The Start of the Plan

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"Ah, Headmaster." Bart smiled warmly as his door cracked open for Ozpin, the man standing in it and nodding a polite greeting. It was already rather late, the lights of the dorm hall had even dimmed and the man was clearly dressed for bed in loose fitting, holey pajamas, but he still stood ramrod straight. "It's late, I wasn't expecting you, Sir."

"I know, and you have my sincere apologies for bothering you so late, Doctor." Ozpin smiled politely, holding out the little box he'd taken from the man's desk and the two papers that had come with it. "From Mister Arc."

"Oh?" The wiry man's brow rose curiously as he took the box and the papers, scanning over the latter quickly. "A homework assignment, and a short note explaining it was late. And an… Open, unlabelled box?"

"It was sealed when I collected it." He answered quietly, "I… Wanted to make sure that it was safe, and not some manner of trap."

"Hm." Doctor Oobleck hummed, giving him a concerned once-over and grunting, "Risky to do that."

"Not," Ozpin smiled warmly, flaring green Aura all along his body, "for me."

"Anyone else saying that, I'd call them arrogant. You, though…" The good doctor hummed again and turned, heading into his quarters but leaving the door open.

A clear invitation, and one Ozpin took, slipping into the small, somehow neat and cluttered living room. The couch had been pushed forward under the television to make room for a wholly out of place desk made of glass and metal that did not match with the warm wooden furniture Beacon had provided the man. Papers, books, and scrolls - of the paper variety - covered the couch, desk and parts of the floor as well in a wild mess of paper weights, pens and strewn work.

And yet everything was ordered, somehow, even with the inherent chaos of it all. A brief once-over here showed a mass of work pertaining to history. Another, assignments for the coming weeks. And a third was a small collection of essays and reports about the White Fang and the Faunus, two groups of intense interest to the eccentric, brilliant historian.

And, beyond that little area that looked like a bomb had gone off, the rest of the room was kept in perfect order. A small dining table was clean, with a single table for it, and the floors were spotless.

"Have you already looked through the box?" Oobleck asked, sitting at the table and opening the box.

"No." He answered, standing at the other end of the table and watching the man quietly. "Once I was sure there were no explosives or poisons in it, as unlikely as that was to come from Mister Arc, I came to deliver it."

"Hm." The doctor hummed, picking up a little stack of what looked from behind like photos and going still. "You're certain Mister Arc delivered this to my office?"

"Yes." Ozpin nodded, crossing the room to look over his shoulder and asking, curiously and concernedly, "Why?"

Instead of answering, Oobleck simply splayed the pictures out across the table. There were about a dozen of them, and they were a mix of an abandoned, desolate city-scape and an underground railway of sorts. White Fang milled about in the images, along with crates of Dust and a modern, ready train they were seemingly preparing for… Something. The last picture was a selfie, of all things, of a young woman with multi-colored hair and a wide, mischievous smirk. One hand held the Scroll, of course, but the other was contorted in a shape Ozpin just barely recognized.

"Is that…"

"Sign language." Ozpin nodded, "It means 'Read'."

"There is a letter." Oobleck noted quietly, picking it up and reading aloud, "Mountain Glenn. Watch out. Burn everything. T&P Industries."

"Torchwick and Politan." Ozpin surmised, giving the man a long look and then sighing quietly. Shaking his head, Ozpin gathered up the pictures and the letter and held them for a moment. Then, he withdrew the last picture, of Neo Politan herself, and set it aside. Tapping it, he explained, "Evidence of their help, if we need it."

"Will it be enough?"

"At least for her sake, it will be, even if I have to make it so personally." And if Roman was the kind of man Ozpin had always suspected, that would be more than enough of an offer. With the smallest of glances, the letter and pictures turned to sand, scattering across the table as he turned to Oobleck. "Missions are upcoming for the students, aren't they?"

"They are, yes."

"Would I be remiss in asking you to help me look into this, then?" He asked quietly, smiling when the good doctor simply smiled and nodded. He was always ready to solve a mystery, after all, and had a particular interest in the Fang. Idly, he wondered if that was why Roman had sent it to him specifically… "I will select a promising team, then, when the time comes. But be wary out there, Doctor. Criminals aren't to be trusted."

"I know, Headmaster." The Doctor nodded, standing as he turned to leave. "Good night."

"Good hunting." Ozpin returned, shooting a wry smile over his shoulder and nodding.

Without another word, Ozpin took his leave and turned for his own quarters. It was rather late by now, after all. And he had an assembly to get a speech prepared for tomorrow, after today's revelations.

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"Being a Huntsman or a Huntress is a dangerous job. One fraught with excitement, risk and adventure, and that will take you to places you otherwise might never have gone. Or even, perhaps, known about at all." Ozpin continued, leaning on his cane and slowly turning a long, contemplative look out over Jaune and the other students.

For a moment, it felt like the old man's gaze lingered on him, eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly.

"That is the nature of our job. Our chosen, or perhaps for some merely accepted, duty." The Headmaster continued before Jaune could be sure that the Headmaster could even really see him. Smiling, he leaned back and spun his cane, letting it lay up his chest and across one of his shoulders, pointing at a hanging screen that sprung to life. "This short, informative video, courtesy of the Headmistress, will break down the mission assignments that will become available to all of you tomorrow. You must undertake one to be admitted into the next semester unless you have a viable exemption."

"I can't believe they're already sending us out on missions." Pyrrha murmured beside him while the video played, relaying the exact same information that was already on their Scrolls in a neat file labelled 'missions assignment tutorials'. Ignoring the video, Pyrrha murmured, "They are supervised, of course, but… Still."

"Yeah..." Jaune nodded, flicking while Nora tried to bounce out of her seat and Ren tried… Mostly successfully to restrain her. "Seems kinda fast, to me, but… I mean, I can't say I'm not excited to get out there and really help people. Like, actual people. With real problems that we can solve."

"We can't solve their problems." Nora, of all people, said as she settled in beside him and Ren wrapped an arm around her waist. It was mostly to keep her still, he knew, but Nora preened and leaned into it regardless. Quietly, she went on, "We can help them, but… I mean, I can only blow up specific kinds o' problems, ya know?"

"At least," Ren added, "without adding a lot more."

"Yeah." Nora smiled, energy boiling over into her knee absently bouncing while she talked. "I do smashing and blasting real good. But, uh… Not so good at people problems, really."

"Neither, ah, am I…" Pyrrha laughed, "Unless I have a script, it's hard for me to handle anything super involved like that. My agent always did it for me."

"Me either." Ren added, nodding quietly and murmuring low enough it was almost hard to hear. "We weren't exactly well socialized after… Well, we didn't have an agent but we still didn't get a lot of practice."

"Don't worry about any of that, you guys." He laughed, patting both women on the back and turning a wide, warm smile on Ren at the end of the bench. "We'll pick something that doesn't get into anything more than 'here be monsters, please smash'. I, uh, don't think anything more advanced is up our alley anyway, if you know what I mean."

"Grimm?"

"Grimm." He nodded at Nora's hopeful smile, adding quickly, "And…. Maybe you can pack some of those extra volatiles you were working on. Really make a day of it, you know?"

"Jaune I don't think-"

"Oh my Dust can I?!" She squealed, rocketing up before he or Ren could catch her. Unaware of the hundreds of eyes on her, she bounced excitedly and clapped, grinning ear to ear while Ren shot glares at anyone and everyone eyeing her untowardly. Nervous, Jaune only chuckled and nodded and the girl laughed excitedly, "Oh my Dust, I-I've wanted to try those out for weeks! I'll make a few more and-"

"Miss. Valkyrie."

"Uh oh…" Nora murmured, turning and waving meekly at the crop-wielding Headmistress. "Hi, Miss Goodwitch. I was yelling, wasn't I?"

"Yes, you were." The woman called back with a sigh, "I trust you know the routine by now?"

"Yep." She nodded, "Tomorrow at two?"

"Two thirty." The Headmistress corrected, "I have a meeting that will have me busy at two. Apologies."

"I'll be there." Nora nodded, taking her seat and smiling meekly at Ren. "Sorry, Renny. I got super duper excited."

"It's fine." The young, almost saintly patient man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and then chuckling. Giving her a small smile, the man promised, "I'll help you get your grenades ready in time, detention or not. And we'll make sure to grab a mission with lots of space and little Grimm that will let you test them out really well."

"Thank you, Renny." After a moment's hesitation, as the presentation ended and everyone stood to leave, she leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to the man's cheek. He blinked and gaped in surprise, but she was up and moving before he could say anything about it, shouting over her shoulder, "It's taco night! C'mon!"

"Did she just…?"

"Maybe? I dunno. Anyway, come on, Casanova." Jaune chuckled, tugging the man to his feet and throwing an arm around his shoulders. "You can ask her over tacos."

Ren only really snorted at that, following the two of them as they pushed through the milling, excited crowd towards the doors. The halls were similarly packed with the bulk of every student from every year of Beacon, but they pushed their way through anyway, even if they couldn't really talk to each other really. The mass of voices was just too much and Jaune could even pick out Faunus students with sensitive ears hustling to get out of the mass press.

He didn't envy them for that…

In the end, though, they got to the cafeteria without any trouble. And, luckily, only the first year was being served at the time, so it was a lot quieter. The peace and quiet didn't lead to Ren asking Nora about the kiss, though. Instead, after a moment, Jaune smirked.

"So," he said, setting his taco down and smiling, "Nora, what was up with that kiss?"

"Ummmm…"

"I hate you, Jaune." Ren sighed, pressing his face into the palm of his hands as Jaune stood and gave Pyrrha a look and then a nod for her to follow. Looking between the two, Ren asked, anxiously, "W-Where do you think you're going?"

"Somewhere else, of course." Pyrrha smiled demurely, raising one brow coyly. "So that Nora can explain in private the kiss she gave you. In front of the entire student body no less. Oh, and let us know if you need us to head out so you can… Have private time together."

"Pyrrha!"

"P-P-P-Pyrrhaaaa!" The Valkyrie whined, standing so suddenly her bench shot back like a rocket, nearly decapitating an unfortunate team on their way to a seat. "I-I- You can't just- I'll- Aggh!"

"I think we should beat a fast retreat…" Pyrrha murmured quietly, grabbing his forearm and dragging him towards the door. "Before she decides to exact revenge instead of stuttering confusedly."

"Jaaaaune!"

"Too late…"

Laughing, Jaune turned around and took off as fast as he dared run in Beacon, shouting over his shoulder, "Your Fearless Leader orders you to sort this out!"

His answer was a Mach Twenty burrito that hurtled past his head and smacked into the wall by the door hard enough to splatter him in bean and beef viscera. Pyrrha had to duck, too, as a chicken taco soared by her head and splattered on the wall a lot more weakly. Turning, he saw Ren winding up another throw.

Jaune Arc sped up.

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Roman heard her far before he saw her, and knew that Cinder was across town with her little cadre of cretins, but looked toward the source of the sound anyway. Admittedly, for very different reasons, but still. Neo, dressed in her leotard and little else with Jaune's favorite blanket wrapped around her like a cloak - which was adorable, frankly - and a brow cocked curiously.

"Nothing." He sighed, pushing the dining chair back and laying his feet up on the table while his hand slipped his Scroll into a pocket. "Just work."

"Work?" She signed, taking a seat of her own, feet resting on the seat and knees tucked into her chest. With one hand, she tucked her blanket around her, signing with the other. "What work? You always tell me about jobs."

"Not always." He lied, laughing and then sighing when Neo's eyes narrowed knowingly. Grimacing, he shrugged, "Look, I just… Thought you wouldn't wanna be involved 'cuz of the kid."

"What about Jaune?"

"Nothing!" He lied a bit more successfully, laughing and shaking his head. Feeling like shit for it but with a poker face that even she couldn't see through, he reclined, hands on the back of his head comfortably, "I wouldn't get Arc involved in our shit, you know that. But, well, I needed something delivered. So I bribed a student to drop it off, to try to… Well."

"The password is Cinder's Kinda Tiny Tits."

"Still love that password…" And there was no way that her cronies would think of somethin that stupid as a secret password for them.

"Same." She smiled, "Now explain."

"I needed someone to smuggle something into Beacon for me, for our work." He answered simply, bobbing his head in the vague direction of "So, like I said, I hired some rando student that needed a bit of Lien to get by to take it in. Did the usual thing, so I was watching for the 'open' signal on my Scroll."

"So?"

"So, hopefully, our little Red Woman problem has a solution." In the pipeline, at least, and even if it wouldn't be enough to help him. "Should be that Old Oz up in his ivory tower knows to check out Glenn. Hopefully, that means that the shit won't go down. Just hope the old bastard sends the right team…"

"Which would be?"

"Fuck me, I don't know." He laughed, if only to ward off the worst of the grim situation the two of them were both trapped in. "But hopefully someone that can put a stop to it. If not, he oughta be able to two and two and predict where the trains used to run to. He clears it out, he can at least prevent the worst of the shit."

"Yeah. There's still going to be a panic, but…"

"But not a bloodbath. Yeah." Not like Cinder wanted, at least, and hopefully not at all if the Headmaster did his job and sent a good team. Giving the young woman a look he promised for definitely not the first time. "I'm going to get us out of this, Neo. Whatever it takes, we… We can find a way out."

"I know." She smiled warmly at him, resting her chin on her knees. "I believe in you. If anyone can figure out a way to get out of this mess, it's the best escape artist and master thief Vale has ever seen."

"Hey now, don't sell yourself short." Or him too high, for that matter. Still, she needed his confidence or she'd buckle. Arc was shaping up to be a good replacement for him, more or less, but he needed a bit more work and time before Roman could rely on him. Time that was fast running out. Still... "You're much better at escaping than I am. And most of my brilliant plans come down to that, end o' the day."

"A lovely assistant for the master thief?" She asked playfully, leaning into an old game of theirs. He smiled and bowed his head and she returned it, unfolding to curtsy elegantly, somehow without ever leaving her seat. Standing, then, she smiled, "Well, your lovely assistant is off to bed. We have a lot to do out in Mountain Glenn, whether the old man steps in there or not."

"Yeah." He sighed, shrugging and standing as well, "Go get you a cat nap. I��ll go grab us dinner."

She only waved as she walked off and collapsed on the couch, curling up in a little fort of blankets and pillows. Smiling, Roman walked by her and her hand snapped out to tap him, his clothes and hair roiling like rolling shards of glass as a temporary illusion was laced over him to let him get out without any risk of prying eyes.

Usually, that was unnecessary. Now, though, there was always a chance that Cinder was watching them somehow. And if she didn't trust him enough to let him in on everything then he didn't want her knowing anything she didn't need to know. Two could play that little game of hers.

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Everyone (guest) :

I'm afraid I can't. I do my very best, but I have a life, and with recent changes that have occurred in my life - read the last chapter's AN - I don't have nearly as much time to work on these. I have a Supporter page if you want to help remedy it but until such a time as that these are free. I do what I can, when I can.

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Aaaalways watching. Aaaalways watching.

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Thanks for your sympathies, and glad you enjoyed the chapter.