What Happens Next (Slay The Princess/RWBY)

You aren't really surprised when the message telling you that a team has chosen your mission indicates team PRNS as the one doing so. Certainly, Penny would be interested in being with you, and a mission that involved the working conditions of SDC workers would almost be catnip for Weiss Schnee. With Nora not likely to have a criterion past *not boring* and Ren probably willing to go along, the decision had to have been an easy one.

As such, you end up watching them all come bright and ready for their first mission the morning of your departure. Penny is waving at you with such enthusiasm some people are looking at her strangely, stopping quickly when they search for who is the target and meet your cold gaze.

"Did Weiss and Ren make sure you took all you would need?" you ask knowingly, earning a confident nod from both the heiress and the young man. "Good, as you all know, the mission is going to take place outside of Vale's walls. We will first have to meet the manager of the camp to obtain more information on the Grimm's numbers and emplacements. After this, this should be a simple extermination mission. I will take a supporting role in the fight, you will have to do most of the work. Of course, I will intervene if any of you get in serious danger, and don't worry." You look at Weiss while telling this part. "This will not lose you points. The goal is only to familiarize you with a normal mission structure, not to put you into the fire right away." The girl relaxes a fraction at that.

After this short introduction, you all enter the bullhead. Weiss seems to want something but can't bring herself to tell it, after half a minute of this, Nora appears to decide she has enough of it:

"Didn't you want to ask something to Professor Panoply, Weiss? You spent a lot of time yesterday searching for how to tell it." She loudly declares, turning first to the poor Weiss then to you.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell it." Weiss fumes. "I recently saw a speech from Blake Belladona about the Grimm fang case and wanted to ask you something." She explains to you.

"You know that I cannot tell you everything about the case, yes? The thing about Adam Taurus was about me, but there is more than just that at stake for the others." You point out to make sure.

"Of course, I am interested in your advice as a teacher, not as someone that was on the scene." Weiss says. "It is about something she said… or more precisely, the implications of it when you take into account a number of the other stories by former members that were interviewed." She takes a deep breath, then begin her explanation. "She said that she was thanking you for the listening ear you gave at the time. Alone, I wouldn't think much of it, you are a counselor and it isn't strange you would help someone after the attack, but that's the thing: She is the only one that talks about you helping that way, all the others that mention you talk about how you fought."

She takes a small pose, looking at you, you simply nod to indicate she can continue.

"That made me wonder why you would only have talked to her, which led to further research. At the end of it, I did find something." Weiss keeps fidgeting during her entire talk, you are not sure what makes her so nervous. "The former members are talking about the fact that Adam was preparing for something, that he told that they needed to move camp and he would explain later. He also apparently was hurt before this, how and why, nobody knows. I am wondering if Blake mentioned you because she didn't meet you after the attack, but because she got to Beacon before it, and that she was the one that told where to find it. The Grimm fang was notorious for how difficult they could be to find, all signs point to someone telling Beacon where the camp was." She stops, searching your face for an answer. You do not even blink.

"That is an interesting thought, I cannot confirm or deny it." You say, completely neutral. "But I am interested in hearing why this is concerning you that much. Why would it necessarily be Blake? If there was someone that told about the camp, which, once again, I do not confirm or deny, couldn't it be someone else?" You make sure to only sound curious when asking, you have no reproach for the fact that she is trying to learn.

Weiss spends some time thinking through the implications, you can see Penny on the side of her hesitating between wanting to let her have some space and offering a hug. She settles on getting a little bit closer just as Weiss begins talking again:

"You are right that it isn't necessarily her, but… if it was her, there is another thing that makes me unsure how to feel about the whole situation. She was, according to what can be gleaned, a high-ranking member of the Grimm Fang, she even told herself she was quite close to Adam Taurus. But if she was that important in the organization of the cult, couldn't she have changed things from the inside? Couldn't she have stayed and try to reason with Adam?" Weiss gets a little heated by the end of her talk.

This isn't about Adam and Blake at all, isn't it? You know that Weiss sometimes resent Winter for leaving from your talks with her as a counselor, and she is asking you about a relatively similar situation in search of an answer to whether or not her big sister should have stayed or not. You will have to be careful, especially as you are not alone right now. You are happy that she trusts her team enough to abord this subject in front of them, even if indirectly, but this still has to be working her over quite a bit for her not to wait until your next scheduled session.

"Ok, let's say that she was the one that told about where the camp was then. Keep in mind that this is all hypothetical and based on what is at least semi public about the entire case, I am not going to talk about the real Blake, only a simulated one that did do what you said." Weiss is listening intently, while you see Nora has got distracted and is watching the scenery pass by and both Penny and Ren are making sure to not draw attention to themselves. You think a little then begin your case. "Could she have changed things in the cult without leaving? Well, think about what is known of Adam, the reports from the other former members of the Grimm fang and the simple fact that he led a cult in the first place: The man was extremely controlling, not tolerating any dissention in the ranks. Looking at it like that, do you think he would have listened to Blake, no matter how close to him she supposedly was?"

Weiss seems to get your point and deflates a little.

"Of course," You continue. "She could have tried anyway, but the most likely result would have been that he either try to keep it hidden, and only correct her in secret, or he go for the normal procedure in the cult: Public humiliation of the supposed *traitor to the cause*. No matter what, she would not have benefited from working from inside the system. She could have tried to convince others in the cult, but people lacked privacy in the camp, making this difficult. This leaves her with no other real choice than action from outside, but even there, there is a problem."

You stop, looking at Weiss' reaction. She does not seem to understand where you're going, you didn't really expect her to, not this fast.

"Do you think you could leave your little brother and mother all alone right now if necessary?" You ask.

Weiss is taken aback by the apparent non sequitur, and has to ponder for a time before opening her mouth:

"No, not really." Is her tentative answer.

"Exactly." You nod. "Leaving those close to you, not even just family, but your coworkers, friends, acquaintances… is not easy. A cult deliberately makes leaving them even more difficult by controlling who you have access to, making sure you have no anchors outside it. This means that to leave the Grimm fang, betray them in her mind, she would have had to show a prodigious amount of courage. Of course, this is only for a particular situation, the problem with reality is that there rarely is a one size fit all answer to even similar problems. Someone trying to get out of a cult will not have the same options than someone getting out of an abusive relationship, and those will not have the same as someone that wants to reform a company or a government. If working from inside worked all the time, we wouldn't have the Red Fang, but if it was impossible to talk, the White Fang wouldn't exist either. People all have to weight what they think is best at any given time and hope they can reach a satisfying result. Perfection doesn't exist, and trying to go for it only leaves you not even doing a thing. Actions matters more than words at the end of the day, even if that action is a peaceful protest." You finally stop your speech, only now realizing you have turned into the Thorn at some point and are clutching your love's Pristine Blade with all your strength.

You take some deep breaths while turning back, the team using the opportunity to think on what you said. After a little while you can finally see the mining site approaching. As you get closer, you can observe some signs of the protest that is supposed to be the source of your mission, a number of workers blocking access to the shaft and wearing signs, most of them telling *Protection, not Oppression* and *We are not Statistics*. There is large building that you assume is where the manager will meet you, completely pristine. In contrast, the place that probably serves as the dorms for the workers is obviously not taken care of, there are clear signs of degradation due to time and normal use. The closer you look, the more you feel something wrong with what you see.

There is no sign of any degradation related to the protest, the workers are calm, which is strange for a situation that supposedly attracted Grimm. When the protesters see your bullhead, the perspective they give you doesn't help matter: They see you as coming to stop their rally, in addition to killing the Grimm that should be around. You frown and turn to the team while the pilot gets ready for the landing.

"Everyone, can you tell me what you think of the situation we can see right now?"

All of them become pensive, though Nora quickly loses interest and looks to Ren for a solution. Weiss is the first to talk:

"It's too calm. I have seen a number of similar situations and given that we are here to take care of Grimm attracted by the strike, I would expect the protesters to be… more violent. Instead, they seem almost nervous. There should be more tension if we were called. Did you feel something, Miss Panoply?" Nobody asks her where she saw violent protests, and she seems to have followed a sound reasoning, you nod at her.

"Exactly, they think we are here to disperse them, not just kill Grimm. Either they don't know about the threat, which is strange, as this isn't information that the manager is supposed to hide, or there is something more going on."

The bullhead come to a stop right as you finish your sentence.

"There we go, we arrived at our destination. I'll wait here for the return trip. Have a good mission." The pilot broadcast from his cabin.

You get up, followed by team PRNS, they all have a serious air in anticipation of what you will do.

"Team, think of it as an occasion to learn a little more about doing an investigation. I want you all to try and not talk too much. Keep your eyes and ears open, and follow my lead, am I clear?" You look at each of them in turn.

"Yes mother." Comes from Penny. While Weiss gives you a "Yes Professor." and Nora gives you a salute, with Ren content with a simple nod.

"Well then, here is how we are going to do this:"

[] You will come as the Damsel. Approachable, happy to serve, bumbly, clearly only there because of her money.

[] You will simply come as yourself and act normally, that should be enough.

[] If the protesters see you as an enemy, it is likely the manager will see you as an ally, especially since you seem like a group of privileged people. Use this, act in the way he expects and strengthen his impression.

A/N:

*Think the update is way too short and begin thinking about what conversations could have happened while traveling, Weiss comes in with ideas about Blake's actions….

…Update more than doubles in size.*

Mission accomplished?

(1300 words or so of this update comes entirely from the *little* revision, to give you an idea.)

This is a reminder that the White fang (the pacifistic movement led by Kali) and the *Red* Fang (named after the change of color for their flag and the violent movement led by Sienna Khan) coexists in this universe, as is often the case for this kind of things in reality.

There is definitely something going on with this place.

Before anyone begins to jumps at shadows and say *Apathy!*, the workers are too nervous for that, not apathetic, it is likely the Grimm that were attracted are reacting to fear and maybe despair. As Weiss pointed out, this is a little strange, most rally that attract Grimm would be due to anger and hate.

Well then, time to close the vote:


Close, but Damsel wins.

You are here to be pretty and drop spaghetti, and you forgot the spaghetti when leaving.

I am likely to lose access to my pc for a time (it doesn't want to register my D drive, and most of my stuff is there. Going to give it to a professional and cross my fingers. Thank Azathoth I put my writing on the Desktop), the update already being done (I'm on holydays for 1 and a half week since Wednesday), I'm going to post it right now.

I can monitor the rest from my phone, and should recover my PC soon enough to keep the normal schedule for the next update, I'll tell more when I know more.


You look at the entire team, thinking on how they act normally, who they are, then begin explaining what you want them to do:

"Weiss, I want you to act as haughty as possible. The manager will probably expect someone like your father, do you think you can do that?" At the girl's nod, you continue with Penny. "Dear, you are going to have to pretend you aren't really the leader of the team. Look at Weiss or Ren as if you wanted their advice, don't contradict anyone, don't propose many ideas." Your Daughter promptly indicates she understood and you look at the last two members of the team. "Ren, you should try and look a little more exasperated with Nora than you are. As for you, Nora…" The girl is almost vibrating in anticipation of your advice, no doubt expecting some grand spy game, unfortunately, you are going to go for something much simpler. "You can act mostly normally. It's not that I doubt you, but having a slightly disruptive element that will be *stopped* by Ren, and specifically Ren, will paint a picture of the power dynamic completely different from the real one."

"And you, Mother, how will you act?" Penny asks.

"I am going to change into the Damsel and use that to convince him I am completely guileless and inoffensive." You simply answer, waiting for the inevitable question.

"The.. Damsel?" Weiss ends up being the one to take the bait.

"Yes, the innocent Damsel that can do no wrong and is always happy to follow all directions given to her by her love… or anyone with a modicum of seeming authority." You add. "I will probably be acting in ways that could shock you normally, taking some remarks in strides or making comments without the correct tone or thinking of their implications. You don't have to worry, the Damsel is quite good at making people feel at ease and I don't think the manager will see anything too wrong without searching deeper, something he is unlikely to do. Now, I think we're ready, let's begin with this mission."

You get out of the Bullhead in the order you told to your students, Weiss and Ren first then Penny then Nora, giving the impression the two are the actual leaders. There is only a handful of guards between you and the building you are going towards, most of them apparently closer to the site of the protest from what you can see.

"The huntsmen team from Beacon?" One of them asks you when you approach. At your bright nod he continues. "The manager is waiting for you in the hall."

You go past him and indeed, you can see a man in the middle of the entry hall waiting for you, he seems quite happy when looking at you and your team.

"Hello!" You cheerfully greet him. "Stella Panoply and Team PRNS here for the Grimm extermination you asked for."

"Welcome, welcome! If you do not mind, I would love to have a little talk with you in my office about this mission. I am mister…" He already told what you should do, so you only listen with one ear as he guides you towards a cozier place, there are even a table for guests and everything! This looks more like a small reception place than an office. Oh, it seems like he is about to say something important! "You cannot imagine my relief when I saw who had taken my offer. After the normal team I call to help fell ill at the worst possible time, I feared I would have to deal with some plebeians, or worse." He shivers. "Some ani… I mean Faunus." He does look at your reaction when he let this slip, but you simply sparkle at him and he quickly lose the remaining suspicion he had. "Such a fine lady as you, not to mention the wonderful team you got, would certainly be willing to listen to a little proposition I have." He looks at you expectantly… Oh! He must want you to answer!

"Of course. I would be happy to help." There, perfect.

"Good, good. Then allow me: You see, while there are Grimm around, they aren't the main problem I have." You listen attentively to his great revelation. "Those animals outside are refusing to work, and they are in need of some discipline."

"I see, you want us to make an example of some of them then?" You gladly ask.

He regretfully shakes his head.

"While I would love to, it would be too risky. No, I simply want you to use your authority as huntsmen to tell them to disperse, preferably while looking ready to take care of any recalcitrant ones. I am sure this young man can do this perfectly." He looks at Ren during this last part, the young man barely moving in answer except for a small frown and a nod. You can see Penny behind him doing her best impression of being lost.

"That seems perfectly doable, don't you agree, miss Panoply?" Weiss interjects at that.

"Of course, we would be happy to help. Oh! Can you tell us the team you work with normally? They seem like interesting people to meet. I would be so glad to finally have an interlocutor that understands me." You slightly push the Damsel away for this remark, not enough to change yet, but enough to be able to think is some other lines than just *how do I help?*.

"They are team GNRC." The manager answer, none the wiser at your act than before. "It is good to meet more people who share our values, you know? Nowadays you can't do anything without one of the animals trying to pretend they're our equals. Aren't they happy we are giving them a job? Really..." He tsk.

And this is as far as you let him go before deciding you have enough for a case and turn back to normal, making him startle at the abrupt change in both clothing and demeanor.

"Thank you for all your information Mister…" You realize that you somehow completely forgot to memorize his name when you were the Damsel and continue as if you didn't. "I think this is enough to arrest you for tentative of corruption of Huntsmen, discrimination over Faunus, and I am sure we'll find other things when an inspection comes to the site."

"You… you tricked me!" He begins to get red with anger. "I'll tell you, I have friends in high places and if you try and do this I will make sure to make you regret it."

"I guess that adds a new charge to the list. I am sure Headmaster Ozpin will find this extremely impressive when he has a talk with his fellow councilmen." You calmly continue, reminding him of your own *friends in high places*. "Now, are you willing to come quietly or should I also add resisting arrest?" You raise an eyebrow while watching for his reaction.

He deflates, seems to realize that he cannot win this one, and give you his hands, allowing you to manacle him.

You spend some very occupied minutes right after that, contacting both Glynda and the police to get someone to take him from your hands, as well as informing the guards of the situation and that they should stay here for a potential interrogation. They are all probably complicit, so you need to make sure they don't flee.

Then you simply… wait, you are outside of Vale, so they will take some time to reach you, you cannot go take care of the Grimm since you have to keep an eye on all the guards and the Manager. During this wait, you see Weiss give some looks at the Protesters that are looking at the proceedings with a mixture of hope, disbelief and some suspicion. They seem unsure on how to take this and she seems to want to talk to them.

Finally, the bullhead sent to take your suspects arrive, and you proceed to transfer them in the hands of the Huntsmen and policemen who will take it from there.

Weiss is still hesitating, probably weighting your mission and her desire in her mind and not finding a clear winner. Given the fact that there shouldn't be many Grimm, you decide to address this:

"Weiss, everyone." They all turn to you at that. "I think the Gimm can wait a little, we are going to go talk to the protesters, they probably have some insight on the manager anyway." Weiss is still apprehensive, but at least she has a goal before her, allowing her to concentrate on it. Penny looks at you gratefully, it seems she did see Weiss dilemma but was waiting for your decision.

How will you approach this?

[] You take point as the Witch, that should completely shatter any notions of you being a haughty noble. The Witch will want to act as the Witch does though.

[] You take point as yourself with your Faunus traits out. You do look like a prideful human, so maybe showing you are one of them can help.

[] Let Weiss take point, she seems to know what she wants, but you can't be sure of how they will react.

[] Write-in.

A/N:

By the way, the manager was fucked the moment his mission ended up on the Beacon workboard.

Every single huntsman working here would have sensed that something was strange, and would have acted to find out what:

Professor Port would have had a pretty similar discussion as yours, only replacing the innocent Damsel with a bumbling old man, before he would have gotten all sharp for the arrest.

Doctor Oobleck would've decided *you know what, time for a surprise inspection, we wouldn't want the Grimm to come back due to poor conditions, do we?*, and worked out the rest from there.

Glynda, if she took that sort of missions and wasn't stuck due to her numerous responsibilities in Beacon, would have been able to either have the guy think she is just as racist as him (if he didn't know her reputations), or would have found that something was strange when coming as the manager would have tried to hide everything that could've incriminated him (if he did know her by reputation), in which case, see Oobleck but with even more skittish Faunus Workers.

And so on and so forth for other professors.

There are strong indications that Huntsmen are law enforcement during the show, so you just arrested the guy on the spot. If I had to give a reason for this power, you are in charge of taking care of Grimm, and that would include by removing those that create situations that attract them, or something.