Recherche and Bolt went and got Professor Goodwitch, who pulled Wolf and I out of detention, explaining that the note was just to set up a meeting. They lectured us about being more responsible and then let us go to meet team RWBY in the library. They had reserved a room in the back with a large table in the middle. There was a large window on the side so we could see in.
Ruby was pacing around, anxiously wringing her hands. Blake and Weiss stood over the table, looking down at some maps and pointing. Yang leaned back in a chair with her arms crossed and a frustrated look on her face. The walls appeared to be soundproof, and we were just outside the door and couldn't hear Ruby talking, but could see her lips moving.
"But guys, what if they think that I got them into detention on purpose," we heard Ruby say in a worried voice as Bolt opened the door and Recherche lead us in.
"Don't worry about it. We know that it wasn't your intention," our leader assured her as we filed into the room.
"Oh heh. Well that's good," Ruby said, running the back of her neck and blushing a little pink in embarrassment that we heard her. I glanced up at Yang, who was glaring over at me. I rolled my eyes at her then followed my team as they approached the table.
"What have you got so far?" Recherche asked, looking down at the maps. There was a large one of the kingdoms of Remnant. The one that they were currently looking over was a map of Vale.
"They've stolen dust from all of the locations marked with a red X," Blake said, pointing to the map of Vale.
"That we know of," Weiss interjected.
Blake gave her an exasperated look that said that she was already well aware that they didn't know all of the places that the White Fang had hit.
"What are the blue circles?" Wolf asked, leaning over my shoulder. As they talked, I picked up the red marker and added a few more Xs to the map. I didn't hit all of them personally, but I knew they had been hit.
"The blue circles are places where we believe there bases are... or were at least," Ruby explained. They had circled the location of the White Fang meeting, the docks where we hauled Dust from, the general area where Roman and I worked, and where we had hidden the train. It wasn't bad at all. If they had been given more time they might have found Roman and I, maybe even Cinder. After I was done with the Xs I picked up the blue marker and made tiny blue dots inside their circles, marking exactly where the hideouts had been.
"Is there any chance that they're still there?" Ruby asked looking up to me. I shook my head no. They definitely wouldn't have stayed.
"Oh that's right. We have one of the villains right here," Yang said with a sarcastic snarl and an antagonizing tone as she jumped down off of her perch and strutted over to me. "So what about it pale and frosty? If there not there, where did they go? C'mon tell me."
I instinctively stood up straighter and looked her dead in the eye. I wouldn't show any feelings. I would not let her know that she was getting to me. With a cold stare I looked up and said in a steely voice, "No."
"No? You won't tell me? Then I'll go tell Professor Ozpin that you're still a bad guy," she threatened, stepping closer to me even though she said that she would go.
"No I will not tell you because I do not know," I snapped, glaring right back at her. 'If you want to prance along and tattle to Ozpin what he already knows be my guest', I wanted to snarl, but years of training taught me to keep silent.
"If you're trying to pick another fight with Neo, be my guest," Rechereche said in a voice that was full of authority as she looked up at us from the maps, "But as far as you're concerned, you are square. She will not be holding back this time." Yang flushed red as Rechereche turned back to the maps. Bolt and Weiss followed suit, trying to find a connection between old and possible new locations. Wolf watched just as anxiously as Blake did, waiting to see if they would have to split Yang and I up. Ruby cleared her throat to get her sister's attention. It worked and Yang's gaze shifted over to the smaller girl who shook her head 'no' ever so slightly, begging Yang to keep her cool. Yang's glared back down and me and snarled in annoyance before turning on her heel and stalking back over to the corner. I should have expected Yang to be this way. I was the bad guy after all.
"Sooo... Do you know what their next move is?" Blake asked me. She looked at me with a some of of empathy in her eyes. She had been the bad guy too after all. She probably imagined us to be similar. If only she knew all that I had done, she'd realize that she was nothing like the monster that I was.
"No," I sighed, taking my focus off Yang and Blake, going back to my responsibility. "We were never allowed to know the next step of the plan until the current step was completed."
"Well I'd say you completed the 'train wreak' mission. What was the step after that?" Weiss asked.
"I don't know," I admitted, "When you guys came looking for Roman, you rather mucked up the plan. We were forced to change what we were doing. Cinder wasn't happy, and punished Roman by sending him and I to jail."
"Who is Cinder?" Ruby asked. I then explained to him who Mercury, Emerald, and Cinder were, and what thy were all about. Team RWBY recalled seeing them on different occasions.
"So you don't know anything," Yang scoffed when I finished. I glared silently after her. I would never admit this to her, but she was right. I didn't know anything that was going on. I didn't know where Cinder or the White Fang were, and I had no idea what the next part of their plan was. If Ozpin realized that I was this useless, I was going to end up in prison. Unless...
"I do know someone," I said, mostly to myself. "Someone who might know where they've gone and what they might be up to."
"Who would know that and would be willing to tell you?" Ruby asked.
"An old friend. People in my profession call him The Librarian," I said with a shrug, as if it were no big deal. Wolf looked up at me with wide eyes. He knew very well the kind of man the Librarian was and was worried for me, but he said nothing, knowing that I really had no choice.
"Okay then. Neo will visit the Librarian tomorrow on our day off to see what she can find, and we will meet up here again at 8:00," Recherche said, forming the end part as a question and looking around the two teams to make sure that what she was saying was agreeable.
"Sounds like a plan!" Ruby said eagerly. After everything was decided our teams headed back to our team rooms. Wolf was uneasy and approached me about it as I went to sit on my bed.
"Maybe I should come with you tomorrow," he said hesitantly.
"No," I said firmly. "It will set him off. I won't be able to get anything out of him."
"What if he turns on you? You are on the good side now, remember?" Wolf reminded me, clearly worried.
"I can always activate Scary Neo," I said calmly, though the thought made me uncomfortable. It bugged Wolf too. He almost visibly flinched back, and I might have as well. The truth was, I couldn't completely handle... her. It was like my mind could become someone else. It was always a struggle to get Scary Neo back under control, and what she was capable of... what I was capable of when I was her... it was terrible and horrifying. In fact, the thing that frightened me most of all was losing myself to Scary Neo.
"I doubt it will come to that though," I lied, putting a reassuring smile on my face. It was enough to calm Wolf though. He relaxed and bid me goodnight. I slid into bed and stared up the ceiling the thoughts of what could happen tomorrow distracting me from sleeping.
