Blake understood that something was happening. It became obvious when a jolt came from somewhere below, followed by gunshots. She felt the trembling of steel and the stomping of hundreds of feet, heard muffled battle cries and a deafening explosion, after which everything went quiet.
She didn't know if they were friends or enemies, but being locked in a tiny cell, all she could do was wait. Blake had no problems with cramped spaces, but the isolation in such a confusing situation weighed on her psychologically. Right now, she wouldn't have even refused the company of those investigators who had interrogated her in the morning.
And no matter how contemptuously Blake treated them and Atlas as a whole, she had to admit that they knew how to work with information. Their arguments were so well-founded that if Blake had amnesia, she would have been forced to agree with them. However, her memory was intact, so she tried to figure out exactly how the Puppeteer had managed to doctor the evidence in such a way that a girl who looked surprisingly like her was blamed for everything.
Over the past hours of complete solitude, Blake had managed to think over many variants. Dubious, absurd, strange; she didn't discard a single idea just because it seemed ridiculous or impossible. However, she settled on only one, the most plausible - the Puppeteer had access to the flagship's databases, and therefore to this investigation.
Therefore, Blake hadn't dared to say anything during the interrogation. Every word she said would fall into the hands of the Puppeteer, who would definitely use them later to confuse the investigation even more. Right now, She was living up to Her nickname more than ever.
But there were other reasons to keep quiet. If Blake told them that she had infiltrated the White Fang base that night, she would have to answer more uncomfortable questions. And if her old ties were revealed, it would be the end. So Blake decided it wasn't worth giving the Atlesians even a reason to dig in that direction. Fortunately, her bow worked amazingly as always, so no one guessed she was a Faunus. This clearly saved her from prejudiced treatment and prevented the situation from becoming even more complicated.
Blake's cat ear twitched. Someone was sneaking around. Soldiers had no reason to hide on their own ship, so she got ready for a fight just in case. Perhaps something went wrong in the Puppeteer's plan and She decided to get rid of her.
However, the sneeze that sounded outside the door immediately calmed her down. Blake smiled; she hadn't been wrong about her friends.
"Found it. A-achoo!"
"See, Eg, and you were playing hard to get!" Yang's muffled voice sounded.
"I'm still deeply outraged that I was used as a search dog. And I'm doubly outraged that this idea came to Weiss!"
"But just imagine how hot your roleplaying is gonna be. Have you guys bought a collar yet?"
"You're walking on fucking thin ice right now, under which Cardin and his ilk are waiting for you. One more hint like that, and you'll be making excuses to Blake." At that moment, the lightbulb in the cell shone brighter for a second, after which the steel door opened. "In case you forgot, she has excellent hearing."
Simply by meeting eyes with Yang, Blake managed to make her awkwardly scratch the back of her head with just her facial expression.
"But Faunus constantly make those semi-racist jokes to each other," she tried to justify herself.
"Faunus can, humans can't," Egrer cut her off, theatrically crossing his arms over his chest. "Minus one hundred karma points to you and your whole family."
"Hey, what did I do?" Ruby protested. "I condemn her too!"
"That's to make sure she gets it. Being racist is ew."
"Hey, but isn't that exactly what racism is?" Yang asked, desperately fighting to clear her name. "Why is it okay for Faunus to joke like that, but not for humans?"
Blake decided to answer, and it would have been better if she had just continued silently boring into her with an angry glare.
"Because when someone jokes about this without having experienced even a drop of our suffering, it's offensive. We make 'Racist jokes' towards each other because we're tired of crying over this kind of treatment towards us from society."
"Blake..." Egrer said, astounded. "I was just messing with Yang to piss her off a little, and you're... taking all this seriously?"
She suddenly realized that she had taken what happened a bit too closely to heart. Or rather, she realized that this was all one big joke that she didn't understand until the very end. However, it wasn't surprising that Blake didn't appreciate such specific humor.
Besides, she clearly wasn't in the mood for jokes right now.
"Blake, are you okay? Over." Weiss's voice came from Egrer's side. He fussed and carefully handed Blake the radio, holding his breath before doing so. But even so, he couldn't hold back a sneeze.
"I'm perfectly fine. You guys prepared well." She smiled. "Over."
While Weiss, Yang, and Ruby made sure the Atlesians hadn't done anything bad to her, Egrer stepped away to think. He didn't want to interfere with the team reunion.
The path to freedom was simultaneously harder and easier. Harder - because the absence of the outpost at the main caliber had been noticed, and going back the same way wouldn't work. The alarm hadn't been raised yet, but that was definitely going to happen soon. And easier - because the moment they found themselves outside, they could easily bail without any problems. And whether they're noticed or not didn't matter anymore. To shove Blake back into the cell, Atlas would have to fight all of Beacon at once.
"Operation 'Freedom to the Kitties' successfully completed," a satisfied Yang yelled, hugging Blake until her bones cracked, "I repeat, operation 'Freedom to the Kitties' successfully completed!"
"Let go," she grumbled, not really trying to break free from her embrace. "The Atlesians will notice I'm missing, so we need to get out of here quickly."
Yang squeezed Blake a little tighter one last time before letting her go. Once free, the first thing she did was hold the radio back out to Egrer, but he sharply took ten steps back from the poisoned object.
"No-no-no-no-no, you don't have to give it back, you'll be our radioman."
"Your weapon." Ruby handed Blake her black blade in its scabbard. "You have no idea how happy it is to be back with you."
"Please don't speak for my blade. It's creepy."
The prison section of the flagship was simultaneously small and enormous. Small relative to the whole ship, and enormous for four teenagers who couldn't have reached the ceiling even if they stood on each other. On both sides of the wide corridor were dozens of solitary confinement cells, which almost every one of them had already managed to visit. Egrer shuddered at the unpleasant memories.
The journey proceeded peacefully, as most of the soldiers were currently outside, and the rare patrols could do nothing against Yang's strength, Ruby's speed, and now Blake's agility as well. They worked so efficiently that the Atlesians didn't even have time to get a good look at their faces. Egrer didn't get under the feet of the top first-years in combat training and focused on hacking. While the ladies kicked the asses of the poor soldiers and their robots, he forged a path for them to the outside using the miraculous Crypta and his own wits.
With every corridor traversed, every unconscious Atlesian left behind, and every hacked door, they drew closer to the outside world. Everything was going so smoothly that at some point, Egrer's paranoia drove him to a nervous tic.
"We can't be this lucky!" he lamented quietly. "Think about it, we've gone this whole way without any problems. None at all! It just can't be. We're walking straight into a trap, I'd bet my teeth on it."
"Your gold one?" Yang chuckled.
"Any of them."
"Then you'll give me the gold one when we get out of here without a hitch. Blakey is enough for us, we don't need another pessimist."
Blake raised an eyebrow, as if sarcastically asking, "And what's so bad about pessimism?".
At that exact second, the alarm blared, and a mechanical female voice announced that there were intruders on the ship. The screechy and intermittent sound made Blake press a hand to the bow on her head, but even so, she seemed to feel a bit better too. The realization that the worst had already begun freed her from the anxieties and worries that it was about to begin.
"Finally," Egrer said with relief. "I knew it was gonna happen. Phew, what a weight off my shoulders."
"Found a reason to rejoice!" an frightened Ruby expressed her indignation. She turned to her sister and shouted again. "And you're happy too?!"
"What did I do? Nothing. I just got tired of this stealth mission, I've always been more into fighting games."
No matter how glad they were that the alarm sounded, they still had to start running. And so the sabotage squad and the former prisoner bolted with all their might.
Egrer was their guide, so he ran at the very front, practically not taking his eyes off the map on his Scroll. However, it was far too cluttered with details they didn't need, making it hard to figure out where they were right on the run. If it weren't for Yort's tips and predictions, they definitely would have perished on this ship.
"Bout to be a brawl!" the oracle said over the radio.
Running around a corner, they came face to face with a squad of humanoid robots. Egrer almost crashed into a metal blockhead, but dropped in time and slid between their legs right to the end of the column. Still lying on the floor, he pulled his knees to his chest and kicked the rearmost robot in the ass with both feet. The robot flew up a bit and knocked down the next one, after which they started jostling and falling like dominoes.
"Nice hit!" Yort praised, enjoying the fight through the camera.
Yang wasn't as nimble as Egrer, so she crashed into the front robot with a loud thud, and with such force that they started falling from her side too.
Mechanical arms and legs tangled with each other. A pile of iron bodies tried to stand up, but if one of the robots attempted to rise, it was immediately accidentally knocked over by another trying to do the same thing.
"Pathetic sight," Yang said disappointedly. Expecting a good fight, she only got a bump on the forehead, and completely by accident at that. "And this is a brawl?"
Fate, as if wanting to apologize for this, sent them another test in the form of a heavily armed squad of soldiers, who immediately opened fire on them. Yang fired her gauntlets behind her without thinking and flew into the formation of Atlesians like a bowling ball into pins. Lying on the floor, Egrer only managed to see golden hair flash above him. After which black hair flashed above him in exactly the same way - Blake ran along the wall, bypassing the pile of swarming robots.
"Achoo!"
And only Ruby reached out a hand and helped him up.
"Thanks," he thanked her sincerely, brushing off his jacket and pants. "Don't you wanna fight?"
"My Rose gets sick in tight spaces." She patted her scythe, hanging on her belt behind her. "And without her, I'm not that great. I'd rather just stand aside and watch."
And there was plenty to watch. Yang knocked out one soldier with a single blow, sending him flying into the wall. Before he could slide to the floor, she sent a couple more of his comrades to join him. Blake wrapped her ribbon around three opponents at once and sharply yanked it tight, forcing the poor guys to knock their heads together and lose consciousness. Moreover, both of them were clearly sparing their opponents; neither the shotguns in Yang's gauntlets nor Blake's sharp blade were ever put to use.
"You know, I think I'll stand aside too," Egrer said, bewildered. "I'll just get in their way."
Some soldiers managed to fire point-blank, which had some effect, but it was more of an annoyance than a trauma. Egrer picked up a bullet that rolled over to him after bouncing off Yang's shoulder. Rubber. The Atlesians weren't going to escalate to anything more lethal either.
It was comforting to know that in this abnormal war between Atlas and Beacon, no one had lost their head.
"You need to run faster!" Weiss's voice rang out from the radio. "The soldiers are abandoning the fortifications behind the flagship and heading back inside! Over, can you hear me?!"
"Grimm take it, I'm busy!" Yang yelled, tossing her radio to Egrer. "You two coo over there yourselves!"
He almost dropped the incoming device, because the fired-up Yang hadn't calculated her strength and threw it much harder than she should have.
"What do you mean, they're heading back inside?" Egrer asked. "I thought we planned an offensive on all fronts there as a distraction. Over."
"Tear gas and Frost Dust mines have severely slowed our advance. But that is not the worst part, the Headmaster has left the tower and is heading towards you. Out."
This news made his heart sink. He exchanged glances with Ruby, who was experiencing roughly the same spectrum of emotions; her eyes literally screamed "We're getting expelled!". Swallowing the lump in their throats, they both yelled:
"Waste 'em faster!"
"Easy to say!" Yang replied, having just taken a blast of rubber buckshot to her lower back. However, the brave soul was quickly knocked out. "These ain't robots that fall down on their own!"
"Okay, fine, quiet down, everything's gonna be fine." Egrer tried to calm himself. He keyed the radio again. "Yort, which way do we run next? Over."
"You're somewhere near the broadside artillery batteries right now... Straight down the corridor, first left, big doors on the right."
At that moment, Blake swept the leg of the last soldier standing and kicked him in the head. His Aura shattered into turquoise shards, and his weapon slipped from his hands. However, the battle did not go without casualties, which Yang did not miss the opportunity to point out.
"I'm gonna be covered in bruises," she complained, hissing as she touched the growing bluish spots on her body. Glancing at her Scroll to check her Aura level, she clicked her tongue. "They bite hard."
"Hurry up!" Egrer yelled, jumping over the groaning soldiers. "Or do you wanna fight their whole army?"
The prospect of fighting several hundred well-equipped soldiers seemed dubious even to such a combative tomboy as Yang. It seemed even more dubious when the approaching stomp of heavy Atlesian boots was heard from behind, and another squad ran out from around the corner, immediately opening fire on them.
They bolted away under a rain of bullets. Rubber pellets painfully struck their backs and legs, urging them to run even faster. Except Egrer barely got hit; he ran in such a way that the sturdy Yang was always behind him. Blake got hit even less; the bullets simply shattered her clones, while she herself appeared in the most unexpected places. And Ruby took absolutely zero hits, having turned into a cloud of red petals.
Yang shouted curses at the three of them, perfectly understanding that by morning she would be the only one covered in blue spots.
When the right doors appeared before them, Egrer quickly swiped the Crypta over the panel, and the door slid aside. They immediately ran inside and stood on either side of the entryway. Knowing perfectly well what to do, Egrer connected his Scroll to the panel to try and hack it to lock it. But he didn't have enough time; the soldiers had almost caught up to them.
"Yang, hold them off, I need a second!"
Instead, she growled. Her hair flared golden, and her eyes turned crimson. Yang shoved her fingers into the groove the door had slid into and forcefully yanked it out. But it resisted, creaking and struggling to return to its rightful place, until at some point a loud crack of the breaking drive mechanism was heard from above. The door immediately slammed into the opposite jamb, but Yang punched it just in case, making sure it wouldn't open even if repaired. The dent was so massive that the door simply wouldn't fit into the opening it was supposed to slide into.
"Oh," Egrer uttered in confusion, awkwardly putting his Scroll away. "Well, or we could do that..."
For another second, the door was shaken by the impacts of gunshots, after which silence fell.
"We're saved!" Ruby exclaimed.
Blake began rolling a massive rubber bullet around with the tip of her shoe. Unlike the others, this wasn't a pellet, but something closer in shape to live ammunition, and roughly the size of a tank shell.
"They've got a full riot control kit. Wonder if they have water cannons?"
Egrer exhaled and looked around. It was a long room; along the wall were numerous screens and control panels, but they were sterile and unused. For the Atlesians, a mechanism that can aim and reload itself has been doing the shooting for a long time. And these panels were only for emergencies.
"Yort," Egrer turned on the radio. "Which way next? We~"
"Is this what they were shooting at me?!" Yang seemed to have noticed what she was almost shot with during her heroic feat. She picked up the projectile and barely managed to touch her thumb and index finger around it. "This is a literal dildo! That thing hits you, it'll break every bone."
"That's the point," Yort replied. "Whaddya think, there are few protests in Atlas because life is so good? Nah, they fuck all the dissenters in the ass with dicks like these. Once is enough to remember it's better not to yap against the authorities."
"Do not listen to this idiot," an annoyed Weiss interrupted. And it wasn't clear what caused more irritation in her voice: the foul language, the slander against Atlas, or a combination of both. "There are no protests in Atlas because life there is already hard enough without rocking the boat further. Over."
"Yeah," Blake replied sarcastically. "We just need to stop grumbling and destabilizing the situation in the country. The main thing is to be patient and tighten our belts. Everything will sort itself out, the higher-ups definitely know best how and where to move the people."
"God, I missed your political arguments," Yang said, touched. "Blake has only been gone for one day, but it feels like we haven't seen each other our whole lives."
"Why are you all so calm?" Ruby protested indignantly. "We're locked in this room, there's a bunch of soldiers right outside the door, and you found time to bicker and discuss the length of rubber bullets! Maybe we should figure out how to get out of here? I'm scared!"
"Right, too early to celebrate, Blake isn't free yet," Egrer chimed in. "Yort, which way do we run next? There's no other way out of here. Over."
"You don't need to run anywhere else. Blow up the wall, freedom is right behind it." He said it so confidently, as if he'd already lit the fuse. "The shells gotta be stored somewhere around here."
"We'll definitely get expelled after this..." Ruby wailed. "Can I find out the chances of that?"
Egrer relayed her question over the radio, to which Yort gave a humorless chuckle.
"My Semblance is buggin' out. I asked it a bunch of different things, and it says that if you get caught, there's an even better chance to bounce. In short, blow it."
***
The squeak of the opening doors echoed off the walls of the elevator shaft. A female figure, wrapped in dark clothes from head to toe, tossed aside a crowbar and looked down. Instead of her lost, beautiful mask, her face was hidden by a beanie pulled down to her eyebrows, a scarf, and dark glasses.
Just as Cinder had calculated, the Headmaster had left his domain, leaving it unprotected. She was glad she had placed her bet on that raspy-voiced guy, because he managed to cause even more chaos, which only played right into her hands. However, her intuition constantly insisted that weaving him into her plans was the most terrible mistake of her life, but Cinder still couldn't find a single reason against this decision. There was not a single flaw in her perfectly crafted plan, and even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to stop her.
And even if some people like Mercury or Watts claim she survives purely on luck, she knew it was all thanks to planning. And one boy couldn't ruin a carefully thought-out plan, especially if he didn't even know about it.
But everything was going so well that sometimes she got the impression Ozpin was intentionally lowering her guard and had already cast his net. However, he was far away now, and she was here. Right in his basement, where he was hiding what belonged to her.
Cinder jumped into the darkness of the elevator shaft. The anticipation of imminent victory filled her body with lightness; it felt as if she was about to soar. The past months had not been wasted; her efforts were finally bearing their well-deserved fruit. The divided power within her yearned to find its lost half, to achieve wholeness, to become one again. And this pushed Cinder forward even harder than her own dreams of power and authority.
The dark room was illuminated only by the lights of a bulky life-support machine to the left of the elevator. The mechanism was absurdly massive, occupying the entire length of the wall, surely hiding most of itself within the rock. At the foot of the behemoth lay two pods: one empty, the other holding a young woman with terrible scars. Scars inflicted by Cinder. The first time, she screwed up, only doing half the job and letting the girl survive. It was time to finish what she started.
Ozpin didn't even try to hide her better. He decided that no one would search in the basement, but that's exactly the first place that comes to mind. If someone wants to hide something, you first check the basement and the backyard.
Cinder flicked the light switch, and the sound echoed multiple times off the bare walls of the enormous basement. The ceiling lamps never lit up - they were malfunctioning. The light from the machine was only enough to illuminate the immediate surroundings, while the corners and the opposite end of the hall were securely hidden in shadows. But light wasn't needed; the target was clearly visible anyway.
The glass daggers on her belt liquefied, took the shape of a bow and arrow, and then settled into her outstretched hands on their own. Cinder drew the bowstring, taking aim at the defenseless half-dead girl.
The moment of triumph was clouded only by the realization that it was not solely her victory - the insufferable Atlesian Watts had a hand in this success. His virus had served her well, although he himself clearly hadn't wanted to waste his precious time helping someone else's ambitions. Had it not been for their shared bonds of loyalty, he would have ignored her request for a favor. He helped reluctantly and half-assedly, eager to get back to his own affairs.
Cinder cleared all unnecessary thoughts from her head. The only thing that mattered now was that she would deliver the final blow, she would finish what she started, she would return the victor. Her fingers released the bowstring.
That was it. The arrow hurtled straight towards the target.
She regretted the time wasted. Recruiting the White Fang, constantly keeping an eye on Torchwick and his girlfriend who were plotting something, playing spies in Beacon, the unexpected resistance from a group of local students. It drained her strength, time, and patience.
Suddenly, the arrow changed direction and flew straight back at its master. A stunned Cinder only had time to turn it into a puddle of molten glass, which spread harmlessly over her. This glass was her weapon, a part of herself; it couldn't harm her.
Only one person in all of Beacon could manipulate objects from a distance. Which meant Glynda Goodwitch had been waiting here all this time.
The moment this thought formed in her head, the second half of the hall, previously hidden in darkness, came alive. Without thinking, Cinder fired an arrow in that direction, but was surprised to hear only a clank against iron. From right there, a statue of a golden lemur flew at Cinder, followed by tons of other junk that filled that part of the basement up to the ceiling.
'Ozpin thought of everything,' Cinder marveled, jumping aside. 'Filled the basement with junk so his main combat unit would have an easier time fighting and hiding here. Simultaneously insane and genius.'
A wave of all sorts of things almost engulfed Cinder. She managed to jump high and land right on a washing machine, but someone's torn nightgown wrapped around her leg and tried to drag her down, where she would be ground up by the rest of the junk. At the same time, several buttons struck her between the shoulder blades with the force of machine-gun fire, and the machine itself rapidly began to "sink" into the useless things.
Cinder sliced a stool flying right at her in half, but it was useless. Its halves braked sharply behind her back and darted down, aiming for her knees. She couldn't jump; the nightgown was still pulling her leg down.
Goodwitch herself hadn't taken a single step. She hid right behind the life-support machine, taking advantage of the fact that the light emanating from it blinded Cinder and prevented her from seeing her in a small niche in the wall.
'At least Ozpin's pathological hoarding was useful for something,' she thought, waving her riding crop like a conductor's baton.
Goodwitch was controlling practically every object in the room. From the tension, her face cramped, and her teeth were clenched so tightly they were about to crack. Never before had she manipulated so many things at once.
The intruder barely managed to break free from the grip and jump back to the far wall. The wave of trash surged after her, clattering with cast-iron pots, rustling with old clothes, clinking with silverware. While there was still time, Cinder quickly threw her hand out towards Miss Goodwitch, but only looked at the bulky mechanism in front of her. She reached out with her Semblance towards the machine, wanting to melt the pod's window and kill the sleeping girl with a stream of molten glass. However, nothing happened.
Cinder clicked her tongue almost inaudibly - Ozpin had taken her Semblance into account and had probably even replaced the windows in his office with plastic.
Trying to shoot her while next to an experienced Huntress who wields telekinesis was stupid. She needed to retreat and patiently wait for the final chord of her original plan. She was very sorry to leave this place when the hateful girl was lying so close, but there was no other choice. Staying here was dangerous; Ozpin's departure was surely just a deceptive maneuver, and he was hurrying back right now.
But to get out of here, she would have to play her trump card. If Ozpin previously had doubts about her identity and goals, he wouldn't anymore. He would understand that she had come to finish what she started and would be able to prepare for it.
A small stream of yellow flame burst from Cinder's left eye, and the room was engulfed in fire.
Goodwitch knew exactly what this meant. She shielded herself and the machine with a formation of steel beams, slate, and other building materials. An unbearably hot wind blew against her face, making her squeeze her eyes shut and wince.
When she went on the offensive again, the enemy was gone. The elevator shaft was black from soot.
Goodwitch collapsed to the floor, exhausted.
***
Egrer opened his eyes with difficulty. His leaden eyelids opened reluctantly, as if they had been glued shut. The ringing of the school bell, which had woken him up, still echoed in his skull. His heavy body could barely move, and his back ached from lying on the cold floor for a long time.
When his vision focused, the first thing Egrer saw was the fabric ceiling of a familiar tent. It took a few seconds to remember that this was exactly where they had developed the plan to save Blake. The chain of memories continued: here they went on the mission, got Blake out, blew up the flagship's wall, and escaped. They were welcomed back to the camp like heroes, after which his head went blank again. However, one thing was clear - their entire tent city had thrown a massive drinking party.
Otherwise, Egrer wouldn't be lying on the floor with a hangover right now.
His eyes shifted to the right. Nearby lay Sun, hugging his own monkey tail and a half-empty green bottle. Looking further right, he saw Yang, who was sleeping sitting up, holding Blake close and burying her head in her chest. Blake, in turn, lay relaxed in an uncomfortable and even strange position. If she suffocated in there, she fulfilled the dream of practically every man in the world.
Yang worried the most about Blake and the fate of the team, so it wasn't surprising she wouldn't let her go even in this state.
Egrer decided he needed to wash up and freshen up. His squeamishness and cleanliness screamed in horror at the feeling of dirt on his skin and the staleness on his face. Not to mention the nasty taste in his mouth, which seemed to have soaked into his tongue. However, as he tried to get up, he suddenly realized something was holding him down.
Egrer lifted his head and looked down. Lying in an embrace with him was Weiss, having thrown a leg and an arm over him with an owner's air. Her tangled white hair was chaotically scattered around, and one strand was insistently tickling his nose. Drool dripped from her slightly open mouth, leaving a stain on Egrer's shirt.
'Ew,' was his first thought. 'Wait, did she drink too?' followed the second.
His memory began to stir like a bear emerging from hibernation. Egrer remembered that Weiss had refused for a long time at first, but under Yang's pressure agreed to take one sip. And then... things just kinda escalated on their own. It was his first time seeing someone who had never drank, but managed to down a shot of strong liquor on their very first try as if it was some kind of juice.
Egrer tried to free himself from her grip, but his clumsy attempts to wriggle out only woke his captor.
"Good morning," he greeted her when Weiss opened her eyes. "Get up, you drooled all over my shirt."
"After everything we've gone through, it's not good." She answered automatically, not fully awake yet. "Why does my head hurt? What happened yesterday? And why are we lying on the floor hugging?"
"A party," Egrer uttered vaguely, answering all her questions at once.
"I do not drink. And I certainly do not get blackout drunk."
"That's exactly what you were doing yesterday. Or do you have another explanation?"
Weiss winced, but not from his words.
"Turn away, your breath smells terrible."
"Yours too," Egrer countered.
Weiss breathed into her palm with disbelief and sniffed. Her face scrunched up as if lemon juice and pepper had been sprayed in her eyes.
"I believe I ordered a washstand set up in the camp."
"That's exactly what we need."
The resistance camp woke up slowly. After yesterday's grand celebration, practically everyone was snoozing in their tents or right on the street. However, the recently rung bell woke the toughest ones. Slowly but surely, the students began to get up and wake their friends.
No one knew where Joker got several crates of alcohol and where he had been hiding them all this time, but as a rule, he was never asked questions about his merchandise. It's considered bad form to pester Beacon's chief smuggler with questions, because for that he might refuse his services.
Like wandering zombies, the students searched for a hangover cure, checking every bottle in their path. Some pressed cold stones to their heads, some were already bathing in the pond nearby. Those who drank without measure were puking into buckets. Weiss and Egrer, trudging in search of the washstand, didn't stand out at all against the rest.
Over there, Jaune shuffled his feet, supported by a cheerful Pyrrha. They both drank only a mug of beer purely out of politeness, but even that proved too much for Jaune. Although the truth was that a mischievous Nora secretly poured him more, and his already clouded mind couldn't realize it.
"Oh, you're awake." A joyful Nora walked out to meet them. Speak of the Grimm, and here he is. "Man, you guys really tore it up yesterday!"
Magenta, walking next to her, echoed her friend.
"I've never seen such fire, even in the movies!"
"What?.." Weiss uttered, wincing from the volume of their voices. "What did we set on fire again?"
"Everything!"
"Ow, don't yell." Egrer grabbed his head. "Shoo, get out of here. Your happy faces are making me sick."
"That's because you gotta know how to drink!" Nora replied edifyingly, who had shown a couple of amazing fire-breathing tricks yesterday. Magenta had been thrilled. "Or just don't drink at all, like Madge."
"My mom just always told me that alcohol and cigarettes are bad for your health."
They laughed ringingly and left to annoy the rest with their cheerfulness.
"I wish I had a mom like that," Weiss grumbled barely audibly.
They encountered no more joyful and happy faces on their path. Only green, blue, or pale ones. Everyone was paying today for yesterday's unbridled fun and liters of alcohol consumed. The upperclassmen had already managed to christen that party the most massive blowout in Beacon's history, which would be passed down in legends to all subsequent generations of Hunters. Egrer could have been proud that he had inscribed himself into the annals of history, and he would have been, if not for the headache.
However, the very culprit of the celebration, and it was by no means Egrer, but Joker, wasn't feeling very well. He was puking into a bucket and groaning; one of his hands gripped his stomach, and the other held onto his comrade. Hat was next to him, supporting his head so it wouldn't droop exhaustedly.
"Fire Queen, Executioner of Atlas," Hat greeted them, touching the brim of his hat. His eyes, as always, were hidden behind its brim.
"Executioner of Atlas?" Egrer was surprised. He understood why he was given this nickname, but it was still too loud. More like "Nuisance to the limited Atlas forces sent to guard the festival," but no one would bother with clarifications and plausibility. Especially Hat.
"Fire Queen?" Weiss was even more surprised. She was used to Ice Queen, Snow Angel, Snow White, Weisscream, or the freshest one - Mrs. Schnee, where the word "Mrs." clearly had a few extra letters implying marriage. In general, to everything where cold figures. But this was the first time she was called like this.
"We decided to change your nicknames, because the old ones really aren't nicknames anymore. When a surname or marital status is repeated, it's already some kind of tautology. Not cool. Anyway, you're now the Executioner of Atlas, and you're the Fire Queen."
While everything was clear with the Executioner, Weiss's new nickname was a natural mystery. And Weiss really doesn't like not understanding something. But she was also scared by the reason why the old nicknames suddenly became "really not nicknames anymore".
"What did I do yesterday?!" she panicked.
Joker wiped his mouth with his sleeve and smiled greasily.
"First you were praising your beloved, and then you pounced on him so hard you two almost fell to the ground. Made out for like five minutes."
Weiss let out a squeak and hid her reddened face in her hands.
Memories pierced Egrer's brain like a sharp needle. An already tipsy Weiss delivered a speech near the large bonfire, where she praised everyone present. No one escaped her warm words: she praised Jaune for his heroism, Nora for her steadfastness, Yang for maintaining morale, Ruby for her cuteness, Magenta for her diligence... and when it came to Egrer's turn, she simply pulled him by the collar and kissed him in front of the entire camp, tossing a bottle of whiskey into the fire.
That was how she turned from an ice queen into a fire one.
Egrer smiled against his will; the memories of this evening would never leave him now. Weiss, however, drank too much to remember a thing.
"Sup!" Yort walked up to them. Egrer answered automatically, but the Vacuan giant wasn't addressing him at all. He clapped a taken aback Weiss on the shoulder. "You got a solid punch! But twisting my balls was kinda uncalled for. Anyway, congrats on the win! Didn't congratulate you then, wasn't in the right state."
Egrer remembered that yesterday Weiss clashed with Yort in an argument, because he refused to acknowledge her as the boss. First, she smashed a bottle over his head, then clapped her palms over his ears, and finally grabbed his junk and gave it a good squeeze. Yort dropped right there and couldn't get up for a long time. Yang was so impressed by what she saw that she carried the victor on her back for the rest of the evening. And Weiss was only glad to be taller than everyone else, given her height.
Weiss stared at her hands in shock. She shifted her gaze to the retreating Yort's back, then back to her hands, then back to Yort, and back to her hands again.
And as if that wasn't enough, a slightly rolled-down sleeve revealed a couple of black lines on her forearm. Weiss slowly pulled back the fabric of her jacket, and the color on her face was replaced by pallor. In a drunken haze, she had gotten a tattoo. And not just any tattoo - a black-and-white caricature of her own father: a highly pronounced nose, sly little eyes, and a vile ear-to-ear smile with crooked teeth.
This turned out to be the finishing blow to her pride and self-esteem.
"Give me an axe. I will chop off my arm. And then my head."
"Maybe it can be removed?" Egrer asked timidly.
He didn't remember the moment when Weiss got the idea to get a tattoo, but he definitely remembered how they both complained to each other about their fathers. Again. Except if previously they held back in their expressions and understood that they owed them a lot, being drunk, they let loose completely.
With an unexpected revelation, Egrer rolled up the sleeve of his own jacket and saw a caricature of Roman there. Giant crossed eyes staring at a single pathetic Lien, massive grabbing hands, and a ton of makeup on his face: eyeliner, lipstick on a protruding lip, powder, and shiny mascara for extremely long eyelashes. This entire piece of art was in color.
And most importantly - Egrer recognized the art style. He remembered that it was Illmond, who overheard their complaints, that suggested getting tattoos. The details eluded him, but one thing was clear - Illmond had talked them into doing this, and had even drawn the caricatures for the tattoo artist himself. Egrer wasn't the least bit surprised that there was a third-year at Beacon whose weapon was a large tattoo machine.
"Weiss, when you're done, can you pass the axe to me? I need to hack somebody."
Weiss didn't hear him. She looked straight at her arms with the gaze of the doomed.
"Just how much did I do yesterday? I will never wash off this disgrace... My entire reputation is ruined. My life is over if any of my relatives find out about this."
"O-o-oh," Joker uttered in anticipation, "you haven't even seen what you wrote on~"
Hat seemingly accidentally let go of his head, and it plunged into the bucket.
"Oh, buddy, what's wrong? You've grown so weak. Let's go wash you off." He squeamishly grabbed Joker by the scruff of the neck and dragged him to the pond.
Left alone, they began to comprehend everything that happened. And while the nobody Egrer could afford binge drinking and debauchery, Weiss was the daughter of an influential businessman. She wouldn't get away with this.
It was exactly in this lost state that Headmaster Ozpin, who suddenly appeared nearby, caught them.
"Mr. Peleni, Miss Schnee." His voice made them jump and hide their tattooed arms behind their backs, as if it was the most terrible thing they had managed to do during the uprising. "Please come to my office. I'll say right away, I have no intention of punishing or scolding you, so you have nothing to fear."
He addressed the last sentence more to the panicked students in the area, whom Ozpin's sudden appearance had caused to grab their weapons.
Egrer exchanged glances with Weiss. They could refuse if they wanted to, but what was the point? Beacon is the Headmaster's territory; he'd get them sooner or later anyway. However, common sense suggested that expecting something good after everything they had pulled was the height of stupidity.
Ozpin looked calm, but just in case, Egrer reached out with his Semblance to his Lake, and only finding himself at its very edge, beheld unshakeable tranquility. Not a drop of anger, not a drop of joy, nothing. Absolute silence, black-and-white landscapes, not a single tiny wave or breeze.
"You have an interesting gaze, Mr. Peleni." Ozpin smiled. A stampede of goosebumps ran down Egrer's back. "But let us waste no more time. Allow me to remind you that right now you all should be in Ethics class."
The students obediently followed him into the Headmaster's tower. Right above the entrance was written "Ozpin sucks - eats a bunch of ducks," but Ozpin himself took it with humor and said the rhyme was quite amusing.
"We have nothing to fear," Egrer whispered when they entered the elevator. "We~"
"Don't you dare," Weiss interrupted him. "Every time you start this broken record, I only start worrying more."
"And for no reason. Because we have absolutely nothing~"
Weiss stepped on his foot and twisted her heel. Egrer barely suppressed a painful cry.
The Headmaster's office greeted them with sunlight beating through the panoramic window. Weiss and Egrer winced and closed their eyes, unable to bear the sharp pain in their eyes.
"Now then." Ozpin began, walking to his desk. "You are surely wondering why I called you here, if I have no intention of punishing you."
He picked something up and turned to face them. Sunbeams reflected off two medals on a red cushion, darting all over the office. The silver crest of Vale in a red rhombus. An award that only Hunters who have done something truly legendary for the people of Vale could receive. In the last decade, only one had been awarded this medal.
"First and foremost, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, specifically you, Mr. Peleni." The Headmaster pinned a medal on his chest. "It is thanks to you that we managed to find that intruder and almost catch her."
"Me?"
Egrer felt very awkward. It was his fault Beacon was shaken by a civil war, the Atlas flagship was blown up twice, numerous soldiers were subjected to psychological suffering and indelible disgrace, and General Ironwood himself became his enemy. Not to mention that exactly under the banner of Enversion monuments were defiled, walls covered in graffiti, gardens destroyed, classes skipped, dozens of academy rules broken. In just one day he managed to do as much as he hadn't in his entire previous life.
And here he is being given a medal...
"If it were not for your mutiny and the subsequent riots, she would never have dared to do what she dared, and go where she would not have dared."
It was a very strange attempt to keep something a secret. But Ozpin just continued, as if he hadn't noticed their uncomprehending looks.
"Unfortunately, she escaped, and we were unable to ascertain her identity. But we have learned much about her regardless. Your help is invaluable. You need not worry about punishment; all participants in the riot will receive amnesty. Provided they return Beacon to its proper state, of course."
"Have all charges against Blake been dropped?" Weiss inquired businesslikely. The Headmaster nodded and pinned a medal on her now. She, it seemed, still couldn't believe the reality of what was happening.
"Yes. Please understand, Miss Belladonna's presence in the cell was a necessity that would help us find the intruder." Weiss frowned in bewilderment. "James and I immediately realized that the results of the forensics were an attempt to fool us, and we decided to fool her in return. The uprising, of course, was not part of our plans, but it turned out even better this way."
"A-a-ah..." Egrer drawled. "And I thought in my sinful mind that you and the General were... excuse me, idiots, who couldn't see past your own noses."
He even felt somewhat ashamed. There was only one idiot in this room, and that was the one who actually believed the Headmaster of Beacon and the General of Atlas could be stupid. Roman's words, spoken by him in the port, surfaced in his head on their own:
"Carve this into your nose - a smart guy isn't the one shouting about how smart he is, but the one who knows when to play the idiot."
And yet the Headmaster's approach was... unusual and even insane. Ozpin is a genius pretending to be a madman, pretending to be a genius, pretending to be a madman. Only he would think to use an uprising in his own academy to try to catch a single criminal.
Suddenly, Goodwitch burst into the Headmaster's office. She was limping and leaning on an IV stand, and her appearance was so exhausted, as if she had been assigned detentions by the janitor. The white hospital gown only emphasized her tormented look. However, an unknown force, the force of the Law, pushed her forward.
"No amnesties!" she shouted categorically. Her voice no longer inspired its former awe and terror either, but even so, the students backed away. "Detentions for everyone! Everyone!"
"Glynda," Ozpin extended a hand in a pacifying gesture, "it's harmful for you to exert yourself right now, please, return to the infirmary. Joseph will take care of you."
Suddenly, Miss Goodwitch's gaze stopped on the medals.
"I knew you would pull something like this. You gave them medals! Medals!"
"Good behavior should be rewarded."
"Good behavior?!" Goodwitch screamed. Her voice cracked, and her eyes bloodshot; it became obvious - she was having a nervous breakdown. "These parasites completely plundered our kitchen, threw a drinking party right under your tower at night, defiled Beacon with their graffiti... They broke so many rules they could be locked up for life! And you call this good behavior?!"
"But one cannot argue with the fact that it played right into our hands."
"That's it, I have no strength left." Miss Goodwitch wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her voice became quiet. "I just wanted to scold you, but you know what... I'm leaving for a sanatorium. To clean air, away from children and you. Maybe I'll return, but that is ve-e-ery unlikely."
"B-but Glynda," for the first time in Egrer's memory, notes of fear broke through Ozpin's voice, "the students' practice is starting soon. You cannot leave me at a time like this."
"Watch me! Deal with this shit yourself!" With those words, the elevator doors were enveloped in a purple glow and slammed shut with force.
A gloomy silence enveloped everyone from head to toe.
"That was awkward," Ozpin said. "Children, you are dismissed as well."
"Um..." Egrer said quietly. "If we did such a great job, can you bring back the music club? I can give you the medal back, if you want."
"I am afraid that after something like that, Glynda definitely will never return. I cannot agree to that."
"Then can we stay here for a bit?" Weiss asked, gulping loudly. "I do not want to accidentally catch her eye. Let her fly out of Beacon first..."
***
Shortly after the two students left, General Ironwood entered Ozpin's office. The shiner inflicted by Miss Xiao Long had already faded, but the bags under his eyes made it clear that he hadn't slept at all last night.
"Our fears have been confirmed." He immediately got down to business, having neither the desire nor the mood for a banal greeting. "Her pawn is in Beacon. Since the threat is confirmed, I am calling in the Specialists. With their experience and abilities, we will find the enemy much faster."
"I doubt that is the best idea." Ozpin tore himself away from a stack of papers. All the work of his faithful deputy had fallen onto his shoulders. "Mutual trust between Beacon students and Atlas has been undermined for a long time; they might think you are gathering forces for a rematch. I doubt you'll want to endure another raid on your flagship. By the way," the Headmaster straightened his back with a crack and massaged a stiff wrist, "why did the alarm sound so early?"
"I delayed it as much as I could, but one of the patrols found several unconscious guards in the prison section. I would have looked foolish if I ordered that to be ignored as well."
"I see. Nothing is perfect, and plans are no exception. Will they have time to repair your flagship before the festival begins?"
"I hope so. The technicians have only just begun to assess the damage, and the estimated sum already frightens me."
"Money is not a problem for us, you know that."
"I am more concerned about reputational losses." Ironwood shook his head, stepping over to the window. "The flagship was torn apart by a mob of schoolchildren. And this circus-like kidnapping... we made ourselves look like idiots."
"That was the point," Ozpin explained. "It was precisely because of this that the enemy grew bold enough to decide to go all-in. I was only a couple of seconds late in reaching Glynda."
The General wanted to say many things to him, but remained silent. Ozpin's insane antics no longer surprised him as much as before. Besides, there were more important questions.
"How is Glynda?"
"Do you want to know her combat injuries or her general condition?"
"Both, if you please."
"She did not receive a single scratch in battle, but she severely overexerted herself. And due to the student uprising... Glynda suffered a nervous breakdown and left for a sanatorium. I don't think we will see her for the next month. By the way," Ozpin began again, not giving the General a chance to utter a single word of indignation, "I had a thought on how to hide Amber better."
"Are you trying to say that the giant prop machine with a mannequin inside no longer satisfies you? I doubt anyone could even guess that you simply hid her in that pile of trash."
"Do I hear notes of judgment in your voice?" The General said nothing, but his silence could unmistakably be translated as "Isn't that obvious?" "I simply saw an opportunity to save things dear to my heart. Glynda had long been planning to do a spring cleaning in the basement, and you know that when a woman sets about cleaning, half the house ends up in the trash. And even if the enemies find out that Amber is hidden in the other half of the basement... well, their search will stretch on for years."
"You're a madman, Ozpin," Ironwood sighed. "A genius psycho..."
"Live as long as I have, and you will begin to look at many things differently. So," Ozpin returned to the old topic of conversation, "I propose hiding Amber beneath the basement floor. And so we ourselves have a way to reach her, we'll build a secret tunnel in, for example, the girls' restroom on the third floor of the east wing. For the sake of form, we can place a few traps with spears and a giant rolling boulder there. Not in the restroom," the Headmaster clarified just in case, "in the tunnel."
"After the flagship was blown up, I promised myself I would think four times before agreeing to any of your ideas."
"And you will agree regardless, because my scheme will work, as always. So why waste time? As soon as the immediate threat is dealt with, we will re-hide Amber."
"Grimm..."