The REDS of war

Volume Five Chapter Five

"And how do we do that?" Rei asks.

"We start... by ensuring the safety of the Relic of Knowledge."

"This is perfect! We were stuck at a dead end, but now, we can just take little cute boy Ozpin to Lionheart and have him set things straight!" Nora exclaims.

"Please don't call me that."

Rei sighs leaning forward. "We're not sure that's the best idea."

Nora pouts and groans and goes back to sit down next to Ruby and Ren. "But I thought the Headmasters all took their orders from you."

"That was the intention. Four lieutenants I can trust, especially during times of reincarnation. But Qrow told me about your meeting with Leonardo. And Rei his research into the team of infiltrators from the Fall." Ozpin gets up and walks towards a painting of Mistral. "He isn't just behaving irrationally, he's disobeying specific instructions I had left him. Something's wrong. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I don't want to rule out any possibilities, either. No one outside of this room knows that I've paired with Oscar, and I think it may be best to keep it that way."

"Play things close to the chest until we get a better hand." Rei says.

"Precisely. Now, we have two steps ahead of us." Ozpin turns around to face the rest of the group.
The first is enlisting the aid of more Huntsmen."

"But the Mistral council--!" Jaune says.

"Doesn't own every Huntsman in the Kingdom, and I've been here enough times to know where we can find some more." Qrow says.

"So long as they're trustworthy." Ozpin says his gaze lingering on Rei.

"You can trust them to put up a good fight. I'll throw together a list tonight." Qrow says. He puts his foot on the table, but his Semblance causes one of the legs to break and spill his cup of tea.

"Good luck with that." Nora mutters.

Qrow groans as he cleans up his mess.

"After that, we can move on to step two." Ozpin says.

"What's step two?" Nora asks.

Suddenly, Ozpin has The Long Memory, his cane, in his hand. "Getting you six into fighting shape."

Team RRNJRS once again exchange looks of confusion.

"But, uh, we already know how to fight." Ruby says.

Ozpin points to Ruby. "You can only fight so long as you have Crescent Rose, but you're still lacking in hand-to-hand combat."

Ruby recoils. "Well, uh, yeah."

"I will have to pass on these trainings. While Qrow works on huntsmen, I'm intel gathering. I've got a meeting with an old friend on layer twenty-two." Rei says crossing his arms. "Then a meeting with Little Miss." He says, admitting to his dealing in the underworld.

"You're working with criminals?" Jaune recoils glaring at Rei harshly.

"I came from criminals, boy." Rei retorts. "Besides, I'm just gathering intel on the enemy." Rei is about to keep talking but is interrupted by Ozpin pointing to Jaune.

"Mr. Arc, I'm glad to hear you've improved, but sorry to say, you've yet to unlock your Semblance. All of you still have a-ways to go before you're ready to pose any real threat against Salem and her forces. And though Oscar can give me temporary control, he'll need to strengthen his body and his Aura. He'll inherit my muscle memory in time, but practice will expedite the process."

"But if Qrow's out looking for Huntsmen, then who's going to teach us?" Ruby asks.

Ozpin then propels himself into the air with his cane, spinning counterclockwise into a barrel roll before landing onto the seat of the armchair, twirling his cane. "Well, I believe I was the Headmaster of Beacon Academy." All of Team RNJRS have various looks on their faces. "We have approximately one month before classes resume at Haven. If Salem were to plan an attack, it would make sense that it would occur prior to students' return. It's not much time, but it's better than nothing." He stops twirling his cane. "Just don't expect me to go easy on you."