It didn't take long to find our missing robot girl.
In fact, we didn't even have time to leave the testing facility before we had a pretty solid idea where Penny had gone.
All we had to do was follow the sudden outbreak of explosions near one of Vale's docks.
Ironwood had almost immediately canceled any plans for testing tonight and instead had everyone rush to the docks. I followed along mostly because I wouldn't have a ride until they got back otherwise, but also because I wanted to be as up to date on the White Fang situation as possible.
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That plan was almost immediately derailed when we arrived and a very exasperated Vale policeman directed me towards one side where I was completely unsurprised to see the four members of Team RWBY standing awkwardly and declared they were my problem now.
Considering it was public information that I was a member of Beacon's staff and that Team RWBY were Beacon students, I couldn't exactly deny that either.
Which meant I couldn't just tag along with the Atlas soldiers.
Damn.
Oh well, I would just have to investigate the Fang later on my own time…
-o-
"Like I told you already, Ruby, you aren't in trouble." I said for the fifth time as all of us waited for the Bullhead that would take us back to the school. "Blake isn't in trouble either." I preempted her before she could ask that again either.
Ruby paused and opened her mouth again.
"Weiss and Yang aren't in trouble either." I preempted her again.
"Why would we be in trouble?!" Weiss exclaimed, turning on her team leader.
"I don't know!"
While those two began bickering, I looked at the other members of their team. "That being said, try to avoid running off without letting the school know again. Beacon doesn't monitor its students that closely, but we are still responsible for them and prefer to know if they are going to get into fights with an internationally renowned thief and his hired terrorist army."
Blake flushed at the reprimand but still nodded. And as far as I was concerned that would be the end of my involvement in the events tonight. If Ozpin or Goodwitch had an issue with that, they could deal with Team RWBY themselves.
"Oh, uh by the way, Miss Cross?" Ruby asked during a pause in her screaming match with her partner.
"I'm technically off duty right now, Ruby, you can just call me Alex." I pointed out. "What's up?"
"You didn't happen to see another girl at the docks, did you? About our age, orange hair, a little… weird?" She muttered that last part. "Her name is Penny if that helps? I just wanted to make sure she was okay and wasn't in trouble for helping us."
Crap, I should have expected this. Of course Ruby would want to know about the girl that helped them and had been basically 'disappeared' as soon as the police showed up.
I could just pretend to not know who she was talking about, but considering Penny would be at Beacon in a few days anyway there wasn't much of a reason to do so. But the issue with oversharing could mean giving away too much and causing Ironwood and by extension Ozpin to not trust me as much. Something I'd need very shortly with the events going to happen at the Vytal Festival.
"I didn't see her, but she's also fine and probably heading back with her caretaker." I decided to answer vaguely.
"Wait, you actually know who she is?" Weiss asked.
"Not exactly." I said. "Penny is part of a special Atlas program and was supposed to meet with me earlier. We weren't expecting her to get caught up in something like what happened at the docks."
"Special program? Is that why she was able to do all that with her swords and her beam thing?" Ruby asked.
Unfortunately for her I didn't actually remember what Penny had shown off and didn't see much of the aftermath.
So all I could say was, "Something like that. The program is currently pretty classified outside of Atlas and the parts of Beacon that invited her here so I can't tell you more. But yeah, she's safe."
"That's good." Ruby deflated a bit at the confirmation that her friend was okay and the rest of her team at least looked satisfied.
I chuckled at the scene and – somewhat unprofessionally, but I was off duty as a teaching assistant so who cared – ruffled her hair, getting a surprised squawk out of the shorter girl.
But while I did my best to seem unbothered on the outside, internally I was starting to feel the deadline creeping up on me.
The timer to Vale's destruction was ticking down.
-o-
[Roman Torchwick POV]
Roman groaned a bit as he dropped a cargo case full of dust crystals on a table. One of the handful remaining of what should have been one of the biggest heists in history, let alone his career. Only for all of it to go wrong at the last moment because of a handful of students.
Students!
If it wasn't thanks to dozens of other, successful, heists, the fact that the media was keeping the brats' involvement quiet, and that the animals were taking the heat for things going sideways, Roman's reputation would have been in the toilet.
'And it's not like anyone would take me seriously if I complained that those brats were some of the weirdest kids I had ever had the misfortune of dealing with,' he complained inside his head.
Seriously, Red had been bad enough. Turning what should have been a routine shakedown into a drawn out fight that attracted the attention of a full blown Huntress. And then popped up again somehow when he was sure that would have been the last he'd see of her.
The Cat was also annoying. Not only sneaking into his operation without anyone knowing, but also taking his back without giving him the chance to fight back.
That had been a bit of an eyeopener. And a sign that he might have gotten a little too used to waltzing through heists unopposed or having Neo there watching his back. Something he might have to keep in mind for next time.
But the third kid…
The third kid was some kind of freak.
That was the only way Roman could justify her being able to not only destroy two bullheads with one attack, but pull one out of the air with nothing more than her physical strength.
If he never saw that one again—
"How very disappointing, Roman."
"!" Roman whirled around at the sudden female voice behind him, trying to ignore the feeling of his heart in his throat.
Unfortunately, who he sees is exactly who he thought it was.
"Ah, I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon." He tried.
"And we were expecting… more… from you." The most terrifying woman Roman had the displeasure of working for replied, shifting her gaze to the lone case on the table before going back to him.
"He-he-heey! You were the ones who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang." Roman protested.
"And you'll continue to do so." His current boss said like it was a done deal. "We have big plans for you, Roman, all we ask is for a little cooperation. In fact, I already have another project I want you working on."
"You know me, always happy for more work." Roman poured on the charm, at least enough to mask most of his sarcasm.
His boss either missed it or ignored it completely, instead handing over a scroll with the picture of a blonde woman with blue eyes on it. Pretty, in Roman's own expert opinion, but looked either in her final year or just out of an Academy which put her out of his preference zone.
"And this is?"
"Someone of potential interest to me. A new teaching assistant at Beacon that spends her free time interfering at White Fang meetings. Several of the issues with our less… dedicated members can be traced back to her."
Roman frowned. Not a student then, but a Beacon staff member wasn't much better. "And what do you want me to do about her? Take her out?"
"No, in fact I want you to avoid killing her at all costs for now. Instead I want you to help draw her out and capture her if you can."
Roman raised an eyebrow. Kidnapping, huh? Not his normal line of work, but he could manage for the right price. "And if I can't? I wasn't kidding about how stupid those mutts are, you know."
"Worry about that after you manage to lure her out successfully. Which obviously means failure is fine as long as she doesn't know you are after her." His boss paused, "And if it comes to it, we will step in if capturing her proves too difficult for you."
"You're the boss, boss." Roman gave a lazy salute, shoving down the anger at not only being expected to fail, but also the implication she would be cleaning up his mess even when he was being forced to use such sub-par tools.
The boss and her two silent lackeys turned to leave, but the woman couldn't resist one final comment.
"Oh, and Roman? Try not to disappoint us again." A tongue of burning flame appeared effortlessly in her hand reminding Roman of how casually scary this lady could be. "You won't like the consequences otherwise…"