DISCLAIR: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishnt. Anyway on with the show...errr read.
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I looked at the young girl silently for a mont, staying calm as I looked her over. It would have been foolish to act without learning everything I could and she seed, at least montarily, surprised to see . I briefly considered using that opportunity to act, but if there was one thing I knew, it was that knowledge was power. Given that, I looked closely and went over what I knewwhich was actually a fair bit.
Her na was Ruby Rose, which didn't necessarily an anything in and of itselfbut she recognized the girl at my feet as Yang Xiaolong. I recognized Yang as the daughter of Taiyang Xiaolong, one of the mbers on Raven's old team along with her brother Qrow Branwen and a fourth mber nad Sumr Rose. I rembered the nas from my grandmother's words back in Mistral, just as I rembered that Sumr Rose had apparently disappeared soti after Raven. Given that Taiyang's daughter was at my feet, it seed safe to assu that Sumr had left behind a daughter of her own before leaving.
More than that, the sa mont I heard the girl say Yang's na, I'd felt a flash of emotion from the girl at my feet, a sudden flicker of worry that seed to be for the girl, protective in a way that was hard to describe. I saw her eyes dart towards Ruby and then back to and felt Yang move to rise despite whatever she must have been feeling, and took that as further confirmation that they knew one another. Supporting that was a mirroring concern growing swiftly in Ruby as she looked at Yang and I. Those glances and emotions carried with them implications of their own, that at the very least they had spent ti with one another and were close.
But with a title like that, one so similar to what Conquest's disease had given , I needed more than that, so I kept looking. I could put her at roughly a hundred and fifty-eight centiters with a glance and tell from the way she held herself that she was left-handed. Said hand was moving back carefully towards the weapon on her back, which I supposed was a pretty natural response to seeing a strange man standing over a fallen friend, but I let my gaze flick to the weapon itself and identified it as a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe with a quick observe. Glancing over the belt at her waist, I noted both the spare cartridges and the magazines as additional sources of ammunition but didn't notice any signs of additional weaponry.
Having identified the most obvious sources of danger, I at last focused on the girl herself. I Observed her, noting her stats quickly. Good stats all around with a amazingly high rating in Dexterity even before it was modified by her skills. Fifteen years old put her at pretty amazing for her age, but I skipped past everything else to check for what I was looking for.
On A Red Horse He Rides [Low]
I exhaled slowly and felt glad that I'd removed the White Rider title before coming here, just in case. Shifting the focus of my gaze back up to her background, I scanned it quickly; daughter of Taiyang Xiaolong and Sumr Rose, trained by Qrow Branwen, born on the island of Patch, second year at Signal, dreams of becoming a Huntressit went on along that vein, but didn't tell what I wanted to know, displaying nothing about the status effect she possessed. It seed like the type of thing that would show up, but there was nothing so much as touching upon it. Was it being hidden from sohow? Or did it have sothing to do with how my Observe worked?
It didn't matter. I dismissed the windows with a thought and focused on her with my other senses. I could sense life from her, but I'd sensed it from Conquest's taken as well, so that didn't necessarily an anything. I focused closely on her skin and didn't see anything imdiately obvious on the cellular level, at least not on the level of Conquest's cells. Absentmindedly, I checked her pulsenormaland then focused in a little further. I didn't see any signs of disease, natural or otherwise, but since I'd seen the status effect I knew sothing was there and flicked through my forms of perception, catching sothing odd in the high-end of the electromagnetic spectrum. Though most of her body appeared to be normal, there was a slight difference in her bloodstream, sothing fluid. At first glance, it seed unimportant, but to my eyes
Perhaps I was trying to force a connection, but there was sothing in her blood that struck as reminiscent of the markings on Grimm masks onlymore so, sohow. As far as I could tell, it wasn't doing anything inside of her, but given the circumstances and the likely nature of the fluid, it would have been foolish to believe that would remain true forever.
A better question was if it would remain true for now. There was nothing in her background explaining the source of this infection, but I did know about her mother's strange disappearancewas this related to that sohow? It was my only lead. If my grandmother's information was accurate, that had occurred sowhere between ten and twelve years prior, which, if it was indeed tied to this, ant she had been living with the infection for at least a decade. If true, that was worrying in and of itself, but I had to consider it carefully; if she had possessed it that long, then she'd done so without causing an outbreak of any kind, as far as I was aware. Indeed, looking at her closely, the virulence that had characterized Conquest seed absent and the disease did not appear to be spreading from her.
She could be a sleeper agent, I thought. Whatever was inside her could be looking out through her eyes, recording everything she saw and just waiting for the right ti to strike. Though Conquest's transformations had been horrific and lethal, they'd also been obvious; a more subtle pathogen, one that was capable of going undetected, could cause just as much damage, if not far more so. It was a horrible threat.
It was also nothing but conjecture. Did I dare act without further knowledge? Inside the middle of Vale? What if it was as contagious as Conquest but just waiting for the right ti, so trigger in the host. If I made a mistake, the casualties would be unspeakable. For the mont, she was passive and I didn't dare do anything to risk activating hernot without knowing more and taking proper asures.
I needed to contact Ozpin about this, first thing. He was close to Qrow Branwen for one thing and he had access to information I didn't. Perhaps he knew what had beco of Sumr, what might have caused thisor perhaps he'd seen signs that would give away so key piece of information. At the very least, he'd be able to help make sure nothing went wrong or to keep an eye on her. I should back off now and call him with my scroll.
With that thought firmly in mind, I turned to face Ruby fully, ignoring her sister entirely as she rose to her feet. For a mont, I thought Yang would attack again, but she cast a quick glance her sister's way and held back, another flicker of worry shooting through her. Willing to risk herself but not her sister? Either way, I appreciated it as I took a mont to consider what to sayand whether to say anything at all. If I just walked away, would that be the end of it? Quite frankly, Junior's club had just plumted in importance and though I'd rather end things here, it might be worth it to just let them wreck it if it ant reaching Ozpin faster. But would they follow , thinking suspicious or dangerous? Or Adam?
One way or another, I knew I had to end this quickly, so I decided.
"Miss Rose," I greeted politely, making the young woman blink.
"Ah," She said after a mont. "Do you know ?"
"Only by reputation, I'm afraid," I replied, gesturing slightly at her sister. "You are Miss Xiaolong's sister, are you not?"
"Um," She paused, glancing at her sister's raised fists and tilting her head. "Yes?"
"Perfect," I smiled, clapping slightly. "Your sister started a fight in the establishnt behind and I was forced to intervene and remove her from the premise. If possible, may I ask you to escort her ho?"
Ruby abruptly sighed, lifting a hand to her head.
"Yang," She said, drawing the word out with the faint traces of a whine. "Again? Dad hates it when you do stuff like this."
I felt Yang move to answer and turned my face to catch her eyes. I didn't say a word or do anything overt, but I stared at her hard, ironically having no ti for gas.
It was enough for her to get the ssage. If we'd been alone, I had no doubt that she'd have said sothing or maybe even tried to continue, but instead she looked away slightly, putting a hand beside her head.
"Ehehe," She laughed. "Yeah, I know, but I couldn't resist. Oh, well; what's done is done, right? You need a ride ho, sis? I'll take you back on Bumblebee."
Ruby frowned at her sister and then at , expression a bit odd.
"I guess," She murmured. "But I was
"Co on then, sis!" Yang interrupted cheerfully, grabbing her by the hood to her imdiate protest.
"Yang"
I watched them go carefully, checking over Yang as she went to be sure there were no signs of infection there and then turning away and moving quickly.
"Sothing's co up," I said to Adam, forming the words with Levant. "Can you get ho okay? I'll et you back at my place."
Adam answered with a grunt and nothing more, but I felt him rise inside the building. For my part, I spread my senses as far as I could, disappearing briefly into Naraka before crossing back over in a more secluded place after shedding the disguise of Jian Bing and putting on my more normal clothes. It never hurt to be cautious and I didn't want to take the risk that soone would see Ozpin's scroll and spot the face of a wanted terrorist. Neither of us needed that action.
Luckily for , soone in Ozpin's position needs to be easy to contact in an ergency and since this felt like it should count, I called the number he'd given and he picked up on the second ring.
"Jaune?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Maybe he was just surprised at how quickly I could find trouble.
"Ozpin," I began. "We have a situation."
The older man was silent for a mont before taking a deep sip of his coffee. I saw him look around and then rise from wherever he'd been sitting, leaving a room of so kind.
"Forgive , Jaune," He said, focusing back on . "But hearing you say those words fills with terror."
I tried to smile at that, but couldn't quite manage it, giving up with a sigh in the end and eting his eyes. I took a mont to consider ways to phrase it, but decided to go straight for the pointfor sothing like this, I couldn't afford to beat around the bush.
"When Conquest infected , I got a status effect called 'On a White Horse He Rides.' When it progressed far enough, I got a skill and title nad 'The White Rider' that equipped themselves automatically," I said to give context and took a breath. "I just encountered soone with the title of 'The Red Rider' and a status effect called 'On a Red Horse He Rides.'"
Ozpin closed his eyes and grimaced, but must have realized the danger of the situation because he didn't waste any ti complaining about it. Instead, he took a deep breath and nodded, doing sothing to his scroll on his side. Typing?
"Who?" He asked, eyes angled slighty to the side of , on whatever he was writing.
"A girl nad Ruby Rose," I said. "Apparently she's the half-sister of Raven's daughter, Yang Xiaolong. She's Qrow's niece, so I take it you've heard of them?"
Ozpin stopped in the midst of whatever he was doing, eyes snapping back to , widening slightly.
"Ruby Rose," He repeated. "You're certain?"
"Well, their nas were floating above their heads," I answered slowly. "So yeah, I'm pretty sure."
"Yes, of course, you're sure; I'm sorry," He shook his head, pursing his lips as he looked away, hands moving quickly. "You wouldn't call if you weren't. How much ti do we have?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "Whatever's inside of her, it seems dormant and I was careful not to give anything away. I don't think it will trigger right now, but there's really no way of knowing. From what I can tell, I don't think this is a recent thingI didn't get any hints of when or how it happened from her profile, which is kind of odd, but I asked my grandmother about Raven's team back in Mistral. She said that Sumr Rose disappeared over a decade ago; it seems unlikely to be a coincidence. Can you tell anything about that?"
Ozpin was silent for a mont, looking intently at sothing before exhaling slowly and relaxing a touch.
"Silver eyes," He murmured before shaking his head. "Not muchSumr's disappearance ca as a surprise to us all, but no more so than that of any hunter. She left on a mission and simple never returned; it was investigated, of course, but"
But that's not unusual for hunters, I thought. Given our main opponents were the creatures of Grimm, we tended not to leave much behind if we died in battle. By the ti soone ca looking, perhaps weeks after the event after enough ti had passed to cause concern and the ti for a search was arrangedwell, no one would actually have expected to find anything. I wonder if that's how Raven had disappeared? If she'd decided to simply walk through a portal while away, no one would really have known for sure. Whatever the case, it wasn't surprising that Sumr had left little behind.
Even so, I needed to know more, for the sake of perhaps everyone in Remnant. There had to be sothing.
"Was there anything noteworthy about the mission she was sent on?" I asked.
"Routine, at least as much as yours had been," Ozpin shook his head. "Perhaps it went similarly awry, as well. If the infection is within her daughter, however, than that is rather concerningunless she returned unbeknownst to us all, it implies that sothing might have happened prior to her disappearance. I don't recall anything particularly unusualthough I'm sure you've realized that Hunters can be rather unique in personalitybut it was years ago and by that point we saw one another only occasionally. Perhaps Taiyang would know more, or Qrow, butwhat did you see in her, Jaune?"
"Sothing in her blood, or at least that's where it's most obvious," I answered. "If it's in her blood though, it could get just about anywhere else. It wasn't sothing bacterial like Conquest, thoughI don't know enough to truly say, but it might have been chemical in nature, tied to her blood cells sohow. It was hard to see at all, mixed in as it was, and I can't be sure what it could do to her if it activated sohow. Was there anything that stood out in her dical records?"
"No, not that I can see," Ozpin mused. "She seems like a healthy, young woman, no dical issues to speak of beyond a vague ntion of issues sleeping. Her school records areperhaps not normal, but nothing that would make suspicious. She showed signs of difficulty in her first year but seed to improve dramatically under her uncle'sthat is, Qrow'ssupervision. She is currently doing very well, especially in the combat portions; her instructors have made ntion of her trendous enthusiasm in that regard and have also complented her skill with her weapon of choice, as well as its design. Said weapon isah."
"Crescent Rose," I answered. "Yeah, I saw it. Well, not in action, but what I read about it seedimpressive."
"Qrow has sothing similar," Ozpin said. "Very dangerous, to both the wielder and their enemies. If you've ever seen soone use a scythe like that, you can be certain that they are either extrely competent or incredibly foolish. And if they were the latter, they probably wouldn't still have the limbs to wield it. For her to do so at such a young ageshe's quite the prodigy. Her professors have remarked on her exceptional improvent in her second year. How strong did she seem to you, Jaune?"
"Level fifty," I answered. "Which makes her by far the strongest fifteen year old I've ever t and stronger than anyone I've seen my age, except for . She specializes in Dexterityspeed and skilland has so skills to push that really far. In a race, I'm pretty sure I'd win going all out, but I am twenty levels above her and can outright manipulate ti. She's fast and strong."
Ozpin nodded again, frowning deeply.
"Is she" Ozpin began before trailing off and then taking a deep breath. "Do you believe she is herself, though?"
"Ican't say for sure," I answered carefully. "I don't dare act certain with sothing like this. But I felt emotions from her, with none of the imprisoned feeling I got from Conquest's taken. She had an Aura, as well, so I want to say she's human, though the recent revelations on their origins make rather uncertain there as well. Still, the status effect she possessed was Low, so everything I could see implied that she was herselfand as far as I could tell, did not even know sothing was wrong. The infection seems dormant and is not contagious in its current form, either. The issue is that there's no way of knowing if that will remain true or how much this 'Red Rider' is aware of the world around Ruby. I didn't dare do anything that might set it off, but it was pure luck I'd removed my own title before eting her. If she had sohow sensed well, I honestly have no idea what would have happened, but I'm glad it didn't happen like that."
"As am I," Ozpin muttered, probably considering it himself.
"I wanted to give you a heads up," I continued. "I figured you're in a better position to watch and look into her then I am, especially since you know her family. If anything went wrong, I figured it was best to have another person who would know what and I didn't want to act without informing you, either, sincewell, there's no way of knowing that will happen. I'm not exactly eager to test anything in the middle of Vale, but if you have so way of controlling things and keeping them from getting out of hand, I could approach her with the White Rider activated and see what happens or I could watch her from a distance. It might be a bit risky to rely on Naraka given that Conquest broke it, but if we could get a secluded location and back up on top of itif absolutely necessary, I could even deal with her as Jian Bing."
"Perhaps," Ozpin considered despite the frown deepening on his face. "We'll need to be careful in how we approach this, however; if there's anything recent events have made evident, it's that we know next to nothing of our enemy's capabilities. Allow to do further research on my end before we act, but be prepared for anything. We'll discuss my findings tomorrow."
"Yes, sir," I nodded before pausing and grimacing slightly. "One more thing. You've probably realized it as well, butnow we have a White Rider and a Red Rider"
"Who's to say there aren't more?" Ozpin finished. "It's said that two may still be a coincidence, but under the circumstances, I'd say it's enough to assu a pattern."
I nodded seriously.
"And it gets worse," I replied. "The pattern references colored 'Riders' and the status effects ntion the horses they ride uponthat is, us. Conquest infected like a disease and whatever is inside Ruby is in her blood. If we follow that train of thought, it implies that, if there were other Riders, they also have so way of infecting people."
"aning they could be anyone," Ozpin nodded in understanding. "Counciln, generals, hunters, anyone, working against us from the inside. They could be anywhere, could have been here all along, and we'd have no way of knowing, if not for youthe people Conquest took, they're titles changed as well, correct?"
I nodded and then paused, shaking my head.
"Sotis," I said. "My father, who I guess served as Conquest's main body at the ti, both increased in level and changed titlesbut the other's didn't. They lost their nas, too, but Ruby still has hers, soI don't know. My father wasn't titled the White Rider, thoughhe was 'Those Who Hunt Monsters,' instead."
"Concerning," Ozpin exhaled slowly. "Then we truly have no way of being sure of who is and is not infected except by allowing you to scan them thoroughly. That'sworriso. For all I know, everyone around could already be takenwe'll have to be very careful of who we trust and who we tell what. QrowI'll need to tell him sothing, but if he and Taiyang are so close to herto say nothing of the fact that a change in their behavior might activate her, they could be compromised. God, now I'm going to be suspicious of everyone. Except for the two of us, perhaps."
We let that pleasant thought linger in the air for a mont. I knew what Ozpin was sayingthat he trusted . Or at least, that he wanted to think he trusted , if I was a bit more paranoid about it; I suppose he had nothing but my word to go on and might be wondering if I was telling the truth. Or, even if I was, that I had truly shaken Conquest. It was probably a minor worry given everything he knew about , but he must have wondered between what I'd done to my father and even the ti of my call at the village. I was, after all, the only one who could confirm or deny my own words, which must have put him in a rather frightening position. At the sa ti, I couldn't help but wonder about Ozpin in turn, about all the people I'd t and hadn't scanned deeply. Who could I trust, knowing this? In this case, I couldn't believe anything unless I saw it with my own eyes.
Maybe that was the entire point of the Riders, a threat that didn't need to truly do anything except exist. If word got out about any of this, it would give new aning to the term 'terror weapon'and that terror would draw down the Grimm. He must have been thinking the sa thing, worrying even more because of it but knowing he had to be careful even in trying to test things. It seed mine wasn't the only night to have been ruined, but I couldn't think of any way to fix it.
So I did the only thing I really could do and made a bad joke.
"Hell," I said, trying to smile and break the mood. "Technically, I am the White Rider, so that's half of us down already. No offense, but this isn't looking good, Ozpin."
I saw his lips twitch upwards as he saw through the words and the poor attempt at humor, but then his expression smoothed and he looked away. From the lighting of the room, I was guessing he'd looked out the window.
"Well," He sighed, drinking deeply of his coffee. "It's not as though I was planning to sleep tonight anyway."
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