37

Roman wasn't sure what to make of his current situation.

Forced to work for some crazy bitch who would throw him away like a broken toy as soon as he stopped proving himself to be useful. Captured in what he thought to be just an ahead of schedule part of her plan, because she wasn't the type who liked people knowing what was going on. Held captive for much longer than he was used to, as he normally would have bribed his way out of a normal prison long before that point. Released from his cell because some kid's semblance asked for it…?

That last part is probably where his life had really gotten off the rails. The rest of it was unpleasant, but someone bigger and stronger than you calling the shots was just how things worked in his field.

Now, though? He wasn't sure what side of the law he was on. He wasn't even sure if he was a prisoner or not.

Sure, Ironwood had brought him out of that dinky little cell on his ship. But they hadn't released him back into Vale. Instead, he and Neo were being lodged in a room in Beacon… like he had been when initially captured. He wasn't locked inside anymore, which was nice. Being able to properly stretch his legs was a pleasant change. Being able to see his… well, whatever Neo was again, that was nice as well.

But several key figures with authority seemed quite displeased with the fact that he was "free", and thus he was confined to Beacon and informed that interacting with the students in "illicit" manners would result in "severe" punishment…

It's not as if he could really go anywhere else, though, even if he could easily sneak out. Neo's semblance would make getting out of the school easy, but with Cinder still on the loose, and likely very upset at the moment? No thanks. He was a fan of living, that was why he'd been working with her in the first place. And based on what had been said in that meeting, she wasn't working alone, even excluding the kids who followed her around. He'd done some research on the "Watts" fellow they'd mentioned, and then promptly decided to avoid scrolls for the foreseeable future.

He didn't need some lunatic who would work with Cinder seeing what sort of stuff he looked at online. He may enjoy putting on a show, but he wasn't an exhibitionist.

Still, though. Even with all of that nonsense running through his mind, there was one mystery that stood out, and Neo wasn't letting him forget about it.

The mimed gestures she kept repeating throughout their not-quite-incarceration were getting old at this point. She wanted to look for the secret… weapon? Tool? Whatever was being hidden from them.

If he was being honest with himself, he agreed. Something that would have the big shots of Remnant so instantly shutting down the idea of Neo getting it would certainly be something worth having.

It's a bit hard to search for something like that if you don't even know what it is, though. It was clearly something that Cinder had been after as well, if Neo's accounts of her recent activities were accurate, and yet she hadn't been able to locate it either. And that bitch actually knew what to look for! The shape and size were pretty important details. Qrow's scythe was much harder to conceal than Melodic Cudgel. Was he looking for something hidden in a secret room or something in the false bottom of a drawer? Was it something that needed to be hidden at all, or was it sitting in plain sight because nobody would recognize it for what it truly was?

He was brought out of his thoughts as Neo kicked him in the shin. The duo were tucked away in a corner outside of the building, expecting their room to have been bugged and the school full of cameras. This was one of the few spots on school grounds that at least appeared to lack surveillance to listen in on their conversation.

"Shit!" He hissed out in pain. "Was that really necessary?"

All he received in return was a vicious grin.

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess I knew the answer to that already. What do you want?"

The all too familiar series of gestures was made yet again.

"I don't know what to tell you, Neo. This place isn't exactly small! Do you have any grand ideas on where to find it?"

His partner in crime made a very inappropriate gesture that he could only assume was meant to refer to the "head"master.

"Ozpin? What, like his office or something?" he guessed.

She nodded in agreement.

"I don't know… I suppose as far as random guesses go, it's not a bad one, but the only way up there is the elevator. You'd be hard pressed to sneak in without him noticing."

She frowned at him, but seemed to accept that he had a point.

"I don't know much about the old man, but he seems the type to be a bit paranoid. Wouldn't surprise me if he gets some sort of alert or notification every time the elevator gets used. If it just makes a noise in his office, we could scope the place out when he's not in it. But if he gets a notification on his scroll, we'd be screwed."

She made the gesture for Ozpin again, and then pointed to him before moving her mouth like she was speaking.

"You want me to talk to Ozpin?"

She nodded with a smile.

"Why would I… hmmm… him being notified about the elevator wouldn't matter if it looks like it's being used normally. If I go up and talk to him, and you come up with me but stay out of sight… you would get the opportunity to scope out his room without the headmaster being any wiser…"

She clapped as he explained her plan, like he was some little kid who'd answered a question correctly at school. Damn brat…

"That could work, but it also brings up other problems. How are you getting out? Or do you think that you could find and take it in the time it takes for him to kick me out of his-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a familiar set of twins. Or, not twins? The blonde moron and his semblance.

"Do you have any idea how long it took us to find you?" The blue one complained.

"Hours, I hope!" He decided to prod. That singular meeting hadn't been enough for him to get a good grasp on the semblance. The boy it belonged to was some goody two shoes like Red, he could gather that easily enough, but for a manifestation of the kid's soul, Second sure acted differently.

"Hilarious." The doofus rolled his eyes. "Can we just get this over with?" His eyes darted around and he shifted nervously. Interesting. Was the goody two shoes bending the rules, perhaps? Maybe even breaking them….

"Quit complaining, we're only doing this because you wanted to."

Doofus looked like he wanted to argue that point, but decided to bite his tongue for now.

"So," Second Thoughts continued, "Now that we've found you, would you two be interested in continuing the conversation that Ironwood and the others so rudely interrupted?"

Roman and Neo subtly glanced at each other. The timing of this offer was suspect, given what they were just discussing. Was there a hidden camera in this spot after all? Though he supposed there had been that claim to knowing all sorts of things that he shouldn't…

He could consider the possibilities later. It seemed that now was the time for secretive plotting and backroom deals. Perhaps his life was going back to normal?

"I suppose we wouldn't be opposed to that." He answered with a cocky smirk.

"Great! Now, how good are you two with operating experimental machinery?"

"What sort of machinery? Is it something like the Paladin, then?" He fucking hoped not. He'd gone and gotten his hopes up, but something like that wouldn't make much of a difference in fighting Cinder.

"Not exactly, but being familiar with advanced Atlas tech certainly wouldn't hurt for this."

He looked at Neo again. She seemed as confused as he was.

"Look kid, why don't you just tell us what it is we're going to be stealing?"

Doofus winced.

"Woah there," Second held up his hands in protest, "Who said anything about stealing?"

Roman rolled his eyes. "I figured it was implied given that we're," he pointed between himself and Neo, "involved, and there's also how guilty your friend looks."

"Well… I wouldn't call it stealing, more… borrowing for an unspecified period of time without permission. I'm sure Ozpin will have it back in his hands eventually. That'll just be when Neo can't make use of it anymore."

"Make use of what?" He demanded an answer with a bit more impatience in his voice this time.

"Aren't you supposed to be a showman, Roman? You can't tell me that you wear that outfit because it's comfortable."

Neo, the little traitor, mimed a giggle at that.

"Don't bring my fashion sense into this. I won't have someone dressed like either of you insulting me on that front!"

"Fine, fine,you're very fashionable. I'll tell you what we're after, but this isn't exactly a simple grab it and get out sort of deal, alright?"

Finally. He didn't like having things kept from him. It was bad for business, and bad for his life expectancy.

"So it's something big then? I suppose something we could just slip in our pockets and run off with would be too simple, wouldn't it?" That made sense, he supposed. It scared the General after all, and he had some pretty big guns.

"I'm not sure how to describe the size… Let's just start with this. Have you ever heard the fairy tale about…"

Ozpin was woken up from his sleep by an alert on his scroll. Normally, he wouldn't be terribly worried. There had been many cases in the past where some troublemaking students decided to get up to some mischief in the night. Covering his office in wrapping paper, filling it with live animals, trapping his drawers to set off stink bombs… he had seen his fair share of pranks, some harmless and some not. Students would always be students.

Now, however, he had more to worry about than just students. If they were going to keep Mr. Torchwick and his assistant under lock and key at all hours of the day, there would have been no point in releasing him from his cell in the first place. He had hoped that, in a manner similar to Qrow, their past was something they'd be willing to leave behind if something better was presented to them.

Jumping out of bed, he quickly made his way towards the elevator, sending a message to Glynda while he was enroute.

What was the reason for this, though? Assuming that he was correct about the who, the next question would be the why. Were they trying to search his office for the "weapon" that they had falsely assumed the Maiden's power to be? Had Cinder told them about the Relic? If she'd said anything about it, there was no guarantee that she would mention the vaults as well, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for a pair of thieves to assume he kept it in his office.

There was another possibility, however. One that had a hint of dread gnawing away at him. The alerts only told him that the elevator was in use. It didn't say which direction it was going. Having something like that in the system would be a good way to alert someone like Watts of the basement's existence.

Surely Second Thoughts had merely suggested Neopolitan idly. It could not have been a serious suggestion. A joke, a gaff, some friendly teasing that was poorly taken on their part! Even if Second Thoughts had decided to lead them into the basement, it would take too long for them to complete the process, wouldn't it? They'd never seen the machinery before. Second's information was good, but he wasn't omniscient. He wouldn't know how to operate it.

He ran a bit faster as he tried to reassure himself of that.

When he finally hit the button to call the elevator, every second that it took to reach the ground floor was agony.

It was taking too long for it to have been called from his office.

Why would Second Thoughts want Neopolitan to be the Fall Maiden? Even if he understandably did not want the students to suffer, any random woman off the street would be a better choice than someone like Neo! What information was he missing? What secrets did Second Thoughts know that made him believe this to be the right course of action? He so desperately wanted to hunt down Jinn for answers like these, but he needed time to plan things out properly. There were too many moving parts right now. Things had grown so complicated in the recent centuries…

The door opened and he stepped inside, immediately sending it to the basement. Part of him wanted to just destroy the elevator and reach his destination in a free fall. It would be faster. It would also alert the whole school that there was a basement when it crashed into the cave floor in the dead of the night. He couldn't afford that. If worse came to worst…

…if the worst came to past, then he would simply have to force another transfer. Either by James' machine…

…or the way it had been done since the first Maidens came to an end.

Jaune was sweating profusely.

He never did things like this. He'd been explicitly told that Neo wasn't supposed to get this… Maiden's power? He was still trying to wrap his head around Second's explanation. It seemed crazy, but here he was, watching as Neo stepped out of the machine.

They'd done it. Jaune didn't really understand any of it, but the… lady? Corpse? Person that was in it when they got down there… they had just transferred her aura into Neo. She kind of looked like shit as she stumbled out of it, but Jaune wasn't about to say that.

It had been his idea after all. Well, Second's idea, but he would be the one punished for it, he was certain.

He couldn't believe he had broken the rules like this… Second had tried to reassure him by reminding him of the running away from home and the forged transcripts, but that had just filled him with even more guilt.

He wasn't even supposed to be at Beacon, and this would be the excuse needed to expel him. Or worse, to call his parents and tell them what he'd done!

Dealing with an angry Ms. Goodwitch was bad enough, but if he had to deal with her and his mom?

He'd be forced to go back home, to be some loser who would never amount to anything. His friends would probably try to fight for him to stay, but he couldn't hold back two great teams of huntsmen and huntresses because of his mistakes.

He had done this so that they would be safe, after all. They needed to live their lives to the fullest in his stead.

"Jaune, I don't even need to hear your thoughts to know you're freaking out." Second interrupted his panic. "Calm down and lets get out of here. Maybe we got lucky and nobody noticed!"

"It's a bit late for that, kid." Roman cut in, supporting Neo as she stumbled. Why had she stumbled? Was there a problem with the transfer? "The elevator left already. I think it's coming back down now." The thief's tone wasn't normal. He seemed… serious. Resigned, maybe.

And he was right. Though there was a distance between where they stood and the elevator shaft, in the silence of the basement the sound of the elevator reaching their level felt deafening.

The four of them watched as the doors opened, and Ozpin stepped out. He carefully regarded them, slowly walking towards the transfer machine.

"I see I am too late," he calmly began. "Would someone please explain to me why this is happening when it was expressly forbidden by not only myself, but every responsible person who was in that meeting?"

Everyone in the group turned to Second.

"Ah… because Jaune is secretly a student at Salem's school for grimm hybrids and this is all part of his cover to keep you from discovering that your star students are his harem of grimm girlfriends in disguise?"

That made Ozpin pause, if only for the audacity of the lie.

"No?" Second weakly chuckled. "Well… shit."