Chapter Text
"And while your sons and daughters may choose to take on a mission for extra credit, those who don't will not be punished, and will be sent home or kept at a safe location for the break."
- Headmaster Ozpin on the closure of Beacon for the winter season
Ozpin sat in his chambers as the time passed. Another meeting with the Vale Council with more yelling, cursing, and of course, berating. Saying he failed at his job as Headmaster for preventing a disaster. He raised his hand, A polite but stern gesture.. "Honorable Council," he said, rather calmly, "I was told, by yourselves, Council-members, that you only wished for my personnel on assistance.” One of the Councilors tried to interrupt, but he continued, “Your demand was that I stood by while the Atlesian Military guarded the Vytal Festival. But a show of force doesn’t discourage terrorists. Only lures them.”
Once he had stopped speaking, one of the Councilors finally spoke, “Then why did you send Huntsmen anyways?” He sighed, taking a sip of his drink, “Because it wasn’t Vytal that was in danger, but the whole of Vale.” The Head Councilman spoke up, in a loud tone, “Just because you sent one team of sophmores to investigate such a bold claim does not make you right about ignoring the overlying problem of under-security!” Ozpin gave a slight smirk, “But that just means you confess that I was right - that I did my job.” After a bit of silence, Ozpin spoke up once more, “Is there anything else at all then?”
The Head Councilman grumbled, "no, Headmaster." Ozpin smiled, "then this meeting has no more need for me. Good day, Councilmembers." Ozpin hung up the call, giving a gentle sigh as he sipped his drink. Another call suddenly came up, "who could it possibly be-"
It was James.
He answered it quickly, sipping a bit more of his hot cocoa. The General seemed tired, also at his desk with - what seems to be - a pinboard behind him with the criminal report across Atlas. "Ozpin," he said bluntly, "I need help."
The airship landed at the pad, one of the side entrances. General Ironwood with an escort of a very formal Atlesian Military Agent - which made Weiss groan - and a man in a walking robotic chair, dark-skinned, beard, glasses. The description of the Doctor Pietro they were looking for. The airship door opened as they were let out, with luggage in tow. James spoke up, "Team RWBY. Thank you for coming - and welcome to Atlas Academy." He gestured behind him.
Just like every Academy, the Continental Communications Tower was mounted near or on the Academy. In Vacuo, it was in the direct center of Shade Academy - surrounded by walls. In Vale, it doubled as the Headmaster's office and a Communications Tower. For Mistral, it was mostly just a big antenna near the Academy. But Atlas followed in the footsteps of Vale, and put the tower as a direct part of the Academy. It doubled as an office and a Communication Tower.
Sure, Ruby was amazed at the size of the school, the towering and imposing architecture of the tower and academy walls, and the weapons all the students had, but there wasn’t time for tourism. They had a job to do. RWBY followed Ironwood, Winter, and Pietro to Ironwood's office. It was oddly silent once they entered. The room was large - like Ozpin's, but decorated with Military Insignia, Banners, scale models of Atlesian Weapons of war, and a pinboard behind his desk with red yarn, a map of the city, and reports.
"You can likely already tell why we offered this mission to you," he said, taking a seat in his chair, "But we might as well rebrief you on why you're here." Winter put her scroll into a slot on the desk, a hologram appearing with a map of the school and dorms, classrooms, and other areas marked in red as she spoke, "We suspect an infiltrator within the ranks of the Academy. We don't know who or where, or who the informant is. But there's one or two people within the Academy related to the crime ring." She gestured to the board, with certain districts outlined.
Pietro spoke up after Winter, "Miss Rose," he said as he took off his cap, "I was told by the General and Miss Schnee here that you saved my daughter." His robot-chair walked over, hand on her shoulder as she nodded, "I believe Penny is at risk again. Please - I can't risk losing my only daughter." Ruby nodded, "General Ironwood, you can count on us." He sighed, "I can only hope you will do the best to your ability, Ruby." He slid over transfer forms, "For the winter break timeframe, you'll officially be Beacon to Atlas Academy Exchange Students. That means you won't be required to wear our uniform. But I hope you brought your Beacon clothing." Ruby looked back to Blake and Yang, who both shrugged. She looked to the General, "I think we'll need those uniforms."
And it was as if they hadn't left Beacon. They shared a dorm hall with - luckily enough - Team CRPT (Crypt) - which Penny was in. In Atlas Academy, the dorms were made of bunks and a lackluster area for studying. These dorms led to a common room for the dorm hall, used for leisure time or cooking (which the students were responsible for, with supplies given to them). The dorm hall then led on to the main hall, where teams were presented for inspection on a weekly basis, or for transport to classes.
Although their schedule was simpler, RWBY was occasionally awakened by the sounds of early wakeups, military drills, and they could see line ups to formation throughout the day for the Atlesian Students. Not to mention the drill-sergeant like teachers. The rest of the day was spent chatting away about Beacon Academy or Atlas Academy and how different it was to each other with the teams. Ciel Soliel - the team leader for CRPT - wasn't much for leisure activities. She tried to keep her team on a strict schedule.
And at this point, so was Ruby. They were here on a mission under the guise as exchange students. So, once every week or so, they went to Ironwood's office to give a report. It would either be a list of teams who seemed suspect, or a report that there was nothing suspect. And every time they went for the report, Ruby would ask if they could investigate the crime ring. "After all," she said, "we found Torchwick and Cinder. We can find these people."
Meanwhile, Ozpin was pushing for the delay to open Beacon, and an extension of the Winter Break. With a strong blizzard heading their way from Atlas - doubly so with it heading over the ocean - Ozpin highly advised the Council to put out an early alert for citizens and students to get emergency rations and supplies. Seeing the sense in his recommendation (for once) they sent relief supplies to each district in Vale, and the Academy. Teams were given one care package - one package per four people - while the city received one per household.
With this care package dished out, Ozpin knew he had given RWBY time. He looked at a map of Remnant with Glynda. "Do you think she's plotting something else? A second plan?" she asked. Ozpin nodded, "She doesn't stop at plan A. Besides, the only places the Relics are in are the Vaults. We know that we have one Maiden in our possession, two if you count Raven" - Glynda scoffed at the mention - "While Ironwood has Winter in her possession and Theodore... Well, he has no idea where Summer is."
"So the situation I understand is that we have two at worst - who are dying - and three at best, two of which are dying," Glynda pointed out, "We don't even have the full Fall Maiden." Ozpin stood there, with his eyes closed. With how often he did this, she shouldn't be surprised as she scoffed, "Ozpin, there's more to this than trying to stop her. It's the safety of Remnant." He spoke up, "I know. But to her, it's a game of chess. It's not draughts like you play it as." He walked to the map of Vale, "She sacrificed her Queen. But why?"
"You always think of this as a game of chess... Why?" she asked, standing next to him still. He sighed, taking a sip from his mug, "Because sometimes you need to think of this less as a game of life and more as you outsmarting your opponent. Besides, the natural goal of Chess is to outsmart not only your opponent's King, but their forces. And we just accepted a Gambit."
Neopolitan had seen Torchwick and Cinder's plan fail gloriously. She knew why - there was a mole - but who it could be was the more complex question. She looked over the board in her apartment in the City of Atlas, which had faces with names she had Mercury gather. After getting the word from Torchwick to initiate the Atlas Campaign after getting arrested, Neo knew she was essentially alone - minus a squad of thugs and a few cells of White Fang blending into the populace of Mantle.
What was worse was that the person she had in Atlas Academy had view on the same team there on that day. That god damned red-haired girl and her team. Why there were there was likely the same reason they were at the warehouse on the day of the attack - that was, to investigate. Which means the General knew, and she knew that wouldn't do well for the campaign.
Neo heard a knock on her door as she contemplated the next step in the Torchwick-crafted plan.