Sorry about the delay this month, things happened on update day, and I spent yesterday just trying to do a bit of much needed editing. I'm considering pushing updates to the first Sunday of every month, that way I'll have more time in the day to get the edits done and get the chapter sent out to you all.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLaF7zUcbY
"Yeah, yeah we've met," Daniel said, warily watching the woman who had been his enemy just last week. What would she do to him? Would she scream? Would she call him out? Would she attack him in front of the General?
He was saved from whatever Rojoe had planned by a buzzing that came from General Ironwood's pocket. Frowning, the General pulled out a scroll and answered it. "Ironwood," he answered curtly. His face quickly turned to a mask of stone as a voice on the other end began yelling at him. "What? The shipment was stolen? All of it? Are you sure Mr. Schn- no, our spider droids are autonomous and do not report security breaches until coming within range of a transmitter. That's why we place them on trains." A pause, then "Yes Jacques, I am well aware of how much fifteen train cars of Dust cost in this economy. I assure you, I will make it a priority for Atlas to find who is responsible and bring them to justice. I'll have the search underway before the day is out. Yes, yes, of course we'll increase security until we bring them to justice. We need that Dust just as much as whoever stole it." General Ironwood looked over at Daniel and Rojoe who were watching him with confusion, only being able to hear one side of the conversation. "I've got to go. Rest assured this will be dealt with in the correct manner." He ended the call, and lowered the scroll from his ear, sighing as he did so.
"Something wrong General?" Daniel asked.
"Nothing at this moment," General Ironwood answered. "Daniel, I'm afraid your tour of Atlas is going to be cut short. I need to devote my full attention to this situation. Rojoe, escort Daniel to the guest quarters, then have your team assemble in the briefing room immediately following. If we can get a positive ID on the thieves, I might need your team to go after them."
"Hm? Oh yes sir!" Rojoe said. "I will go, do those things you just told me to do immediately sir." She saluted, and General Ironwood distractedly returned the salute before striding away, the phone already back up to his ear as he barked orders out, preparing to search for the missing train of Dust.
General Ironwood had barely rounded a corner before Rojoe abruptly turned around to Daniel. "What are you doing here?" she demanded to know.
"What am I doing here?" Daniel asked affronted. "That's all you have to ask? Not; Hey, how are you alive from my friend hitting me across the chest with his ax, which I can't block by the way since news flash; I'm the only guy on Remnant who can't generate an Aura? Also by the way, sorry for my friend hitting you across the chest with an ax and making everyone think you're a spawn of Grimm."
"Stop, stop." Rojoe demanded, holding up her hands. "Say that again, but slower please?"
Daniel took a deep breath. "I don't have an Aura. That shot your friend threw in as you were leaving, I couldn't block it. Took eleven stitches just to close it up." Daniel opened up Nick's duster and pulled up his shirt to reveal the stitches sitting on his chest.
Rojoe shook her head, trying to process what Daniel was saying. "Okay, sorry, you're saying you're Daniel Grigio, and the news wasn't lying? Like, it's not just that you haven't unlocked it yet, you literally will never use an Aura ever?"
"Not naturally," Daniel said. "General Ironwood thinks some sort of top secret project Atlas is working on can give me one. That's why I'm here."
Rojoe shook her head. "This, this is so weird. At least we now know how you're not dead."
"Why would you care that I was dead? Your friend hit me with an axe and ran off."
"Well, you should be dead. Greeve's semblance,"
"Sorry, Greeve? Was he the asshole with the ax?"
"That's Yarrow," Rojoe corrected. "Greeve is my, is our team leader."
"So the tall asshole in the gray everything? Weird purple vortex that made me feel cold and tingly inside?"
"That's Greeve," Rojoe said. "His semblance is creating portals. But he's the only one that can go through them. Anyone else gets their Aura sucked out and, well, dies."
Daniel gulped. "Well, good thing I don't have an Aura then."
"I guess without an Aura to be drained, you were able to pass right through. Just like a-"
"Hey, don't use that term," Daniel warned. "I know what you're going to say, and I'm tired of hearing it."
Rojoe crossed her arms and looked Daniel in the face. "For the record, I was going to say animal. However if you would prefer to be compared to a filthy Grimmspawn like many civilians are probably doing, I can oblige."
"I, well, no," Daniel said. "Animal will do."
"Unlike Yarrow, I have tact."
"Fair enough," Daniel admitted. "And it's Daniel Grigio by the way."
"Rojoe Scope. Although since you probably paid a bit more attention to the General, you already knew that." She paused for a second, and looked over at Daniel, a he noticed a hint of embarrassment sneaking through her facade. "Actually, what were my orders?"
"Take me to the guest quarters, and assemble your team in the briefing room, wherever that is."
"Right. Wait, why does my team need to get to the briefing room."
"I don't know. I think that call General Ironwood got was about some Dust being stolen."
Rojoe winced. "Again? Ughhhhhh. I can't believe this. That's the third time the White Fang have attacked the Schnee Dust Company this month! Literally no other terrorist organization is so hell bent on attacking one single target. Thanks to them, the General is probably going to send my team off again when we just got back from a scouting mission. I know we're one of the top teams and everything with a ninety-seven point four percent success rating, but we do have training to finish up. I mean, we haven't even started instructing any younger students, and we can't graduate until that happens, meaning I could be stuck with Yarrow as a roomate for another year. I mean, do you have any idea how much stress he gives me? I once woke up with three screws in my mouth because I 'made an excellent screw holder'. Anyways, I'd better get you to the guest rooms quickly; If Schnee Dust just lost another shipment, the General will want to get us out there immediately. Sorry if this feels a little rushed, but we do have a time constraint now."
"Don't, mention it?" Daniel asked, not entirely sure how Rojoe had managed to say all of that in one sitting.
"Follow me then," Rojoe said. "Double time, Daniel."
Rojoe took off towards the double doors at a brisk march, leaving Daniel in the dust. Shaking his head in wonder of the past several minutes, Daniel took off after her, desperately trying to catch up. Atlas was a much more active school than Beacon, Daniel decided.
The transport shuddered to a halt, and the doors opened, allowing Daniel to step out into a bright sunny afternoon at Beacon. Nick's coat held over his arm, his backpack over his shoulder, he walked into the courtyard and began making his way towards the dorms. Behind him, the transport's engines revved up and lifted the ship back into the sky. It soared overhead, and Daniel stopped to watch it turn back to Atlas. As it passed over the Headmaster's tower, Daniel's gaze was pulled down to where the protesters were lined up. Or at least, where the protesters had been lined up. The area was now bare, save for some students milling around, and an abandoned protest sign.
Daniel had been right. He had needed this vacation.
"Hey Daniel!"
Daniel turned to see team DDLN waving at him. Daniel waved back, and then broke out into a sprint to meet up with them.
"What took you so long?" Dakota asked. "We got your message, and figured you'd be back hours ago. Tell me you didn't come in that big transport."
"Yeah, it was all they could spare," Daniel said as he tossed Nick his jacket, which he caught effortlessly. "They needed all hands-on deck for a big Dust robbery they were checking out."
"Yeah, we heard about that," Dakota said. "VNN was saying the price tag on those cars was several million. By just one or two guys apparently."
"Really? Dude, that's crazy. Anyways, ah, what did you guys do over the weekend?"
"Oh, just the usual man," Lewis said. "Studied for Oobleck's test, finished Professor Port's report, stopped an evil robot from tearing up a hospital. You know, the usual."
"Lewis had a lucid dream," Nick explained.
"I keep telling you guys that was real! I mean, how do you explain my broken guitar?"
"You mean besides the fact that you sleep with it and you fell off your bed last night?" Dakota asked. "I saw you on the floor this morning holding it. You should be glad Lunare had enough metal to fix the neck."
"Hey, speaking of, where is Team Luster?" Daniel asked.
"They're down in Lunare's garage, trying to convince him to remove the cannon," Dakota answered. "Vale Police tracked him down and said he'd be arrested if he didn't at least take the cannon off."
"We should totally have a moment of silence for the cannon," Lewis said. "Gone before its time, it shall never be forgotten." Lewis bowed his head in respect, a motion none of his other teammates copied.
"Right, anyways, how was Atlas?" Dakota asked, trying to move the conversation away from the awkward turn it had taken.
"It was, cool," Daniel replied. "And I mean that both figuratively and literally. It was freezing there. Thanks again for your coat Nick."
Nick, who was in the process of pulling his duster over his shoulders, paused to give Daniel a thumbs up before finishing pulling it on and began to button it up.
"It was also way bigger than Beacon since it's like, both the military and the school mixed into one," Daniel continued. "Including some R&D stuff. General Ironwood showed me some labs underneath the school where they're doing all this Aura study stuff. Although now I'm probably a dead man for telling you all that," he added in a joking manner.
"Secret underground labs?" Dakota said incredulously. "You're pulling our legs on that one. There's no way they put all their eggs in one basket like that."
"No, I'm dead serious!" Daniel protested. "They had finger recognition, eye scanners, heck, the elevator did some weird sideways thing before going down. You'd never know it was under there. Heck, Beacon could have something like that and we'd never know!"
"Ask Lunare," Nick replied, "He showed a map of Beacon air ducts, and Rage banks. If anyone would know, it would be hi-" Nick broke off into a ragged cough, forcing him to reach up and clutch his throat him pain.
"If we do have something, it's probably full of those protesters," Dakota said. "It would explain how the hell they disappeared without a trace."
"Oh, uh, quiet weekend then?" Daniel asked.
"I haven't gotten such good sleep since I got out of the hospital after escaping Glas," Dakota said, relief flowing from his voice. "Literally five minutes after you left, they stopped protesting and just left."
"That's good to hear," Daniel admitted. "I was not looking forward to dealing with them again.
"The feeling is mutual," Dakota said. "Hell, the other students haven't given us crap either. Seems things are finally going back to normal."
"HEY GRIMM KID!"
Daniel looked up in time for a deluge of water to fall from above and land directly on him. The rest of his team managed to leap away to avoid the worst, but Daniel was absolutely soaked. He looked up to see who caused it, but whichever window it had come from, the occupants had already retreated inside.
"Yeah, back to normal," Daniel muttered.
While Daniel had been visiting Atlas, Professor Ozpin had made an announcement to the students, reminding them of Beacon's rules against harassment and reinforcing the punishments. As a result, Daniel didn't have to worry about any more incidents like what had happened with the upperclassman before he left. No open threats, no scorning, nothing of the sort.
If given the option, Daniel would go back to this in a heartbeat.
Very little had actually improved over the weekend. Daniel could still sense the hatred and fear radiating from everyone he passed by. The only result of Professor Ozpin's actions was that it was all bottled up. No one could act off their emotions. At least, not in an obvious way.
With the exception of the water thrown at him from above, it was all very subtle. A foot shooting out from under a table by accident to trip him, a hard shove as they walked through the halls, an overenthusiastic slap on the back while he was eating breakfast; the worst was a kick to the gut as Daniel had bent down to tie his shoe. The blow sent bolts of sharp pain into his chest as the skin held together by the stitches was pulled and stretched taut. The offenders apologized immediately, saying that they hadn't meant to do it, but their words hadn't been sincere.
It made Daniel miserable.
It was on the day after the gut kick that Daniel was called up to see Professor Ozpin. It had been several days since Daniel had returned from Atlas, and he was already missing the quiet weekend in the snow-covered kingdom.
When he arrived in Professor Ozpin's office, the headmaster was bent over a stack of papers, frowning at their contents. Unsure what to do, Daniel stood awkwardly in front of the elevator doors, trying to decide what to do. It was decided for him when Professor Ozpin seemed to sense his presence and looked up to see him. "Good afternoon, Mr. Grigio," he said. "Please, have a seat."
Daniel did so, and Professor Ozpin pushed the stack of papers to one side. "I wanted to know how you felt about your visit to Atlas. I understand General Ironwood spent an unprecedented portion of his day personally conducting your tour."
Daniel groaned inwardly. He'd been asked by everyone who would still talk to him how the tour was. LSTR, his own team, even some of his professors had been curious. The first couple of times he'd been happy to oblige, but It was now starting to get on his nerves.
"Well sir," he said tiredly as he began the speech he usually gave, "It was very cold at Atlas. General Ironwood showed me that it was both a school and a military base, which was a bit odd to me. I also saw-"
"Forgive my interruption Daniel, but I was asking not what you saw, but how you felt about your experience at Atlas. Is it making you reconsider General Ironwood's offer?"
This threw Daniel, and he had to pause for a moment to order his thoughts. Between classes and the hell he was being subjected to by his classmates, he hadn't been able to consider the offer since he got back. On Sunday afternoon, he had still held adamantly to his wish to remain in Beacon. But now;
Daniel's thoughts were interrupted yet again by a soft beeping sound. Professor Ozpin looked equally startled and began shifting papers to the side before locating a glowing portion of his clockwork desk. He pressed down on the glowing spot and answered, "Yes?"
"Professor Ozpin, the Board of Directors would like to speak to you," the voice of the receptionist AI said. "They say it is a matter of upmost urgency."
Professor Ironwood sighed and lowered his head. "Inform the Board that I will speak with them shortly. I am in the middle of a meeting with one of my students." He lifted his finger from the glowing spot, and it faded away. He then lowered his head and pressed his fingers to his temples. "Daniel, I regret to inform you that our meeting will have to be cut short. The Board of Directors are getting more and more persistent, and their presence is quite taxing.
"I'm sorry sir," Daniel said. "I know they probably want me kicked out of Beacon. If I had known this would happen, I never would've applied to Beacon."
"Daniel, I knew from the moment you walked into my office that this day would someday come. I expected there to be those that would oppose your attendance here, and prepared for the eventuality. And while I admit that the opposition has been stronger than what I expected, you are still my student and I will fight for your ability to remain a student as long as I am headmaster."
Another light pulsed on Professor Ozpin's desk. He saw it and sighed, reaching for a white mug. "The Board is contacting me directly. Thank you for coming Daniel. I apologize for calling you here and not giving you a chance to answer my question. Perhaps we can have this conversation at a better time."
"Of course sir," Daniel replied. He stood up and made his way towards the elevator doors. He had just pressed the button to call the elevator up when a thought struck him. "Sir, just one more thing," he said hastily, "If I did end up going to Atlas, what would happen to my team?"
Professor Ozpin regarded Daniel with a piercing gaze, and Daniel was suddenly aware that he may have just answered his question. "Like I said when you first met General Ironwood, you are the leader of your team. As such, your decision will affect not only yourself, but the effectiveness of your team to function in combat. If you are continuing to consider General Ironwood's offer, you must be aware of this fact. However, I spoke to team LSTR, whom I understand your team is close to, while you were away in Atlas. Should you choose to transfer to Atlas, they have agreed to merge with the remnants of your team, and form a larger team for the remainder of their time at Beacon."
Daniel nodded and stepped into the elevator. "Thank you sir. I needed to know they would be taken care of."
"Of course Mr. Grigio," Professor Ozpin said as the doors closed. "After all, they are my students as well."
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