"They're fine." Velvet stood, her eyes not attached to the smoke staining the city's atmosphere as it rose, but instead on Winchester.
"Good." She didn't like the relief in Coco's voice, but let it slide. "Alright. Come meet up with us around the docks if things are looking fine, or whenever you can. We've found one of the burrows these jerks came from, and right now we're keeping more from getting through while awaiting support."
"I'll be with you in a bit."
Josh: Jay's friend, and by extension Miltia's too. Coco probably wouldn't like it if he got hurt, but then again, Velvet had an itch to hurt him. She, as always, allowed logic to repress the urge. She had her own life now, with her own values and friends and limits. Senselessly calling action against those who bugged her just wasn't in the cards anymore.
Even though she sometimes wished it was.
Shut up, she told herself. Those weren't her new thoughts. Velvet Scarlatina worked hard to earn her place in Beacon, even if her mom never really approved of something so white-collar.
Her scroll rang, and while ready to reiterate for Coco that she'd be out soon, a secondary name fished a scowl from her, or rather a set of initials: M.S. The second she connected, her scroll fell off the grid.
"Velvet."
"Meg." Calling her by her first name always used to get under her skin, but today it played out differently.
"You don't sound stressed. How are you physically?"
"Acceptable."
"Mentally?"
"I'm not repeating myself."
"... There's a place waiting for you, for when you choose to take it."
A place swamped with more four-foot holes to fill.
"Why did you call me?" Meg never called her.
"News has reached Vacuo of trouble in Vale. Is it so wrong for me to feel concern for my wonderful daughter?"
Velvet guessed it wasn't. Sparkles, long dresses, and strapping obedient men ready to tend on her hand and foot twenty-four seven lit up her imagination. Anything she wanted, whenever she wanted, and all for the low low price of a well placed round or two - maybe a knife and some poison if she felt like spicing the night up.
Every now and then, on particularly unacceptable days, the offer roped around her wrists and strung her high and helpless, until the cold eyes of a little boy ripped not only them, but the skin underneath.
"You never called during other major events; this is hardly the first time Vale's gone through trouble."
"Honey, you're one of us~ The ruffians of the White Fang know better than to lay hands on you."
I wasn't referring to them. She saw Cardin get pulled to his feet, stagger, and right himself.
"Can you make it quick? I've got monsters to slay."
"Yes yes. Anything for my baby girl~" Some might call her mother's voice seductive, but Velvet knew damn well Meg didn't get saucy with anyone but her dads. The sugary kindness within that 'anything' told her clearly that the next words out of her mom's mouth wouldn't be well received. "As you know, the Vytal Festival Tournament can bring in some fairly sizable income. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it this year."
"No."
"Honey, I haven't even said-"
"I'm not going to play delivery girl for your gambling addiction. Not for you, or the other three."
"Velvet, listen to mommy before you speak, okay?"
She had to suck in a sharp breath not to clap back with a verbal slap. The few seconds of nothing acted as a yes - or so her mother always saw it that way. For a second she remembered Will, the only one of her dads untouched by her mom's business ventures.
"Understanding is the shield against aggression," he'd say. "Your mother may not believe so, but I think the only reason anyone ever argues is because they cannot clearly express their feelings."
Such a cheesy guy; no wonder mom stuck him in her collection - thank goodness he only knew her mother's mask. Brothers forbid he discover his "brothers."
Below, Cardin seemed to resurrect from his stupor, and took point again. Still, she could not fully cast away a steep semblance of hatred. Dad - Will, as in, the only one she considered her real dad - made it sound so easy, but no matter how many sensible excuses she told herself or others, she couldn't help but wish he'd been crushed by the Death Stalker's claws.
But Josh just had to save him. Begrudgingly, she felt genuine thanks overcome her towards Jay's far too kind friend.
Meg's words stripped her of focus, leaving her exposed to the onslaught of less predictable reasons for what she'd already expected.
"I wasn't feeling up for the game this year, however I've come across some... interesting news from a handful of friends in with the visiting Atlesians. Word is, the other three have teamed up with the White Fang to apparently unearth the grave of a Faunus Trader."
"I don't fill those anymore." Listen or not, she'd put her foot down on that.
"I'm not asking you to. What I want is for you to get some information."
"What's it to you?" If not to bury the exhumed, then what?
"Put bluntly: Lil'Miss herself has been a bit sore. She's pulled out most of our business ventures together, and I want you to remind her that I'm still willing and ready. With an attack so blatant as the one I'm hearing of, this may be our chance to fully collect our dues."
Velvet's fingers ached, and she only then noticed she'd nearly crushed her scroll.
"What do you want me to do?"
"It's easy. Get a hold of a time when they're holding a meeting, and enter. Don't worry about being legit; they know you. You might have tricked everyone else, but not them. Or, perhaps you can go to... What's his name? Junior. Do they still call him Junior? The boy who took over when his pops passed."
"Yeah." Velvet sighed. At least she had an in. "Fine, I'll do it. But no work, understand?"
"I promise you, you won't even touch a butter knife. All I want is for you to pass the message, and then you can leave. I'd do it myself, but we both know how well she'll take it. From you, it will sound genuine."
Lil'Miss needed to be the instigator; not the other way around.
"Keep it that way." She'd not have Meg pulling a fast one on her. And 'genuine?' Fat chance of that. Velvet may have had her own regrets, but the only thing Meg ever regretted had been her choice in fashion during her birthday gala seven years back.
Velvet took off then, her mind reeling with undesired thoughts. For as much as she loathed to be back in the shadows under any circumstances, she couldn't lie to herself: the thought of staring down Lil'Miss while knowing there was nothing the bitch could do about it...
It put a fuzziness in her tummy, and stabbed her in the leg.
.
.
"Make a bee-line for the known entry points. Secure it and confirm. We have barricades on stand-by. Accept any and all aid; we can't afford to be picky."
James shoveled through several continuous reports, eventually being forced to redirect some off onto other high-ranking men to handle while he dealt with the worst. They'd pinned down several blasts already, but without any captured witnesses, they couldn't confirm exactly how many explosions they had to deal with.
Some reports said two, others four, some only one, and so on and so forth. Most of the civilians who spewed all over social media didn't have the capability to tell apart a street shattering attack from a huntsmen's gun. If Qrow were here, he'd call it a real shit-show.
"James." But of all the people to interrupt him, Ozpin was the most welcome.
"What happened now?" A bit pre-emptive, but what other reason would Ozpin interrupt him for?"
"Qrow's confirmed Team RWBY's safety." They fled, as predicted, but he had an irk that wasn't all. Indeed, Ozpin proved as much with some positive news for once. "He's confirmed that exactly four bombs went off. RWBY had stumbled their way into the old Mountain Glenn burial, of which the Fang were stocking with both grimm and dust."
"They wanted this big; bigger than everything that came before."
"Their desperation seems... unusual, doesn't it?"
"You think she provoked them?" That confirmed it; today could get worse.
"Possibly. Their actions here put not only humans in jeopardy, but faunus as well. Who else would benefit from raw chaos?"
True enough, but that made theorizing about her schemes all the more difficult. The White Fang's recent actions had been more than a little mind boggling, but this did add to some already present information. In fact, with their newest aid's report filed away, James found his voice spewing rogue thoughts. Something about it all didn't quite add up, but with Clover's report, he at least had a name.
"Clover confirmed a meeting between "Lil'Miss," as she prefers to be addressed, and one Miss Fall."
"We have a Cinder Fall on the visitor's list; Haven, I believe."
"Lionheart's jurisdiction... Clover's report came crystal clear: two grimm, and our Miss Fall herself waving an inhuman arm."
"I've read it." Ozpin clacked his cane against the floor. "The second she steps into the school, she will face arrest."
"We can't hold her without proof."
"That's never stopped you before." James heard Ozpin begin to move, and his fading voice called back. "Focus on the now, and leave the rest to me. Unlike Jay, Miss Fall appears more active and, dare I say, accepting of Salem's command. We need to question her by any means necessary."
He'd like to, but with Salem's goons so intertwined with not only the big four, he wasn't entirely certain Cinder didn't have them in a vice grip. Together or not, he would save those concerns for later.
Back on the line, James continued to bark orders.
.
.
"Cinder, we have a problem."
From atop the roof of their safehouse overlooking the ocean, she sighed. Emerald was often the more headstrong of the two. If a problem warranted notification from her, then it couldn't be simple.
"And you can't solve it on your own?"
"Jay's asking for things."
The chaos below dulled, just a little, as her tongue dried.
"What kind of things?"
"Things involving Raven Branwen."
She could taste her saliva again. With her breathing smooth, she leaned to sit on the edge, and crossed one arm underneath the other and leaned into it.
"Why her?"
"Apparently, Raven's got the Spring Maiden in her mitts."
And that changed everything, so much everything that Cinder almost readied to dash right then and there. But she prevented that lust from overtaking her mind, and sprinkled over her tone some sweet basil.
"What a curious claim~ Just how... serious, is he about that?"
"Hard to say. From what we know, he apparently 'couldn't' escape when Beacon's kids showed up to kick things into motion."
"Oh?" Now that got her gears rolling. "Whatever for?"
"He won't say. He brought up Salem just to get out of it, but we're not sure if returning to the topic will make him clam up again."
And sadly, with the information he was carrying, they couldn't risk killing him either. Torture maybe, but even then he might resort to lies and screw them over. The knowledgeable carried far more weapons than most of them knew how to use. Jay didn't seem the type to wield those knives and hammers either, but she didn't feel like risking it at the moment.
"I'm at the house beside the docks. Bring him here, and I'll listen to what he has to say."
"Understood."
The call cut, and Cinder pondered going out to "aid" in the city's defense. It would grant her a solidly positive reputation, but at the same time, it carried the risk of random White Fang peons calling for her aid - a no-no that would shatter her plans. Unfortunately, the plan appeared scuffed anyway, and with that, she dialed up the one man who might explain how that happened.
"Look, if you're calling to complain, know that it wasn't my fault; the boys were losing to kids, kids!"
"I see... And what about you?"
"We didn't have a choice. You know as well as I do that those Beacon brats won't keep their mouths shut over something like what we had going. Heck, Atlas probably has a plan in place already to deal with this."
"You seem to be doing just fine."
"When I stepped out of the hole, which was a chore and a half by the way, nobody was around. That raid, which might I remind you was your call, had pretty much everyone distracted. Grimm slaughtered what should have been the opening act our floppy-eared friends worked so hard to memorize, and then filtered out into the city."
"Are you saying this is my fault?"
"No! I'm just saying we ran into a spot of bad luck, and I had to make a call."
Annoyingly, Cinder knew she couldn't argue against it. Too quickly the trap sprung, and Roman wouldn't be able to keep Ironwood's eyes on him long enough for her to set the rest of the pieces in place. If he didn't keep the man guessing, they risked drawing attention to several smaller acts that needed to be carried out.
All of their poisons being injected at once could easily be connected, which was why Roman's involvement was a necessity. She needed him to throw Ozpin's cronies off her trail, or at least buy her enough time to get the city roaring with combat. She could probably take on Ozpin and a handful of his pawns - Salem trained her precisely for that - but the entirety of Vale?
Not a chance.
"Hide yourself for the coming week. I'll contact you once I string together our backup."
She refused to give him a chance to speak and cut it off there.
At the very least, Vale would pin the attack squarely on the White Fang. Roman seemed to have blown off before anyone could spot him, meaning he just became the least wanted person in the city; second to a terrorist organization who'd finally crossed a line. A slick smile drew across her face; smug, in a sense.
Maybe she could put the plan on pause, for a week at least. They still had a week and a half before the Vytal Festival Tournament began, and even then only a few matches required her presence. She had time to kill, and if Jay could make a decent enough case, she wouldn't mind briefly reminiscing with Raven.
A Maiden and a half would certainly prove superior to her simple Half-Maiden status.
Author's note
…
Velvet, Ozpin, and Cinder; a weird combo for sure, but RWBY and the crew aren't the only ones active in this mess.
Little Velvet has a sharper bite it seems, not that she hasn't been a bit brash since introduced. James getting the go from Ozpin to break rules, now that's something. Speaking of the man, Ozpin ain't taking no slack; Cinder's in for a shock the second they spot her.
Looks like Raven might be popping into the picture. Surely this can't get any worse than it already was.
I'm cutting it here; can't go any further without spoilers.
Until next time.