RWBY Through Worlds (End)

BC59: Capital Gains (Raven's team & Co.)--5

"It's just not enough," Oscar said. "You can't just try to avoid it... they have to be stopped. And we're still the only people who really seem to be able to resist them for longer than a few minutes... except you," he pointed at Royal. "I remember that you didn't seem that affected... you were a little affected by the Irasci right, but not as much as the others."

"Less even than Sustrai and Black," Cinder spoke up.

"And the Avarice never at all," Oscar mused.

"I still am not sure of that, it just never seemed to be enough for me to do anything," Royal said.

"No, but he has shown a surprising resistance considering he's not even been in our camp the earliest times we've had this problem," Raven said.

"We should talk about that, but first, about you," Oscar turned back to Neo. "I think you're fine. No nudge is coming to my mind, I think Cinder got rid of it fast enough for it not to really take root... uh, but I don't think you should go after those guys if you... still don't want full protection. It's just too dangerous. In fact," he glanced at Raven. "You might want to think about letting anyone without it do this. It seems like it's getting more out of hand."

"I was hoping you might have one of your hunches about where we can find these people," Raven said.

"I can't do that on command, not always," Oscar said. "And it's... I don't think it's as strong as Alicia's anyway. It's like... well a remnant of it, which is... kind of poetic. But my personal gift is more along the Truth of Conviction line... it's been something I've been trying to figure out. They overlap, but I think I focus a bit more on the present. She focused on the past and present fitting together like some puzzle. That was her gift."

"But sometimes," Ruby reminded him. She looked at the others. "Oscar sees things about people right off. Just like Shine used to. Everyone at Beacon knows about it. They've been saying that he can read you like a book."

"It's really not that exact..." Oscar said, still shyly.

"Oh come on, it's totally cool," Ruby protested. "But yeah, that's more of like how you are now. I bet if he just met these people himself, he could."

"I remember meeting the two," Oscar said. "I didn't like the vibe I got from them, Teach more than the Calico guy. But I didn't remember getting anything from Anne Bonny at all. I have a suspicion she might have been corrupted more by them over time. And they're going to spread it if people don't know any better than to let them. Maybe we need more people on this case."

"If you're offering," Raven said.

"I will graduate in Spring," Oscar said. "I did some classes early... but if this can't wait... Well there is a break coming up... or I guess I could maybe rearrange some things."

"I don't know that we're in that big a hurry," Raven said. "It depends on if we can catch Dawkins... what a mess." She sighed.

She didn't usually show such stress in front of her employees, but they all knew her outside of work, so perhaps she felt freer.

Neo was looking pretty bleak.

"I'll just take her home," Ruby offered. "If you don't need me..."

"I'll fill you in later," Oscar promised.

She nodded and took Neo out.

"That was too close," Raven said as soon as she was sure Neo wouldn't hear her. "I think Pine is right. This is getting too dangerous for everyone... but I'd hate to pull Zapato off it, we don't have a lot of people who could replace our fliers... and none at all who are like us."