Fortune Favors The Prepared

Our 'tour' ended with us returning to beacon where I had Ruby lead me to the cafeteria. I don't necessarily need to eat but I need to keep up appearances, that and the fact that I simply want to try the food they have to offer. 

The beacon kitchen staff are hard workers and I'm not just saying that because they managed to whip up something for me despite lunch being over hours ago. Definitely not. 

Now I'm finally settled in the dorm room that Ozpin had so kindly offered to me. Obviously I had no roommates so I'm free to deliberate in peace. 

The scroll Ozpin provided for me sat on the table, I wouldn't be using it. Instead, I pulled out one of the numerous scrolls I'd taken from my stay in Mount Glenn. 

Enchanting it to be untraceable and unhackable, I began working, connecting to the CCT network. The programming skill that I acquired from the cyoa plus my already decent knowledge with it did wonders. 

There are many firewalls blocking access to the more delicate aspects of the tower. I have to say, the scroll design is convenient, it would be next to impossible to do this with a normal phone. 

One empty plate and an hour later, I finally wormed my way through the security systems. I encountered Watts' virus that Cinder used to gain access to the CCT system. 

I didn't remove it. For all I know, Watts could have put in a failsafe so I did the next best thing. I contained it in a different part of the system. It might have needed me to add said part to the system but that only took an extra two hours. 

Between that and the earthly playlist I had playing softly in the background, I barely noticed the time passing. Remnant had shit music taste, something I quickly realized. Not all of it was bad but a vast majority was. 

Then again, I don't blame them. They're more focused on staying alive than entertainment.

Moving on, I now have access to every device in Vale that makes use of this CCT tower, Cinder's group included. 

 Cinder's messages were scanty with no obviously incriminating evidence. Though, there is a text conversation with someone vaguely mentioning the virus. She also made a call to that number recently. That should be Watts.

Other than that, the only other odd thing in her phone was the obscene amount of pictures she had of herself. She took narcissism to a whole new level. 

Oh well, her craziness is my gain. 

-[Cinder]-

With the Valean army on guard after the failure at mountain Glenn, she'd been watching, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. 

Though, all was not lost. She still had access to the tower, that would be useful. Still, she couldn't help the burst of irritation that went through her. All of this and nobody was able to find out who was responsible for sabotaging her plans. 

All she had to show for it were faunus who were either dead or locked up and a Thief who had vanished into thin air. It all vexed her to no end. 

"Did you hear what happened?" She heard a female voice ask. 

Tracing the source, she saw two girls sitting a short distance away. She almost rolled her eyes at the fact that despite these girls being huntresses in training, they were still just girls. 

Gossip was inevitable. 

"I heard those first year girls brought a guy back from that mountain." The same girl said, snapping her attention towards her. 

"You're kidding. That place has been abandoned for decades. What was he even doing there?" The other girl asked. 

"I don't know but he looked pretty tired. Something about a giant grimm there, I can't really remember."

He was the one who killed the Wyvern on the mountaintop! He must also be the one who foiled her plans and stole the bombs. The question is how did he do it. 

Getting out of her seat, she strutted over to their table. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear what you were talking about." She said. 

She didn't know everybody here but she could guess that these two girls were at least second years. 

"And you are?" The second girl asked, raising a brow. 

"How rude of me. Cinder Fall, I'm an exchange student from Haven." She introduced herself, a disarming smile on her face. 

"Come one Harriet, don't be so hostile." The other girl chided her, causing her to look away, a bit embarrassed.

"It's alright. I'm just a little curious about someone being found all the way in the mountain. I don't know how anyone would survive there." Cinder said, taking it in strides. She was here to gather information. 

"You said you heard something about him killing a huge Grimm so maybe it was a mission or something." Harriet theorized only for the other girl to scoff. 

"I haven't seen any huntsmen that look that young." The girl argued. 

She spent the next few minutes gathering as much as she could about this boy from the mountains and the foolish girls were a well of information. 

"You should go and talk to him, Cinder. Maybe he's into foreign girls." Harriet said with a small chuckle. 

"Must you be so crass?" The other girl asked in exasperation. 

"Come on, he's a guy. All guys think about girls. A little small talk, some risqué touches and he'll be eating out of your palm by the end of the week." Harriet said with absolute confidence. 

She wasn't wrong. Men were easily swayed and she was under no delusions. She was hot and she knew it. It wouldn't be the first time she used her looks to her advantage. 

After getting all that she could from the girls, she left the library. Now all she had to do was find him. That was easier said than done with how big beacon was. 

It seemed fate was on her side once more. Not too long into her search, she saw someone that fit the description. Lengthy dark hair, delicate features and confusion behind his grey eyes. 

He seemed to be looking for something. 

Walking up to him, a practiced smile on her face. "Hi, can I help you with something? You seem lost." She said, watching his eyes trace her figure despite how he tried to hide it. 

This was going to be easy. 

"Yeah, I'm looking for my dorm but this place is too confusing." He admitted, his gaze subtly lingering on her lips for a moment. 

"I can help with that. I'm an exchange student too but I know my way around pretty well." She offered, a relieved smile appearing on the boy's face. 

"I'd really appreciate it. Though, I'm not an exchange student." He corrected.

"Then how did you get lost? You're a student here, aren't you?" She asked with a small giggle. 

"It's more complicated than that." He said, a smirk of his own. 

"Oh? Do tell." She inquired, batting her eyes coquettishly. 

He waved his finger in front of her. "You're going to have to try harder than that if you want me to start spilling out my story. You haven't even told me your name." He said that but from the way he traced every move she made, it would be a lot easier than he thought. 

She'd made greater men fall. 

"I'm Cinder. And you are?" She threw the question back to him. 

"Corvus, your latest obsession." He said in a joking manner. Normally she would leave the task of buttering students up to Emerald but with Roman's failure, she didn't want any more screw ups. She'd do this herself. 

It didn't take long for her to lead him to his dorm, taking careful note of it. She'd be back and she'd have him spill all his secrets to her. Her femininity was her weapon and she'd utilize it fully. 

Sashaying her hips as she walked away, she was well aware of his eyes on her ass. He didn't stand a chance. 

-[Corvus]-

Cinder isn't as bright as she thinks she is. Watching her walk away, I entered my dorm room, seeing 'Harriet' and her 'friend' waiting for me with a smirk on their faces. 

Bringing their hands up, they pulled at their face, revealing it to be a mask, their appearance flickering away to reveal faces that I knew all too well; mine. 

The masks in their hands were now a blank white. A purchase I made in the pawn shop earlier and enchanted to disguise the appearance and voice of the wearer. My eyes flickered to the ring on my finger which they also had on their fingers. 

Ring of Influence; it essentially allowed me to implant subliminal suggestions in my target's mind. 

On my neck was a pendant that allowed me to project solid duplicates of myself. With all these and the X-ray mask, it was child's play to steer Cinder towards me. 

I implanted the suggestion that she should come and find me and allowed her to 'find' me searching for my room. 

'Your latest obsession.' I wonder how long it'll take for that to take effect. Taking the masks and storing them in my pocket space, I dismissed the projections. 

Given enough time I could kill her, but why do that when I can use her instead? If for nothing else then for eye candy. I'm not a master strategist but I've played my fair share of chess. 

Adding a mind shielding effect to my equipment is a necessity because Emerald's semblance is a bitch to handle. 

Getting Cinder under my control would effectively put Emerald under my thumb as well. I don't know about Mercury but I can deal with him easily enough.

Maybe I've got this scheming thing down. 

++++

I waited patiently for night to come before switching my shirt for my hoodie. Pulling the hood up, I felt the familiar feeling of being invisible envelope me. 

Opening the window, I jumped out, activating my shoes of teleportation. My surroundings changed instantly, finding myself on solid ground on the spot I was eying. It worked based on sight after all. 

Running towards the docking area, I pulled out an iron rod from my inventory, one of the many rods I had from my stay in the mountain. It's enchanted with flight abilities.

Holding it in the air, I'm pulled off the ground, flying towards the city. The assisted flight coupled with a few midair teleportations had me reaching the city in record time. 

Mentally thanking Ruby for her very detailed tour, I made my way back to the pawn shop. There were many things I wanted to buy but my looted money couldn't quite cover it. Now I'm here to steal it. 

Stealing feels mild in comparison to murder which I have committed quite a few times in my short stay on Remnant. 

Locating the shop, I see that it's closed and with my X-ray mask, nobody is inside. Teleporting inside, I immediately began sifting through the display cases and shelves. 

The first thing I grabbed was a ring, using a decent chunk of my aura to imbue it with a storage enchantment. At this point I'll be wearing a lot of rings but it'll be worth it in the end. 

This storage ring is essentially to separate my stuff from what I'm going to grab from the shop. Then I'd put this ring into my main storage ring, saving a lot of space. 

Plus it doesn't hurt to have a spare. 

I grabbed some hardware tools, tossing it in the pocket space. An antique compass, gloves, a pocket watch and of course I didn't forget to snatch some jewelry to add to my growing hoard. I don't know what I'll use some of them for yet but I'll figure it out later. 

I should feel bad for this, a small part of me does but a larger part of me says that it's for my survival. It's easy to tell which of them won that debate. 

I'm sure the owner will be fine. It's not like I'm taking the entire store, just most of it. It's all good.