RWBY Through Worlds

118: Don't Have A Choice

Victoria came briefly to sit in her "break" room, where Watts was still sitting with his cup of tea.

She sat down and rubbed her forehead. "Kip is still missing. One of the prisoners is dead... This operation has been one big mess."

"Oh?" Watts said dryly.

She hit her head on table.

"Don't damage your brain; it's worth too much," Watts said.

"Shut up..." Victoria mumbled half heartedly.

"Perhaps Kip is with your friends," Watts said. "They could have found him."

"If so, why haven't they called me?" Victoria snapped.

"We're underground..." Watts said. "Only my special enhanced signal allows us to call at all...remember?"

"Right...I should go up top," Victoria muttered.

"Well, don't be so hard on yourself," Watts said. "It's not as if any of this is your fault."

"Do shut up," she said again.

"Hmm." Watts leaned back in deep thought, then he said, "I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer it honestly without some wisecrack--and don't act shocked."

"If it's about anything off-color--"

"No," Watts said. "Well, yes, in a way."

"Not in the mood for this."

"No, you'll like this one," Watts said. "In your honest assessment, would you say there is any potential similarity between how I handle failure and how that...half-baked witch, Fall, handles it?"

Victoria looked up.

"What?"

"Yes, exactly," Watts said. "I know it's unthinkable."

"This was news to you?" Victoria was unabashedly brutal.

Watts gave her a look of offended horror. "I beg your pardon?"

"I mean, let's look at the track record, shall we?" Victoria held up her hands. "Exhibit A, both of you feel people don't take you seriously enough, so you run away from home. Exhibit B, you both join Salem in order to get what you want. Exhibit C, you try to take down anyone who ever insulted you. And if I could add as a sidebar: Neither of you seem to like the other, ironically enough. And you're both trying to get the other person killed or punished for crossing you. You should just get married instead--that would be punishment."

"Don't even joke about that," Watts said. "I'm Sapiosexual." [This means attracted to smart people.]

"Me too, which is why I'm still single," Victoria said.

"There are other people besides Derek out there," Watts said.

"Not if you and your master blow up the world," Victoria said. "Besides, that's not what we're talking about. Now that you've had this crushing revelation, may I ask why you even brought it up?"

"Well, something that woman said," Watts said.

"Fall?"

"No...Likstar." Watts rubbed his chin. "She's such a  b---h...but if she has a point, it would be foolish not to consider it."

"She's got a mouth," Victoria said. "Just like you said. She tried to mess with my head. I admit, though...for a second it almost worked. She's something else. I can easily believe she outsmarted you."

"And yet here I am," Watts said. "And there she is...unless, of course, she's right that Salem is going to destroy us all."

"My opinion on that is unchanged," Victoria said.