Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Gus Gungus]

She liked to think she took it really well : )

She finally took pity on her partner's distress, and Em got a gentle thwack to the back of the head to break her concentration, and Mercury found the spoon and ice cream snatched out of his hands from a Neo who hadn't been where she was moments earlier.

Even after the illusion had broken...

'-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-Oh! Phew..."

Noticing the ice cream dripping down his chin, he angrily wiped it away with his arm.

'Geez, ask for ONE kiss and you get put through the wringer. I think I'd rather go a couple more rounds with that red-haired chick than go through THAT again!"

Noticing his partner had been the one for the save, Roman grinned and gave her a thumbsup.

"That's the second time you've saved me recently, Neo. Thanks, partner."

The gruesome twosome retreated from their prey's bedside once it became clear Neo wasn't going to let them have any more fun, a bit of a pout on each of their faces.

"Well, she's picked her side."

"We gave her so many opportunities to be one of the cool kids."

"She just can't picture life without her little ginger terrier."

"I think I'm gonna throw up."

Pulling back and restoring their voices to regular pitch, they each slowly prowled toward Roman from either side of the bed with a near-clockwork synchronicity.

"It was the conceitedness. It's cool when he does it," Emerald pointed out helpfully, thumbing over towards Mercury, who winked and gave a slow nod.

"Yup. Too bad, too. I was looking forward to spooning ice cream into the Badass of Beacon's mouth all day long."

Emerald gave a knowing nod herself as they each settled into a chair by the bed. "You knew about that, right? The footage of you fighting Nikos after everyone else went down came out. Everyone's talking about what a hero you are."

"That's right. Gotta say, you might not have scratched her, but being able to hold out that long 'til one of your Neo fantasies came along to help is no joke. Don't worry, I've had the same dream." He added the last part in hushed, conspiratorial tones, kicking his legs up on Roman's bed and resting his hands on his crown. "I dunno what Nikos's problem is, but she's kind of a beast. I could barely get an edge on her when she was keeping her semblance on the downlow. It'd take something preeee-tty sneaky for me to pull a win off if she was going all-out."

"Something he's not capable of. She'd destroy him."

"Preeeee-tty sneaky indeed."

Of course, Neo was getting far higher praise for being the one who actually kicked a certain amount of ass, but she wasn't the one lying in a hospital bed so he left that part out.

"...So." He continued with a renewed sense of gravity to his tone, the kind Mercury only used when he was getting bored or wanted to shift the mood to something more serious. Right now it was a little of both. "This obviously changes everything, right? I mean, Cardin and his entire team are super dead. So's half our class. No way the faculty just brush this one off."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"That's just great. 'Course it's not you in the timeline you could actually do some good with it," he levelled at Raven accusingly, though he actually had a disbelieving smirk on his face out of sheer incredulity just how terrible that revelation actually was. Generations had gone by without a maiden being discovered. If getting home hinged on that, they were gonna be waiting a lot longer than five days. Still, by all accounts they found themselves in a world where up was down and left was right; By that logic...

"What about the name Vernal? That ring any bells to anybody?"

A frown was the only response to Qrow's harsh accusatory words, Raven refraining from snapping back at him out of an unusual sense of...understanding. If this Qrow's relationship with his Raven was anything like the absolute mess of a relationship she had with her own brother, she supposed she couldn't really blame him. And among the people in the room that called this world home, only Raven reacted in any meaningful way to that name. "I do. I've met her, once or twice. One of Qro--" She caught herself, hastily correcting: "-this world's Qrow, she's one of his bandits. Are you actually suggesting that she's the one?" ​

 

[Gus Gungus]

A frown was the only response to Qrow's harsh accusatory words, Raven refraining from snapping back at him out of an unusual sense of...understanding. If this Qrow's relationship with his Raven was anything like the absolute mess of a relationship she had with her own brother, she supposed she couldn't really blame him. And among the people in the room that called this world home, only Raven reacted in any meaningful way to that name. "I do. I've met her, once or twice. One of Qro--" She caught herself, hastily correcting: "-this world's Qrow, she's one of his bandits. Are you actually suggesting that she's the one?"

He shrugged, not necessarily opposed to having an exchange with this alternate Raven if her moral skew was a little to the other direction of the one he knew. Part of his frequent barbs were in gauging her, seeing how she took the affront, and it was hard not to feel a little bad when she was reacting more like the sister he'd once been able to get along with than the bandit chief he hardly even recognised.

"It's somewhere to start kicking over rocks. That's more than we have otherwise. Back home, Vernal was your decoy. You let everyone think it was her so if anyone ever came looking it'd be her who took the bullet, and she did. Doesn't seem so likely if I'm the one filling your shoes, but he might know something about all that."

He raised an eyebrow.

"...And you could take us right to him. Couldn't you?"​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"I don't know, to be honest. Probably try to keep me safe at all costs. Kind of like they're doing now-" She pointed at the guard outside this hospital room. "-but obviously to a greater degree. Just because the people behind the attack failed this time, doesn't mean they won't try again. But...I'll admit, that's not what I want to do. The people who orchestrated that attack wanted to get to me. Everybody that died, those deaths...they're dead because of me. I can't just sit here and not do anything. I feel...the people who were leading that attack, the ones that weren't caught. They can't just get away with it."​

"Can we even trust them to keep you safe?"

There wasn't any malice to the question; he seemed to genuinely be unsure if that was the case. He settled lower into his chair, his hands clasped in a ball in front of his mouth as his thoughts continued to turn.

"You're in Beacon, and under the very watchful eye of the headmistress herself. Yet in the end, the only reason Nikos and Valkyrie didn't whisk you off to hell knows where for whatever their designs were was us, your team."

...

"And Neo." He added with a begrudging frown before he cleared his throat and got back on track. Not that he wasn't immensely grateful to her and Roman's help, but... it was at least a little sting to his pride that they'd essentially had to be rescued as a team.

"What I'm saying is that you were under the best protection Salem and her associates could provide short of burying you in a hole and throwing away the key, and this still happened. Can we really sit back and assume they'll fix the holes in their defenses, that whoever this enemy is won't slip through again?" Once more his tone wasn't accusing; but genuinely questioning.

"...I think the answers no. In fact, I think the only reason things didn't go even worse was something that neither our dearest headmaster nor the enemy saw coming. Do you remember miss Rose? How confused she was during the attack? How different she acted than every other time we saw her before that, while she'd been here for the tournament?" He asked as he pushed out of his seat and began to pace. "Something was clearly wrong there. And she wasn't the only anomaly. There were two Neos at the fight between us and those scum. At first I assumed it was someone using a semblance to look like Neo for... some reason, but they used the same semblance the entire fight, and I've been digging the last few days, and look at this-"

He turned from his pacing and pulled out his scroll, leaning across the bed to show Cinder the screen as he flicked his fingers through a few menus and prompts. "I got into the security feeds of the Atlas capitol ship" He said like it was checking out a book from the library and not high treason he was talking about "Look who one of their prisoners in isolation is"

The screen flickered to life, and showed the definitely not real Neo ( : |||) doing whatever she happened to be doing at that time.

"Those cells suppress aura. She looks like that without a semblance."

 

[MyrtenRose]

He shrugged, not necessarily opposed to having an exchange with this alternate Raven if her moral skew was a little to the other direction of the one he knew. Part of his frequent barbs were in gauging her, seeing how she took the affront, and it was hard not to feel a little bad when she was reacting more like the sister he'd once been able to get along with than the bandit chief he hardly even recognised.

"It's somewhere to start kicking over rocks. That's more than we have otherwise. Back home, Vernal was your decoy. You let everyone think it was her so if anyone ever came looking it'd be her who took the bullet, and she did. Doesn't seem so likely if I'm the one filling your shoes, but he might know something about all that."

He raised an eyebrow.

"...And you could take us right to him. Couldn't you?"​

"...Oh." It wasn't much of a response but Raven wasn't sure how to react to the news of that. It felt like a small piece of a large puzzle, and hard to judge without knowing...well, a lot more. Which she supposed was another issue here. "I could, yes. But if we're going to do this, I'd like the chance to talk to the three of you alone first. Please." ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Raven was suddenly thankful she had managed to regain her composure before this. "..." "..." That reply threw both Raven and Salem for a loop, albeit for entirely different reasons. "What? I'm not--" "Ahem. While this may ring different for your world, here...I assure you that Raven is not the Spring Maiden."​

"Oh come on, really?" Yang groaned, a deep and frankly upsetting frustration settling into her bones as she ran a hand down her face. When she kinda hoped that maybe her mom might be a good person and maybe not have left her in some world, no dice. When she wanted her mom to have been a bad person and have killed some poor girl who got saddled with the maiden's magic in a bid for power, she didn't do that either! You just couldn't win with this woman

Thud.

That was the sound of Qrow's head hitting Salem's desk, with just enough force to set her stationary quaking as he digested this new information. Jinn was a good idea, one that had previously occurred to him during the FIVE DAYS of hell waiting to get this meeting, but he'd almost been reluctant to bring it up in case his stupid luck worked its charm. Turned out it didn't even matter.

"That's just great. 'Course it's not you in the timeline you could actually do some good with it," he levelled at Raven accusingly, though he actually had a disbelieving smirk on his face out of sheer incredulity just how terrible that revelation actually was. Generations had gone by without a maiden being discovered. If getting home hinged on that, they were gonna be waiting a lot longer than five days. Still, by all accounts they found themselves in a world where up was down and left was right; By that logic...

"What about the name Vernal? That ring any bells to anybody?"

​

"Well, hey, if she never met her-" She said a bit too snidely, far less eager to let bygones be bygones when she never got to see the side of Raven that Qrow had, "-then there's a pretty good chance she's still alive here, right?"

A frown was the only response to Qrow's harsh accusatory words, Raven refraining from snapping back at him out of an unusual sense of...understanding. If this Qrow's relationship with his Raven was anything like the absolute mess of a relationship she had with her own brother, she supposed she couldn't really blame him. And among the people in the room that called this world home, only Raven reacted in any meaningful way to that name. "I do. I've met her, once or twice. One of Qro--" She caught herself, hastily correcting: "-this world's Qrow, she's one of his bandits. Are you actually suggesting that she's the one?" ​

He shrugged, not necessarily opposed to having an exchange with this alternate Raven if her moral skew was a little to the other direction of the one he knew. Part of his frequent barbs were in gauging her, seeing how she took the affront, and it was hard not to feel a little bad when she was reacting more like the sister he'd once been able to get along with than the bandit chief he hardly even recognised.

"It's somewhere to start kicking over rocks. That's more than we have otherwise. Back home, Vernal was your decoy. You let everyone think it was her so if anyone ever came looking it'd be her who took the bullet, and she did. Doesn't seem so likely if I'm the one filling your shoes, but he might know something about all that."

He raised an eyebrow.

"...And you could take us right to him. Couldn't you?"​

Her uncle the bandit... oooh. Yikes.

"... Are you really okay with that?" She asked, a slightly worried frown on her face as she reached over to clasp her uncle's shoulder. "Going to have a chat with... yourself?"

Qrow didn't even seem to like the himself that was on the right side of the fight, and it sure sounded like this one wasn't. It was harder to try to talk to him about his problems than it was Ruby or Weiss or Blake, because it wasn't ever really clear if it was her place to. He was the adult in the group, literally her uncle, and it felt like it was pushing some weird, unspoken boundaries to try and play team therapist for him. Asking if he really wanted to do this, and the unspoken inclusion that it was ok if he wasn't, was as close as she could probably get without feeling extra weird about it

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"...Oh." It wasn't much of a response but Raven wasn't sure how to react to the news of that. It felt like a small piece of a large puzzle, and hard to judge without knowing...well, a lot more. Which she supposed was another issue here. "I could, yes. But if we're going to do this, I'd like the chance to talk to the three of you alone first. Please." ​

"ok but what if, instead of that, you just said what you needed to here, to the class?" she couldn't help but add

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Can we even trust them to keep you safe?"

There wasn't any malice to the question; he seemed to genuinely be unsure if that was the case. He settled lower into his chair, his hands clasped in a ball in front of his mouth as his thoughts continued to turn.

"You're in Beacon, and under the very watchful eye of the headmistress herself. Yet in the end, the only reason Nikos and Valkyrie didn't whisk you off to hell knows where for whatever their designs were was us, your team."

...

"And Neo." He added with a begrudging frown before he cleared his throat and got back on track. Not that he wasn't immensely grateful to her and Roman's help, but... it was at least a little sting to his pride that they'd essentially had to be rescued as a team.

"What I'm saying is that you were under the best protection Salem and her associates could provide short of burying you in a hole and throwing away the key, and this still happened. Can we really sit back and assume they'll fix the holes in their defenses, that whoever this enemy is won't slip through again?" Once more his tone wasn't accusing; but genuinely questioning.

"...I think the answers no. In fact, I think the only reason things didn't go even worse was something that neither our dearest headmaster nor the enemy saw coming. Do you remember miss Rose? How confused she was during the attack? How different she acted than every other time we saw her before that, while she'd been here for the tournament?" He asked as he pushed out of his seat and began to pace. "Something was clearly wrong there. And she wasn't the only anomaly. There were two Neos at the fight between us and those scum. At first I assumed it was someone using a semblance to look like Neo for... some reason, but they used the same semblance the entire fight, and I've been digging the last few days, and look at this-"

He turned from his pacing and pulled out his scroll, leaning across the bed to show Cinder the screen as he flicked his fingers through a few menus and prompts. "I got into the security feeds of the Atlas capitol ship" He said like it was checking out a book from the library and not high treason he was talking about "Look who one of their prisoners in isolation is"

The screen flickered to life, and showed the definitely not real Neo ( : |||) doing whatever she happened to be doing at that time.

"Those cells suppress aura. She looks like that without a semblance."

"...…" As much as she was thankful to Salem and Glynda for bringing her here, from helping her escape a continued existence as her father's end of the day punching bag, for those two and all the other professors/teachers on staff doing everything they could to make her stay feel warm and cozy and secure and...god, just everything a real home should feel like...she had to admit that she agreed with Arthur on this. Even only as far back as the day right before it all went to hell, if anyone had asked her if she thought people would seriously attack Beacon, she would have laughed at them. It was a school filled with trained and experienced huntsmen and huntresses teaching a whole lot more students in training. Who would even dare attack that?

Yet here they were, with her in the hospital short one eye.

She mulled over her own thoughts in greater detail, even as she looked over the feeds Watts had tapped into. It did confirm that the double wasn't just some illusion or hallucination trickey at play, but more than that...it just really reinforced Arthur's point. Despite trying their best to make sure Beacon was as defended as it possibly could be, people still found a way to get through, just as Arthur had managed to worm his way past Atlas security systems.

Cinder sighed. "If...if I said I agree with your assessment...then what? What do we do next?"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Her uncle the bandit... oooh. Yikes.

"... Are you really okay with that?" She asked, a slightly worried frown on her face as she reached over to clasp her uncle's shoulder. "Going to have a chat with... yourself?"

Qrow didn't even seem to like the himself that was on the right side of the fight, and it sure sounded like this one wasn't. It was harder to try to talk to him about his problems than it was Ruby or Weiss or Blake, because it wasn't ever really clear if it was her place to. He was the adult in the group, literally her uncle, and it felt like it was pushing some weird, unspoken boundaries to try and play team therapist for him. Asking if he really wanted to do this, and the unspoken inclusion that it was ok if he wasn't, was as close as she could probably get without feeling extra weird about it

Likewise, Qrow was never really one to start spilling his guts to his nieces. He was starting to get old now, not the 'old' every teenager thought people in their twenties were but actually old, his host of problems the kind that came with a lifetime of living with yourself and getting less and less proud of it every year. They were two young, (in spite of everything) happy ladies just coming into their own, and frankly one of his biggest regrets was not being around for more of it when they were growing up, for being that elusive, almost flaky relative who only came around a handful of times a year, that uncle everyone loved but nobody saw enough of. With the kind of trouble he brought, everywhere he went, he'd always reasoned it had to be that way; but it was one of the most painful footnotes of his existence and somehow he'd never found the guts to put it in direct words, even if he was pretty sure they understood it implicitly. He was there to help and encourage them, not watch them get saddled down by his crap.

So at the shoulder squeeze, Qrow quirked an eyebrow and smirked in a way that, while a bit of a smokescreen, radiated sincerity and genuine warmth.

"What could be worse than this mug?

"...Oh." It wasn't much of a response but Raven wasn't sure how to react to the news of that. It felt like a small piece of a large puzzle, and hard to judge without knowing...well, a lot more. Which she supposed was another issue here. "I could, yes. But if we're going to do this, I'd like the chance to talk to the three of you alone first. Please."

"ok but what if, instead of that, you just said what you needed to here, to the class?" she couldn't help but add

He gave a minor sigh through his nose, having the sinking feeling they were about to get into one of the stickier parts of all this. He crossed his arms and leaned over towards Yang, seeming to teeter and almost fall off his chair as his odor served as a reminder of his apparent relapse. "Try to remember whose table we're sitting at right now. No one in this room is who our instincts say they are, except Goodwitch who seems pretty much the same is that kinda weird or what. I get it, it's not exactly easy."

He leaned back out and cleared his throat, returning his focus to Raven.

"It's a whole thing. You can bend my ear all you want, but Yang doesn't even have to look at you if she doesn't wanna. Sorry. Anyway, like she said, she has something to take care of here first, and there's no way of telling how long we'll be out there—what say we do this at sundown?"
​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"ok but what if, instead of that, you just said what you needed to here, to the class?" she couldn't help but add

"I...can't."​

"... Are you really okay with that?" She asked, a slightly worried frown on her face as she reached over to clasp her uncle's shoulder. "Going to have a chat with... yourself?"

Likewise, Qrow was never really one to start spilling his guts to his nieces. He was starting to get old now, not the 'old' every teenager thought people in their twenties were but actually old, his host of problems the kind that came with a lifetime of living with yourself and getting less and less proud of it every year. They were two young, (in spite of everything) happy ladies just coming into their own, and frankly one of his biggest regrets was not being around for more of it when they were growing up, for being that elusive, almost flaky relative who only came around a handful of times a year, that uncle everyone loved but nobody saw enough of. With the kind of trouble he brought, everywhere he went, he'd always reasoned it had to be that way; but it was one of the most painful footnotes of his existence and somehow he'd never found the guts to put it in direct words, even if he was pretty sure they understood it implicitly. He was there to help and encourage them, not watch them get saddled down by his crap.

So at the shoulder squeeze, Qrow quirked an eyebrow and smirked in a way that, while a bit of a smokescreen, radiated sincerity and genuine warmth.

"What could be worse than this mug?

"..." However she took that display of familial love between them, she didn't say.

Ruby didn't know what to say either, but on the other hand, despite the sorta tense moment with his flask earlier, was quick to step up and repeat the gesture on her uncle's other shoulder. Even the best role models needed support themselves.​

"It's a whole thing. You can bend my ear all you want, but Yang doesn't even have to look at you if she doesn't wanna. Sorry. Anyway, like she said, she has something to take care of here first, and there's no way of telling how long we'll be out there—what say we do this at sundown?"

"You're right." Raven agreed. "She doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to. If she refuses, if you end up changing your mind, so be it. I won't force anyone. We'll just meet back up at sundown or whenever you're ready, and you'll have your meeting with the bandit king." She turned and nodded towards Salem and Glynda, turned again and looked over towards Yang for a couple seconds before she strode for the elevator to leave.

"...I think that went pretty well, by Raven standards, wouldn't you say?" Salem couldn't help but comment quietly towards Glynda. Goodwitch just turned that stern glare she had mastered oh so well and directed it over at Salem herself. The headmistress chuckled.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"...…" As much as she was thankful to Salem and Glynda for bringing her here, from helping her escape a continued existence as her father's end of the day punching bag, for those two and all the other professors/teachers on staff doing everything they could to make her stay feel warm and cozy and secure and...god, just everything a real home should feel like...she had to admit that she agreed with Arthur on this. Even only as far back as the day right before it all went to hell, if anyone had asked her if she thought people would seriously attack Beacon, she would have laughed at them. It was a school filled with trained and experienced huntsmen and huntresses teaching a whole lot more students in training. Who would even dare attack that?

Yet here they were, with her in the hospital short one eye.

She mulled over her own thoughts in greater detail, even as she looked over the feeds Watts had tapped into. It did confirm that the double wasn't just some illusion or hallucination trickey at play, but more than that...it just really reinforced Arthur's point. Despite trying their best to make sure Beacon was as defended as it possibly could be, people still found a way to get through, just as Arthur had managed to worm his way past Atlas security systems.

Cinder sighed. "If...if I said I agree with your assessment...then what? What do we do next?"​

His brow furrowed as he stood up from the bed, staring out the window.

"...I don't know."

The answer seemed to come to a surprise to him as he strode back to his chair and took a seat as if to steady himself, his fingers drumming on the arm rests. He started to speak, before he caught himself and thought a bit longer. Nothing came of it. Eventually, he just settled for stating the obvious

"The only kingdom safer than Vale is Atlas. Yet its also the most surveilled, and while I'm certainly one of the best, its not as if I'm the only hacker out there. What happens to Vale if we just leave, anyways? Does this enemy leave it be? Do you need to be near this vault for any reason? There's... there's too many variables I don't know."

 

[MyrtenRose]

His brow furrowed as he stood up from the bed, staring out the window.

"...I don't know."

The answer seemed to come to a surprise to him as he strode back to his chair and took a seat as if to steady himself, his fingers drumming on the arm rests. He started to speak, before he caught himself and thought a bit longer. Nothing came of it. Eventually, he just settled for stating the obvious

"The only kingdom safer than Vale is Atlas. Yet its also the most surveilled, and while I'm certainly one of the best, its not as if I'm the only hacker out there. What happens to Vale if we just leave, anyways? Does this enemy leave it be? Do you need to be near this vault for any reason? There's... there's too many variables I don't know."

"I don't know either. I can't speak for whatever the enemy will decide to do, but...if I'm not near the vault, I don't think anything happens. I think it just stays sealed. Maybe...maybe Salem or Glynda will have an idea for us? I know their first inclination would probably be what I said earlier, but...if we could convince them not to or just plain talk it out with them, we could figure it out? Perhaps less playing defensive and more playing offensive? Find Nikos or Valkyrie or any of the major attackers from that night." ​

 

[MyrtenRose]

To put it mildly? The last few days had been a rollercoaster of confusion. Ups and downs all over the place...alright, mostly downs. Waking up from a nap she didn't even remember taking. A night in Menagerie suddenly bled into day without warning. Walking through the island...so much had inexplicably changed. Familiar faces she knew were just nowhere to be found. Strangers by the dozens had popped up in their place. Even the geography and many of the buildings felt...off. She couldn't explain how. She couldn't explain why. And when she had gone to Ghira and Kali to talk, to help her try and make even the smallest iota of sense about this...they had practically shut the door in her face. Trying to remind them of the new movement they were building did not help. So much was wrong that by the middle of the second day of her being here...she'd found a relatively isolated table, sat down and claimed it...and immediately laid her face down on the tabletop like it was a pillow, now somewhat seriously wondering if she'd gone mad.

She had not, as she soon found out.

It was by that day that the news reached them of what had transpired in Beacon. TV networks, newspaper circulation, online blog sites. Reports were all over.

Grimm Invasion of City!
White Fang: To the Rescue?
Criminals Wreak Havoc!
Beacon Academy, Standing Tall!

Dozens of headlines made the rounds, and by the time Ilia had pulled herself away from that increasingly comfortable table towards the nearest public TV broadcasting on the major current events of the world...talk of the Beacon and Vale attack dominated the airwaves so much that it seemed it would take hours to find a channel not featuring it. One screen displayed-- Ilia's eyes widened in pure shock. "Hey, turn that up!" She yelled towards the faunus closest to the TV, accidentally giving the poor dude a fright, but he quickly obliged. "Thanks. And sorry." She added, eyes glued to the screen.

Confirmed reports: known terrorist Blake Belladonna confirmed to have been present at the attack on Beacon. Repeat, confirmed report. I'm getting word that we have footage obtained from the battle. Be warned that the subject matter within may not be suitable for minors. A camera feed played showing Blake in an outfit she'd never seen, with an elaborate whole-face covering mask...slaughtering several Beacon students.

"...no..."

That...that couldn't be right. After the mistakes that had been made on Menagerie, the things they eventually realized needed to be set right...that...

Ilia tore her gaze away from that screen, unable to bear watching any more. Unfortunately, another report was quick to catch her attention. "Eve Taurus believed to have--" Her ears pricked up at that, lifting her head just in time to catch a displayed feed of a woman in a black suit and a long mane of red hair, sword glowing bright red in the dark of night. "................"

No, she hadn't gone mad. This world seemed to be a little mad.

This attack they were talking about, it had been years ago now and yet...here they were discussing it like it was a fresh horror, rather than a more distant memory. And it was different. Blake was attacking. Adam was...not Adam? Or had a sister??

It only took her five minutes after that to book passage on a boat to the mainland of Vale. It would take time crossing the waters, but it didn't matter. If that person the news claimed to be Blake was not actually her...she would endeavor to found out why they were impersonating her. If it was actually Blake...well, there was a jumbled up mess of questions rolling around in her head that would come spilling out when she found her.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

You're right." Raven agreed. "She doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to. If she refuses, if you end up changing your mind, so be it. I won't force anyone. We'll just meet back up at sundown or whenever you're ready, and you'll have your meeting with the bandit king." She turned and nodded towards Salem and Glynda, turned again and looked over towards Yang for a couple seconds before she strode for the elevator to leave.

"...I think that went pretty well, by Raven standards, wouldn't you say?" Salem couldn't help but comment quietly towards Glynda. Goodwitch just turned that stern glare she had mastered oh so well and directed it over at Salem herself. The headmistress chuckled.

"Great. Well if that's that..." He ventured, rolling his eyes at Ruby with an affectionate smirk before brushing off her hand like she weren't shit and pushing his chair back to go call the next elevator. He gave Salem an obligated nod before he went, though he was eager not to spend any more time in a room with even a kind Salem who kept all the same secrets and lies as Ozpin.

He didn't know which part of that sentence disagreed with him the most.​

 

[MidwayLives]

The gruesome twosome retreated from their prey's bedside once it became clear Neo wasn't going to let them have any more fun, a bit of a pout on each of their faces.

"Well, she's picked her side."

"We gave her so many opportunities to be one of the cool kids."

"She just can't picture life without her little ginger terrier."

"I think I'm gonna throw up."

As Mercury and Emerald pouted, Roman proudly looked over at his partner.

She was amazing in every sense of the world and the times she'd bailed him out could be counted on both his and her hands. He wouldn't have been afraid to admit it either: She was true huntsman material, he was just...him.

Still, he'd cherish the times she'd pulled his figurative ass out of the metaphorical fire.

But standing up to Nikos while Neo struggled with her doppelganger wasn't the first time he'd stuck up for Neo and it wouldn't be the last. One example stuck out in particular to him. It'd taken place after Neo and him had been carted off to foster care after 'The Incident' on Mt. Glenn. Neo had completely shut down by this point, talking was simply out of the question. It'd freaked out some of the other kids out but Roman's philosophy was always as such:

Screw em. They weren't owed an explanation and they could go straight to hell for ever thinking less of his buddy. Most of the time, his attitude and force of personality was enough to silence any people pressed to give the traumatized mute any beef. But that wasn't always the case...

~~~

'I can remember it just like it was yesterday. A couple of older kids were passing the time and were tossing a ball around. Would have bored the crap outta me but then it was either that or stare at the paint flaking off the walls as far as entertainment went. Wasn't the staff's fault, kids were notoriously hard to please, I should know. I'm still that way. Anyway, I mostly passed the time watching over Neo, doing anything I could to get a smile out of her. She does it a lot more these days but man, when she smiled?'

Roman paused in his reminiscing and his own smile seemed to grow kinder.

'It could really brighten up a room.'

'As we were in the middle of something-that much I can't be bothered to remember-the ball landed at my feet. Picking it up, I looked over to where it'd come from. Things weren't like they'd been at Mt. Glenn, some people didn't exactly gel with my 'roguish charms' and it lead to a couple of bad situations: like this one! They asked for the ball back, no, they demanded it back. Then they looked over at Neo and one of them quipped something stupid.'

'Hahaha, hey it's the freaky kid!'

'I'd go as far by this point to note that Neo was already tougher than me. I kinda had a feeling about that from the start. I usually talked our way outta trouble but sometimes it continued and she usually stepped in after that. She was-still is- reliable like that. Anyway, I motioned for Neo to stay back and twirled the ball on a finger-alright, alright I'm embellishing a bit...just a bit...-and told them they could have the ball back. The one who'd insulted Neo was one of those types of guys who'd constantly egg her on to try and talk. I never let that kinda shit slide. As he held his hands out for the ball, I threw it. Right out the nearest window, thank god it was open...'

'That's when they moved in on me, saying this and that, nothing too important. Just a bunch of bull at the end of the day. I told Neo to stay back.'

'I knew she'd win.'

'Needless to say I got beaten up. Bad. But as the kids backed off and went outside to get their ball, I smiled up at Neo. 'Nailed it.' Later on, when I'd mentioned the incident to an adult, those kids got punished like their was no tomorrow. Torchwick likability to the rescue yet again.'

And yet despite recalling this fond memory, Roman couldn't help but still wish he was just a bit tougher...
​

"It was the conceitedness. It's cool when he does it," Emerald pointed out helpfully, thumbing over towards Mercury, who winked and gave a slow nod.

"Yup. Too bad, too. I was looking forward to spooning ice cream into the Badass of Beacon's mouth all day long."

"Conceited?? Roman Torchwick?? Please."

Roman waved off the very thought of it but the snickering said otherwise.

Cinder, Watts, Hazel, Tyrian. All were interesting people in their own right. But Roman and his team? If you had to find the group that best fit the term: 'ragtag band of misfits' then you'd get MTEN. Mercury was a chill dude and although they joked a lot, Roman had a respect for him that others would be hard pressed to get out of him. Emerald's semblance would have been downright terrifying if she ever decided to say 'fuck it' and go batting for people like those goons who just attacked the school. Still, she was cool too.

But nothing ever beat his connection with Neo.

"...Badass...? Me?"

Well, hey, there was a first!
​

Emerald gave a knowing nod herself as they each settled into a chair by the bed. "You knew about that, right? The footage of you fighting Nikos after everyone else went down came out. Everyone's talking about what a hero you are."

"...Really??"

Man, if all it took to be called a hero by the masses was to talk shit and get his nose broken, he'd call Watts a 'NEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRDDDDDDD' a lot more often!

"That's...wow. I wouldn't have guessed I'd made much of an impact if I'm bein honest-and MAN it sucks to say that the rush this news is giving me feels GREAT-She totally sandbagged the big spiel I went on!" Of course the spiel hadn't been planned or anything. Roman just hoped that maybe if he kept talking long enough, the Neos could decide which deserved to be Neo more and keep him from getting bodied. Didn't exactly work out like that but thinking back on it now? Man, he totally had a lot more lines he could have used!

'Ten seconds. Is all it'll take for you to drop me. But I gotta warn ya, those ten seconds will be THE most annoying of your life.'

"See, you don't get to have this much confidence unless you KNOW your side's gonna come out on top. If my side needs someone to get their asskicked to win?: I gladly volunteer.'

'There's over 270 bones in the human body. Guess how many you can break before my partner drops you like a bad habit. Go on, guess! It'll be the last thing you do.'

Ugh! What a waste!
​

"That's right. Gotta say, you might not have scratched her, but being able to hold out that long 'til one of your Neo fantasies came along to help is no joke.

"Well, I'm just glad somebody thinks it looked awesome..."

In people's minds it might have come across as more:

"I don't care what happens to me. I won't let you get away with this!"

"W-What?! How dare you, scum!!?"

"Have at you!"

The gallant hero is beaten to a bloody pulp only for his beautiful knight in shining armor to come upon and save him....with her identical twin!

When really it was more like:

"I know I'm gonna get my ass kicked but if I know ahead of time, it'll be less satisfying for you!"

"I mean, not really."

"Oh."

A few missed punches here, there, a sharp elbow to the gut there-ouch-a punch in the face here. A shield to the face-oh yeah that was definitely the sound of his nose breaking.
​

Don't worry, I've had the same dream.

Roman coughed and pulled down on the brim of his hat.

Neo had noticed how eager he seemed to be over the idea of TWO Neos-both attractive in their own right, the other Neo just being a touch more murdery, and thankfully never made a point of addressing it with him after the fact. Something he was glad for.

The 'other' Neo was attractive, hella attractive, if he was being honest! But the whole 'charged with murder' and her somehow also being Neo but looking signifcantly older was kinda weird, not gonna lie.

" 'Badass of Beacon' has such a nice ring to it. Roman 'Badass of Beacon' Torchwick..Yeah~."
​

"I dunno what Nikos's problem is, but she's kind of a beast. I could barely get an edge on her when she was keeping her semblance on the downlow. It'd take something preeee-tty sneaky for me to pull a win off if she was going all-out."

"Something he's not capable of. She'd destroy him."

"Preeeee-tty sneaky indeed."

"I dunno, if I'd been trapped in Em's illusion for much longer and I was an enemy? I'd tell you everything I knew."

Plus the idea of the chick who busted his perfectly straight nose going through the same horrorshow he just had amused him greatly. The bushiness, ugh..., he shuddered. "Her semblance was probably the most annoying one I've seen that isn't Em's or Neo's. No offense of course, ladies. Tried to yoink her off her feet with Melodic Cudgel and she just...stopped it. Held the damn thing in the air and it was facing the wrong way so I couldn't even shoot her." Looking down at his hands, Roman sighed. "I made for a good punching bag but I ain't just comfortable rolling up my sleeves and throwing a punch. Feels so...not me..." Why risk literally getting your hands dirty when you could blast someone or thwack them with your cane??
​

"...So." He continued with a renewed sense of gravity to his tone, the kind Mercury only used when he was getting bored or wanted to shift the mood to something more serious. Right now it was a little of both. "This obviously changes everything, right? I mean, Cardin and his entire team are super dead. So's half our class. No way the faculty just brush this one off."

One thing about Mercury that Roman liked was his ability to know when to cut the crap and to get down to brass tacks. 99% of the time, their band felt like a traveling circus troupe that just so happened to be training to be professional ass kickers, but when their leader got serious, Roman paid attention.

"...Dunno, Merc. I looked through my scrolls and some students needed grief counseling after all this went down. I'm not gonna say our team drew the lucky straw but I'll take what I got a hundred times over what happened to Cardin and company." He hadn't seen the bodies but having heard of them among the casualties, his overactive imagination threatened to fill in the blanks for him. "Ain't no way we can just keep going and pretend like nothing happened. Cinder lost an eye, Tyrian got stabbed with his own tail, Hazel got punted through a building. If it hadn't been for the Neos, I'm gonna be straight with you.."

Roman paused and took a deeeep breath and exhaled.

"I'd probably have ended up just another statistic. We won but these guys obviously weren't slouches. They came here, willing to bulldoze whoever got in their way, and I wanna know what for. I hate being laid up in a hospital bed. The food sucks, the bed's NOT comfy, and I just get a vibe of death here. But I'd take being stuck here everytime if it meant holding off guys like Nikos from getting...whatever it is they wanted." Gripping tightly on the bedrail of his, well, bed. "I wanna know WHAT that something is. It sucks to get beaten up to protect.....what I don't even know."

Roman glanced over at Neo.

"I also wanna know what was actually up with that other Neo..."
​

The screen flickered to life, and showed the definitely not real Neo ( : |||) doing whatever she happened to be doing at that time.

And what exactly was Neo doing?



"....!!!"

Oh nothing! Just a little pouting and plotting of revenge that's all!

She totally wasn't ABSOLUTELY LIVID.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

As Mercury and Emerald pouted, Roman proudly looked over at his partner.

She was amazing in every sense of the world and the times she'd bailed him out could be counted on both his and her hands. He wouldn't have been afraid to admit it either: She was true huntsman material, he was just...him.

Still, he'd cherish the times she'd pulled his figurative ass out of the metaphorical fire.

But standing up to Nikos while Neo struggled with her doppelganger wasn't the first time he'd stuck up for Neo and it wouldn't be the last. One example stuck out in particular to him. It'd taken place after Neo and him had been carted off to foster care after 'The Incident' on Mt. Glenn. Neo had completely shut down by this point, talking was simply out of the question. It'd freaked out some of the other kids out but Roman's philosophy was always as such:

Screw em. They weren't owed an explanation and they could go straight to hell for ever thinking less of his buddy. Most of the time, his attitude and force of personality was enough to silence any people pressed to give the traumatized mute any beef. But that wasn't always the case...

"Who let this crap come on?" Merc snarked with a disapprovingly furrowed brow as Steven Universe reruns started playing, lazily snatching the remote off Roman's bedside table while he was busy flashing back again and navigating away from the kiddy channels to something more appealing to his personal taste.



"Now this? Quality entertainment."

"...Dunno, Merc. I looked through my scrolls and some students needed grief counseling after all this went down. I'm not gonna say our team drew the lucky straw but I'll take what I got a hundred times over what happened to Cardin and company." He hadn't seen the bodies but having heard of them among the casualties, his overactive imagination threatened to fill in the blanks for him. "Ain't no way we can just keep going and pretend like nothing happened. Cinder lost an eye, Tyrian got stabbed with his own tail, Hazel got punted through a building. If it hadn't been for the Neos, I'm gonna be straight with you.."

Roman paused and took a deeeep breath and exhaled.

"I'd probably have ended up just another statistic. We won but these guys obviously weren't slouches. They came here, willing to bulldoze whoever got in their way, and I wanna know what for. I hate being laid up in a hospital bed. The food sucks, the bed's NOT comfy, and I just get a vibe of death here. But I'd take being stuck here everytime if it meant holding off guys like Nikos from getting...whatever it is they wanted." Gripping tightly on the bedrail of his, well, bed. "I wanna know WHAT that something is. It sucks to get beaten up to protect.....what I don't even know."

"Not to sound like a dick, but they're dead and we're not 'cause we're the best this academy has to offer and they weren't. I wouldn't worry about it." He shrugged with total surety like that wasn't a pretty insensitive thing to say, bringing out the newspaper he had tucked under his arm and unfolding it. "What's done is done, life comes at you hard, etc. There you go. Grief counselling. I'll bill you later."

As it happened, he knew exactly how he sounded. Nothing like a little Black family-style tough love to keep a discussion rolling. They'd thank him one day. His eyes scanned the paper as he spoke, and those in the room could read that his face was doing that thing Mercury's face did sometimes. When just a little of that cocky, cool-guy persona cracked, and the depth of the shadows waiting underneath could be surprising. He tossed the paper on the bed, letting the headline speak for itself.

A GRIMM OMEN - BEACON'S DARKEST DAY?

"Thing is, we also just got our asses kicked. Hard. And you know what? I've been thinking it over, and I decided I'm pretty ticked off about it, and I plan on kicking back. So why don't we shelf the cute little talk about our feelings on that note and figure out who we need to put in the hospital to make this right?"

Emerald gasped and clapped her hands together, voice an excited squeak when it emerged. "Are we doing crimebusting stuff again?!"

"Better believe it."

"I also wanna know what was actually up with that other Neo..."

He shot him a look. "As a matter of fact, I haven't stopped thinking about her."

"Ugh, are you serious? You did that whole speech to like, hype us up or whatever and the next words that come out of your mouth are that?"

"Ah-bah-bap. The playful banter part of proceedings is over. Now you're listening to me."

His delivery wasn't exactly hostile or anything, but something about the way he said it did leave Emerald looking a little awkward as she crossed her arms with a rebuffed glower. He drew in a breath before producing his scroll and setting it on the table, where snippets of footage from the multi-Neo skirmish were playing.

"You can take my word for it, there isn't a semblance in the entire world that could make someone look like Neo, move like Neo, and have the same effect as Neo's. It just doesn't exist. And she knew you, or sure acted like she did." The glance he sent Roman was analytic, speaking to the amount of thought he'd been giving this. A lot. "So I'm gonna go with my gut and say something insane, which is that was Neo. And you know what that means?"

He held them in suspense a moment before breaking the tension.

"Because I sure as hell don't. But I bet I know exactly which socially crippled hacker's already looking into it."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Great. Well if that's that..." He ventured, rolling his eyes at Ruby with an affectionate smirk before brushing off her hand like she weren't shit and pushing his chair back to go call the next elevator. He gave Salem an obligated nod before he went, though he was eager not to spend any more time in a room with even a Salem who kept all the same secrets and lies as Ozpin.

He didn't know which part of that sentence disagreed with him the most.​

Ruby, not one to be so easily dismissed, was quick to follow right behind her Uncle. For more reasons than one. He had promised they would talk about that later. And well, later was here now. Salem turned, giving them both respectful nods, and one towards Yang Xiao Long as well, before she and Glynda looked towards each other.

"I believe it is time, Glynda."

"Agreed."

Salem turned to her desk, briefly tapping on it. Seconds later, every intercom in the school crackled to life. "Attention students of Beacon Academy, this is your headmistress speaking. I would like to, once more, thank you all for everything you did in defense of this school and this city. No one would have faulted you for leaving, but you did not. You came together as one, put your lives on the line, and revealed that each of you already possesses the courage I'd expect from full fledged huntsmen and huntresses. You should all be proud of that." None of them could see it, but Salem briefly smiled after saying that.

"However-" She continued, the smile already gone. "-In the wake of the loss of so many students, and even some of the staff, it is with a heavy heart that for the time being...Beacon Academy is preemptively ending the school year. With our classes diminished in number like this, it simply wouldn't make sense for us to continue on at this time, and, to cut off this line of discussion: no, I can not tell you with any degree of accuracy when Beacon will return to its intended purpose. I would hate to give a timeline for any of you to look forward to and then be forced to change that in the wake of unforeseen developments. For any student that wishes it, I will personally send recommendations on your behalf to all of the other Academies if you wish your education to continue unimpeded. You will have your choice of which one you want to attend." She would have sighed, but the intercom would have caught and broadcasted it as well.

"Essential staff will stay here, however. Though we may not be teaching for some time, this Academy will still need to be maintained and the CCT tower protected. General Ironwood has graciously committed forces of his own to help in that regard." If any of them could have seen her face in that moment, they would have seen she was not particularly pleased about that, despite sounding like she was. "Thank you." With a click, she disconnected from the intercom system. Her fingers rapidly tapped across a holographic keyboard, and mere moments after she ended the intercom announcement?

Every member of team WTCH received a message from her on their scrolls. After briefly thinking it over, she sent the same message to team MTEN as well.

If you are able, come up to my office. As soon as possible.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"I don't know either. I can't speak for whatever the enemy will decide to do, but...if I'm not near the vault, I don't think anything happens. I think it just stays sealed. Maybe...maybe Salem or Glynda will have an idea for us? I know their first inclination would probably be what I said earlier, but...if we could convince them not to or just plain talk it out with them, we could figure it out? Perhaps less playing defensive and more playing offensive? Find Nikos or Valkyrie or any of the major attackers from that night." ​

"And if you don't convince them?" He asked gravely, his fidgeting coming to a halt as he regarded her.

"Talking to them may not be a decision you'll be able to go back on. magical super powers or not, if you walk into a meeting with Goodwitch and the headmaster, and they don't want you to leave-"

Salem turned to her desk, briefly tapping on it. Seconds later, every intercom in the school crackled to life. "Attention students of Beacon Academy, this is your headmistress speaking. I would like to, once more, thank you all for everything you did in defense of this school and this city. No one would have faulted you for leaving, but you did not. You came together as one, put your lives on the line, and revealed that each of you already possesses the courage I'd expect from full fledged huntsmen and huntresses. You should all be proud of that." None of them could see it, but Salem briefly smiled after saying that.

"However-" She continued, the smile already gone. "-In the wake of the loss of so many students, and even some of the staff, it is with a heavy heart that for the time being...Beacon Academy is preemptively ending the school year. With our classes diminished in number like this, it simply wouldn't make sense for us to continue on at this time, and, to cut off this line of discussion: no, I can not tell you with any degree of accuracy when Beacon will return to its intended purpose. I would hate to give a timeline for any of you to look forward to and then be forced to change that in the wake of unforeseen developments. For any student that wishes it, I will personally send recommendations on your behalf to all of the other Academies if you wish your education to continue unimpeded. You will have your choice of which one you want to attend." She would have sighed, but the intercom would have caught and broadcasted it as well.

"Essential staff will stay here, however. Though we may not be teaching for some time, this Academy will still need to be maintained and the CCT tower protected. General Ironwood has graciously committed forces of his own to help in that regard." If any of them could have seen her face in that moment, they would have seen she was not particularly pleased about that, despite sounding like she was. "Thank you." With a click, she disconnected from the intercom system. Her fingers rapidly tapped across a holographic keyboard, and mere moments after she ended the intercom announcement?

Every member of team WTCH received a message from her on their scrolls. After briefly thinking it over, she sent the same message to team MTEN as well.

If you are able, come up to my office. As soon as possible.

That was ominous timing.

He looked up from where he'd paused to listen to the announcement and read the message on his scroll, his eyes meeting his partner's single gold one.

"...I can get us on a ship out of here in an hour. Or... we can go see what the headmistress has to say."

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

The gruesome twosome retreated from their prey's bedside once it became clear Neo wasn't going to let them have any more fun, a bit of a pout on each of their faces.

"Well, she's picked her side."

"We gave her so many opportunities to be one of the cool kids."

"She just can't picture life without her little ginger terrier."

"I think I'm gonna throw up."

Their words were water upon the proverbial duck's back as she stuck her tongue out at them and dropped the ice cream tub and spoon into Roman's hands before she took a dainty seat on the edge of the bed as the other's began to talk.

Pulling back and restoring their voices to regular pitch, they each slowly prowled toward Roman from either side of the bed with a near-clockwork synchronicity.

"It was the conceitedness. It's cool when he does it," Emerald pointed out helpfully, thumbing over towards Mercury, who winked and gave a slow nod.

"Yup. Too bad, too. I was looking forward to spooning ice cream into the Badass of Beacon's mouth all day long."

Emerald gave a knowing nod herself as they each settled into a chair by the bed. "You knew about that, right? The footage of you fighting Nikos after everyone else went down came out. Everyone's talking about what a hero you are."

"That's right. Gotta say, you might not have scratched her, but being able to hold out that long 'til one of your Neo fantasies came along to help is no joke. Don't worry, I've had the same dream." He added the last part in hushed, conspiratorial tones, kicking his legs up on Roman's bed and resting his hands on his crown. "I dunno what Nikos's problem is, but she's kind of a beast. I could barely get an edge on her when she was keeping her semblance on the downlow. It'd take something preeee-tty sneaky for me to pull a win off if she was going all-out."

"Something he's not capable of. She'd destroy him."

"Preeeee-tty sneaky indeed."

Of course, Neo was getting far higher praise for being the one who actually kicked a certain amount of ass, but she wasn't the one lying in a hospital bed so he left that part out.

"...Badass...? Me?"

Well, hey, there was a first!

"...Really??"

Man, if all it took to be called a hero by the masses was to talk shit and get his nose broken, he'd call Watts a 'NEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRDDDDDDD' a lot more often!

"That's...wow. I wouldn't have guessed I'd made much of an impact if I'm bein honest-and MAN it sucks to say that the rush this news is giving me feels GREAT-She totally sandbagged the big spiel I went on!" Of course the spiel hadn't been planned or anything. Roman just hoped that maybe if he kept talking long enough, the Neos could decide which deserved to be Neo more and keep him from getting bodied. Didn't exactly work out like that but thinking back on it now? Man, he totally had a lot more lines he could have used!

'Ten seconds. Is all it'll take for you to drop me. But I gotta warn ya, those ten seconds will be THE most annoying of your life.'

"See, you don't get to have this much confidence unless you KNOW your side's gonna come out on top. If my side needs someone to get their asskicked to win?: I gladly volunteer.'

'There's over 270 bones in the human body. Guess how many you can break before my partner drops you like a bad habit. Go on, guess! It'll be the last thing you do.'

Ugh! What a waste!

"Well, I'm just glad somebody thinks it looked awesome..."

In people's minds it might have come across as more:

"I don't care what happens to me. I won't let you get away with this!"

"W-What?! How dare you, scum!!?"

"Have at you!"

The gallant hero is beaten to a bloody pulp only for his beautiful knight in shining armor to come upon and save him....with her identical twin!

When really it was more like:

"I know I'm gonna get my ass kicked but if I know ahead of time, it'll be less satisfying for you!"

"I mean, not really."

"Oh."

A few missed punches here, there, a sharp elbow to the gut there-ouch-a punch in the face here. A shield to the face-oh yeah that was definitely the sound of his nose breaking.​

No matter how it actually went down, Neo knew how brave Roman had been. Pyrrha Nikos was a terror on the battlefield, a foe that even Neo had been leery to face in the tournament, and he'd stood up to her. The situation had been a chaotic mess, but if Roman stepping up hadn't given herself and... herself a reason to work together, then there was a very good chance she'd have found herself on the wrong end of the mistralian champion's javelin. None of them would have survived.

So if people wanted to give Roman the credit he deserved, she certainly wasn't gonna say anything about it. Or rather, she wouldn't even if she could, and she gave him a fond grin as she flicked the edge of his hat up. The grin faded, however. Because-

Don't worry, I've had the same dream."

Roman coughed and pulled down on the brim of his hat.

-she had to flip them both off, a dull, unamused frown on her face as they both got a hand as their individual messenger. But more importantly because that's when the conversation started to take a turn for the grim. So many people had died. Beacon had been a special place for Neo. There was something about the life of a hunter that called to very different corners of society. When your classmates were a kid with no legs, an ex-faunus gladiator, a student that had been expelled from Atlas, and everything in between, being a girl who didn't talk just didn't hit as weird as it did in normal life. She'd finally started to come out of her shell, make friends outside of Torchwick, and even outside of her team.

Half of those new friends were dead now.

And the worst part was that she was responsible for some of the body count.

Not she herself, but this... other her. The one who helped her beat Pyrrha. Her existence unnerved her in a way she couldn't have put into words. The glee on her face during the violence, the viciousness in her eyes... it scared her. It scared her because she never thought that she had that in her, because she didn't understand what her existence meant. Both for her doppleganger and for herself.

She needed to understand. Understand why this attack had happened. Why the moment she finally felt like things were looking up for her, when she felt like she had a place to belong and call home, it had to get ripped out from under her. Understand why she wasn't the only Neopolitan anymore. Understand just what, if any, place she had in this world now, outside of being at Roman's side

So when Merc declared that he wanted to go crimebusting, she didn't quite meet it with Emerald's glee, but she did nod. And at the suggestion of asking Watts, she nodded again before she stood up, gave Roman a thumbs up to signal that they'd be back, and started for the door to head for the dorms-

Every member of team WTCH received a message from her on their scrolls. After briefly thinking it over, she sent the same message to team MTEN as well.

If you are able, come up to my office. As soon as possible.

- Only to freeze in place as the announcement came, and her entire team's scrolls all dinged with a message moments after. She read it and spun back to her team, swiftly pointing at herself and shaking her head. Whatever it was, it wasn't her fault this time that they'd all be called up to the headmaster's office.

 

[MyrtenRose]

"And if you don't convince them?" He asked gravely, his fidgeting coming to a halt as he regarded her.

"Talking to them may not be a decision you'll be able to go back on. magical super powers or not, if you walk into a meeting with Goodwitch and the headmaster, and they don't want you to leave-"

That was ominous timing.

He looked up from where he'd paused to listen to the announcement and read the message on his scroll, his eyes meeting his partner's single gold one.

"...I can get us on a ship out of here in an hour. Or... we can go see what the headmistress has to say."

"If I can't convince them...yeah, depending on what they decide to do, it could be risky to go up there. But..." Cinder glanced down at her own scroll to read that message. She immediately tossed the hospital bed blanket aside and got up. She'd finally be able to get out of this room. "...I'm going to at least try. I owe them that much. But I can't speak for you. You're our team leader. If you decide to go for a ship and if things go bad up there...I'll do my best to get away and catch up with all of you. But I don't think they'd go that far. I hope not, anyway." Cinder gave a little half-shrug as she walked over to the door, shoved her scroll with the message from Salem into the idiot guard's face just long enough for him to read it before she started striding down the hall.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"If I can't convince them...yeah, depending on what they decide to do, it could be risky to go up there. But..." Cinder glanced down at her own scroll to read that message. She immediately tossed the hospital bed blanket aside and got up. She'd finally be able to get out of this room. "...I'm going to at least try. I owe them that much. But I can't speak for you. You're our team leader. If you decide to go for a ship and if things go bad up there...I'll do my best to get away and catch up with all of you. But I don't think they'd go that far. I hope not, anyway." Cinder gave a little half-shrug as she walked over to the door, shoved her scroll with the message from Salem into the idiot guard's face just long enough for him to read it before she started striding down the hall.​

Arthur pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side in mild surprise at Cinders determination, or rather at himself for even bothering to ask the question. He pushed himself out of his chair and turned to follow with his hands clasped behind his back, giving the guard a curt nod as they passed

"Partner dearest, it's not me or any of our teammates that have any need of a getaway. As important as this secret is, I can't really picture the headmistress taking me out just for knowing it. The worst danger I can conceive is us getting tossed into that hole of safety with you to keep you company before they throw away the key. Like how you never buy just one parakeet. But that'd be counterintuitive to keeping you safe." He said as he picked up pace to take the lead past her

"We'd kill each other within the week."

 

[MyrtenRose]

Arthur pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side in mild surprise at Cinders determination, or rather at himself for even bothering to ask the question. He pushed himself out of his chair and turned to follow with his hands clasped behind his back, giving the guard a curt nod as they passed

"Partner dearest, it's not me or any of our teammates that have any need of a getaway. As important as this secret is, I can't really picture the headmistress taking me out just for knowing it. The worst danger I can conceive is us getting tossed into that hole of safety with you to keep you company before they throw away the key. Like how you never buy just one parakeet. But that'd be counterintuitive to keeping you safe." He said as he picked up pace to take the lead past her

"We'd kill each other within the week."

“Haha.” She couldn’t help from grinning and snickering at the dark idea of the four of them stuck somewhere and slowly getting driven into the urge to murder each other over the course of a few days. “I’d be the last one standing though. So, y’know, I guess I’d still be safe in that hole in the end.” Cinder joked before adding more seriously: “Alright then. Together.”

Through whatever Salem needed to talk with them for...and potentially through Cinder trying to convince the headmistress of the right next course of action. And possibly needing to escape. Who knew?

After a few contemplative silent seconds of the two of them simply walking on, Cinder stopped. And before Watts could manage to get out of arm’s reach, one of her hands reached out, pulling him back and spun him around into a warm hug that had little to do with the fact that Cinder could shoot burning fire out of every limb. “Thanks. For standing with me.”​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...Hnh." Mercury reacted in his own quiet way to the PA announcement, opening his eyes after letting it sink in. He raised a hand to toss his hair like that wasn't an immense setback to the path he wanted to follow in life, but it wasn't like he could call it unexpected. Again, a ton of the student body? Super dead.

"Guess I just lost my official license to boss you guys around. Just so we're all on the same page, if it turns out we never study together again?"

He cracked a sly, roguish grin.

"Team MTEN were the slickest crew in Beacon Academy, and let's make sure none of these suckers ever forget it. Now, far as I'm concerned all this means is my schedule for the next year just cleared up. I got a lot of anger to work out and nothing to go back to, and if that sounds familiar to any of you guys, then I say we can still make someone pay for this. Not as a team of mismatched students forced to spend time around each other 'cause of some completely random partnering system that makes no kind of actual sense. As friends-"

"Bored of this. Obviously we're with you," Emerald interrupted, rolling her eyes as she read through the headmistress's summons for the third time. "But if you start turning into the friendship speeches guy I swear we will all abandon you, one by one, and I'll be first."

"Damn, Emerald! Okay. Roman, you mobile yet?"

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

“Haha.” She couldn’t help from grinning and snickering at the dark idea of the four of them stuck somewhere and slowly getting driven into the urge to murder each other over the course of a few days. “I’d be the last one standing though. So, y’know, I guess I’d still be safe in that hole in the end.” Cinder joked before adding more seriously: “Alright then. Together.”

"How humble you are. Clearly these powers come with an equally powerful ego" He drawled with a sidelong glance. "But yes. Together."

After a few contemplative silent seconds of the two of them simply walking on, Cinder stopped. And before Watts could manage to get out of arm’s reach, one of her hands reached out, pulling him back and spun him around into a warm hug that had little to do with the fact that Cinder could shoot burning fire out of every limb. “Thanks. For standing with me.”

He had started to turn with an arched brow as Cinder randomly came to a stop, but whatever he expected the reason to be it definitely wasn't that.

If one said that Cinder and Arthur had been at each other throats from the moment they'd become partners, you'd be wrong; they'd been snapping at each other before that, pretty much since they'd made eye contact in Beacon's courtyard directly after landing. Cinder's confidence and fiery temper gelled with Watts' stiff, irritable nature about as well as peanut butter and cyanide, to the point that he'd actually tried to shoo her off with a few rounds from his pistol when they'd made eye contact during initiation. Yet so much had happened since then. There was a years' worth of misadventures foiling the schemes of Valkyrie and the shadow fang, sometimes on purpose and sometimes on accident, and he had slowly been flabbergasted to learn they had more in common than just a mutual disdain for Professor Port's class. A dry sense of humor, a distrust of authority figures, and a firm belief in doing what was right riding the undercurrent to all of that. All culminating in the night five days ago, where his failures as a leader and how miserable he felt about that failure made him realize something. He really did care about his team, even his bullheaded, obnoxious partner. Somehow especially her.

That said... he wasn't exactly sure if the knowledge about the maiden and the vault was weirder or if this was. He was rigid at first, before his hands slowly unclasped from behind his back and he used one to return the hug with an awkward pat as he rolled his eyes, yet his most valiant efforts to keep up a front couldn't keep the sincerity out of his response. "Always."

"...But seriously, get a hold of yourself. We have important business to attend to and I have a reputation to maintain : |"

Well, the first word of the response anyways.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"...Hnh." Mercury reacted in his own quiet way to the PA announcement, opening his eyes after letting it sink in. He raised a hand to toss his hair like that wasn't an immense setback to the path he wanted to follow in life, but it wasn't like he could call it unexpected. Again, a ton of the student body? Super dead.

"Guess I just lost my official license to boss you guys around. Just so we're all on the same page, if it turns out we never study together again?"

He cracked a sly, roguish grin.

"Team MTEN were the slickest crew in Beacon Academy, and let's make sure none of these suckers ever forget it. Now, far as I'm concerned all this means is my schedule for the next year just cleared up. I got a lot of anger to work out and nothing to go back to, and if that sounds familiar to any of you guys, then I say we can still make someone pay for this. Not as a team of mismatched students forced to spend time around each other 'cause of some completely random partnering system that makes no kind of actual sense. As friends-"

"Bored of this. Obviously we're with you," Emerald interrupted, rolling her eyes as she read through the headmistress's summons for the third time. "But if you start turning into the friendship speeches guy I swear we will all abandon you, one by one, and I'll be first."

"Damn, Emerald! Okay. Roman, you mobile yet?"

You could almost feel the enthusiasm drain out of Neo at the start of Mercury's spiel, because its opening seemed a lot less like a 'let's do this' and more like a 'well it was nice knowing you guys'. Was this goodbye? Did he think that's why the headmistress wanted to see them??? There literally wasn't anything farther from what she wanted, not when it was finally starting to feel like there was maybe more than one human being in the world who got her as a person, even if they were a pair of dweebs who drank way too much of their own cool-kid-kool-aid-

-except that wasn't it at all, and by the time Merc and Em had finished, Neo's hands were clasped in front of her mouth to cover a slightly watery smile, and she suddenly bounded forward to wrap them into as strong of a hug as a 4'8' girl not tapping into her aura could. When you couldn't just agree or give your own cheesy yet inspiring speeches, physical affection was your only real route, and they'd just have to deal.

Not wanting him to feel left out but still very leery about his broken ribs, Roman also got a Neo hug except from a clone who just sort of draped herself over him in a no force hug.