"Mr. Theodore?" Velvet interrupted him on his way out.
"What?" he said.
"I thought you should know--Watts is not in his room," Velvet said. "No one is sure how he got out, but there's a lot of students unconscious. We can't find any marks on them. It's like their Auras just went out."
"What?" Theo frowned. "Vic... All right...this was an inside job. Find out who was around the area when this happened...and group up. Put the school on high alert. Where are my students?"
"They're most of the ones who are out..." Velvet said meekly.
"Of course they are," Theo said. "Great..."
"What's going on?" Emerald came in. "It's, like, dead quiet upstairs."
"You!" Theo grabbed her by the neck before she was ready for it.
He slammed her into the wall.
"Is this you, huh?" he asked. "Are you working with her? Someone had to sneak up there, and you could do it unnoticed by anyone."
"What do you mean?..." Emerald gasped.
"Sir!" Velvet cried. "I don't think it was her."
"I don't care if you're pals--this is no time to be blinded by wishful thinking," Theo said. [Really, Theo? From you?]
"No, sir, I mean that I saw her in the kitchen right before I got word of this," Velvet said. "I don't think it was her. She'd have to be lightning fast!"
Emerald glanced at Theo nervously.
He stared at her, then he sighed and let go.
"She still could be part of it," he said. "Ain't no way to prove it though--you're coming with me, kid."
Emerald rubbed her throat. "I didn't do anything," she said, "I swear. I've been waiting for Oscar to get back--and Pyrrha so we could train. That's all."
"Wait...where did they go?" Theo asked.
"Maybe if you kept on top of your own school, you'd know this stuff," Emerald said snippily. "Pyrrha went to--" She stopped. "--meet up with a friend."
"Vara, you mean," Theo said dryly. "I'm not stupid."
He frowned. "I should find them before this gets worse. All of the Maidens are in danger right now."
"Oscar went to Pietro's new shop," Emerald added, "if you care about anyone other than your girlfriend."
"Don't give me that crap, kid. You're in no position to talk," Theo said. "And on top of that, Vara's capture would doom you as well as me. Get Nikos on the scroll if you can. Tell her to warn Vara, if that stupid woman would even listen to her. Tell her to get inside if she can. That is, unless you're not really working with us."
Emerald gave him a look of disgust.
"Now, there's one other person who could go unnoticed," Theo said. "Where is the little Neo woman?"
"She and the hat man are usually in one of the empty rooms," Velvet said. "But Fox plays cards with them sometimes. Maybe he'd know."
"Find them then," Theo said. "And I'm gonna find the big guy. Why hasn't Qrow called yet? D--- it, there's always a hundred things that go wrong at the same time."
* * *
Pyrrha, not finding Wally available, for whatever reason, had debated whether or not to meet up with Vara--but then decided she couldn't waste the opportunity.
Jaune offered to go with her.
"That might be a good idea," Pyrrha said.
"We'll go also," Nora said. "Whatever you're doing, it's dangerous."
"We're a team," Ren agreed.
"All right, but you all need to hang back," Pyrrha said. "I don't want to scare her away. She's very...tense. But Mr. West was supposed to go with me... I hope he isn't in trouble."
"I think he probably had to go help with the fighting in the camp." Jaune rubbed his head. "I mean, he and Shine were together the last time I saw them. It's weird he didn't let you know, but he is kind of scatter-brained."
"He's fine," Nora blew it off. "Nothing would hurt him. He stopped a sandstorm."
"I still don't understand how that's possible," Ren said.
"Perhaps you're trying to understand with your head too much," Pyrrha said. "Look...I...may tell Vara about coming back to life... I think it might convince her. But if she doesn't believed me, can you all perhaps verify it? If she's willing to listen."
"Sure," Jaune said.
"And then we have to tell her about the vials," Pyrrha said. "We're all okay with using them?"
"I don't understand them," Ren said. "If you want to give them to her, I'm fine with it. I don't like the idea of using odd stuff like that anyway."
"Yeah, they're your gifts," Nora said. "It's up to you."
"Oscar said he was okay with it," Jaune said. "I mean, team RWBY didn't seem interested in them before. I think they'd want us to help her if we could save you by doing it."
"I hope so," Pyrrha said.
Vara had told her to come to one part of the city and wait, that she had to keep moving locations and would find her.
And, sure enough, Pyrrha only waited for about 10 minutes before a hooded figure came out of the shadow of some palm trees and huts.
Vara motioned at her.
"I'll talk to her alone first," Pyrrha hissed. She walked away.
Nora, bored, pulled out her scroll. "Ugh...service sucks out here," she whined.
"I hope no one needs us," Ren said. "I don't feel great about this idea. We don't know Sol that well, but she was okay with Raven getting taken. How can we be sure she won't attack Pyrrha?"
"We need to trust Pyrrha's judgment," Jaune said.
"Pyrrha's judgment has not always been correct," Ren said pointedly.
That was true--but ouch.
"But she's learned," Jaune said. "And she's always been good at reading people. If Vara wanted to attack her, she could have before. Let's try to have some faith."
He was praying silently that he was right about that.
"Who's the entourage?" Vara asked. "Your team? No wait, I remember them now... They all suck."
"They do not," Pyrrha said warmly. "Listen, Vara, we need to talk."
"I'm here, so talk," Vara said, fanning herself. "Ugh, it's so hot."
It was very hot, but Pyrrha was a bit more used to it. Vara looked flushed.
"Listen, I talked to my team," she said, "I mean, the ones I told you about, and they said we can help you. And...also, we have something else, a gift from a friend that we think could help you even faster, perhaps. If you're willing to try it. We all agreed that I should not get the powers."
"I see," Vara said, tightly.
"I want to tell you I'm prepared to fight that," Pyrrha said firmly, "as hard as I can, even if you go through with what you said, and I think I will win. I can...resist magic."
"You can what?" Vara said, oddly.
"It's a new power I have," Pyrrha said. "I got it--after I came back to life."
There...she'd said it.
Vara stared at her like she'd lost her mind.
"Did I hear that right?"
"I know, you don't believe it," Pyrrha said, keeping her tone steady, "but I have a story--would you at least listen? And if you think I'm telling the truth, will you consider what I'm offering?"
Vara swallowed. "I think you're out of your mind, but you have 5 minutes to convince me otherwise."
* * *
10 minutes later, Pyrrha had told her the whole story.
Vara had been too engrossed after 5 to stop her.
Vara went from skeptical, to intrigued, to clearly wondering how Pyrrha could make this up...as bizarre as it was.
"Do you..believe me?" Pyrrha said.
"I'm...usually pretty good at reading people," Vara said. "Gut feeling and stuff... Mine is telling me you at least think this is true...and your team must also, since they came with you. I can't..." She rubbed her arms. "This is so uncanny."
"I know," Pyrrha said. "But it's good. You must try to believe that...and if all that was possible, why not help you? If you could have just a little faith in us, who knows what we could do? You might be able to be free...if you would help us get the Relic first, and then Salem would never need you."
"Too easy," Vara said. "No way it's that easy."
"I don't know if it will be easy," Pyrrha said. "But if it's possible..."
She folded her hands.
Vara looked at the desert and shielded her eyes. She was quiet for a very long time.
Finally she said, "All right...let's say I was crazy enough to try this...what would you have to do?"
"We'd have to ask them," Pyrrha said. "Would you...come back to the school and talk to them?"
"Right to where Salem's spies will be?" Vara snorted.
"Are you much safer in Vacuo?" Pyrrha countered. "Theo will find you sooner or later. And he's the best option. We think they are already here. But at Shade we could all guard you."
"That has never worked," Vara said. "I'd have to go back into the tunnels...ugh..."
"They let out into the school," Pyrrha said pointedly.
Vara laughed dryly.
"Okay...true... For a few hours, maybe--but I don't want to see Theo. That jackass..." She looked upset. "He'll try to talk me back into it--and I might give in."
"I thought you were angry at him." Pyrrha said this a little archly for her.
"I am, but he can be quite...disarming," Vara said, in a tone that made Pyrrha feel like she should be blushing.
"Oh..." She looked away.
"I guess I can't find that many people who can tolerate my crazy," Vara said. "It's a problem, letting them go even when they're jerks. You have a man, Nikos?"
"Uh...I do...now..." Pyrrha said.
"He respect you?" Vara asked.
"Yes," Pyrrha said.
"It's that one, isn't it?" Vara nodded at Jaune.
"How did you--?" Pyrrha said.
"I can pick up on this stuff...and he doesn't take his eyes off you," Vara said. "Just like Theo. More free advice there, if he ever asks you to do something you know is wrong, don't listen. Not worth it."
"Jaune never tells me to do anything wrong," Pyrrha said. "That's why I like him."
"Anyone can be wrong," Vara muttered.
"Perhaps you have been, then," Pyrrha said. "Perhaps this is the better way."
"Nikos, I am making no promises," Vara said. "I only said I'd hear them out...but all right... There's another tunnel not that far from here. I can navigate them pretty well. Stick close to me and you'll be fine...and I have your word, as a huntress, that this is no trick."
"It's not, I promise," Pyrrha said.
"Fine," Vara said. "This way."
She motioned.
The others joined them.
"So?" Jaune said.
"She's willing to hear them out," Pyrrha said happily.
"Nice," Nora said. "Pyrrha, 1--Vara, 0."
"I hope this works," Ren murmured.
They got a little closer to the kingdom's more populated area, and Vara went up to one ancient-looking wall from who knew how long ago.
She pressed some lever on it, and a door opened up.
"We have to go in there?..." Nora didn't like underground places much.
"You afraid of the dark?" Vara asked scornfully. "Come on, cadets."
She leapt down the hole as lightly as a feather and landed carefully. "Ouch," she muttered.
"She's...nimble," Ren said. "What's the reason she's not a good Maiden again?"
"It's complicated," Pyrrha said.
"Pyrrha--" Jaune was looking at his scroll. "I have a message from Emerald asking if you're with me... It sounds kind of frantic."
Pyrrha pulled out her scroll and checked it. "Oh, she tried to call me..." She checked messages.
Emerald had written: Call me! Maidens in danger! Someone attacked the school!
"Oh no!" Pyrrha gasped. "I think we might be too late!"
Vara looked up. "What?" she said, eyes gleaming.
* * *
The skirmish in the camp was cleared up soon enough--but they had to kill the Grimm who showed up.
"How soon can we get those stupid DJ stations back up?" Yang asked, wiping her forehead.
"We had to get new parts," Robyn said. "Hopefully in a few hours. But we can handle them for that long."
"Yeah, kid, you're not wigging out on me now," Tai said.
"You kidding, old man? I'm good for another few hours at least." Yang made a fist.
"You seem more cheerful today, Firecracker," Qrow observed.
"What? Slaying Grimm with my family is my idea of a good time," Yang said.
"It's not just that," Tai said. "I think something good must have happened... Did you meet someone at the club last night?"
"Ew, no," Yang said. "I spent most of the time listening to Neptune lecture me. He's so annoying." She made a face. "Still, he...did make an interesting point. I guess it worked out."
Qrow and Tai both gave her a weird look.
"Well, I guess we've mostly got this under control," Robyn said. "I gotta say, the Ace Ops might be crap in politics, but they have been very helpful dealing with Grimm. Especially Wags."
"He's so OP," Yang said.
"Hey, Yang, I think we're good on this, if you want to join your team now," Tai said. "You kids should have fun while you can."
"Sure, we can take it," Robyn said.
"I'm fine with working," Yang said.
"Hey, Yang." Sun came up. "You want to catch up with Blake?"
"I just said no," Yang said.
"Touchy," Neptune commented.
"Oh, shut up." She rolled her eyes.
"Okay, well, we were gonna head that way," Sun said.
"You two are always slacking off." Robyn frowned. "Do you even pull your weight?"
"Hey, we pull enough," Sun said. "You guys work too much."
"People are in danger," Joanna said. "You two don't earn your keep."
"What's her problem with us?" Neptune asked.
"I thought we didn't need them," Tai said.
"Yeah, but still," Robyn said. "I'd say Blondie here has earned a break."
"I'll just ask Blake which tea shop they're at," Sun said.
He tried.
"She's not answering... Maybe it's the service."
"It sucks," Neptune agreed.
"I don't mean to alarm you--" Fiona came up. "--but one of our friends in the city just came to tell us there was some commotion close to the school. They said it was with some of our people."
"What?" Tai said.
Zwei growled.
"Did they say who?" Robyn asked.
"She didn't know, just said it wasn't Vaccutians," Fiona said. "Could have been any of us, but with the team's penchant for getting into trouble, I was betting it was with RWBY or JNPR."
"We'd better check it out," Sun said.
"Fine, I'll go," Yang said.
"Maybe I should go,"Qrow said.
"If you can keep up," Yang said.
"I hope it wasn't anything serious," Robyn mused.
* * *
The person who'd tipped Fiona off was Cerry, Joanna's cousin.
"Fancy meeting you here," she said to Qrow. "You people get in trouble all the time."
She took them to the aforementioned area.
There were some...huntsmen there. Though they didn't seem to be taking the situation that seriously.
"Blake?" Yang saw her sitting along one wall, holding a cold compress to her head.
"Yang?" Blake looked up. "Sun?"
"Oh my gosh, what happened to you?" Sun asked.
"Hello." Meridian nodded.
"You?" Neptune said. "What's going on?..."
"Apparently some people got taken," one of the Huntsmen said, not very concerned sounding. "Probably some prank or gang demonstration of power. You people can't take care of yourselves, you shouldn't go out in public. We're sick of hearing about this."
"It wasn't some prank!" Blake said, wincing as her head hurt. "They were kidnapped!"
"Who was?" Qrow said, worried.
"Weiss and Ruby!" Blake said. "These thugs came out and jumped us! We tried to fight them off, but they had these crazy weapons that drained our Aura, and one hit me in the head." She coughed. "There was this smoke too."
Meridian coughed also. "Still not out of my lungs."
"They took Weiss?" Neptune said.
"And Ruby?!" Yang cried.
"No!" Qrow said.
"Wait, wasn't Winter with you?" Sun asked. "Did she do anything?"
Blake looked at them soberly, then she looked down. "Winter ran after them, but she never came back."
Silence.
"Kanap," Neptune said finally. "Right?"
"Yeah..." Yang said. Then she punched the wall.
Qrow muttered some curse words, then he leaned on the wall and shook his head. "They took 3 people... Ruby..."
"Didn't Theo let you know?" Meridian said oddly. "I called him, and he said he'd get word out to the rest of you buggers."
"Who are you?" Qrow cut his eyes at him.
"He's the guy from last night," Neptune said. "He's all right."
"Where were you when this happened?" Yang asked Meridian.
"Yang, he was trying to help." Blake stood up, looking a little sick still. "Him and Hamish...who's still not awake. That sonic thing was horrible. They think he'll be okay, but his hearing might not recover for a day or two...if it was bad."
"He's a tough b-----d," Meridian said. "It must have been bad."
"Why didn't Winter call us first?" Qrow sounded horrible.
"She didn't want to lose them," Meridian said. "I tried to tell her it was a bad idea, but she wouldn't listen."
"Typical," Qrow said. "Just freaking typical..."
"I can't believe they took Ruby!" Yang said. "Why would they want Ruby? She's not related to any Maiden."
"Maybe they didn't know that?" Blake said. "They said they didn't need me. Maybe they took her as extra leverage... I'm not sure."
"We never should have let them out like this..." Qrow muttered. "Should have watched them more closely... How could we be so stupid?"
"Don't be hard on yourself, mate," Meridian said. "This was a planned job if I ever saw it--and not canny, those weapons. I doubt anyone would have been prepared for it."
"Then we're just that outmatched," Yang said. "I should have known Kanap would never let us go that easily. Why didn't we take her down!? Ruby...if she does anything to Ruby, I'll kill her!"
"Okay, let's not assume the worst," Blake said. "She didn't harm you, right? She probably won't harm Ruby. She might just want her as leverage or bait."
"That woman talking is worse than just getting knocked around," Yang shuddered. "I hated every minute of that! I'd rather get beaten up by Adam again than be caught by her."
That was strong wording, and Blake gaped.
"Whoa..." Sun was not ready for that.
Qrow gave Yang a look that didn't bode well for his emotional state.
"Okay, okay." Neptune held up his hands. "Maybe we should try to stay calm. We can still find them, right? You guys found the lair."
"I don't know if they'd be stupid enough to go back to the same one," Blake said.
"There has to be some way to find them," Neptune said. "Didn't you say that Theo knows this woman?"
"Theo!" Qrow growled. "Yeah...I just bet he does. I'm going to kill him."
"Not if I do it first," Yang said. "Let's find the b-----d."
"Theo? Theo wouldn't do this," Meridian said.
"Maybe you don't know him as well as you think," Blake said.
"I'm sure he'd never do that to his old friend," Meridian said. "Qrow Branwen, right? I've heard of you. You're great pals."
"Not anymore, kid," Qrow said. "And if you're smart, you'll stay out of this. Enough people are in danger already."
"Well, we're coming," Sun declared. "You guys don't get to have all the fun. We didn't help last time, so you have to let us help this time. Besides, Blake and I bust in on terrorists all the time."
"All the time?" Blake said.
"Uh...I'm not sure I'm that confident about it," Neptune said. "But if we can help, sure, we should. But what about the guys?"
"Oh, they'll be fine for a while," Sun said. "I don't know if they'd help, though--they're kind of wimps."
"Dude," Neptune said.
"Don't tell them I said that," Sun hissed.
* * *
A talk with Theo did not, as Qrow hoped, answer their questions.
Theo swore up and down he didn't know what was going on...and it seemed like it was true, from his actions about it.
On top of this, Emerald said that Mercury was nowhere to be found, and that she'd only just gotten in touch with Team JNPR, and they had Vara but were not sure if they should bring her now.
Also, Raven had not returned.
"Would she be dumb enough to go off alone to find Vic?" Theo asked.
"I wouldn't say so," Qrow said. "After last time."
"Then...she got caught already?" Theo said. "But...how could they have found her that high up?... Unless...?"
"The flying kid," Yang sighed. "Crap...I thought he might really change his mind about this whole thing after last time."
"Maybe he's too scared of his crazy mom," Sun said. "Who knows what she could do to him."
They winced.
"Where are Likstar and West?" Qrow asked.
"Nowhere," Theo said. "They pick now to disappear on us."
"Guys..." Emerald said, "I'm not sure they disappeared, exactly. Some of the students said that they saw them upstairs not that long ago. No one saw them leave. And they would have told us... I think they...could have gotten taken."
She shook her head.
"Great!" Yang said.
"But they're tough," Blake said. "They couldn't just have..."
"Well, Watts is gone, and we know he'd not want them around," Qrow said darkly.
"Looks like Mercury was in on this," Hazel said. Theo had found him...but he had been pretty convincing about having been busy while the stuff was going down.
"No," Emerald protested. "No way."
"Then where is he?" Hazel asked. "I thought he joined us a little too easily."
"He joined us because he realized that Salem is nuts," Emerald said. "I'm sure he had to have. I saw it before he left...and why would he ever go back to them if he had a choice? No...I bet he was taken also. Maybe it's Cinder or Tyrian. They got in somehow. They would take him--and us too if they found us." She shuddered. "We're dead..."
"Snap out of it." Yang shoved her. "We're all dead if we don't stop Kanap. You're not special."
"Back off, Blondie," Emerald snapped at her.
"Guys, stop it," Sun said. "We all need to work together."
"And do what?" Blake asked.
"I don't know, I'm not the ideas guy," Sun said.
"Where's Jaune?" Neptune said. "He's smart, right?"
"Still with Pyrrha probably," Emerald said.
"Should they come here or stay out there?" Blake asked.
"They aren't safe anywhere," Theo said. "But out there no one would know if someone got them. But Vara..." He shook his head.
"I just don't get it," Qrow said. "How could two Maidens be caught that fast? Kanap's that good at countering magic?"
"She could turn it off and on like a lightbulb," Yang said. "She's dangerous."
"Why did you guys ever let them out?" Sun said the wrong thing.
They all glanced at him.
He looked away.
"What about Oscar?" Blake said. "Should we be concerned about him?"
"If Salem is involved in this, then yes," Qrow said. "If not, then I doubt they'd care about him."
"Oh...no, Kanap would want Ozpin." Yang slapped her forehead. "She said all this creepy stuff about it before, him being male and...cloning... I don't want to repeat it, but if he's out there...he's not alone, right?"
"I think Whitley was with him," Emerald said. "And Penny."
"We should warn them," Blake said.
"Theo, do you know where they could take the Maidens?" Qrow finally asked him, roughly. "You know Kanap better."
"She has her secrets," Theo said. "She knows that maze really well. Her husband helped build it. I always suspected she had another hideout, one that only he and she would know about. They were always a little paranoid about another war starting. I'm guessing she's in some bunker that I don't know about. I've used the maze, but I keep to the same passages. There're other ones, ones I didn't know if they were finished or not, but if they were, she could have another room. But if it's booby trapped, I wouldn't know how to avoid it..."
"But could you find it?" Blake asked.
"Using my Semblance, I could probably find them." Theo tapped his head. "But that doesn't mean I'd even make it there. The maze isn't very safe. But let's say we did make it... She'll be ready. You barely got out before, when she wasn't expecting it. There's no way. There could be more Grimm, more machines, more dust traps...and her Aura sucking machines mean that we'd be helpless against it if there were... It's crazy. Vic is the best army in the world."
Silence.
"Could you reason with her?" Blake finally said.
"I don't know. She didn't tell me about this, so I doubt it," Theo said. "Reasoning with Vic is...interesting even on trivial matters, so something like this... Ugh, Vara was right." He slapped his forehead. "I shouldn't have let her in on this much. It was like dangling a carrot... I mean, I wasn't exactly against her getting Schnee--"
Qrow shot him a murderous look.
"But the kids..." Theo said. "I mean...Ruby Rose...silver eyes...I don't know about that."
"What do you mean?" Yang frowned.
"Vic was always interested in those," Theo said. "She's got magic, and Silver Eyes, now...that's not a great thing, if she wants to experiment."
They all grimaced.
"I feel sick..." Neptune said.
"Dude, if you throw up right now, I'm never letting you live it down," Sun said. "Be cool."
"I never thought she'd pull this twice." Theo sat down, a little afraid. "I thought she'd go back into hiding. She's not usually one to push her luck... But if she's working with Watts... Someone had to pay those huntsmen who took the girls, too... She probably won't hurt Weiss. I don't know about the others. I'm sure she wouldn't hurt them that badly..."
"Oh, that's real comforting," Qrow said.
"Ruby is caught by that psycho," Yan said angrily, "and you're trying to say it's not that bad? You a--h---! You'd better help us find them--screw your idea of what we can do. We don't leave family behind like that."
Sun and Neptune exchanged a look and then grinned.
Blake was glad Yang wasn't freaking out at least.
"Yang, wait a minute," Qrow said. "We can't go up against Kanap like we do with other people. Taking on Atlas was bad enough, but they're a little more lenient. She's nuts. You saw it yourself. She'd like to have us all to experiment on."
"There has to be something," Blake said. "We can't just abandon Ruby and Weiss like that."
"One thing," Qrow said. "Theo, if Salem gets Vara, this is over. The others, we might have a little more time, if Kanap just wanted them first. Watts will want them dead, I'm sure, but if she's experimenting first, then it could take a while, right? But they'll want that Relic, which means Vara, right off."
"Yeah," Theo said. "You're right. She won't kill the others right off. Maybe not at all, unless Watts does something. But Vara, if they've really decided to get the Relic, she's not safe at all. So much for Likstar's plan... Wait, why would they want her?"
Silence.
Then Hazel said, "Because she's smart and she foiled them before. Watts wouldn't risk her catching on. I don't know how they got the drop on them. I still think it was Mercury--but if it wasn't, Watts could have found some way to contact Salem. We might have overplayed our hand."
"Likstar's plan might have been overconfident," Qrow said, "letting Watts have that much freedom."
"He's not much of a fighter," Theo said. "I don't think he could overpower them without Vic's help. But how would she get him weapons in here? It had to be an inside job too. I'm betting on Black, too. But if you really think he's also being used for leverage, then one of the other students had to be it. We can't let anyone leave. We're on lockdown."
"Then we should get Oscar," Yang said. "Make sure no one else gets captured."
"Now that they have the Maidens, I doubt it," Theo said. "But sure, get him. Get Vara here also... Even if she doesn't like it, we're her best bet."
[I'm impressed that the team didn't immediately collapse after losing that many people. Progress.]