(Branwen Tribe, The Next Day)
Inside of Raven's yurt, she's in the middle of an argument with Cinder over the special scroll Watts gave her.
Raven: "We had a deal! It's on you to uphold your part of the bargain first."
However, Cinder is much more aggressive, biting back at her.
Cinder: "There will be time 'after' retrieving the relic where we can kill Qrow and his tag-alongs but, right now we've got a time pressure we weren't prepared for. Especially if you want to be free from Salem's pursuit. Not to mention how much time it'd take for you and your little Spring Maiden to get to Mistral. Even by car, it'd probably take too long which means my means of upholding my side of the agreement relies on you using your semblance to get to Mistral by portal. And for that, you and I need Qrow alive.
The bandit woman scowls at this as Cinder continues.
Cinder: "Oh yes. Old Lionheart told me about what's your semblance is and if you want to be free from Salem's radar, you and your Spring Maiden need to go to Mistral ASAP."
Raven is distraught over Cinder's remark as she silently seething at the scroll before speaking through gritted teeth.
Raven: "We'll... be there."
This just makes Cinder smug over her response.
Cinder: "I just knew you be so obliging, Raven. And be sure to bring your maiden with you."
And with that, Cinder ends the call. Raven turns the scroll off and calls for Vernal.
Raven: "Vernal!"
A few seconds later, Vernal pops into her yurt.
Vernal: "You call for me, Mom? What happened-?"
She's cut off by Raven's frustrated voice.
Raven: "Just... just listen to me..."
Taking a deep breath, Raven calms herself down before resuming.
Raven: "It seems the schedule has been moved."
Vernal goes to ask a question and Raven anticipates this, answering swiftly.
Raven: "Yes, those kids are alive. Cinder's group will be dealing with them after the theft at Haven, allegedly."
The bandit girl brood over her mother's remark but, answering back.
Vernal: "Okay, I'll go get my things."
Raven: "Hurry, we don't have much time."
(Several Moments Later)
Raven's portal opens in an alley just outside of the Mistralian house that shelters Y/N, Ruby, and the others inside. Raven and Vernal jump out with their masks on. Once the portal quickly vanishes, they take in their surroundings just in time to catch Weiss, Yang, Nora, Qrow, Ruby, Y/N, and Ren emerging out of corner of the alley's entrance. Raven and Vernal hide behind a dumpster and some debris as Vernal watches cautiously, focusing on Weiss, Yang, and Y/N. Neither of them can hear their discussion as the group stand at the alley's entrance.
Ruby: "Jaune should be with Roman and Neo by now, doing their own investigation."
Y/N #1: "And what about us?"
Qrow: "I plan on meeting a guy I managed get into contact with. He should tell us what we need to know."
Ruby: "Okay then."
The red-hooded girl turns to the rest of the group.
Ruby: "Me, Qrow, Y/N, and Ren will go over there. Yang, Weiss, Nora, you guys hold the fort back in the house until we return."
Nora: "Why us?"
Ruby: "Y/N..."
Y/N steps in and explains to them briefly.
Y/N #1: "Well, Weiss's semblance is versatile. And you and Yang are pretty much powerhouses in your own right."
Ruby: "So, having you guys are going have to stay there just in case of an ambush."
The three girls share a look before turning back to Ruby.
Yang: "Sure thing."
Weiss: "Very well."
Nora: "Roger that!"
Y/N goes over to Yang and Weiss, enveloping them into a hug much to their brief surprise.
Y/N #1: "Stay safe and be sure to call us if anything happens, okay?"
Yang and Weiss share a quick look with each other before smiling to Y/N and embracing the little group hug.
Yang: "We will."
And with that, Weiss, Yang, and Nora bid their farewell to Y/N and the others and head out for the today's investigation. After a moment of staring after them, Yang, Weiss, and Nora head back to the house, chatting with one another as they do. Once the group fully left from the alley, Raven and Vernal emerges out of their hiding spot. Raven shifts her focus from the alley's entrance and walk through the other side of the alley.
Raven: "Come on, Vernal. We got work to do."
As her mother slowly walk off, Vernal gets one last look at where Weiss, Yang, and Y/N were. She seems reluctant but, follows after her mother dutifully as she asks quietly with a snarl.
Vernal: "When did we ever hid in the shadows like thieves?"
______________________________________________________________________________
Jaune, Roman, and Neo are now inside of what remains of Charlotte's. The entire strip club is absolutely empty of personnel, power, and furnishings. Roman gawks at the large empty space and asks with his arms raised in the air.
Roman: "Who came in and robbed the place while we were gone!?"
Jaune is quick to ask with a deadpan look.
Jaune: "Can you really rob a criminal?"
In response, Roman puts a hand to his heart and replies.
Roman: "My gods, you're heartless."
Jaune shoots back, shouting.
Jaune: "They're criminal!"
Roman: "That is true, but they're also people and people don't just vanish for no reason. I mean, they took everything! They even took the poles!"
The blonde boy blinks where Roman is gesturing and fumbles his words.
Jaune: "O-Oh wait! You took Ruby and Y/N here!?"
The crime boss pointedly ignores Jaune's question as he approaches deeper into the empty room where Lil' Miss had her private chamber, peeking over the doorway only to find nothing. In the background, Neo is tense, drawing her blade from her parasol, preparing for any ambush that might occur. She looks down to find a divot in the floor next to a series of bullet holes in the wall beside her. Picking what she found, Neo taps her blade on the ground, catching the attention of Roman and Jaune. She then holds up a White Fang mask with her blade for Roman and Jaune to see. Jaune's face becomes pale upon seeing it.
Jaune: "Oh crap."
Roman walks up to them, his face turning more serious as he turns to Jaune.
Roman: "Call Red now."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Outside of one of various Mistralian houses, Y/N goes to ring the doorbell with Ruby, Qrow, and Ren standing behind him. After a moment of waiting, Qrow can see Y/N readying to take out one of his pistols.
Qrow: "Calm down, kid. We're just here to talk to the guy."
Not glancing back at his mentor, Y/N quickly replies back.
Y/N #1: "You never know, Qrow. We need to prepare for any ambush that might happen."
Ruby turns to look at Qrow and speaks up.
Ruby: "Uncle Qrow, are you sure this guy is home?"
Qrow: "To be honest, I'm not really sure. But it's the best lead I've gotten on any huntsman here so far."
Inside the crummy house, a person shuffle quietly past a doorway and is about to approach the front door only to accidentally trip over something and create a ruckus, groaning as he does. Alarmed and thinking someone needs help, Ruby shoves Y/N out of the way and use her speed to bust through the door.
Qrow: "What the!?"
Ren: "Ruby don't!"
Despite their protests, Ruby dash inside the house as she goes to call out to the person inside.
Ruby: "Hello! Are you okay?!"
She's then followed by Y/N, taking out both of his pistols and looking around the place while aiming his guns. Qrow and Ren also head inside the house. All eyes fall on a man, who has fallen over a collection of boxes and has become buried underneath them though, he is unharmed.
???: "Ugh..."
Qrow: "Uh... Lucero Hawthrone. You doing okay?"
Slowly, the man erupts from the boxes, scratching his head as he looks up to see Qrow and the others. Upon seeing Y/N holding his weapons, the man's eyes bulge out and quickly back away from them, having his arms cover his face, yelling at them.
Lucero: "P-Please! Please don't hurt me!"
Qrow turns to Y/N.
Qrow: "Kid, put away your weapons."
Hesitantly, Y/N place his pistols back in their holsters. Ren and Ruby approach the panicking man.
Ruby: "It's okay, sir. We're not here to hurt you."
Ren: "We came here to ask some questions from you."
As the two spend a bit of time of calming the man down, Y/N glances over to Qrow.
Y/N #1: "This is the huntsman you wanted to talk with."
Qrow: "Pretty much. And from the looks of him, he's been through a lot."
Y/N #1: "Yeah, seems like it."
A few moments later, the man does calm down as his terrified expression fades away. Ren and Ruby step back a bit to give the man some space as he sits firmly on the floor.
Qrow: "Lucero. What happened? What made you so... scared?"
The man goes quiet, shifting his gaze away from them. Y/N steps in as he speaks up, giving a reassuring smile to him.
Y/N #1: "Take your time, Lucero. Just tell us what we need to know, and we'll leave you alone, okay?"
Lucero: "Y-You will..."
Y/N #1: "Yeah, we will."
Lucero ponder about that for a moment or two, before eventually turning his attention to them and responding more calmly.
Lucero: "The huntsman missions we've been sent out on have been complete wastes of time but, gradually the missions became harder and harder until they were all basically suicide missions, pushing all the huntsmen in Mistral to their absolute limit. The last one I went on... it was a wild goose chase..."
Qrow: "Why's that?"
Lucero: "My unit and I were attacked... not by Grimm... I didn't know who they were but, there were three of them and one of them... one of them..."
Before he continues further, Lucero begins to hyperventilate, eyes widen at the very thought. Upon seeing the man breaking down again, Y/N and Ruby do their best to calm him down.
Ruby: "Sir, please calm down."
Y/N #1: "It's okay, you're in your home. Nothing bad is happening right now. You're safe." ("So, it was Cinder and her fucking lackeys that did this shit to them.")
Eventually, Lucero slowly does calm down, breathing more slowly now as Ruby and Y/N back away to give him some space. Ren has a curious look on his face and then asks Lucero.
Ren: "Were you on a mission to Kuchinashi about two months ago?"
Now composed, Lucero thinks about it for a moment before replying.
Lucero: "I've been on a couple, complete goose chases like all the early missions before things gotten so crazy."
Qrow: "Huh... that's a completely different story from what Leo told us."
Ruby looks between Qrow, Y/N, and Ren and begins to ponder to herself, scratching her chin before saying.
Ruby: "Headmaster Lionheart only sent an airship when Qrow was involved and he seemed to pull it out of thin air, despite how desperate he says the situation was."
Qrow narrow his eyes and looks to the front door before saying.
Qrow: "I need to have a few words with Leo about this."
Y/N #1: "W-Wait, you don't mean..."
Qrow: "Yeah. Things aren't adding up."
Y/N #1: ("B-But... I thought we could trust Lionheart... I-I mean, he's one of Ozpin's allies...")
Behind them, Lucero speaks up.
Lucero: "U-Uhm, can I leave yet?"
Y/N #1: "Leave?"
Lucero: "Y-Yeah. I want to get some things and get out of Mistral as fast as possible before... 'she' can find me."
After some confused parting words, they allow him to leave and step out of his front door. Lucero glances over to them.
Lucero: "If you guys don't want to end up like the others, you should leave as well... before it's too late."
And with that, Lucero steadily closes the front door. There's a moment of quiet as they are left with their thoughts on the whole exchange. Especially with Y/N, who is conflicted at the thought of Lionheart purposefully misinforming them. Ruby turns to her uncle as she asks.
Ruby: "Is Haven Academy our next stop?"
Before Qrow can respond, Ruby gets a call on her scroll. She looks at it, seeing who's calling and goes to answer it.
Ruby: "Yang?"
________________________________________________________________________________
(Several Minutes Ago)
Back inside the Mistralian house, Yang is quietly watching Nora prancing joyfully around Weiss, gushing the whole time.
Nora: "Can you believe it?! There's an upcoming festival that's held in the city!"
Before Weiss can reply something back to her, Nora waves a flyer in Weiss's face, pointing at the various things in it.
Nora: "Look! The food, the games..."
Her voice raises a bit more, even when Weiss remains visibly disinterested in it.
Nora: "The adorable fashion! Come on, Weiss. You got to wear a traditional kimono. You can show it off to Y/N~"
This remark piques her interest, but she attempts to keep her cool, clearing her throat a bit.
Weiss: "I... I suppose I wouldn't mind taking a look at the flyer... just for the fashion, of course."
Nora: "Yeah!"
Yang just smiles at the two's shenanigan.
Yang: ("Hm, I wouldn't mind wearing a kimono. And I certainly don't mind showing myself off to Y/N, if it means I can see his reaction.")
She giggles to herself, pondering what kind of reaction she'll get to see from Y/N. However, out of the corner of her lilac-colored eyes, she catches Vernal, facing her and standing on the railing outside of the sliding door of the house. With her white and red mask on, Vernal place a finger on her lips, pleading Yang for silence. Still surprised to see her, Yang looks to her friends, who are unaware of Vernal's presence. Yang speaks to them.
Yang: "Hey guys. I'm going to get some air. See ya later."
Weiss and Nora nods to her as Yang walks out. A few moments later, Yang comes face to face with Vernal, who after a pause, takes off her mask to properly look Yang in the eye.
Yang: "Vernal... why are you here?"
The bandit girl is openly conflicted, her face is a mixture of emotions, and her body language is incredibly closed off.
Vernal: "I... I don't have much time so, I'll cut to the chase. Something is happening tonight at Haven. So, you, Weiss, and Y/N should be as far away from Mistral as possible."
This remark not only confuse Yang but, also draw her attention as she presses further.
Yang: "What exactly is happening at Haven?"
Vernal: "What even matters? When things are well and done up there, you, Weiss, Y/N, and all of your friends are next on the chopping block. You all need to leave."
Yang: "Things... things aren't that simple, Vernal and-."
However, Vernal cuts her off.
Vernal: "But they are. You all stay, you die. Simple as that."
The blonde girl narrows her eyes a bit as she asks.
Yang: "Is that a threat?"
Vernal: "It's a guarantee, Yang. Get Weiss away from the city if you still feel like you need to come back to protect Haven or whatever you've been brainwashed into doing, you can do it once Weiss is safe."
Yang then asks once more.
Yang: "Why didn't you go straight to Weiss? Or even Y/N?"
Vernal: "Weiss is too hard-headed. The minute she learns something is happening, she'll try to stop it. As for Y/N, we... we don't exactly see eye to eye, especially when it comes to Mom and being in the tribe. Ugh, he's probably more stubborn than she is. Even with Mom's words, I'm not even sure if he's brainwashed or not."
Having a moment of disbelief, Yang slowly replies.
Yang: "Brainwashed... Y/N? And Weiss is too... hard-headed? And you came to me?"
Groaning and rubbing her forehead, Vernal responds back.
Vernal: "I... I don't know. I'm taking a chance you'll do more to protect them than they'll do themselves. You know them!"
Letting out a sigh, Yang speaks up.
Yang: "I agree but, this isn't a choice I can just take away from them. I'm going to tell them, you should know that."
Vernal presses her back to the corner of the house's railing, sliding down it with her hands around her face.
Vernal: "I-no, I know but, I... I don't know what to do... I don't want to see her get hurt. And if something bad or worse happen to Y/N... I... I don't want Weiss to be devastated."
Yang: "Y/N?"
Vernal: "I know the kind of relationship she has with him."
Yang: "O-Oh..." ("If she only knew the relationship, he has with me and our team.")
Vernal: "Please, just... please get her somewhere safe. And Y/N if you can."
Yang ponders for a moment at this until she responds back.
Yang: "If you really want to Weiss to be safe, then you can help me."
Vernal: "Help you?"
Yang: "Yeah, you can come inside, talk this out with Weiss and Y/N, let them know what's happening, and-"
The bandit girl cuts her off, dropping her hands, her eyes strained, and shuddering.
Vernal: "N-No, I c-can't. I'm already pushing how long I c-can be here. T-They'll notice soon enough."
Yang: "Who will notice?"
Vernal just stands, donning her mask back on and steeling herself before replying.
Vernal: "Bad people, Yang. And that's coming from Mom..."
The blonde girl blinks at the remark and Vernal jumps atop the railing, pausing to glance at Yang.
Vernal: "Please, Yang. Get them away from here and yourself too. If you don't... we might not be on the same the next time we meet."
This makes Yang asks once more.
Yang: "So, why warn me now?"
Vernal gulps and looks into the distance before saying.
Vernal: "Everybody gets one."
As she said this, Vernal jumps down to the road below. Yang watches her go before turning to look through the glass door at Weiss and Nora, both girls laughing gleefully at the table. Contemplating the situation and the whole exchange she has with Vernal for a moment, Yang pulls out her scroll and makes a call. A moment later, the call has been answered.
Ruby: "Yang?"
Yang: "Hey, sis. We need to discuss at the living room. If you're done on your part, then head back with the others."
Ruby: "Sure thing."
And with that, Yang ends the call as she heads back inside the house, still thinking on the information Vernal unexpectedly provided for her, especially with something going to happen to Haven.