Meanwhile in Team RWBY's Dorm,
Beacon Academy, 10:15:00
"So with his Semblance, Silver can identify the most likely outcomes of any given scenario?" asked Ruby in disbelief.
"Yep," Steele responded.
"And prior knowledge limits his Semblance?"
"Yep."
"... then how exactly is it different from thinking about things normally?"
"Good question. Now, how do I describe this...?" Steele covered his mouth with his hand. "Hmm... okay." He raised his hands to shoulder-level to make them pay attention.
"When Silver uses his Semblance, it allows him to 'view' all the possible future outcomes with the information he has. That may include factual details, fighting styles... the list goes on. The more likely the sequence of events is, the more often it appears. He knows with certainty what variables to manipulate for each outcome he sees."
"But if he doesn't know something, he won't see the outcomes about something related to that?"
"No, he won't," Steele said. "Also, note how I said it was time-dependent. The more in-depth an outcome is, the more variables he has to factor in, so with each additional variable the time he needs for a complete picture shoots up exponentially. It's why he prefers to use his Semblance in-the-moment, as he did back in the forest."
"Another point: just because he's seen an outcome doesn't mean he's achieved it," Sigbjorn added. "He may be certain of the variables, but his ability to actually change them is the same as anyone else."
RWBY breathed a collective sigh of relief. Silver would still be a formidable foe, but they now knew what his Semblance was capable of and what it wasn't. They stood a fair chance at winning.
"Actually, we might be able to leverage this in our favour," Steele said, narrowing his eyes.
"How?" asked Ross.
"Well, as discussed, his Semblance's most obvious weakness is the information he doesn't have, and keeping his personality in mind, he's going to want to have everything covered.. I'm certain he suspects we're coming for him now, so he might get caught up trying to gather information; learning whatever he can from wherever he can. If we pay attention, there's a good chance we will find a solid lead in the next couple of days."
"Good," Ross said. "I'm getting a bit tired of sitting around and doing nothing while Silver's still out there."
"Speaking of which, where do we start?" Yang asked.
"We gave you all the leads we have," Diamond said. "As Steele said, we'll have to wait a few days for anything to turn up. I'm counting on that hard drive, but we might get some important info by investigating Jade, Roman Torchwick and the diplomat."
"It'd be quicker if you let us handle all that for now. If we find anything, we'll let you know ASAP," Sigbjorn said, to which RWBY nodded. It was reasonable.
"One more thing," Steele said, tapping the floor with his foot and staring into blank space. "The presence of this Jade character is troubling. She was spying on us all this time without any of us noticing, which makes her particularly dangerous. She, other spies or any listening devices she may have had could all still be present at Beacon, which makes this location compromised."
Sigbjorn chipped in, "After we encountered Jade, I got to work. This room, ours and Ozpin's office are safe from bugs for now, but if Beacon's being infiltrated, there's no way to guarantee long-term safety of our plans until we know how they're doing it."
"We can't operate out of Beacon anymore?" Ruby asked.
Steele nodded before replying, "We need a more secure location."
"If you guys think that's too much, then you don't have to do this," Sigbjorn said. "We'd all rather you guys stay out of this mess than get dragged in against your will."
Sigbjorn shot a glance at his teammates, who nodded in assent.
At some level, Ruby knew it was coming. After all, both Teams had differing objectives and hence different operating styles. But working together, it seemed, was the only way to win this: she would much rather have SRDS' help than not. Not to mention the fact that she still very much considered them friends after the air was cleared, and she knew that each of her teammates felt the same way.
"I'm in," she said. "Not only because Silver attacked all of us," she turned briefly to SRDS, nodded and turned back to her team, "but because there are lives at stake out there. Where we come from and how we operate may differ, but I know we're here because at least on some level we all want to help people. And if this helps us get there, then it's something we have to do."
Leadership by personal example. Good sign, Sigbjorn thought to himself.
She turned to her teammates, "Who's with me?"
"Let's do it." Blake nodded, then turned to face SRDS, "I look forward to working with you."
"As do we," Diamond nodded.
Weiss sighed, "Well I suppose we'll have to move all our equipment if we're to get closer to resolving this matter."
"....so that's Schnee for 'Yes, I agree'?" Sigbjorn asked hesitantly.
"Why, you--" the sounds of giggling and snickering interrupted Weiss' retort. "Ugh... alright, alright, I agree."
Ruby, Weiss and Blake turned to face Yang.
"Alright, let's kick some butt."
"Hell yeah!" Ross grinned and pumped his fist.
"Splendid. We'll have something for you by tomorrow morning," Steele said as they rose to leave.
"Thanks again, guys. You won't regret this," Diamond said to them all. He then turned to Ruby as they gathered near the door. "And you say I make good speeches."
"Thanks," Ruby replied.
Ross waved. "Plus, look on the bright side: it's gonna be a hell of a ride."
"That I agree with," Sigbjorn said. "Besides, Oz actually recommends that we work together. I don't always see eye to eye with him, but he wouldn't risk his students unless he knew there was a good chance they'd succeed. I look forward to seeing what you bring to the table. See y'all at dinner."
Once Blake closed the door she said: "Alright, that clears everything up. I'd say we're on good terms with them now."
"It actually turned out a lot better than I thought it would," said Weiss.
"They're not so bad," Yang nodded in agreement. "But it'd be best to keep an eye out. Just in case."
Ruby knew that staying slightly sceptical was simply Yang's way of being safe, making sure that nothing and no-one was being left out. Yang trusted them alright, just like Weiss and Blake, and Ruby was glad that she had her teammates' support.
"Alright, then," Ruby said. "Now that we're officially part of this mission and have nothing better to do, let's go train for this and revise our tactics. Silver may have cornered us once, but we won't give him another chance."
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35 minutes later in Team SRDS' Dorm
SRDS were taking a small breather to process everything that just happened. They'd been hit with a lot of information in the last hour, and being intelligence operatives, they needed time to process it fully.
Diamond and Ross were seated at the centre table, exchanging ideas about tracking Roman's crew between silences. Steele lay flat on his bunk, eyes closed but very much awake. Sigbjorn was sitting on the edge of his own bunk, his attention wandering from Ross and Diamond's conversation to Team RWBY to Ozpin to Silver. Now that they'd had some time to process everything, he decided to break the ice.
"So, about Team RWBY. I think we can trust them. They fight well and are actual Huntresses-in-training. They've watched our backs before and we have too."
"Yeah, we could learn a good deal from them," Ross said. "Plus, they're our friends, y'know? It'll be fun doing Hunter stuff with them."
"You're really taking this as an adventure, aren't you?" Sigbjorn asked with a chuckle.
"Kinda wishing it was under different circumstances though," Diamond said, then realised he'd killed the mood.
"Uhm- I meant, well, it seemed tense..."
"... this could be a very fruitful opportunity."
For once, Diamond was grateful for Steele's interruption.
"How so?"
"Think about it. Our leads before were all running dry. We suspected that someone was actively sabotaging our information lines and now we have the culprit. There has to be something larger going on for Silver to intervene like this. I can practically taste it."
"Seems like you're as excited about it as Ross. Does that mean you've made up your mind about approaching Silver?" Diamond asked.
Steele sighed before nodding. "The reason I mentioned that 'larger' aspect is because I think we should try and actively pursue Silver and find out what's going on. I think it'd be better to capture him and learn anything we can from him instead of... well, you know. That's why I was trying to convince Ozpin to let us handle it."
Ross narrowed his eyes at Steele upon hearing the last sentence. Steele had asked Ozpin to handle it due to some bigger truth, and not the fact that it was Silver, their friend? Ross' first thoughts were to grab him by the collar of that damned white coat and ask him how he could be so heartless, so detached, so cruel, to Silver, who was once probably his favourite person, apart from his team and little sister.
And so Ross might've done if he was younger, more reckless, and didn't know who Steele Snow really was. The boy checked himself, examining Steele and his statement. Steele lay facing the ceiling. Motionless, wide-eyed and completely stoic.
He could've fooled anyone else, but not his teammates. Not after so long.
Ross could tell from Steele's eyes that he was trying to remain calm despite all the history. Everyone likely felt a similar dread regarding Silver; Ross reasoned Steele must have known that and tried to find an impartial perspective to justify the choices they were about to make. He mentally scolded himself for his initial assessment.
Solving problems before they even appear. Just Steele being Steele.
Ross was brought back to the present when Diamond spoke.
"I'm pretty sure Ozpin wanted us to find Silver, but not alone, and in a way that would cover all the legalities. He probably had all this planned out."
Ross scoffed. "I knew he was too schemey."
"Returning to the point, if it was any other criminal, I'd handle it the same way."
Steele knew that his teammates realised there was more to it than those simple statements. It was an obvious truth. But one that would slow them down by causing memories, once happy but now painful, to resurface if it was mentioned out loud. Best left omitted.
"Silver is-- was our friend," Ross said with a heavy sigh. "I don't want to hurt him but at the same time, I can't ignore what he's doing. He's harming people, innocents. So we have to go after him..." Ross looked down and shook his head slowly as he finished, "but I don't think I can bring myself to harm him."
Steele turned his head sharply to face Ross. "That's exactly what he'll be expecting you to do."
"Buddy, we can't worry about you and focus on Silver simultaneously," Sigbjorn said.
"Which is why if Silver attacks me, or any of us, I'll defend and respond as appropriate. But I'm not going to actively attack him without trying to talk to him first."
"I think that's manageable," Diamond said, looking to Sigbjorn and Steele.
Sigbjorn got off his bunk, made his way over to the table, sat down and looked Ross in the eyes. "Promise me you won't let yourself get harmed. That's the only way I'm agreeing to this."
"I promise," Ross said.
Steele simply sighed, shrugged and said, "I guess it's not too hard to factor that in."
"Just be careful, okay? Silver's not going to want to listen as long as he thinks he's got some advantage. But it's worth a shot," Diamond said, patting Ross on the shoulder. "I agree with Steele though. Knowing Silver, there has to be more. If we reach out and it doesn't work, we need to stop him, because who knows how many people that could affect?"
They now looked towards Sigbjorn as he thought about what to do.
"I feel sorry that it's come to this. Silver was a friend to all of us, but that's changed. Whether his target is us or Team RWBY or anyone else, he's up to no good. He's made it clear who's side he's on. So if I see him and I have a chance to stop him, I'm not holding back. Not just because I don't want any of you getting hurt, but also because RWBY is involved now too. Silver may have been an ally then, but they are our friends now. If the situation does arise, then they can't be affected because of our hesitation."
"Definitely not." Ross nodded. "It's like you said, we're watching their backs and they're watching ours."
"Yep," Diamond said. "Despite what happened, we're still friends and they still trust us, and I'm not letting them down."
"It'd be wrong of us to not uphold our end of the bargain," Steele said.
"Looks like we're more or less on the same page," Sigbjorn said.
"Let's get to work, then. I'll look into the diplomat, Cornell," Steele announced as he rose from his bed and grabbed his Scroll.
"I'll start getting info on the assassin we fought," Diamond said. "Jade? Yeah. You're heading to the police station too, Steele?"
"Indeed."
"I'll try finding Roman's crew and their recent operational history. Something useful should turn up," Ross said. "Should I tell Ozpin we need access to The Pit?"
"Quick thinking, Ross, do that," Steele said as he clipped Comet, his Jian shortsword onto his waist and Predator on his back. From what RWBY had told them, they needed to be on guard against Roman's crew.
"Which obviously leaves me with the drive," Sigbjorn said, already plunking down in the chair of his desk. He cracked his knuckles as the powerful desktop computer whirred to life. "Let's do this."
He turned towards Diamond and Steele, already at the door. "Stay alert. Call if you need anything."
"You got it."
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Author's Notes
Hello there. Thanks for reading this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any feedback or thoughts to share, please do so via a comment.
The next few chapters are being drafted/edited, so you can expect chunks of new content soon.
With all that said, see you in the next one!