sense, decode the energy signatures used to open these vaults."
He wanted to believe in her innocence; it would certainly make the next course of action much clearer. In one final bid to perhaps coax out a guilty reaction, James meandered over towards the edge of the platform nearest right, standing mere meters away from the edge above the all-consuming abyss. It was quite the long drop, enough to not only shatter a hunter's aura, but also trap them until they either starved to death...
Or took their own lives.
"But we didn't just figure that out... No." He twisted around to stare at Robyn's mask of unnerved fury. She appeared angry and confused, but was it real? "Tell me, Robyn, what would you call a maiden whose purpose has been overtaken by a simple key?"
"Is this some sort of riddle?" Her teeth grit. "Are you really wasting our fucking time just to pull some cryptic bullshit?" Again, he was beholden to the sight of her crossbow. "Quit it!"
"She becomes a liability." All of it seemed so real, but he'd placed himself into the perfect position to lure the snake from its hole. "And so, to cover our bases: should she try to open the vault, it will instead lock itself off, forever."
Robyn quite obviously wasn't listening, and rather than comment or outright attack, she nudged her head back towards the lift.
"We're leaving, now."
"The key itself is not on my person though, it -"
"SHUT UP!" A single bolt fired off, ricocheting off the ground beside him and out into the void. James smirked: that was all the confirmation he needed. Another bolt clicked into position, and she just barely held back her screaming. "I don't care! Get back on the damn lift. We're leaving."
He nodded, grinning as they shot up to the elevator. It was lies, all of it, but they were lies that served their purpose. Robyn Hill was not working with Salem, for what agent of the monster would turn down a chance to send him to his doom, and better yet, what idiot would cut off their only chance to learn about and presumably search for the 'key' supposedly created? He'd tell her the truth later, that was, once he'd explained everything in full.
In the midst of a maiden attack, they needed all the allies they could get.
"Okay, wise guy." She shoved her bow in his face again, but he treated the threat with very little respect and just punched in the numbers to take them back up to the surface level of the school. "Now, you're going to go out there and do your duty of protecting everyone under your wing, and afterwards, you're going to tell them all about how you planned to hide us both inside some sort of bunker."
"It was not a bunker," he corrected, "it was a vault."
"Same difference." Seeing that this was getting nowhere, and now with a massive weight lifted from his chest, Ironwood let her have that one. Robyn huffed, grumbling and more than a little pissed towards him. "Now I know why your men are switching sides."
If that's what she believed, then that was fine, but he would correct her nonetheless; from the outlook it appeared that such was the case, but the truth was far different. Perhaps it was time he started being a bit more open anyways, and much more honest; Robyn was no enemy of his anymore, and if he could get her to understand, then perhaps they could change things for the better within their kingdom. Maybe they could become genuine allies, to serve and protect the people who needed them most, bettering things overall.
Both for Atlas, and Mantle.
"I can understand why you might believe that, but my men are a step above the common rabble you and your gang are probably used to. They understand the importance of following code, and doing things the right way."
"The right way, huh? Okay then, so tell me: is ordering your boy Watts to run dirty trips between Atlas and Mantle "the right way" to handle problems?"
James froze up, slowly turning to Robyn.
"Pardon?"
"You heard me!" She shoved her weapon into his chest this time. "You're prattling on about the right way, but you're dragging your oh so important men down to your level, to help you with your scheming. I wonder, how loyal would they be if they knew what you were up to?"
"Run that back."
"Hmm?"
He couldn't afford to let her lose focus now, and so he asked again.
"I'm telling you to -" She'd shoved him against the elevator wall, aiming for his head now.
"You don't get to tell me anything, unless it's to answer my questions!"
"Arthur Watts." He said, getting a slight shift from her eyelids. She recognised the name, but he pressed her anyway. "Is that who you're referring to? Arthur Watts."
"Yeah, what about it? He's the guy who looks after your shipping routes, right?"
No... no, she was horribly mistaken. But the fact that she was wrong put a schism into her innocence, but James stopped himself there. He couldn't afford to mislabel her here; he needed information, and he needed it now.
"Have you spoken with Arthur Watts?"
"What's it matter to you?"
That, again, told him everything he needed to hear. The man shouldn't have been here, and yet he'd supposedly gotten into contact with Robyn Hill, deceiving her into believing that he was - if James was reading her statements right - a rogue agent of Atlas. Arthur Watts couldn't possibly be alive... unless...
Unless Salem had something to do with it.
Damnit! Ironwood swore internally, finally piecing together just how dire the situation was. Of course! The hacking, the suspicious files, it all belonged to him!
Arthur Watts had played them for fools.
Ironwood scrutinized Robyn's expression, hard, as he struggled to devise a plan of action. Even with this being the case, and even with Robyn herself indirectly admitting she'd been in cahoots with him, he couldn't disregard her previous reaction at the vault. Maybe she'd been drafted by Salem's group already, but her love for Mantle and protecting the innocent was real, meaning that she had to be ignorant of what was really at stake here.
James Ironwood was forced to make another drastic decision, and to be quite frank, he was tired of forging enemies.
"Listen to me very carefully."
"Why should I?" She jammed him against the wall harder, and he made no move to push back.
"Just listen, that's all I ask."
He waited for what felt like minutes, which were merely seconds, until she ultimately backed up. Her aim was still on his head, but at least she'd given him space.
"Fine." She spat, narrowing her eyes. "Speak."
He nodded, before painting his tone with a steady layer of vigilance. This would potentially rupture her ability to trust anything for a while, but such injuries could be repaired later. He needed her help now, more than ever, and so he bluntly stated.
"There is no Arthur Watts who works in the transportation division of my military." Her eyes narrowed harder, until he continued on. "Arthur Watts was instead a scientist who helped pioneer our research and development division. He died during an accident involving the field testing of one of our earlier Atlesian Paladin's earlier designs."
"What?" She appeared lost for a second, before regaining her edge. "So what? You're saying I was talking to a fake? Why does that matter?"
"No." James once again corrected, chancing a step forward fearlessly, even as she began pointing her crossbow closer to his face. He held her gaze, however, and responded without a hint of reservation. "I believe you were speaking with the real Arthur Watts."
"But you just said he was dead."
"I did, and I believed it too." James hummed, and as Robyn slowly lowered her crossbow, he shared exactly what he was thinking. "However, we've been finding strange information laid out in strategic places within the grips of people in power. Jacques Schnee had a suspicious file in his possession which implied he was working with you towards some end goal."
"As if I'd even breathe the same air as that man!" She backed away, face full of disgust, and Ironwood nodded.
"I'm aware. We knew you would never do such a thing, but from the outlook it all appeared legit. There was no possible way to place those pieces of what we believed to be evidence into where we found them without it being done by Jacques himself. We were under the assumption that the only possible way he could even have those documents was if he'd accepted them himself. However, if Arthur Watts is truly alive, then that changes things drastically."
Robyn stared for a bit, before finally lowering her weapon.
"How?"
"Because Arthur Watts was one of the only two people in Atlas to take up the duty of writing and refining the coding language which most of our security systems rely on today."
The elevator door dinged, and so Ironwood stepped out into the hallway, now with his sights towards the direction of his office.
"To put it simply: if he's found his way inside the core of all our systems right now, then he has the entirety of Atlas Academy at his fingertips."
"Sir!"
That shout ripped both leaders from their talk, and Ironwood shot around to see Clover dashing over. He had Penny in his arms, apparently shut off, meaning that they would soon learn if Arthur Watts was indeed alive like he thought, or if there were potentially more rogues to deal with.
"Clover." He nodded, looking over Penny's body. Not a single massive dent, or really any signs of struggle or damage. "Explain."
"The defenses Dr. Polendina installed worked perfectly." The young man's eyes fell down to their robotic companion. "The shutdown went off without a hitch. Meaning our hacker attempted to take control."
"Most likely to stir up trouble for those evacuating." Ironwood finished, nodding to Clover. "We'll have Pietro analyze what happened later. Knowing him, he set up a method to both log and track the rogue signal. Take Penny out to the docs and commandeer a ship. Get her down to Pietro's as quickly as you can. Time is of the essence."
"You think they're going to try and escape?" Clover guessed, only for James to shoot him down.
"No. I believe they're too far along for that." The school shook immensely, but everyone remained on their feet. "All this chaos is bound to create massive waves of fear."
"But we're too high up for any sort of Grimm incursion." Clover pointed out.
"You're right." Ironwood's face hardened into a scowl. "But it's not a natural invasion I'm worried about."
Clover stood befuddled for a bit, before he seemingly caught on. He stumbled over his words as he asked. "You're not implying -"
"A direct assault?" Ironwood sighed, seeing the worry in the eyes of his top student. "Unfortunately, yes, I am."
"But the shields -"
"May as well not even be there." Ironwood added. "If our hacker is who I think they are, then those shields still being up are simply to keep us from catching on. Listen to me carefully, Clover, they have the maiden now, meaning that all previous formalities are off."
"What's going to happen?" Clover tried, one final time, and James could feel the eyes of Robyn burning into the back of his head. He'd explain it all on the way to his office. They needed to get a view on where the fight was taking place, so they could insert themselves into it. Right now, though, the war was about to begin.
"Salem is making her move."
Author's note
…
Yeah, it was another break from the action, but we needed to get Ironwood and Robyn out of the way - I'd rather introduce them naturally, as opposed to having a brief explanation when they jump into the fight.
Penny got hacked, as was expected, and it seems Watts is about to be completely discovered. How will he recuperate from this horrid embarrassment, and how will Robyn take to learning about everything. Guess you'll need to find out later, because coming up, Cinder and Steel take on the main crew.
Until next time.