Objective Recieved (Rewrite)
Objective Received
“Cinder Fall told her this?” Ironwood asked.
“So Miss Shimmer tells me,” Ozpin replied. “She seems to think it is genuine.”
“Does that worry you?” Ironwood asked.
“The connection between Miss Shimmer and Miss Fall is concerning, I admit,” Ozpin replied. “But then, one of the reasons for admitting Miss Shimmer into Beacon was to prevent her from falling in with the wrong crowd. I simply didn’t expect that the wrong crowd would find their way here to Beacon.”
“Oz-”
“I know, James; we must not sink beneath our misfortunes but keep moving forward,” Ozpin said. “I have faith in Miss Shimmer’s friends to…”
“To keep her honest?” Ironwood suggested.
“If you wish,” Ozpin said.
“Do you know if they’ve told anyone else yet?” asked Ironwood. “Not about this call, but about our other secrets?”
“I believe so,” Ozpin replied. “I can see no other reason for them to retreat into the privacy of the garage. You might be interested to know that Miss Belladonna was with them.”
“I am interested, but not surprised,” Ironwood said. “She’s close enough to both teams that she could almost be considered part of either. How do you feel?”
“I’m glad that they didn’t follow my instructions and keep it secret from their teammates.”
“You’re glad that someone didn’t keep secrets? Are you feeling alright, Oz?”
Ozpin chuckled. “You may jest, James, and heavens know that we need a little levity in situations like these, but even I understand there must be limits on secrecy. No one can bear such terrible burdens as we are cursed with alone. Not me. Not you. Not them. I would never expect Miss Nikos or Miss Shimmer to bear the weight of this without the support of those closest to them.”
Ironwood reflected briefly that he had never told his teammates, but then, by the time he found out the truth, they had ceased to be those closest to him, and those closest had known. “And yet that’s exactly what you asked them to do,” Ironwood reminded him. “You could have done without the test of character and simply given them permission.”
“But then what would I have discovered about them, James?” Ozpin asked, a slight smile pricking at the corners of his mouth.
It occurred to Ironwood that this sort of behaviour was part of the reason some people felt Oz couldn’t be trusted; he was not, however, so cruel nor so insubordinate as to say so. “Well, it seems that we’ll need to get them back together for another meeting. But hold off on that for a minute, I want to have another crack at Torchwick, find out if he knows anything. Thanks for the intel, Oz; maybe a mention of Mountain Glenn will shake something loose.”
“You’re always welcome, James; let me know if anything does, as you say, shake loose,” Ozpin said. He paused. “I’ve been trying to get in contact with Qrow.”
“Anything?”
“No,” Ozpin replied mournfully. “I would send him to Mountain Glenn if I knew where he was or that he would return in time to make the journey promptly. As things stand… we may, as you say, have to assemble the children once again. It seems their baptism of fire may come sooner than I had hoped.”
“This is what we brought them in for, Oz,” Ironwood told him. In each generation, Ozpin gave his trust only to a select few; between deaths, desertions, justified retirements, and those whose profiles or positions didn’t allow them to leave their posts to go chasing shadows, that left Qrow Branwen as their only active field agent. Part of the reason to bring in Teams RSPT and SAPR was because, with Salem taking a more aggressive stance, they badly needed to replenish their numbers for potential field work. “And they’re good for this. There’s no one better that I could name.” He didn’t quite say that he would bet on Rainbow Dash over Qrow Branwen any day, but he allowed the implication to hang there between them.
“One of these days, James, you’ll have to tell me how she managed to impress you quite this much,” Ozpin said.
“Because I don’t want to end up like my father!” Ironwood was silent for a moment. “You know, in Low Town under Atlas, people aren’t always as… rational as they are amongst the clouds. All kinds of superstitions run riot. Including one that says that people with hair touched by the aurora are blessed by fate.”
“Rainbow hair?” Ozpin asked.
“Exactly,” Ironwood confirmed. “People told my father that he was meant for something amazing his whole life, so he just sat back and waited for destiny to drop it on his plate. And what’s it gotten him? A small business? And the worst part is, people still think he’s awesome because that’s what passes for success down there! People have been telling me that I can do something great my whole life, just like they told him. Unlike my father, I’d like to prove them right.” “But Dash wasn’t willing to just sit and wait; she wanted to earn all those accolades, even if retroactively. It impressed me, enough to give her a shot. I haven’t regretted it yet.”
“I see,” Ozpin murmured. “In any event, please keep me informed if you obtain any information from Mister Torchwick.”
“I will,” Ironwood promised. “Have you reported to the Council yet?”
Ozpin groaned. “One thing at a time, James; that is not a conversation I relish. We shall speak soon?”
“Of course.”
“Then I wish you good luck.”
“Thank you, Oz; until later.” Ironwood folded up his scroll and placed it neatly on his desk. He got up from his chair and went to the window of his office aboard the Valiant. From here, he could see out across Vale and see elements of his fleet as they hovered above the city they were prepared to defend.
So many people. So many soldiers aboard his ships, but dwarfed in number by the teeming multitudes of the city below them. Thousands of people, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people living their lives in blissful ignorance of the existence of Salem or the relics or the maidens or any of the other secrets he was privy to,
Sometimes, he wondered if he would have preferred to be ignorant himself.
No; no, he didn’t really mean that. It was better that he knew the truth, better that he knew what he was really up against, better that he could make his decisions with a clear head and all the facts at his disposal.
But there were times when he wished that he hadn’t been introduced into this shadow world; he didn’t have the mind for all the twists and turns required.
But that didn’t stop me from pulling Rainbow and Twilight in after me. They’ve probably already pulled in Ciel and Penny too.
I did what I had to do. Atlas – and the world – needs to be protected, and they’re the best we have.
There’s no one that I trust more.
Ironwood turned away from the window. Thinking like that wasn’t going to help him make the decisions that would keep all those people out there in Vale safe from harm.
Mountain Glenn. He knew a little about the place: a failed expansion project and a costly failure in terms of loss of life. It had killed large scale expansion efforts by Vale ever since.
And it was the place where Cinder Fall was, or would be, or it was the place she wanted them to think that she would be. Whether there was anything else there, why she wanted them to come there, these were the questions he needed – or at the very least would like – the answers to before he decided to commit his forces.
Or his kids.
And there was someone who could give him those answers.
Ironwood left his office, indicating with a gesture of his hand that his marine guard should remain at his post on the door before he, Ironwood, strode down the corridors of the flagship in the direction of the brig. He returned the salutes of the officers and men he passed along the way, but otherwise said nothing as he walked so that he was accompanied only by the thudding of his own feet against the metal of the deck. He didn’t even summon Winter to his side as he made his way down the metallic corridors of the Atlesian warship until he arrived at the sepulchral brig, where cells like cathedral alcoves lined the walls on either side of the central walkway.
Ironwood made his way unerringly to the cell currently housing Roman Torchwick. He opened the door to find their guest sitting awkwardly against the wall, with an expression that suggested he was trying and failing to find some way of lounging in a cell that wasn’t built to allow for anything like it.
“Comfortable?” Ironwood asked, unable to keep a trace of snide pleasure out of his voice.
“Not really,” Torchwick growled as he sat up. He tried to smirk, and when he spoke again, he had put a little of his old grease back into his voice, but it fell a little flat considering that Ironwood had clearly caught him at a bad time. “So, General, what can I do for you? You’re not here to let me out, are you?”
“What do you know about Mountain Glenn?” Ironwood asked.
Torchwick had an admirable poker face. “Wasn’t that the new city that got overrun back when I was a boy? Real sad story, all those poor folks just abandoned by the government to die like that. Of course, that’s what government does, isn’t it? One way or another, it leaves everyone to die.”
“I’m not here to debate the philosophy of anarchism with you, Torchwick; what do you know?”
“Only what everyone knows,” Torchwick said.
“So Cinder Fall is going to Mountain Glenn to do what? Lead a historical survey?” Ironwood demanded. “Sightsee among the ruins?”
Torchwick was silent for a moment. Then he chuckled. “So, you know about Cinder, huh? I gotta give you credit, General, I didn’t think you were smart enough to figure that out. Of course, you just told me that you haven’t actually caught her yet, but the fact that you know you oughtta be trying to catch her… that’s not so bad.” He leaned forward. “Hey, can I ask you something now?”
“I don’t guarantee an answer.”
Torchwick nodded. “By any chance did those kids have anything to do with it?”
General Ironwood did not have so good a poker face as Torchwick, because although he didn’t reply, that didn’t stop the criminal from sniggering.
“Don’t you feel just a little ashamed of yourself, relying on a bunch of teenagers to do everything?”
“I’m proud of what my people accomplish, no matter how young they are.”
“Well, that’s one way to stave off feelings of inadequacy, I guess,” Torchwick said. He put his shackled hands behind his head. “They really are something, aren’t they?”
“Cinder?”
“No, those kids,” Torchwick said. “I mean, sure, Cinder’s something else as well, but those kids… man, if I’d been that good when I was their age, I’d be running this whole town by now.”
He fell silent. Ironwood allowed it and didn’t push him. Let him work it through for himself. Roman Torchwick was a lot of things, most of them bad, but if his record was even halfway accurate, then he was also a survivor. Let him think about what it meant that his boss was exposed and on the run, let him consider the shifting balance of forces at play, let him work out on his own that his interests might be better served by sharing his knowledge with the authorities.
So far, Torchwick had kept his mouth resolutely shut beyond claiming that he was the mastermind behind the operations of the White Fang. If Ironwood pressed him, then he might clam up even tighter, even now. But if Ironwood kept quiet and let him come around to the idea, then maybe-
“Say, General,” Torchwick said, “is that deal you mentioned a while back still on the table?”
Ironwood believed that he successfully managed to conceal his satisfaction. “Even though you don’t have as much to offer as you did, I’ll be generous and say yes.”
“Oh, I still got lots to say, believe me,” Torchwick said. “I also got a few conditions of my own.”
Ironwood frowned. “You think I’m going to let you completely dictate the terms of-”
“I want a transfer to a civilian prison,” Torchwick said. “For me and Neo.”
“Why?” Ironwood demanded.
“Because there’s more room in the cells down there than there is up here,” Torchwick said. “Because I enjoy sparring with the prison wardens, and your guards don’t talk to me-”
“They’re ordered not to talk to you.”
“Good for them, but it doesn’t make it any less boring for me stuck in here with nobody,” Torchwick replied.
“Are you sure you don’t want to be transferred to a prison you can escape from?”
“Now why would I want to escape?” Torchwick asked. “I love prison; it’s like being on vacation.” He paused for a moment. “The last time I got sent down, they put me in charge of the swimming pool.”
Ironwood’s eyebrows rose. “The prison had a swimming pool?”
“No,” Torchwick said. “It must have been an administrative error. Funny, huh?”
“Hmm,” Ironwood growled. He didn’t know how much of what Torchwick was saying was true and how much was a load of bull, but the truth was that Ironwood had very little grounds to hold him aboard the Valiant, and the Valish Department of the Interior had been requesting that he be handed into their custody ever since he’d been captured. Giving him up might buy some much needed goodwill with the First Councillor, and if he escaped… once he gave up all the information he had, was he likely to want to escape? Possibly not, if he feared what his erstwhile allies might do to an informant. “Anything else?”
“I want a nice dinner for Neo,” Torchwick said. “She likes pizza and wings from Pascale’s – I don’t mind not having to go in there; those robots always creep me out – with chocolate brownies and ice cream for dessert. And no store brand crap either; it’s gotta be… FarmFresh or nothing.”
“Fine,” Ironwood huffed. “Anything else? Would you like some champagne while you’re at it? Do you want to watch a movie?”
“Don’t worry, General, I know how to keep my requests realistic,” Torchwick insisted, in the teeth of the evidence. “Although I do have one last condition.”
“What?”
Torchwick smiled. “I will only talk to Ruby Rose and Sunset Shimmer.”
“You don’t have to do this, Ruby,” Sunset said.
Ruby smiled nervously. “Well, if I didn’t, you’d have to talk to him by yourself, wouldn’t you?”
Sunset’s eyebrows rose. “You think I couldn’t manage that?”
“I think we kind of need him alive so he can tell us stuff,” Ruby said.
Sunset stared down at her for a moment. Then her face cracked into a smile. “Well, I guess you’re not wrong about that.”
“I don’t know for sure why he wants to speak to us,” Ruby said, “but I think he’ll try and push our buttons, and you-”
“Have a bit of a temper sometimes, yeah,” Sunset admitted. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re going to be in there with me.”
Ruby’s smile widened a little, and became a little less nervous, too. “I’m glad you’re going to be there too,” she murmured, and not only because Sunset was never totally disarmed so long as she had her magic.
Ruby, on the other hand, was going to walk in there unarmed and talk to Roman Torchwick. What Yang would say about that… well, there was a reason Ruby hadn’t told her about it yet. Along with all the other things that Ruby hadn’t told her sister about, a list that seemed to be getting longer by the hour.
Ruby huffed mentally. She loved her team, all of them, but there were times when she wished that she and Yang could have been on the same team together, and then they could have shared all of this stuff that she was finding out. That way, Ruby could have told her everything and not have to lie or hide or worry about what Dad would have to say.
Although it seemed like Dad might have been keeping some secrets of his own.
But that was something that she’d have to deal with later, however she decided to actually deal with it. For now, she had to focus on Torchwick. Roman Torchwick, on the other side of the door, waiting for her.
She hadn’t lied to Sunset. She did have to do this. He knew things that they needed to know, and what kind of huntress would ignore that just because she was a little nervous about a prisoner?
They – Team SAPR, Blake, Team RSPT, Professor Ozpin, and General Ironwood – were all waiting outside of the interrogation room (or at least it was an interrogation room) on board the Atlesian flagship, the Valiant. Professor Ozpin seemed to sense some of her nerves, because he smiled genially, with a look on his face that Ruby thought her grandpa might have worn if she’d had one, and said, “Don’t overthink things, Ruby. Just ask the obvious questions that come to mind, and everything will work out.”
Ruby looked at him. It was hard to imagine that this was the man who was running a secret organisation across the length and breadth of Remnant to fight evil. It was even harder to imagine that he’d worked with her mom to do the same thing. It was really hard to imagine that he’d once taught her mom magic. And yet, at least two of those things were true – because her teammates wouldn’t lie to her, and Mom would have no reason to lie to her own diary – and the third made sense.
But as he looked at her, the main thing going through Ruby’s mind was a sceptical disbelief at the idea that Sunset didn’t trust the headmaster. What was he doing wrong? He was defending the world from anyone who dared to threaten it, which was exactly what a huntsman was supposed to do. He might have been keeping secrets, but he had his reasons, she was sure.
“Thank you, Professor,” she said.
“And Miss Shimmer,” Professor Ozpin went on, “please try and remain calm. If you lose control, you’ll only be giving Mister Torchwick what he wants.”
Sunset sighed. “I’ll try my best, Professor.”
“Wear these, both of you,” General Ironwood said, handing her a small earpiece of transparent plastic. “It will allow us to offer you directions if you need them.”
“Thanks, sir,” Ruby said as she put the device in her ear. Sunset did likewise.
General Ironwood nodded. “I should be thanking you, both of you. You’re doing good work here today.”
“You’re gonna do great in there,” Jaune said encouragingly.
Ruby forced her smile a little wider. “I’ll try my best,” she said, offering him a thumbs-up.
“We’ll be in the next room, watching everything,” Pyrrha said. “If there’s any trouble, we’ll be there.”
“I know,” Ruby said. She took a deep breath. “I think… I think I’m ready now. Sunset?”
Sunset shrugged. “I’m ready when you are,” she said, and Ruby wished that she could be as casual about this as Sunset seemed to be.
“Give us a minute to get in position,” General Ironwood said. “I’ll contact you when we’re ready.”
“Okay,” Ruby said. They all left her after that. Sunset, like Ruby, looked after the others as they left them behind and went into the next room to the right.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” Sunset murmured.
“Yeah,” Ruby said. She looked around. “This is a nice ship, isn’t it? Is it your first time here?”
“No,” Sunset said. “I came here to talk to General Ironwood about…” She laughed. “You know, I can’t actually remember what it was about, or when it was.” She shrugged. “It was probably the usual sort of thing.”
“I came here with Penny and the others,” Ruby said. “It’s nice, isn’t it?
“If you like that sort of thing,” Sunset muttered. “I find it rather… sterile.”
“But it’s a mechanical marvel!” Ruby exclaimed. “The skill and knowledge and hard work required just to get this into the air, and then you have to think about all the weapon systems and the comms and the fact that people can live here, on their own, for months if they have to! Did you know that? This… stuff like this is a testament to what people can accomplish.”
Sunset snorted, although the fond smile she wore took any sting out of it. “You should have been an engineer, not a huntress.”
Ruby shook her head. “Nah. Gears and machines are cool, but saving people is way cooler.”
Sunset grinned. “I guess there’s nothing that competes with that hero feeling, huh?”
Ruby said, “Sunset, about Professor-”
“Ruby,” the voice of Professor Ozpin himself interrupted her before she could say anything else. “We’re ready here. It’s time.”
“Right,” Ruby said. To Sunset, she explained, “They’re ready for us.”
“Okay,” Sunset said. She held out one arm – she was still wearing Pyrrha’s spare gloves – in a gesture of invitation towards the door. “After you.”
Ruby faced the door. The door behind which waited her enemy. The door that was keeping her from Roman Torchwick.
You’ve sent this guy running twice and caught him the time after that; what’s the big deal?
I had Crescent Rose with me all those times. The last time, I had two whole teams with me.
But I only had Sunset the first time, and she’s here with me again now.
Ruby glanced at her teammate, her partner, who closed in behind her. Sunset’s hands, Ruby noticed, were clenched into fists.
I guess she’s not as casual about this as she’d like me to think.
She took a step towards the door, which automatically – or perhaps someone in the other room had opened it for her; that was a little more secure – slid open, revealing Roman Torchwick sitting with his feet on the metal table in the centre of the room. The only other furniture was the chair he was sitting on and two chairs opposite for Ruby and Sunset. Although his hands were shackled, he had them tucked behind his head, and he sounded like he was whistling.
He stopped doing it as Ruby walked in, and started beaming at her instead. “Well, if it isn’t Little Red! Nice to see you again, kid.” He glanced at Sunset, winking at her with his one visible eye. “And Baconhair, you came too. I’m touched, I really am.”
Sunset rolled her eyes – probably at being called ‘baconhair’ – and reversed her chair so that the back was facing the table, then squatted down on it resting her arms on said back. Ruby sat down more normally.
“What…?” Ruby began. Her mouth felt dry, and her tongue felt bigger than normal. Just ask the obvious questions. Right. “What do you know about Mountain Glenn?”
Torchwick chuckled. “Come on, Red, that’s not how this works. Where are your manners? You haven’t even said hello to me yet.”
“Stop calling me that; my name is Ruby!” Ruby snapped. “And you… you can call me Miss Rose. Stop talking to me like we’re friends.”
Torchwick took his feet off the table and leaned forward, bringing his manacled hands from over his head as he placed them on the table. Sunset tensed, but Torchwick ignored her. He was wholly focussed on Ruby. “Do you want to know what I know, Miss Rose?” he asked, his tone becoming particularly mocking when he got to her name.
Ruby nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Then don’t yell at me and don’t act all prissy over my manners like some stuck-up debutante,” Torchwick said. “Now say hello, and ask me how I’ve been doing.”
The palms of Sunset’s hands hit the table with a hard thud, as she started to get to her feet, jaw clenched with anger.
“Sunset,” Ruby murmured.
Torchwick was grinning like he’d just opened his birthday present.
Sunset glowered at him. Torchwick continued to smile back, completely unfazed. Sunset’s ears were pressed down into her hair, but nevertheless, she forced herself to sit down again. “Hello, Torchwick,” she growled out through gritted teeth. “How have you been since we saw each other last?”
“Oh, I’ve been just great since you meddling kids handed me over to this charming crowd,” Torchwick said. “My cell is cramped, the food is appalling, and I get woken up in the middle of the night, every night, by shift change as dozens of military boots go pounding past my cell.”
“My heart bleeds for your entirely self-inflicted misfortunes,” Sunset said, recovering her temper sufficiently to be as dry as sand.
Roman ignored her, or at least, he ignored her tone. “Neo’s doing great too, by the way. A kid her age should be playing outside, not-”
“Robbing dust stores?” Sunset suggested.
“Stuck in a cell on a warship,” Torchwick finished.
“You’re a criminal,” Ruby reminded him. “You steal, and you hurt people, and you kill them too. You’re working with the White Fang! Do you expect me to feel sorry for you?”
“A little sympathy wouldn’t break your auras,” Torchwick said. “Like my old man used to say, you can get a lot further with a gun and a kind word than you can with just a gun.”
“You can’t let him take control of this interview,” General Ironwood said, his voice emerging out of the device in Ruby’s ear. “You need to get this back on track.”
Ruby scowled. “What do you know, Torchwick?”
“All my friends call me Roman.”
“You have friends?” Sunset asked.
“Oh, you wound me, kid; I’m a really popular guy in some circles.”
“Good for you,” Sunset muttered. “But however many friends you have, we’re not among them, so it will be Torchwick from us and Miss Shimmer and Miss Rose to you.”
“Are you going to spank me if I get out of line, Miss Shimmer?” Torchwick asked.
“What do you know?” Ruby repeated, more fiercely and more urgently this time.
Torchwick tapped on the table with his fingers. “I hear you sent Cinder running. And I thought that was pretty interesting. I mean, I already knew that you kids were good – you took me down, after all – but I had no idea that you were that good. You see, I’ve been keeping quiet this whole time about everything because I thought that Cinder was the strongest, scariest act in town, but now… well, no offence, Red, but you still don’t scare me anywhere near as much as she does, but as for strength… if you and the crazy gang can make her turn tail and run, if you kids can unravel her plans… maybe I’ve had my calculations all wrong.”
“And is that all you care about?” Ruby demanded. “Who’s the strongest? Which side is safer to back? What about right and wrong? What about all the people that you’ve put in danger? How many people have you killed?”
“Not as many as you might think,” Torchwick said, his voice suddenly losing a lot of its playful tone. “I’m a lot of things, kid – I’m a thief, a racketeer, a con man, a liar – but I’m not a murderer. I only kill morons who get in my way. I’m not my boss or the trio she pals around with.”
“I caught you and Adam on your way to kill a man in his own home!” Sunset snapped.
“He was a snitch!” Torchwick replied. “Like I said, I only kill morons.”
“Are you going to claim that talking to us doesn’t make you a snitch?” Sunset asked.
“Talking to you might make me a survivor,” Torchwick declared. “Neo and I have both survived because that’s what we do: lie, cheat, steal, play the angles, and yes, I kill when I’ve got no other choice. So you can take your judgement and shove it; you’ve got no idea what it’s like to be me, to live in my world. I bet your mommies and daddies have taken care of you your whole life.”
“My mom’s dead,” Ruby snapped. “She died helping people, protecting Remnant. That’s what it means to do the right thing, to think of other people before yourself.”
Torchwick stared at her for a moment. “You got a lot of heart, Red, I’ll give you that. And a lot of spirit. You remind me of somebody I used to know.” He leaned back in his chair. “They had a lot of spirit too, and it got them hurt, badly. Because the real world doesn’t care about spirit. Not one damn bit. You keep going like this, you’ll find that out for yourself.”
“No,” Sunset snapped, “she won’t.”
“What makes you so sure?” Torchwick asked.
“Because she’s got me,” Sunset declared. “And I’ll make sure of it.”
Torchwick smirked at her. “So, what do you want to know?”
“What’s Cinder planning?” Ruby asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, come on!” Sunset yelled. “Did you really get us up here just to waste our time?”
“Well, it got me out of my cell,” Torchwick said.
Sunset got to her feet. “The only leash on my impatience with you has been the fact that we needed you in a position where you could form sensible words,” she declared, balling her hands into fists. “Apparently, that condition doesn’t apply any more so say goodbye to your teeth.” She began to walk around the table, her boots stomping heavily upon the floor.
Torchwick raised his hands. “Okay, okay, I was only kidding. Calm down, Bacon-”
Sunset growled wordlessly, as she raised a fist at him.
Torchwick cleared his throat. “I mean, uh, calm down Miss Shimmer. I’ll be a good boy from now on, I promise.”
Sunset’s eyes narrowed, and her tail flickered back and forth as she leaned against the wall. “Honesty!” she snapped. “What do you know?”
“I really don’t know what the endgame plan is, not all of it,” Torchwick insisted. “Cinder didn’t tell me everything. I don’t think that she’s told anybody the whole plan.”
“How did you get involved with her?” Sunset demanded.
“She came to me,” Torchwick said. “She needed a thief, someone who knew their way around the underworld.”
“To steal dust,” Ruby said.
Torchwick nodded. “That was my job. Steal dust, source guns, stash both in places where they wouldn’t be found until it could be shipped out. Once we’d emptied out all the soft targets in Vale, Cinder moved me to hitting trains coming through the Forever Fall. You kids know how that went.”
“And you were moving the dust and the weapons to Mountain Glenn?” Sunset asked.
“Cinder and Adam are raising an army.”
“For what?” Ruby asked.
“I don’t know,” Torchwick said for the third time. “I just know that if you go to Mountain Glenn, you’ll find a lot of dust, a lot of Atlesian mechs, and a whole lot of White Fang goons with guns and attitude.”
Sunset sighed. “Rainbow Dash isn’t here, as you can see, so I’ll channel her for a second and point out that even if the White Fang have an army, there’s still no way that they can overrun Vale; the Atlesian forces…” She trailed off.
“Sunset?” Ruby asked. “What…? Cinder.” That’s what she was doing in the tower that night.
“Scanning the network last night, I found a virus implanted in the servers,” Twilight said through her earpiece. “If I hadn’t, then the enemy could have used it to disable our weapons systems, take control of our androids, render our whole force helpless.”
“Judging by the look on your face, I take it you’ve conducted a virus scan recently,” Torchwick said. “Smart kids. You just might survive this after all.”
Nevertheless, that still left Cinder in the ruins of Mountain Glenn with a large force of White Fang fighters and powerful weapons… and the grimm, which Salem could control. “Can you show us where in Mountain Glenn the base is?”
“No,” Torchwick said. “I’m not much good at reading maps, but I’m sure you kids are lucky enough that you’ll stumble across it by yourselves once you get out there.”
“We’re not lucky,” Sunset said. “We’re good.”
“Well, then you’ll definitely find that base, won’t you?” Torchwick replied.
“Have you been there?” Ruby asked. “Could you show us where it is?”
“Ruby!” Sunset hissed.
“That’s not a good idea,” General Ironwood said into Ruby’s ear. “He could lead you into a trap.”
Torchwick laughed. “Why the desperation? You’ve already got Cinder on the back foot. Let me ask you something, if you haven’t caught Cinder yet, then how did you find out about Mountain Glenn?”
Ruby glanced at Sunset, who hesitated for a moment before she said, “Cinder dropped the name.”
“So she wants you there, and you came here to do some research on what you might find?” Torchwick responded. “Well, sorry, kids, but if you think that I’m going to risk walking into a trap with you, then you are very much mistaken. Do you realise how hard it is to get bloodstains out of a white jacket? It might be even harder when it’s your own blood.”
“Fine, we’ll find it ourselves,” Sunset snapped. “Any suggestions on where we should start?”
Torchwick shrugged. “Check the basement,” he told them.
"I think we're done here," General Ironwood said through Ruby's earpiece. "Come out, both of you; join us in the next room."
Ruby got to her feet, while Sunset peeled herself off the wall and fell in behind her as they left, without saying goodbye.
"Nice to see you, Little Red," Torchwick called as they stepped out of the room. "And you too, little po-" His words were cut off as the door slammed shut behind them.
"I hate that guy," Sunset growled. Her voice dropped a little. "I'd consider using my semblance to find out what he actually knows… only I really don't want to know what that guy's soul feels like."
"You think he wasn't telling us everything?"
"You don't think he wasn't telling us everything?" Sunset asked incredulously. “I’d bet Soteria that he knows more about Cinder’s plan than he’s telling us. I think he’s hedging his bets in case she turns the tables on us.”
"Maybe," Ruby admitted. "I don’t know. I… I don't know. We should head into the other room; they’ll all be waiting for us."
The room next door was big enough to accommodate everybody without being too cramped like the garage had been. The wall on the right as they came in was taken up completely by a monitor showing the cell: Torchwick was relaxing once again as though he hadn’t a care in the whole world.
“So, uh, what did you guys think?” Ruby asked tentatively as she walked in.
“You did great, Ruby,” Jaune said. “Sunset, you were… yourself.”
Sunset smirked and preened and petted her hair with one hand, “Why thank you, Jaune, I always try to be defiantly myself.”
“He told you quite a lot,” Penny said.
“But if it didn’t feel like a trap before, it certainly does now,” Twilight muttered.
“They’ll regret trying to snare us once our cruisers show up overhead,” Rainbow said.
“Don’t be so quick to rush to action, Miss Dash,” Professor Ozpin said. “Regardless of our opinions of Mister Torchwick’s trustworthiness, we must bear in mind that events transpiring now are but moves in a far larger game, part of a plan the whole of which is far from certain. We must not be over-bold in our response.”
Rainbow scowled. “So we do nothing?”
“Rainbow Dash,” General Ironwood said, his voice holding a warning, though Ruby wasn’t quite sure what it was a warning of, “I’d like nothing better than to rain down fire upon our enemies from above until not a trace of them remained, but if this is a trap, then the purpose could be to do exactly as you’ve suggested: to lure our forces out of Vale and leave the city defenceless before an attack.” He scowled at the image of Torchwick on the wall-sized monitor. “We need more information before we commit our main force.”
Comprehension – at least that’s what Ruby thought it was – dawned on Rainbow’s face. “Reconnaissance party, sir?”
“You’ve fought the White Fang in the past; you’re familiar with Torchwick,” General Ironwood said. He glanced at Blake. “Some of you are personally familiar with the enemy leadership.” His eyes swept across the members of Team SAPR. “And you’ve proven that you have the skills to survive until backup arrives. I know that the situation isn’t ideal, but we can’t ignore this possible threat, and we can’t commit our main force without more information.”
“So it seems that we have little choice but to play this little drama out to its conclusion,” Ozpin said, although he didn’t sound very enthusiastic about it. “You must all understand that this task will likely be difficult – and certainly dangerous – but all of you…” He smiled, and made a sound that was almost a chuckle. “Yes, I believe that all of you now understand what is at stake here. Please understand that I, that we, would not ask this of you unless we had every confidence that you could succeed.”
“That being said,” General Ironwood said, “I won’t order you on this assignment. You’re only students, and I don’t have that right. This mission is volunteer only. There is no shame in stepping back from this.”
Rainbow glanced at Ciel. “I’m not stepping back from anything, sir.”
Ciel stood to attention. “Ciel Soleil reporting for duty, sir.”
“I’m in, General, Professor,” Blake murmured.
“And so am I!” Penny declared. “Even if I can’t do everything that you said I could, I can still do this. I can still help people, right, Ruby?”
Ruby grinned. “Right, Penny.”
Twilight hesitated. She glanced down at the ground. “Blake… take care of them, won’t you?”
“Twi?” Rainbow asked.
“With Blake making up the fourth member of the team, you don’t need me to slow you down,” Twilight said. “In a place like Mountain Glenn, I’d only get in the way. This way, you can fight without having to worry about me.” She smiled. “But you’d better come back, okay?”
Rainbow grinned. “Oh, I’ll be back. We’ll all be back; count on it!”
Sunset turned her back on the general and the professor, and looked instead to her SAPR teammates. “We’re all in on this, right?” she grinned. “Or does anyone really want to let the Rosepetals have all the fun?”
Pyrrha nodded resolutely. Jaune said, “Yeah, let’s do this.”
Sunset nodded. “Glad to hear it.” She looked at Ruby. “I don’t even need to ask, do I?”
“Nope,” Ruby said with a gleaming grin.
Sunset grinned back, before she looked over her shoulder at Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood. “Team Sapphire is ready to go.”
Professor Ozpin looked at them with pride, but also with a kind of sadness that Ruby sensed radiating off of him, even if she couldn’t explain why he should be sad at a time like this. This was awesome! Everyone was shaking off the shock of the news that Sunset and Pyrrha had brought down from the tower and coming together to kick butt and save Vale from evil. There wasn’t anything remotely sad about it.
Yet, all the same, Professor Ozpin seemed sad. He was hiding it, but Ruby could tell; he was sad the way that Dad often seemed sad; she could sense it lurking behind his eyes and peeking out around the edges.
“You are to be commended for your courage and resolve,” he said. “Many fully trained and qualified huntsmen would be envious of both, or ought to be. So brave, so dauntless, and yet, so young. Ah, to be so young again and half so full of fire.” He smiled and shook his head. “I wish you the very best of luck and every success upon your mission.”
“Dash, I want sight of your first draft plan in ninety minutes. The rest of you: pack your things, get some rest, prepare yourselves,” General Ironwood said. “You leave tomorrow.”
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I want a Torchwick semi-redemption arc. This version you've created is sympathetic in a way the canon wasn't. I haven't finished Volume 6, so I don't know if we found out more on his and Neo's backstory there, but this version deserves far, FAR better than to be eaten by a Griffin Grimm.
I want to see Neo kick Cinder's ass!!!
I'm beginning to think that Cinder has Applejack and Fluttershy as hostages at Mountain Glenn. That might prove to be- the wrong impetus for an ambush.
9489689
well, if Cinder didn't have her full Maiden powers when they met in Mistral, I'm certain Neo would have won that fight.
Leave Pinkie Pie in the room with Torchwick, he'll be pleading for mercy in no time at all.
9489763
Just like Tirek
9489771
That's the plan!
Torchwick knows Sunset is a Pony?!? Because if that is the case things just got a lot worse than Sunset knows. Sure he could be just talking about her faunus traites, but everyone is going "horse" for her, not Pony...
If Torchwick is going to swap sides that means Neo is going to swap sides and Neo can take just about anyone right now. Pyrrha is about the only one in a 1v1 I would place even money on in that fight as Cinder isn't at full power yet.
Torchwick is a survivor though, if he truly thinks that Ruby and get groups will come out ahead he will swap until proven wrong, and it's quite easy to shoot someone in the back and claim it was the plan all along if Cinder and Co prove to be too much.
Right now Emerald and Lightning are my worries. Emerald's power is quite nasty if used right, Sunset might be able to do something about it but that isn't a guarantee. Lighting is a total unknown, save that she and Rainbow could end up in a relationship close to what Sunset and Cinder are in.
9489794
Everyone calls her a pony
9489794
I think Sunset has corrected Torchwick before that she's pony. I'd have to read the old chapters again, but it could be him just being friendly by finally acknowledging it.
9489354
I figured as much, but I thought it was still funny.
One problem? Since Qrow doesn't inform everyone until Volume 3, no one knows that Cinder is the same one who attacked Autumn. They don't know that Cinder is the False Maiden.
At the same time, Twilight is going as well. Even if Sunset somehow doesn't immediately recognize Cinder's powers as magic, Twilight will most certainly recognize the same kind of magic that saved her life so long ago.
9489723
Well Cinder did say that Neo had gotten stronger. So at the moment we don't fully know who's better.
9489631
Honestly? I always got the impression that Rooster Teeth killed Torchwick off, because they had no plan what to do with him anymore, or how to flash him out as a character after Beacon.
9490871
I think that was, to a greater or lesser extent, true of Pyrrha and Penny as well; although at least in their cases their deaths actually fit the themes of later RWBY, while Torchwick would have suited the idea of 'there are no heroes or villains (and people who think they are the hero or the villain like this is a story are going to find out how wrong they are) only ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances' much better by staying alive and showing the same idea from the evil end.
9491262
Yeah, in my opinion, Torchwick kind of gave me a ‘Chaotic Neutral’ vibe, in terms of his alignment. He never cared for ‘good’ or ‘evil’, only for survival by all means. When he did something morally wrong, then he didn’t do it for the sake of being ‘evil’, but because he saw it as a necessary deed.
9491549
If I remember correctly they originally were just going to have him get caught and be done with him but the fans liked him a lot.
What fun would it be if Sunset used the memories she gained from Cinder and start to intimidate Torchwick by acting like Cinder and using the gestures and lines with a sprinkle of magic.
I hope Sienna Khan meets a different fate here
9481389
This reply is a little late, sorry; I meant to reply sooner but forgot for a while.
While we don't have a lot of info on the councils, who's on them or how you get to be on the council, but I think Ozpin must be on the Vale council because the only way I can explain Ironwood having two council seats is if he has one in his capacity as Headmaster of Atlas and another as C in C of the Atlesian military; if the four kingdoms constitute thier affairs in a similar way it would then follow that each of the headmasters is on the council of their own kingdom.
Yes, the council told Ozpin they were going to be firing him but there must be procedures to eject unfit councillors.
9492711
Roman is too smart for that.
9496195
Delete the S off of team I was meaning just SAPR as I couldn't care about the other teams.
9496871
technically Sunset's last name Is used as well, considering her initials are SS we can't be sure which S was used. In the end, though it comes down to what can sound like an actual word for the most part instead of just looking like gibberish acronyms. Like how the original series uses J for Jaune to get teams "juniper" and "ranger".
Sheesh! Way things have been going just give SAPR an early graduation!
9489631
In volume six we see his childhood home.
9649338
That theory really took off didn’t it? Was it ever confirmed? Cause I’m honestly real skeptical of that.
If I were to put in another one onf my would-be wishlist items, I do wish we'd gotten a bit more cross-pollination between SAPR and Ironwood, and a bit more of RSPT and Ozpin. It's a beautiful thing when you shake up a pepper shaker to mix things up and make someone sneeze... that didn't come out as poetic as I initially thought, but I'm leaving it there.
And Weiss.The second line is kind of odd. I don't know if it's supposed to be reassuring, or a bit of a downer comparing it to the above. Is it of the 'at least it's something' variety? I suppose I could comment on her concern now contrasting with her desire to go out and capture him many chapters ago, but it does say something about her character that this isn't combat, it's a discussion, a discussion she was specifically asked for. For the first time, Torchwick's focus actually is Ruby.At the very least, she does come around to Sunset being a comfort, so kudos for that.
It doesn't have much calling attention to it (probably because it's Ruby's own narration), but that snapping anger right there is a bit of the anger we saw in her from Sunset's Vulcan Mindmeld. I wish there was more describing this, but it makes sense that there isn't more. Ruby wouldn't want to focus on it, it's not who she is, or who she wants to be. But it is really gratifying to have actually noticed it, even if it is one word, 'snapped,' in response to the commentary on her mother. Sunset has Ruby, Torchwick has Neo, and Ruby herself has her Mother.
Ruby has faith in people. She even has faith in those like Torchwick. Perhaps it's misplaced, but it's something special to have faith in people, to believe they are good. Faith in doing the right thing. Her mother died for that faith, that people are good, and it's how she justifies that faith. And with what is to come... well, good old Palpatine would find the irony funny, I imagine.
I read this line three times, because my eyes skipped over Sunset's grin the first two times, yet I could still feel that smirk on her face and would have commented if it wasn't there. Very gratifying to know I still have a read on the girl, and I applaud you for having developed her to such a strong extent that her character, even when I miss words, my brain fills them in anyways.
You capture her young innocence well with her perspective and narration, particularly with that last line. Were it by Sunset, that last sentence would have been a denial. With Ruby, it's an assurance to herself, perhaps mixed with a bit of confusion, but I have no doubt she joyously believes it.
Yet even, or perhaps especially for, Ruby, you describe that sadness wonderfully as well.
I now wonder if, just like Cinder, Sunnykins does see more of herself in Torchwick than she's comfortable admitting. Both suffer from self-inflicted wounds from lashing out at an unfair system, yet have a softer caring side that few see. This "I almost became a villain if not for friendship" arc is getting a lot more detail here and I am loving it.
10876132
I hope Roman will be on the side of Sunset, having Roman and Neo as allies is one of the best things possible and screw up a lot of the abilies of Salem group and the White Fang to act in Vale.
I always did like Torchwick and Neo.
As for Cinder letting Sunset know about Mountain Glenn is because she's intending to use the tunnels leading from the Mountain to Vale to plant as big a dust bomb as physically possible and she wants Sunset to actually have a legit chance of surviving the shit show that's about to follow.
It’s nice to see Torchwick take Sunset more seriously this this time around. I’m pretty sure in the original he only asked for Ruby and definitely was never intimidated by Sunset so that’s cool.
Now that is a shift, and one I have been wondering about for like 100 chapters now.
Curious what’ll change with him further on down.