The sound of footsteps echoed across the hallway. A lone white-haired figure could be seen, walking by under the midnight moon's light shining through the window. Wearing her casual night clothing, she harbors a bored and tired face, and a deeply annoyed mind, obviously wanting sleep and forgetting all that had happened in her past.
It has been around a few hours after the party had ended, students heading back to their dorms with tired but satisfied faces. She admittedly enjoyed it too, though she only stood there observing the students as they went on and danced. Never had she experienced an actual school life, only observing and taking notes while being deeply watched by the very same headmaster who brought her in not as a student, but as a guest.
Even though it is preferable to living a bandit life, Indigo didn't really want to be treated as an outsider, especially in an Academy as prestigious as Beacon. Never in her life did she want Ozpin or anyone to closely watch her like this, and now he suddenly brought the General of Atlas into the mix as well. She sighed, tired of all the things that he and his yes men faction did for her "safety".
"Speak of the devil..."
As she went towards the elevator towards the Headmaster's Office the same man that she loathed second to Ozpin himself, General Ironwood, was present, standing in his ever militaristic stature. He is staring at her with eyes that looked like he didn't get his midnight coffee for the shift at work, but still, he looked at her with slight mistrust and wariness. She didn't react, instead, she stood beside him waiting for the elevator with a bored face, ready to scoff at him at any moment he started to speak.
The two shared a brief awkward moment as Ironwood turned towards the elevator, clearing his throat in the process. He then exchanged looks with her, Indigo's eyes immediately stared at him back with a force that can kill a rodent out of shock, immediately startling him.
He then focused his attention back towards the elevator and tried to speak to her to calm the suddenly tense atmosphere between the two of them.
"It's nice to meet you again, Indigo," He said, "last time I met you, you were arrested by the Ace Ops, what are you up to in Beacon now?"
"Just trying to escape my old life, I don't care for any past things you had done to me back when I was a bit more....bloodlusted" She replied, a hint of hatred towards him and a bit of boredom showing.
"But it seems that your tone speaks the opposite"
Indigo showed a scowl in response. He knew that almost anyone that is in opposition to him would harbor some kind of dislike of his actions and character, but to him, Indigo is quite different from the rest. She scoffed, hiding her scowl immediately after it was shown, and replied, "Just shut up, or you'll face consequences"
"Right. I'll be watching for that" Ironwood stared back at the elevator, and shortly after the sound of a bell can be heard as it opened up. He stepped in first, with Indigo being second, standing next to him.
The door then closed in front of them, and the familiar noise of elevator music began to play as they stood side by side.
In an attempt to break the re-emerging awkwardness, however, Ironwood decided to speak again "So, anything you want to talk about while we wait?"
Indigo heavily sighed "Are your soldiers this talkative, General? I remember them being robotic"
He raised an eyebrow before answering, "while it is true that a portion of our military is robotic, I would say that your question is true. After all, they're human"
"Well, then how about you? Should you be this talkative when a portion of your body is robotic as well?"
"Is this just your way to tell me to shut up?"
She lets a few seconds pass before replying, "yes, it is"
"You're doing a quite bad job at it"
"Same for you on keeping Mantle in check, I heard the crime rates were rising since your inauguration to be part of the council"
"W-we are handling that-"
"Badly, you are handling it badly. Don't spread the blame onto your robotic yes men and your Ice Queen, I pity them"
Ironwood, although still calm in composure, decided to raise his tone a bit in annoyance, "Are you really going to lecture me on how to do my job? You're not even educated!"
"I'm 20 years old and an unofficial student, I can say to myself that I'm getting one. But even without that, you'll still need lecturing"
"Are we really going to argue like this?"
"I'd say no," she responded, "but the puppets will always act the same as its master"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I've seen your persona everywhere, in your soldiers and robot army, General. It bores me to even talk to you after seeing every bit of you hundreds of times in those sorry toys of yours. You're boring and as you just said about your soldier, talkative"
"And now you are just insulting me"
"Yes, now I'm insulting you, you should be honored. Now, anything else you want to talk about, James?" She replied, a smug appearing on her face in a celebration of success in annoying him.
But, it was short-lived as he quickly responded, "yes, actually, I will share you one thing as an act of revenge"
"Oh really?"
A small smirk began to spread "Yes, really"
"Let's hear it then, what is the tin man without a heart trying to say in his defense?"
"Well...this may sound immature and inappropriate. But this tin man and his so-called metal puppets had archives of your daily private activities in this Academy. You should be honored that you are being watched so closely"
Her eyes widened, a small blush briefly appeared on her face as she refocused her face towards the elevator's door, "Fuck you, I'm telling Ozpin"
"And here I thought you hated him"
As the door finally opened with a ding, she responded before walking out, arms crossed, her opinion of him now plummeting drastically, "not as much as I hate you now, General"
Ironwood then proceeded to walk out of the elevator, satisfied with his comeback. Both approached the desk at the end of the office, the floor covered in running gears layered with durable glass as if there's a mechanism hidden beneath the very room they're in.
The chair that was facing the window swiveled to face them. But the blonde woman who stood beside the desk, Professor Glynda Goodwitch, spoke first, "you know that you are half an hour late, I thought both of you are more punctual than this" she said, arms crossed and eyes glaring, frustrated at the two.
"There are matters that I needed to handle, I apologize if that's what you wanted" Ironwood replied, before looking at Indigo, who was glaring at Ozpin sitting on his chair.
"Before we continue, I would like to file a complaint, James Ironwood here and his men had used their toys to violate my privacy by spying on me"
Ozpin raised an eyebrow, a bit bewildered before looking towards the culprit, "You did what?"
"It was to ensure safety and keep her in check! She's a criminal!" He defended
"Former criminal" Indigo interjected
Glynda decided to interject further, "James, you should know that we women like to keep our private times to ourselves, this is a breach of privacy!"
Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose, disappointed in his friend's actions "James, as a fellow man that watches her closely, that is just going too far," He looked at him, a bit serious now in his tone as he continued "to end this issue quickly, you should just back off and abort your mission of spying on a member of my academy, it will only lead to negative consequences"
"See? You shouldn't have gone too far, James" Indigo smugly said.
Ironwood responded with a defeated sigh, signing a surrender, "I'll back off, sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable"
"Good, you've improved my view on you slightly," Indigo replied.
"But I won't forgive your acts of destroying Atlesian property, those Spyders are expensive for their size!"
"It counts as self-defense, General. Those sorry arachnid-wannabe toys of yours are dirtying my dorm"
"Can we just forget about this and move on? I would like for us to act like adults and not whine about these things, please" Glynda interjected once more.
"Fine," Both of them replied.
"Good! Now let's get to the topic" Ozpin said, "Indigo, how's your relationship with the two new students of ours?"
"You mean them? Those two?" She replied.
"Yes, those two, what are your first impressions?" He said
"A bit jealous that you immediately promoted them as students, but indifferent. Although the thing that interests me is that young man's writings. It looks alien to me, and his immediate reaction towards me caught me by surprise. I didn't even try to intimidate him" She explained, pondering on that time she saw him taking notes with that weird language of his. "For the other one, she's a bit harder to read. Her expressions rarely change without some forceful provocation. Though I would agree about what you said about them four days ago, she looks like a magical school girl in your school's uniform"
"Magical school girl? Beatrice...was it?" Questioned Ironwood.
Indigo looked at him. "Yes, that's her name, what are your thoughts on her then if you're so interested, General?"
"The boy had said to me that she is stubborn and clings to him like a little sister at the party, I would agree based on my first impressions of her." He explained
"Wait," She looked towards Ozpin and Ironwood, a bit surprised as she raised her eyebrows at them, "she was the one that told both of you to fuck off!? After you miserably tried to get Natsuki to your little playgroup!? Hah! I never thought you guys would lose to a mere clingy child! Hah!"
She began to let out a small laughing fit, a bit unfitting of her usual attitude and mood. It just goes to show how she despised both of them, that Indigo started to laugh her ass off at the mere thought of them failing. Ironwood and Ozpin can only wait in embarrassment, even Glynda can be seen hiding her chuckles. Both of the men can feel a bit envious of how successful Indigo was at intimidating that boy without even trying.
"Right, thank you Indigo, we'll take note of your results," Ozpin said, a bit annoyed at her.
Indigo took a few breaths, recovering. "Is that all?"
Ozpin shook his head. "No, not yet, I would like to propose something you might be interested in, you want to hear them?"
Indigo thought about it for a moment, nodding, "if it makes me laugh at you even more, yes"
"I'll take that as a yes," He fixed his glasses before continuing "Indigo, I would like to hire you on something that would certainly benefit all of us, including the asset in question."
Glynda suddenly interjects. "Professor Ozpin, I would like to protest on this sudden decision"
"Let's hear it then," Ozpin replied.
"I would agree for now that what James had said was right. Shiro Indigo is a dangerous woman, we are not sure if we can trust her actions! This is a reckless proposal!"
"If both of you are that worried, it would mean that you forgot one thing about her. Her background."
"Ozpin, can you elaborate on this?" Ironwood said
"She has proved to be trustworthy and loyal in her past," Ozpin replied, Indigo was raising an eyebrow, interested in his explanation, even though she feels a bit left out.
He continued, "I know that even though she is now not what she was anymore, and even though she's still dangerous, we can trust her on protecting our strongest assets for our ultimate goal, beating The Black Queen"
The three of them froze at the mere mention as Ozpin paused. Ironwood then went silent, now contemplating his assessment of the woman beside him. Glynda only nodded, backing off at the mere mention of that faction their group had been preparing for. As for Indigo, she immediately stepped up after being briefly put on hold by his words.
"What are you trying to do here, Ozpin?" Indigo questioned.
He turned towards her, "I'm putting you on a mission, willing to hear it out?"
She paused, "yes"
"Protect both the boy and his partner, and you'll be granted my permission to finally become one of my students in this academy, who knows, it may even help in saving your 'family' too."
Indigo paused at the mere mention of them. Her eyes became more determined, "when?"
"Your mission will officially start tomorrow, watch him and try to get close to him socially. Do not discourage him from working together with us, even if he doesn't want to affiliate with our group directly. I will say this one more time, they're our potentially strongest cards in our fight against her."
She nodded, her eyes glaring at him, "I'll do what I can. But don't expect us to be immediate allies after this, Ozpin"
He chuckled, "I know. Now dismiss, we all know that sleep is important"
Within a quick fashion, all of the members of his circle plus one immediately do what was told. Leaving for the elevator as it opened moments after. Ozpin only sat on his desk, taking a sip of coffee as he said to himself as they left for their quarters.
"Natsuki Subaru, what an interesting man you are"
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Alright! With this interlude, it will mean two things:
- We are done with the first phase of arc 1!
- I will take a small break as I plan for the upcoming chapters after this. I wrote this entire interlude in one sitting!