• Published 31st Aug 2018
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SAPR - Scipio Smith



Sunset, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ruby are Team SAPR, and together they fight to defeat the malice of Salem, uncover the truth about Ruby's past and fill the emptiness within their souls.

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Transfer Request (New)

Transfer Request

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.

“Are you … nervous?” asked Penny. “I don’t see what you have to be nervous about.”

“Nothing,” Rainbow said. “Because I’m not nervous.”

“Then why did you take such a deep breath?”

Rainbow glanced at her. “Because I needed air,” she said.

Okay, so she was a little bit nervous. Together, there were four of them waiting outside General Ironwood’s office: Rainbow, Penny, Blake, and Ciel. They were waiting there not, thankfully, because they had been called up to the General’s Office aboard the Valiant but because they’d asked for some of his time and that time had been granted to them.

They were going to turn over Blake and Penny’s transfer requests.

Technically, Blake was doing the right thing in turning her request over to the General first, while Penny was doing slightly the wrong thing — the system as detailed was that you submitted your request first to the headmaster of the school that you wanted to transfer to, who would then decide if he wanted you or could fit you in somewhere; then to the headmaster of the school you wanted to leave, who had far less ability to stop any student from leaving then he did to accept students who wished to arrive — but, in view of Penny’s particular circumstances, they had decided it was best to let General Ironwood know before Professor Ozpin.

They were already kind of surprising him with this; it would be even worse if he found out about it after Professor Ozpin.

Yes, Rainbow was a little bit nervous. She was a little bit nervous about how General Ironwood would take this, less in terms of how he would react to Penny and more how he would react to her and Ciel letting Penny go about it this way.

Rainbow thought that she had done the right thing — procedurally; she knew that she was doing the right thing morally — in taking this approach. She had good reasons for why she had encouraged Penny to do this: if Penny wanted to be treated like just an ordinary student, then she should approach it like an ordinary student; if Penny was not, in fact, any different from an ordinary student, then she should be free to approach this like an ordinary student; sneaking around outside of proper channels confirmed everything that Penny — and Doctor Pietro too — was worried about; and, frankly, the more forewarning there was about all this, the more time there was to react against it; there were times when striking with surprise was more important than more and more preparation.

Rainbow thought that she had done the right thing, but she didn’t know it, and that lack of knowing was making her a little nervous.

It was going to be fine. It was all going to be fine. General Ironwood would hear them out, and he would agree that they had no moral grounds for keeping Penny at Atlas against her will. He would agree, and he would find out that Rainbow had already got Councillor Cadance on their side as well, and he would also agree that there wasn’t much anybody could do to stop Penny from doing what she wanted. He’d approve Penny’s request, he would approve Blake’s request — that part Rainbow really wasn’t worried about — and then they would all fly back to Beacon, where Team SAPR was waiting for them along with Twilight, Neon, Starlight, Trixie, and Sunburst. Penny would go off with SAPR while the Atlesians were going to take Blake out to celebrate.

Which might be just a little premature, but in Blake’s case, at least, once General Ironwood had approved her request, there wasn’t a whole lot that Professor Ozpin could do about it. The system took account of the inconvenience involved in transferring students around Remnant, but ultimately, it was still a system that recognized the importance of student choice.

Which made a lot of sense to Rainbow now. After all, the gods hadn’t given humanity a Relic of Avoiding Unnecessary Paperwork.

Speaking of which, I still need to talk to Ciel about the Maidens.

It was not something she was looking forward to, and it certainly wasn’t something she was going to bring up while they celebrated Blake’s transfer.

Which they were going to do, because that was the happy path, and things were going to proceed down the happy path.

For sure.

With luck.

Hopefully.

The door into General Ironwood's office slid open, offering a clear view of General Ironwood's desk, the window with its view of Vale and of Atlas' majestic fleet patrolling its skies, and of the General himself, sitting behind the desk.

He was looking at them, a smile gracing his face, "Come in, all of you."

"Thank you, sir," Rainbow said as the four of them entered, forming a line abreast before the desk, with Blake upon the left, then Rainbow Dash, then Penny, then finally, Ciel upon the right flank.

Rainbow, Ciel, and Blake all came to attention, saluting General Ironwood — and a pretty good salute from Blake, as well; she'd been practicing in front of a mirror. Penny did not join them.

General Ironwood's blue eyes flickered towards Blake. "Belladonna, as you aren't one of my cadets, you don't have to salute me."

"Not yet, sir," Blake replied softly.

General Ironwood didn't respond to that, instead looking at Penny, who wasn't saluting.

She didn't say anything, and neither did he.

General Ironwood returned the salutes of those who had offered them. "At ease."

Their feet struck the floor in unison as they spaced them apart and clasped their hands behind their backs.

"Thank you for seeing us, sir," Rainbow said.

"It's no trouble," General Ironwood assured her. He smiled. "I'd ask how you found your break, but from what I've heard, it was something of a working vacation for you, especially for Dash and Belladonna. I hope the break hasn't worn you out more than the semester did."

Rainbow chuckled. "Not quite, sir."

"I'm glad to hear it," the General said, "and a little surprised: one set of violent abductions foiled, one modern slavery ring exposed, and if we include Penny and Soleil, we can add a notorious thief brought to justice."

And that doesn't even include the murder, Rainbow thought. "We've kept busy, sir."

"Almost an understatement," General Ironwood murmured. "You've done good work, both of you. What you uncovered … shames Atlas, but shame must be uncovered before honour can be restored. Your actions have allowed that process to begin and justice to be done."

"Where do you think it will end, sir?" Blake asked.

"I think the Schnee Dust Company will bounce back," General Ironwood said. "The company is too large, too dominant, too rich in lien and assets in order to be brought down even by a scandal on this order of magnitude. Board members have been arrested, others may resign, but the organisation as a whole will carry on, recovering in share price, cleaning its reputation—"

"'Cleaning'?" Blake asked. "Or 'laundering'?"

"Is there a difference?" asked Penny.

"Although I would struggle to explain precisely why, cleaning implies good faith effort, laundering only the superficial appearance of the same," Ciel explained.

"People will forgive the company," General Ironwood said, "and I certainly hope and believe that the SDC will change for the better."

"You think they'll make concessions to settle the strike in Mantle then, sir?" Rainbow said.

"What else can they do?" replied the General. "Tough it out and wait for the poverty to bring Mantle to its knees? That isn't possible, politically or, I think, in a business sense. I've made clear to the Council that the military cannot endure a prolonged halt in dust processing and supply without eating into our strategic reserves, and the other kingdoms have made representations as well. And the SDC owes its position in part to the ease and reliability of doing business with it; they won't want to put that at risk. So, yes, I think that there will be a settlement, and I think that things will get better for the workforce … and I think that Jacques Schnee won't recover as quickly as his company will."

Rainbow frowned. "But he … it's because he wasn't involved, isn't it? He had no idea."

"His reputation as a master of business has taken a knock, to say the least," General Ironwood said, "and when you combine that with the climbdown that I think is coming … I'd be surprised if his voice carries the same weight that it did recently."

"And you're alright with that, sir?" asked Blake, in a voice that was soft and quiet.

General Ironwood clasped his hands together on the desk. "I've no love for the man, Belladonna."

"Maybe not, sir, but … this damages Atlas as well, doesn't it?" Blake said. "Especially when Atlas is … I understand that Atlas was coming under attack even before this."

Rainbow's mouth tightened. Even though they had been away in Atlas, they had all heard about — not least from Ruby and her account of what had happened when she went out with that Mistralian guy. It was ingratitude, pure and simple; no, it was worse than ingratitude, it was downright insulting. They had worked, sweated, put their lives on the line to defend this city and this kingdom, and this was the thanks they got: to be accused of wanting to take over, to be treated like they were the bad guys in all this; it was ridiculous!

It was so ridiculous that she was struggling to get her head around it, to tell the truth. She couldn't work out how anyone could think this way.

Although I guess you could say the same thing about the faunus; it's not like that makes much sense either.

Of course, the difference was that, although prejudice against the faunus didn't make any sense, it had been not making sense for years now, if that made sense; it had been going on for ages, and while it had always been stupid, after going on so long, it survived because, well, because it had always been around, and people who didn't like the faunus didn't stop to think much about why not. This … this seemed to have come out of nowhere over the last few weeks.

It was also making her nervous, both in the short term — what was going to happen with Blake's celebration? It would put a dampener on the mood if they got harassed for being Atlesians — and in the slightly longer term when all the rest of her friends arrived for the Vytal Festival.

Not quite nervous enough to tell her friends not to come, even if they'd listen to her, or to not celebrate Blake, because she and the occasion deserved it, but all the same, it was making her nervous.

General Ironwood said, "Tell me, Belladonna, if I was the sort of man who would prefer to maintain Atlas' reputation at the cost of keeping something like this covered up, what would you think?"

"Nothing good, sir," Blake replied.

"No," the General said, "I didn't think so." He paused for a moment. "I don't disagree that the timing is less than ideal, but it isn't your fault, and it isn't something that I expect you to care about." He paused. "What did you think of Atlas, when you saw it?"

"Atlas itself is definitely impressive," Blake said. "A marvel, really, truly a shining light. It's just a pity that light doesn't seem to extend to the rest of the kingdom."

"Sometimes there are no easy answers," General Ironwood said, "and even the answers that seem easiest to find have obstacles strewn in their path."

"Then we should try and surmount them, no?" asked Blake.

"Of course," replied the General, "but without expecting them to be surmounted easily."

"Mantle is not some helpless victim in its own fate, but a participant in the same," Ciel said crisply. "It has problems, I will not even try to deny the fact, but those problems are made in Mantle as much as they are made by Atlas to inflict upon us."

Blake leaned forwards a little to get a better look at her. "But that doesn't mean that Atlas doesn't have a responsibility to help resolve those problems."

"If they can be solved," said Ciel.

"All problems can be solved," Blake replied. "With time, and will, and resources."

Ciel did not deny it, and so a silence settled briefly in the office.

General Ironwood said, "I take it the four of you didn't ask to see me so that we could discuss Belladonna's impressions of Atlas."

"No, sir, although it's more relevant than you'd think," Rainbow replied. "We asked to see you so that we could submit these."

She got out her scroll, manipulating it one-handed so that she could maintain as much of her at-ease stance as possible, and with her thumb, pressed the 'send' button to transmit Blake and Penny's transfer requests to General Ironwood.

There was a beep from the General's desk to indicate that he had received them. He activated the holographic screen, a barrier of semi-transparent blue light dividing and yet not dividing him from the four students standing before him.

Blake's face was stoically impassive, but Penny's eyes were wide, and she began to lean forwards ever so slightly.

General Ironwood's expression had more in common with Blake than with Penny as he read through the files that Rainbow had sent him with no visible reaction whatsoever, as though none of this aroused any strong feelings in him whatsoever. He might as well have been reading a grocery list for all that it seemed to interest him at all.

It was impossible to tell what he really thought — unless he just didn't care, which Rainbow doubted.

He shut off the holographic screen, the barrier between the General and the students dissolving into nothing.

"Belladonna," he said, "your request is not unexpected." He smiled. "But no less welcome for that." He stood up. "You've already done great service to the Kingdom of Atlas, and I have no doubt that you will do as much if not more once you start wearing an Atlas uniform. Just as I have no qualms at all with approving your request. Welcome to Atlas."

"Thank you, sir," Blake said. "Your wholehearted endorsement means a lot."

The General chuckled. "Based on your record, I'd be a fool to pass you up, especially with all that you know; I can always use another operative who is privy to all the facts."

Do you know how true that is, sir? Rainbow wondered. Ciel wasn't the only one she needed to have a talk with about the Maidens.

She understood that, within Professor Ozpin's secret group, General Ironwood was only a subordinate; she understood that information needed to be kept on a need-to-know basis sometimes — and once you'd decided to go all in on secrecy, much as Rainbow disagreed with that, there was a pretty good case for keeping the Maidens very need-to-know indeed. But she had to say that it kind of hurt a little bit that Professor Ozpin had trusted Team SAPR more than the General had trusted them, even if SAPR didn't give their headmaster a whole lot of choice.

"Fitting in transfer students is always a little bit of a challenge," General Ironwood went on, "but we'll make a space for you somewhere, and somewhere close to home, if at all possible."

That's one down, Rainbow thought.

Unfortunately, that was the easy one.

General Ironwood remained standing, turning his gaze from Blake to Penny. "Penny," he said, "I'm more surprised to receive this from you. Much more surprised. Have you submitted this request to Professor Ozpin?"

"N-no, General," Penny replied. "Rainbow said it would be best to submit it to you, first."

"Sensible," General Ironwood murmured, in such a way as to suggest that sense might be rare in this situation. He glanced first at Rainbow, and then at Ciel. "I take it you were both aware of this?"

"Yes, sir."

"I was, sir."

"Something almost as surprising as the request itself," General Ironwood observed.

Rainbow swallowed. "Sir, if I may—"

"In a moment," General Ironwood said, cutting her off. "Penny, perhaps you'd best begin: what's this about?"

"I want to go to school with my friends, sir," Penny said, simply but firmly.

"Your friends meaning Beacon's Team Sapphire?"

"I hope I can make other friends," she replied. "But … yes."

"And you think that is sufficiently good reason?" asked General Ironwood.

"If I may have the General's permission to be blunt," Ciel murmured.

General Ironwood nodded. "Granted."

Ciel took a deep breath. "Either Penny has the right to request a transfer of school, or she is a slave, and we all deserve to be occupying cells next to Calliope Ferny and her SDC co-conspirators."

"That is blunt."

"But not, I think, overly hyperbolic, sir," Ciel replied. "Or, to my shame, too arguable. With all due respect, sir, and without wishing you to think that I am attempting to absolve myself through placing all the blame on you … we have been made complicit in a grave injustice, and it … soils me, sir."

General Ironwood did not immediately reply. He studied Ciel for a moment, and then a moment more, before turning his attention to Rainbow. "Do you feel the same way, Dash?"

"I'm not sure I'd put it quite that way, sir," Rainbow muttered. "But … when Penny says that she wants to go to school with her friends, put like that, it sounds like something that doesn't matter that much: this is military academy, not summer camp and all. But what it means … maybe I shouldn't put words in Penny's mouth, but she might be too nice to say that she wants to go to school with people who treat her like a person, not a … well, that isn't us, sir, and…" Here goes. "I'm not sure that it's you, sir, either."

General Ironwood did not swell up at the insult. His voice remained calm as he said, "I think you'd better explain."

"You put together a test team for Penny, sir," Rainbow explained. "Me, Ciel, Twilight, you wouldn't have done that for any other student—"

"I might end up doing it for Belladonna next year," he pointed out.

"Okay, sir, but that's how it goes with transfers," Rainbow admitted. "I should have said that you wouldn't have done it for any new students. Penny wasn't given the chance to go through Initiation and find her teammates, they were given to her, and we … well, this isn't about us, so it doesn't matter what we did or didn't do, it only matters … Penny, did you ever feel like a part of this team?"

"I…"

"Did you ever feel that you were regarded by us as part of this team," Ciel said, "and treated as an equal?"

"No," Penny said. "I always felt like I was your assignment, not your teammate or your friend."

Ciel looked away, her head bowed; Rainbow was no longer able to see her face, but she could guess the look on it.

"I know that I was created," Penny went on, "but I was created with a voice; I can tell you what I want, I can think and tell you what I'm thinking, I can feel and tell you what I'm feeling, and … and what I'm feeling is … I'm terrified of spending the next three years all alone once the Vytal Festival is over."

Silence crashed down in the office like a bomb. Nobody said anything in response to that pronouncement.

There was very little that could be said.

Rainbow's hands knotted into fists, angry not at Penny but at herself.

There was no excuse.

"Sir," she said quietly. "At this point … the only way I can think to fulfil my duty of care is to help Penny to get out from under my care and go … somewhere else. If you'll allow me to say so: sometimes, there are no easy answers, but sometimes, the answer is staring you in the face."

"And yet, even then, there may be obstacles," General Ironwood murmured.

Rainbow felt her stomach chill a little. Surely, he couldn't be about to decide against Penny.

"There is a lot of force in what you say," General Ironwood continued, his voice rising and firming up. "In what you all say. Penny … I feel as though I owe you an apology. I owe you all an apology, for putting you in this position, but Penny most of all. I thought I was doing the right thing by assembling Team Rosepetal the way I did, but maybe I would have done better by you to have kept your true nature a secret and let your teammates treat you like any other girl."

"Perhaps, sir," Ciel whispered.

"You did what you thought was right, sir," Penny said.

General Ironwood's eyebrows rose. "You want to leave Atlas so badly that you're terrified I might refuse, but you don't resent me for your situation."

"I don't blame or hate anyone," Penny said. "The fact that it didn't work out doesn't mean you didn't try your best, all of you."

General Ironwood leaned on his desk, resting his hands upon the metal. "That's … very generous of you, Penny. Very generous indeed." He looked down at his hands, and his desk, for a moment. "You understand that it is not that easy. The Council may feel entitled to a return on the considerable investment it made in creating you."

"Perhaps the Council might profitably ask itself what it was expecting in return for that investment, sir," Ciel said softly. "Or at least ask who it was expecting to give up a part of their aura in return for future Pennys. Or perhaps they might be asked to state, explicitly and without cover, what kind of world they expect any such artificial people to be born into if they deny the first of their kind exercise of her free will."

"On a more practical note," Rainbow added. "I've already spoken to Councillor Cadenza, and she's agreed to support Penny if this goes up in front of the Council."

"You spoke to the Councillor before you spoke to me?" asked General Ironwood.

"I thought it was important not to speak to you in advance, sir, on a point of principle," Rainbow replied, "that no other student would have to speak to you in advance of submitting their transfer request."

"Though it doesn't mean that they couldn't," General Ironwood responded. "Any student who was considering transferring out of Atlas could discuss the issue with me to see if we could address the reasons why they wanted to transfer or advise them on which school they would be better served transferring to."

Rainbow blinked. "That is a very good point, sir."

"But it was a good idea to gain Councillor Cadenza's support," General Ironwood went on, "although … perhaps not necessary."

"Sir?" Ciel murmured.

"Despite the possible interest of the Council in this, you make such compelling arguments for why it would be wrong to prevent Penny from following her heart that I believe it would be immoral to raise this issue and wait for them to deliberate on the question of whether Penny has a right to make her own decisions or no. Rather … I'm going to approve this request, forward it to Ozpin with a recommendation that he approve it also, and follow the same process as any other student." He frowned. "I can't make up for the mistakes of the past year, but I can avoid making them going forward."

"You mean … you're going to allow my transfer?" Penny asked, her voice fragile, brittle-sounding like glass that might shatter if dropped.

"How can I not, after hearing what I have heard?" asked the General.

Ciel began, "But the Council—"

"Won't be able to touch Penny once she is at Beacon, under Ozpin's care," said General Ironwood. "They wouldn't even be able to try and do anything without revealing Penny's true nature, which they've been reluctant to do so far and which, I hope, they would be too afraid of the consequences to do."

"They could still punish you though, sir," Rainbow pointed out.

"If they wish to do so, then that's their right," General Ironwood said. "It will say more about them than about me."

"You … you would do that for me?" Penny asked.

"I would do it because it's the right thing to do," said General Ironwood.

Penny stared at him for a moment, and for that moment, Rainbow thought that she might launch herself at the General into an embrace. But she did not. She simply clasped her hands together over her heart and said, "Thank you, sir. Thank you so much."

General Ironwood's smile seemed a little sad. "Professor Ozpin has … a lot on his mind today, so I won't bring it up with him right now, but I will very soon, you have my word, to both of you. Penny, I honestly hope that you'll be happy at Beacon."

"I'm sure I will, sir," Penny declared. "I've got no doubts, absolutely none at all."

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