Chapter Fifty

Grounded

November 7th, 2015: Vale Residential District, The Quietus, Exterior

The coiled tension that rolled through Mercury ebbed away as he took in Weiss's hunched and downright tired profile. He pocketed his scroll and placed a hand on her upper back.

"You should be resting, Ice."

"I'm fine."

"You don't look it."

"I'm fine."

"Ice."

Her glacier eyes glared into Mercury's. He amplified his own glare right back. She closed her eyes and relented. "Phantom pains."

He steered her toward the ship immediately. "Come on. We can try the mirror again."

"It's not working."

"It's going to take longer than a week to get rid of it, Weiss," Mercury chastised. "And you shouldn't even be walking right now. You have to take it slow."

Mercury took her crutches in one hand while he wrapped a free arm around Weiss and lifted her onto the wrecked ship. She groaned. "Do you ever get phantom pain anymore?"

It was still weird, talking about his prosthetics so casually to someone like Weiss Schnee. But, well, when the pampered princess woke up minus a part of her leg, he was forced to show his own to get her to stop with the damn rambling. "Rarely."

He carried her with one arm to the free couch and set her down. Weiss pivoted and brought her amputated leg to lay across the mattress. She scowled down at it. Mercury straightened and crossed his arms.

"Mirror or rest?"

"...Can we talk?"

"Uh…" Mercury stalled in his half-step towards the storage area. He scuffled back, took one look at her expression, and leaned against the high tech table. "Sure. What's up?"

Weiss shook her head. "Father is looking for me."

Mercury narrowed his eyes. "The one you shied away from in your soul?"

"I find it highly annoying you gained such intimate insight on my family life through that, you know."

"Next time don't get grievously injured, then."

Her glare was smoldering. "Valuable advice, I'll be sure to follow it. But jokes aside, I'm… worried."

Mercury crossed his arms. "Think he's going to strongarm you back?"

"I know he will."

"And how exactly is he searching?"

Weiss pursed her lips. "Boa is… useful. It picked up radio transmissions from Atlas Special Forces."

"I hadn't even gotten to the comm repairs?"

"Outgoing comms are the issue. We can receive incoming messages just fine." Weiss corrected.

"Huh. Well, I guess that makes the repair after that damn console easier." Mercury let out a long whistle. "And you think your father managed to pull that? Just demanded Ironwood send out the best to look for you and he said yes?"

"I think you're underestimating just how vital the SDC's financial support is to the Atlesian government."

He went silent, ruminating. He didn't want to address it, but he did see a few Manta class airships scouting the area. The Quietus looked 'dead in the water' enough to not raise suspicion, especially since Roman had found other crashed ships littered through Vale, but still, Atlesian Specialists were nothing if not thorough. "So what do you want me to do about it?"

You know there's one method that would clear up ol' princess's problem easy.

Mercury forced himself to keep his expression neutral. Of course his father would suggest murder as a solution.

Don't try to pretend your hands are clean, boy. Those pebbles scattered all 'round the ship is proof enough.

His blood iced over as his eyes zoned in on one of those pebbles. Don't. Ignore it, ignore it, just ignore it.

Weiss's jaw worked, but no sound came out. With a frustrated groan, she dug the heels of her hands into her eyes and leaned back. "I don't know. I… don't want to go back. I want to find Ruby, Yang, and Blake."

"Scarlet's last transmission said Blake had to book it not long after they touched down in Vale's safe zone for more refugees."

"And that's why we need to find her now!" Weiss shot back hotly. "We don't have time to sit and stew!"

"I might have a solution for that, Princess."

They turned to see Roman pull himself into the airship with some fabric draped over his arm. He threw a white garment in Weiss' direction.

Weiss caught it and held it up. It was a white dress with puff sleeves and a cinched waist that flowed down to her knees. Simple, but elegant. Weiss sniffed and tried to hide the look of surprise and gratefulness in her eyes. "Puff sleeves? How childish."

"Quit whining and put it on, I can smell the stench of that soiled dress from here."

"Combat skirt."

"Does that change the stench part of my statement?"

Mercury snorted at the affronted look on Weiss's face. She huffed, looked at Mercury, and asked quietly, "Can you get Neptune to help?"

"Yeah. C'mon." He picked her up and walked around to Sun and Neptune's door. "Nep? Weiss needs help changing."

Such a softie, aren't ya? Where'd my boy go?

Shut. Up. After a moment of shuffling, Neptune opened the door. Bags were under his eyes and his goggles were lopsided on his face. He took Weiss in his arms without question, gave Roman a long glance over Mercury's shoulder, and nodded to Mercury. Mercury walked away and thumbed Ruby's contact on his scroll again as the door closed behind him. Through the door, he heard Sun promise with forced cheer that he wouldn't peek.

"So, what's your solution?" Mercury asked as he sauntered to the small kitchenette tucked into the corner between the hatch that held a Sun-sized dent from his spat with Lynae and the cockpit door. Call failed. Dammit.

Roman followed with a drawling tone. "Never thought I would see you so docile with someone like Weiss Schnee, Kid."

His jaw locked. It took all his willpower not to body the twiggy man as he poured himself some cranberry juice. "What's your solution?"

The ex-crime lord sighed, but dropped any teasing. "I have it on good authority our old pal Junior may have his cronies scavenging for parts."

"Parts…?"

"Parts such as the type that would fix stuff like, oh, the turbine engine that nevermore bulldozered right through before it punched through the hull? Which still isn't fixed, by the way."

At Roman's mention of it, Mercury flicked his gaze up to the sparking, unorthodox skylight that was also beak-sized. "Okay. So let's talk to Junior then."

"About that."

Mercury took a sip of his juice. "What did you do."

"Nothing."

"That's a damn lie."

"I was minding my own business-"

"You never do that."

"...I may have pilfered some supplies."

Mercury set down his glass and turned to Roman with an annoyed frown. "Really? The entire city is crumbling and you steal from a prolific leader of the underground network, and consequently vilify us to them?"

He almost threw up at his own verbiage. A week with Weiss in close proximity fucked your speech.

"You're currently drinking the spoils."

"For cranberry juice?"

"What do you expect, Kid?" Roman threw up his arms. "I don't have an army of men behind me to strongarm store owners into giving up their store, and my face was plastered across Vale as enemy number one because of our old boss before this went down. Civilians run from me, and Junior has enough brains to avoid me like the plague, which puts us in a very. Bad. Position."

Mercury rubbed his forehead. "What exactly are we supposed to do? Ice can barely walk and is still woozy half the time, Neptune and Sun won't leave when Ice is here so they're on constant guard duty, and I'm stuck trying to fix the seven-billion problems on this ship with no clue what I'm doing. You're the only one that can scout."

He called Ruby again. No answer. He was about to smash his scroll against the wall.

Roman growled. "We don't need a guard. Look, you and one of the two schmucks come with me, leave the other behind, and close the hatch. We're on the edge of upper and lower Vale. Junior's club is twenty minutes away on foot. We can mosey in, grab the parts, and mosey out."

"So you want to steal from him again. And somehow infiltrate his club to do it."

"Do you have a better plan? Or are you just going to try for Red for… oh, how many times have you called her today?"

Mercury's scroll showed the call failed screen again. He hastily stuffed his scroll in his duster's side pocket.

"Normally I'd be for it, but we're not exactly in tip-top shape."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Only Ice Queen is banged up, and honestly? Bringing an heiress to the club would be a horrible idea. That's asking for Junior to get one of his 'ideas.'"

"You realize I have a still healing hole in my chest. Look." Mercury used one hand to gesture vaguely. "Focus on Lynae, let Junior lower his defenses since you stole that shipment just yesterday, apparently, and then we can hit the club later. That way I won't worry about tearing my stitches again and Weiss might just be able to help with her glyphs."

The moment he mentioned Weiss, Roman threw his head back so hard to the point Mercury wondered with a little too much hope that he snapped his neck, and emitted a long, guttural groan. "Dear Brothers, if I didn't know you were dating Red - still weird, by the way - I'd think the Ice Queen has you whipped."

Mercury slammed down his cup of juice and turned fully to face Roman. "I am not- grr. Whatever. How is me dating someone so surprising?"

Roman looked him up and down. "It's more so the person you're dating. But yes, you with anyone is shocking because of your overall temperament."

"Thanks." The amount of sarcasm he poured into the one syllable should be illegal. It was either that, or break Roman's nose. Mercury turned away from him with an exaggerated head swivel. "So, am I going to tell the rest of the group about this tentative plan, or are you going to actually communicate with someone other than me or the floating disembodied voice for once?"

Roman, with a scowl, crossed his arms. "Why would I want to speak to the brats that helped jail me in the first place?"

Mercury rolled his eyes and instead started to head towards Sun and Neptune's room. He paused midway there, and without turning he said, "Look, Torchwick, you don't want to be here. You don't like me, I don't like you. But we're stuck together, so how about you make this easier for yourself and not act like a jackass?"

"Kid, did you really think my personality was going to change when I decided to help - gag - Little Red?" Roman asked rhetorically. "Relax."

"Alright, just sayin'."

He didn't listen to whatever reply Roman had to his dismissal, and instead let himself into Sun and Neptune's room. He welcomed the friendly greeting from Sun and Neptune and the shriek of indignation from Weiss as she dove behind the dresser with the puff sleeve dress half on. Any form of distraction was fine by him. It kept Marcus away, and it certainly stopped him from thinking of Ruby.

His fingers itched to reach for his scroll.

Vale Commercial District, Junior's Club, Exterior

What on Remnant happened to Mercury?

This very thought played through Roman's mind many times this very week, but this was the first time he was so gobsmacked. Since when did Mercury play nice with others, and encourage others to play nice? Yeah, he was still generally a pain in the ass, but hell, now he was friendly. Well, friendlier, he should say, since Mercury hasn't been all there since the Fall of Beacon.

It was such a drastic change from his old personality. Mercury would stick to Emerald like glue, constantly act like the toughest guy in the room while also the most sauve when he was most definitely not, would be up for murder if the job called for it, and would make every attempt to piss Roman off. Now? He and Emerald split, he acted less like a tough guy and more like the sarcastic, supportive group member, and his attempts to piss Roman off, while still a factor, have dwindled. Mercury could only bother to muster indifference or blatant anger at something Roman said these days. Oh, and instead of the cold-blooded assassin he used to portray, the man went as far as to cradle a dog to his chest to protect it for Gods sakes!

The whiplash Roman received when he learned Mercury went from 'kick puppies' to 'protect puppies' nearly broke his neck.

As Roman stepped up on the ledge of the rooftop to cross on the wooden planks laid across the two buildings, he swung his cane idly. Tried to rationalize the situation. He supposed an attack like what happened at the Fall of Beacon would change a person, and who knows what happened to Mercury before that. Hell, Mercury told Weiss of all people about his prosthetics. Cinder had to threaten Mercury to cough up that detail to Roman and Neo. It made him wonder how much Neo had changed too.

He shooed away the thought as the sudden urge to drop everything and tear the city down to find her gripped him tight.

Roman sighed and, after he reached the end of the last building, observed the club before him for any weak spots. There wasn't any time to recoup. If Roman could get the right parts for Little Miss Lightning's ship, then they could cover more ground and find Neo faster. Not to mention it would be much less dangerous, and since it was likely Amethyst's ship was registered as friendly to the Atlas Military, those Manta ships wouldn't bat an eye at them. However, going solo was a bit more tricky. He hadn't bothered to check before for weaknesses in the exterior since Junior's club was neutral ground in the criminal underbelly of Vale, just like how Lil' Miss Malachite was with her Spiders in Mistral.

Oh, now that he thought of it, he hoped Junior and Malachite didn't establish a means to communicate with the CCT blackout. Although she's distant from her daughters, he'd imagine the Lil' Miss wouldn't be happy to hear he beat down Miltia to steal her bulk of supplies. Or was it Melanie? Eh, the one in red.

With nothing else to do, his mind stubbornly returned to his last conversation with Mercury before he set off again. He pointedly shoved Mercury's 'advice' away. Why bother trying to act friendly? The longer he stayed, the more likely he would end up thrown in another cell, and Roman didn't intend to be placed back in jail anytime soon. No, all he needed was that bot's help to find Neo, and once he had her with him, they could leave them all in the dust. At least, that's what he told himself, because while he wished it were that simple, his gut told him it wouldn't be. Whenever Roman brought up Neo, Mercury would respond with his new aloof approach, but there were small reactions like the shift of his jaw and the twitch of his fingers that told him Mercury cared a lot more than he let on.

And if Mercury cared about Neo, who's to say Neo didn't come to care about Mercury? After all, she did seem mighty comfortable with him before she was snatched away.

Roman grit his teeth and shook his head. Thinking about it would only make his head spin, and he wasn't about to go have a heart to heart with Mercury over all that happened in Beacon. But that brought him right back to waiting, hoping, and eventually bludgeoning his way to Neo.

On the ground, he could see a few White Fang and henchmen wearing red-glasses exchange barbs. Roman tch'ed and plopped down with his legs dangling off the side of the building. So, they were still working together, and the White Fang still had a presence in Vale. Nothing to do but watch and wait now.

Shlink.

...Or not.

A black blade rested on his left shoulder. Roman tilted his chin up as the blade just barely kissed the skin on his neck. "To whom do I owe the pleasure on this deplorable day?"

"Shut it." A familiar voice snarled. "Your cane."

His right hand released Melodic Cudgel with little complaint, and it was snatched from him. "Well, well…"

"I said shut it." The blade disappeared from his neck and he heard the heels of his 'assailant' clack three times as she stepped back. "Now stand up and turn around. Slowly."

A smirk crawled over his lips as he did as told. He stood up, and with dramatic, slow fashion, pivoted on his heel so his green eyes could settle on her. He ignored the sword that was now an inch from his nose.

"Hi there, Kitty Cat," Roman said with a slow drawl. Her amber eyes narrowed, but her nose and mouth were covered by a plum purple lower face mask and neck cover, and her extra set of ears were hidden by the new twin bun hairstyle she sported. "Fancy meeting you here, hm?"

"How are you not dead?"

"Well, funny story." Roman slapped his hands together as the ire in her eyes only deepened. "You can thank your good ol' team leader for that one."

"R-Ruby? Where is she? What did you do to her?!"

Roman reared his head back as she lurched forward and her sword nearly went up his nose. "Nothing! Jeez, calm down, Kitty Cat-"

"Blake. My name is Blake."

He sucked in a deep breath through his nose. Maybe, in this instance, Mercury's advice would help avoid a stabbing. "Fine. I did nothing to Ruby Rose, Blake." She blinked, no doubt surprised at his reserved tone. "Couldn't tell you where she is now, though. Last I saw her, she was running along the Wyvern's back and jumping up to Beacon Tower."

"The… the tower?" Blake glanced back for a moment to take in the distant tower in question. The lumbering size of the Wyvern was an eerie silhouette at this distance. He heard her draw a shaky breath through the respirator built into her mask. "So… so she's dead?"

"Well… I don't know. I wasn't exactly conscious to see the fallout."

Blake rubbed at her eyes and turned back to him. The grief in her eyes only heightened the intensity. "And now you're here. Alone. Back to reclaim your stomping grounds from Junior?"

"Bold of you to assume that Junior's club ever encroached on my 'stomping grounds' in the first place." Roman took his bowler hat off his head, picked at flecks of dust that weren't there, and hung it on the tip of Blake's blade as he walked off to the side. She growled at the obvious dismissal. "But no. If anything, I'm an enemy of Junior and his happy henchmen now, since I'm allied with the likes of your Ice Queen."

Blake lowered her blade and unconsciously caught his bowler hat as it slipped from the blade. She eagerly stepped up beside him as she questioned further, "Weiss…? W-What do you mean, where is she-"

"She's safe aboard the Summer Maiden's ship. The wreck is that-a-way." Roman pointed behind Blake. "Oh, and your monkey pal? He's there too, and - hmm who else? - Ah, Mercury, and that blue-haired, goggle boy."

"So… so they're safe?" Blake responded before her entire body slumped. "Thank Gods. I-I was so worried. Tell them- tell them the rest made it to the evac point, and I'm pretty sure Yang is back in Patch now-"

"Woah woah, hold on." Roman held up a hand. "Why, exactly, are you placing me as the messenger when I'm sure you'd be happy to frolic back to your friends?"

"I- I can't. I- urgh." Blake crammed her sword into a black duffel bag on her back. Why did she need the duffel bag…? "I'm only going to say this once: right now I'm a wanted criminal across all four kingdoms. Atlas is occupying most of the airspace, so if they see me…"

"Ah. How's life on the run?"

Blake stared back.

"We could compare notes?" Roman simpered.

"You realize that if you're lying to me, or if you try to double-cross me, I'll kill you."

Roman lifted a brow. "Like you killed that Brawnz kid? I saw the broadcast."

The fire in her eyes died away. "I didn't kill him. Emerald- Emerald tricked me into-"

"Blah blah," Roman said as he waved his hand in a dismissive nature. "Doesn't matter, I still dislike you either way. But anyway, might be good for you to regroup with some of your band of do-gooders. I heard that the military goons are hunting down the W of your team as well."

"Because of her father, I suppose," Blake assumed with a sigh. "Still, I wish… I wish I could, but this little outfit isn't just for a new look. I-"

"Yo, Bella! Where'd you go?"

"Damn," Blake stated as she looked past Roman. She grabbed at his sleeve and yanked him away from the ledge. "I- oh I better not regret this, but stay here and wait until we go inside."

Roman blinked as she swiped his scroll and put in her contact information. "Um. Hold on a second, you're with them?"

"Look, I can't explain it right now, but just-" Blake handed him his scroll and turned a near invisible knob on her mask, which in turn made her voice significantly deeper and sound nothing like her. "-text me the ship coordinates. I'll drop by when I can."

"Uh, sure…" Roman raised a brow as she wrestled black goggles with purple lenses over her head and fixed them over her eyes. "What're you…?"

"Stay there! Oh-" Blake turned to stare him down. "And don't let anyone else know where I am."

"Why-"

"They'll ruin it!" Blake tossed him his cane, which he caught, and jumped down from the building. She rushed to the main door.

Roman shifted on his feet as he watched the black and purple clad faunus strut up to her enemies (well, their enemies now) and jut out a cocky hip. "And here I thought this situation couldn't get weirder."

Vale Residential District, The Quietus, Exterior

"There you are."

Roman's face resorted to the sucked a lemon' expression at the voice that greeted him. He looked up from his scroll (where he sent a text to Blake Belladonna of all people) to see the Ice Queen in all her glory, perched cross-legged on top of one of the many crates of supplies he… acquired, and in the shadow of the wing of the bullhead.

"Miss me, Ice Queen?" He replied lazily, uncaring of her disdain. "Didn't know you cared."

Weiss crossed her arms. She was clad in that puff sleeve dress he grabbed on a whim as he cleared a small clothing store of a few stray Grimm in the commercial district. He still wasn't too sure why he did. Well, he might know, but he would never admit it. Weiss looked the most banged up and dirtied as a result of the Fall, and he wasn't exactly lying about the stench. Neptune was relatively fine, Mercury's threads were near brand new (apparently, thanks to Little Red), and Sun? Well, the only thing he sacrificed in terms of clothing was his shirt, which he didn't use to full capacity in the first place. So really, scrounging that dress up was a benefit to him and her.

"Mercury told us about your proposal to infiltrate this… Junior's club." Weiss looked accusing even now. "I trust you didn't recklessly throw yourself into such a situation?"

Roman gasped, pressed a gloved hand to his chest, and gestured with his cane. "Oh, Miss Schnee, you do care!" She wrinkled her nose and scowled as Roman cheerily grinned. "If you must know, I merely snooped on the locals. And boy, did I meet some interesting locals."

"Should I be concerned?"

"Concerned? Hmm…" Roman, while he bided his time, checked his scroll. Blake responded to his message, curt and straightforward.

Unknown: {Got it. I'll visit with info when I can}

Unknown: {And don't tell Mercury. Seriously}

"I believe you might know one," He said slyly as he saved Blake's contact as 'Bow Girl.' Better than Kitty Cat, so it was a start, right?

"Roman…"

"I would think you would be smiling instead of frowning at the thought of Blake Belladonna skulking around."

As if Roman was going to keep his mouth shut just because Blake told him to. Honestly, the girl should've known better.

"B-..Blake?!" A white torpedo aided by gravity glyphs collided with him and clung to his shoulders, and suddenly he very much wished to have said nary a peep. "Where is she, I- is that who you're text- oh, Bow Girl, you're texting Blake!"

"Please stop screaming in my ear."

"Where did you run into her? Wait, she knows where we are? What doesn't she want Mercury to know? What- mmmrph!"

Roman sighed and basked in the blissful silence as he sealed a gloved hand over Weiss's mouth. "You hear that? Silence. Blissful, undisturbed silence, with no squeaky voiced teenage girls bursting my eardrum."

Weiss made an offended noise at the final comment.

"Will my eardrum survive your next sentence?"

After a long, petulant pause, Weiss nodded against his hand. He, cautiously, let go of her face.

"Tell me everything. From the beginning."

"Well!" Roman said this with far too much gusto as, in one movement, he detangled Weiss from his shoulders, swung her around by the waist, and plopped her back down on the crate. "The beginning is, overall, debated by scholars, but the most popular is the Tale of Two Brothers-"

"Oh my God."

"Ah. Gods, actually."

Roman was sure that, if Weiss had the ability to fight sans a leg, she would be aggressively slashing at him with her rapier. The heiress had resorted to crossed arms and an aggressive scowl once more, but Roman would hardly call himself intimidated by it.

"Well, I was, as you so eloquently described, about to 'recklessly throw myself' into infiltrating Junior's club, when a familiar weapon poked over my shoulder. Many threats were made, suspicious eyes were rolled, and, in the end, our favorite Kitty Cat insisted I not tell any of you because you would, quote: ruin it."

Weiss made a choked noise of indignation at the message. "Ruin- you know what, no, call her. Right now."

"I'm not sure that's a-"

"Roman." Weiss stomped her remaining foot from her seated position. Roman sighed, produced his scroll, and handed it to her.

"If she tries to yell at me, you better come to my defense," Roman grumbled.

Weiss merely smirked, pressed the call button on Blake's contact, and Roman readied himself for an annoyed Blake Belladonna to berate him. Not that he would actually listen to what she said, but still.

Vale Residential District, The Quietus, Cockpit

Mercury was up to his elbows in electronics, gears, and grease.

The gaping skylight caused by that damn nevermore still wasn't fixed, and while he considered it a priority, Torchwick still hadn't found the right parts for it. All slabs of metal he found were gnarled and twisted, and he didn't have a polarity semblance to smooth out the edges, so -

Pyrrha flashed before his eyes. His hand clenched and he ended up receiving a shock from a cut wire.

"Argh, dammit." Mercury drew his hand back and shook it. Focus, Merc.

So, he tried to do what he could. Sun was useless with repairs, but Neptune had some tech behind him, so he left all the computer hijinks to him.

"Try it now?" Mercury called him from his place underneath the center control panel. He heard Neptune clacking at some buttons, and the longer there was no reply, the more Mercury's frustration built.

"Still no juice," Neptune said after a few muttered curses. "You don't happen to have something to magic this problem away, do you?"

Mercury snorted.

Sun and Neptune, at the very least, took all Mercury and Weiss's knowledge of the Maidens relatively okay. Normally Mercury would be hesitant to reveal the Maidens, but, well, it was hard to explain why some woman fell from the sky with flaming eyes and lightning at her disposal right in front of them.

At least he got Neptune out of his and Sun's room. The boys had stuck to each other like glue ever since the Fall - Cinder - stop, stop it, brain.

"Are you getting anything at all?"

"Few blips, but then the monitors go dark." Neptune peeked under the console to see Mercury. His goggles were askew on his forehead. "Hopefully you didn't nic the CPU."

Mercury rolled his eyes to meet Neptune's. "I may not know what the hell I'm doing, but I'm not stupid."

Neptune chuckled. "Calm down, Robo-Legs."

A small, but genuine, smile crept across Mercury's face. He said nothing in reply.

Despite the camaraderie he managed to uphold with Sun and Neptune, not all could be so lucky. Tensions between Sun, Neptune and Roman were at a constant to the point Sun and Neptune planned routes until they fell over exhausted in their room while Roman scouted the city. Only Weiss seemed to get along semi-okay with everyone, which was honestly shocking.

And Roman? He tolerated Neptune, rolled his eyes whenever Sun spoke (or, alternatively, muttered something about a rogue banana peel cementing a permanent dislike? Mercury didn't want to know), and Roman barely spared a glance at Weiss. Earlier that day was a rare exception. Mercury wasn't sure if the man was annoyed at a Schnee's presence, or uncomfortable since he robbed her family's company blind on Cinder's payroll.

He wondered if Roman regarded Ruby with that same uncomfortableness.

Stop.

His fist hit the inner wiring against his will. Neptune squawked at the noise, but let a gasp of surprise escape him seconds after. "Wha - Bro, that worked!"

Mercury quirked a brow up at the wiring. "What? But I punched it?"

"The terminals are all on!"

He weaseled out from under the console and leaned his weight on the back of Neptune's chair. His jaw dropped as the screens embedded into the console as rounded touch screens blared to life with data and recalibrations.

"If the fix-it to flight consoles was to deck it right in the processor, then I have some news to tell Yang," Mercury said with a grin.

Said grin melted away the moment he realized what he said. He pushed off Neptune's chair as Neptune's shoulders dropped a fraction, but Neptune was quick to turn and grab Mercury's wrist.

"Hey, she made it," Neptune assured with a weak smile. "My girl wouldn't go down that easy."

The and neither would yours was unspoken, but easily read. Mercury broke eye contact. "No sign of Torchwick?"

Neptune's smile disappeared. "Hah, no. Snow Angel insisted to 'keep watch' for his return since it was getting so late. She would have sent a text, or we would have heard a screaming match."

Mercury nodded with a thoughtful frown. Sure did sound like Weiss. "Well. Guess it's dinnertime now."

"Sun probably cooked up spaghetti again."

With a light groan, Mercury wrinkled his nose but turned to the door to the living quarters regardless. "I'm about to hide all the noodle boxes."

"Hey man, we're lucky that Sun knows how to cook something. Unless, uh-" Neptune stopped. "Does Torchwick know how to cook?"

"Do you want to risk eating something Torchwick made?"

"...You have a point."

At that, Mercury walked into the living quarters with Neptune hot on his heels. Already, he felt his fingers itch. He didn't have time to sit still, even though he just preached patience to Torchwick not long ago. But still, the console was a first step. The next step was pushing Boa to work magic and get that tracking device up and working again so Neo's location would be readily available. He sorely doubted she lost that tracking chip, so he had faith. If they could get the scanners up, then jump right on the outgoing comm issue, they wouldn't be so adrift and they might be able to communicate with people in Patch too.

He adamantly refused to engage with the large Atlas military outpost created at the border of Vale's commercial district and Forever Fall. He didn't have a death wish, he certainly didn't want to risk Weiss getting whisked away, and he most definitely didn't want to know what the hell that huge mechanical disaster they were slowly building up was meant to do.

"Twinkle Toes, I have a package for you." Oh great. He's back.

"I- wha- package-"

It was amusing, however, to see him march into the ship with his hands hooked under Weiss's arms and the heiress herself hanging like a kitten picked up by its scruff. Mercury quirked a brow at the scene, but reached out to bring Weiss into his side when Roman roughly dropped her on her one foot in front of him. She wobbled and stabilized herself on him, which she wordlessly thanked him for, but Mercury didn't focus too hard on that.

Mercury shifted his gaze between the two. He may be scattered in all directions and stressed beyond belief, but he could still read others. Weiss held herself under a mask of cool indignation as she stared down Roman, but under her mask was… giddiness? And a bout of impatience that she forced down. On Roman's face was a well hidden anxiety that Mercury wouldn't have spotted if he didn't see such an expression in the many meetings with Cinder before.

They're hidin' somethin, boy.

Shut up. "Where'd you go?" Mercury jutted his chin to Roman in a quick movement.

The ginger's face shuttered. "Scouting."

Mercury narrowed his eyes as Roman refused to elaborate. He darted his gaze to Weiss, who looked way too doe-eyed for it to be innocent.

"Ice-"

"Can you, uh-" Weiss stuttered, twisted her mouth about, before she finally pivoted on her one foot and grasped at his shoulder for balance so she could look at him from a more respectable distance. "Mercury, I, ah, was wondering-"

He raised a silent, judging brow. Weiss glared lightly at the offense.

"Canyouhelpmesummon?"

He, slowly, processed her request. Mercury barely registered Roman slipping away as Neptune moved around them to the kitchenette.

"You… you realize you're still not recovered from a burned away leg, right?"

Weiss stared down at her one leg, suddenly despondent. "I-I know. But… I can't fight properly with one leg. Summoning might be the only way I can…" She looked up again, and she stared right through him with fear in her eyes. "But- but you have to make sure I keep it under control, I-I don't want another situation where I might hurt someone like- like with Penny-"

"Alright."

Weiss reared her head back. Her ponytail swung beside her and hit his arm. "H-Huh? Really? You'll help?"

Mercury shrugged. "Something to do."

She's hiding somethin' from you and you offer your hand? Tch. Unless you mean 'something to do' literally…

He hated to admit it, but dear old dad had a point. Weiss was hiding something, and the Mercury before Beacon and before Ruby would spit at her feet. But… Weiss was Ruby's partner. Weiss was a member of his little group, his-

Oh, getting sentimental, are we?

He felt his teeth grind as his jaw twinged. Shut. Up.

"We can start after dinner," Mercury said, and while he noticed the trepidation in Weiss's eyes, he refused to give her time. Even though they were grounded, he could push progress in other avenues, and Weiss's recovery and summoning was definitely one of them.

And, maybe, it'll help him forget about all the people he no longer had within reach, and the action that Ruby stopped him from doing once before.

I've taken to calling the Beacon group JAPR (Jasper), and the Quietus group WNSTM (Windstorm). There's one other group, but I won't spoil the name just yet. I wanted to make Pyrrha's initial first for JAPR, but couldn't think of a good acronym.

Astray-Tech: Thanks! We're not done with Beacon just yet lol.

FairyQueen314: Thank you so much! Hope you enjoyed :)

Dragon Lord Draco: I can't spoil, but you're right to think there's more going on than the simple explanation. :)

The Night Whisperer: Exactly! Pyrrha still has some learning to do, definitely.

Guest: Wow, thank you, that's a high compliment! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story thus far :D

Servos New Head: No worries, questions are welcomed! Merc's Poser model did have subtle marks which I thought was scarring but I think his Maya model erased it, so I'm not sure. As for his semblance, he affects only a specified area. He cannot freeze time, but he can slow it. Larger the area, the more effort it takes. Merc is 19ish (his exact age is not confirmed in canon, but it's his estimated age), yes, didn't mean to imply he was older.

PoofyOhio: I'm sorry you feel uncomfortable, I get it. Instant sisterhood/bonding can be odd to me as well, though I hope to do it justice in future chapters. And thanks, glad you enjoyed the other aspects! Jaune and Pyrrha arguments are rare to find, I agree. I think it's because it's hard to see Pyrrha as an argumentative person.

Next chapter: Grisaille

Lonessa out.