The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

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I looked at the young girl silently for a moment, staying calm as I looked her over. It would have been foolish to act without learning everything I could and she seemed, at least momentarily, surprised to see me. 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 knew—which was actually a fair bit.

Her name was Ruby Rose, which didn't necessarily mean anything in and of itself—but she recognized the girl at my feet as Yang Xiaolong. I recognized Yang as the daughter of Taiyang Xiaolong, one of the members on Raven's old team along with her brother Qrow Branwen and a fourth member named Summer Rose. I remembered the names from my grandmother's words back in Mistral, just as I remembered that Summer Rose had apparently disappeared sometime after Raven. Given that Taiyang's daughter was at my feet, it seemed safe to assume that Summer had left behind a daughter of her own before leaving.

More than that, the same moment I heard the girl say Yang's name, I'd felt a flash of emotion from the girl at my feet, a sudden flicker of worry that seemed 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 me 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 time with one another and were close.

But with a title like that, one so similar to what Conquest's disease had given me, I needed more than that, so I kept looking. I could put her at roughly a hundred and fifty-eight centimeters 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 Summer Rose, trained by Qrow Branwen, born on the island of Patch, second year at Signal, dreams of becoming a Huntress—it went on along that vein, but didn't tell me what I wanted to know, displaying nothing about the status effect she possessed. It seemed like the type of thing that would show up, but there was nothing so much as touching upon it. Was it being hidden from me somehow? Or did it have something 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 mean anything. I focused closely on her skin and didn't see anything immediately obvious on the cellular level, at least not on the level of Conquest's cells. Absentmindedly, I checked her pulse—normal—and 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 something was there and flicked through my forms of perception, catching something 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, something fluid. At first glance, it seemed unimportant, but to my eyes…

Perhaps I was trying to force a connection, but there was something in her blood that struck me as reminiscent of the markings on Grimm masks only…more so, somehow. 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 disappearance—was this related to that somehow? It was my only lead. If my grandmother's information was accurate, that had occurred somewhere between ten and twelve years prior, which, if it was indeed tied to this, meant 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 seemed 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 time 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 time, some trigger in the host. If I made a mistake, the casualties would be unspeakable. For the moment, she was passive and I didn't dare do anything to risk activating her—not without knowing more and taking proper measures.

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 become of Summer, what might have caused this—or perhaps he'd seen signs that would give away some 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 moment, I thought Yang would attack me 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 moment to consider what to say—and 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 plummeted in importance and though I'd rather end things here, it might be worth it to just let them wreck it if it meant reaching Ozpin faster. But would they follow me, thinking me 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 moment. "Do you know me?"

"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 establishment behind me and I was forced to intervene and remove her from the premise. If possible, may I ask you to escort her home?"

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 time for games.

It was enough for her to get the message. If we'd been alone, I had no doubt that she'd have said something 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 home, sis? I'll take you back on Bumblebee."

Ruby frowned at her sister and then at me, expression a bit odd.

"I guess," She murmured. "But I was—

"Come on then, sis!" Yang interrupted cheerfully, grabbing her by the hood to her immediate 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.

"Something's come up," I said to Adam, forming the words with Levant. "Can you get home okay? I'll meet 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 someone would see Ozpin's scroll and spot the face of a wanted terrorist. Neither of us needed that action.

Luckily for me, someone in Ozpin's position needs to be easy to contact in an emergency and since this felt like it should count, I called the number he'd given me 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 moment 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 some kind.

"Forgive me, Jaune," He said, focusing back on me. "But hearing you say those words fills me with terror."

I tried to smile at that, but couldn't quite manage it, giving up with a sigh in the end and meeting his eyes. I took a moment to consider ways to phrase it, but decided to go straight for the point—for something like this, I couldn't afford to beat around the bush.

"When Conquest infected me, I got a status effect called 'On a White Horse He Rides.' When it progressed far enough, I got a skill and title named 'The White Rider' that equipped themselves automatically," I said to give context and took a breath. "I just encountered someone 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 time complaining about it. Instead, he took a deep breath and nodded, doing something to his scroll on his side. Typing?

"Who?" He asked, eyes angled slighty to the side of me, on whatever he was writing.

"A girl named 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 me, widening slightly.

"Ruby Rose," He repeated. "You're certain?"

"Well, their names 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 time 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 thing—I 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 Summer Rose disappeared over a decade ago; it seems unlikely to be a coincidence. Can you tell me anything about that?"

Ozpin was silent for a moment, looking intently at something before exhaling slowly and relaxing a touch.

"Silver eyes," He murmured before shaking his head. "Not much—Summer's disappearance came 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 time someone came looking, perhaps weeks after the event after enough time had passed to cause concern and the time for a search was arranged…well, 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 Summer had left little behind.

Even so, I needed to know more, for the sake of perhaps everyone in Remnant. There had to be something.

"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 concerning—unless she returned unbeknownst to us all, it implies that something might have happened prior to her disappearance. I don't recall anything particularly unusual—though I'm sure you've realized that Hunters can be rather unique in personality—but it was years ago and by that point we saw one another only occasionally. Perhaps Taiyang would know more, or Qrow, but…what did you see in her, Jaune?"

"Something 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 something bacterial like Conquest, though—I don't know enough to truly say, but it might have been chemical in nature, tied to her blood cells somehow. 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 somehow. Was there anything that stood out in her medical records?"

"No, not that I can see," Ozpin mused. "She seems like a healthy, young woman, no medical issues to speak of beyond a vague mention of issues sleeping. Her school records are…perhaps not normal, but nothing that would make me suspicious. She showed signs of difficulty in her first year but seemed to improve dramatically under her uncle's—that is, Qrow's—supervision. She is currently doing very well, especially in the combat portions; her instructors have made mention of her tremendous enthusiasm in that regard and have also complemented her skill with her weapon of choice, as well as its design. Said weapon is—ah."

"Crescent Rose," I answered. "Yeah, I saw it. Well, not in action, but what I read about it seemed…impressive."

"Qrow has something similar," Ozpin said. "Very dangerous, to both the wielder and their enemies. If you've ever seen someone use a scythe like that, you can be certain that they are either extremely 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 age…she's quite the prodigy. Her professors have remarked on her exceptional improvement 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 met and stronger than anyone I've seen my age, except for me. She specializes in Dexterity—speed and skill—and has some 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 time. 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?"

"I…can't say for sure," I answered carefully. "I don't dare act certain with something 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 me rather uncertain there as well. Still, the status effect she possessed was Low, so everything I could see implied that she was herself—and as far as I could tell, did not even know something 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 meeting her. If she had somehow sensed me…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, since…well, 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 some 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 it…if 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 me 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, but…now 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 assume a pattern."

I nodded seriously.

"And it gets worse," I replied. "The pattern references colored 'Riders' and the status effects mention the horses they ride upon—that 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 some way of infecting people."

"Meaning they could be anyone," Ozpin nodded in understanding. "Councilmen, 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 you—the people Conquest took, they're titles changed as well, correct?"

I nodded and then paused, shaking my head.

"Sometimes," I said. "My father, who I guess served as Conquest's main body at the time, both increased in level and changed titles—but the other's didn't. They lost their names, too, but Ruby still has hers, so…I don't know. My father wasn't titled the White Rider, though—he 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's…worrisome. For all I know, everyone around me could already be taken—we'll have to be very careful of who we trust and who we tell what. Qrow…I'll need to tell him something, but if he and Taiyang are so close to her…to 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 moment. I knew what Ozpin was saying—that he trusted me. Or at least, that he wanted me to think he trusted me, 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 me, but he must have wondered between what I'd done to my father and even the time 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 same time, I couldn't help but wonder about Ozpin in turn, about all the people I'd met 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 meaning to the term 'terror weapon'—and that terror would draw down the Grimm. He must have been thinking the same thing, worrying even more because of it but knowing he had to be careful even in trying to test things. It seemed 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."