Screw It, I'm Going Out to Find It!

Chapter XI: CCT

"You've all lost your minds," Cardin grunted, stuffing another mace into his bag. He already had a pile going, and it rattled around each time he shifted.

"You're one to talk!" Across The Bucket where the others were planning, Ruby crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him. "You just grabbed all the maces they had on that island! I know weapons are cool and all, but that's too much." She narrowed her silver eyes. "And why are you stuffing them all in one bag?"

Cardin smirked and flexed for the crew. "First, it's a workout. You don't get stronger by lazing around. Second, I'll have a backup in case my weapon fails me again."

"Does that really constitute doing all of this?" Ren asked tiredly. Cardin just turned back to his work. Laying on the ground were five more that he was determined to make fit. He really should have paid attention when his mom was fixing his packing for Beacon.

Ren decided it was a fruitless battle. He had a much more pressing case of insanity before him. They were, according to Blake, only an hour away from their target base. It wasn't a small one either. In the center of the sea, marked on their map, was a large drawing that stood out from the others. Hoping they would hear reason, Ren suggested that meant size and manpower. Jaune, being delusional, agreed and said that would reflect on what they might have. Although the task felt like herding Noras, sharing a look with Blake told him he wouldn't have to salvage this mission alone.

"Let's go over it again!" Jaune's eyes were set, deadly serious. His tone was that of a leader, calm and collected, but firm and unwavering. Pointing at the chart they had drawn, he traced the images they had drawn. It really did feel like they were planning for war. "Operation Get-Us-A-PlayBox cannot, and will not fail." Too bad it was over something like this.

"Ruby, you'll be our welcoming party. Meet the marines up front and give our facade. I'll leave the story up to you, but keep them there and keep them distracted for as long as you can. Blake, Neo, you're our stealth party. Wait for the distraction, go in, look around, take what you can. Ren, you're on watch. Go with Ruby and be ready to signal if there's an emergency. Cardin, you and I are back up. We wait here and if things go to shit, we rush in." Jaune looked around, meeting each and everyone of them. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered. Neo did the same, but without any sound. Whether they liked it or not, this was happening. Ren was just thankful he was on damage control. That would have been his job anyways.

***

"Dude." Neptune stretched out the word, falling back onto the cot by the wall he had claimed. "I know we agreed to this without reading anything, but this is actually awesome."

Already laying down while resting his head on his hands and crossing his leg over his knee, Sun spoke without opening his eyes. "We agreed because we couldn't read any of it."

Flipping through the papers, Neptune chuckled. "Speak for yourself man. It looks pretty simple to me. It says that if we only attack other pirates," he flipped the page. Sun cracked one eye open to what Neptune had just 'read' was filled with dense text. "And we listen when the marines tell us to do something," another page just like the last. It was probably a word count of at least five hundred a page. "Then we can still be pirates, do what we want, and they won't arrest us!"

It was beginning to bug Sun. Propping himself up on one arm, he spoke calmly. "This is serious for you, isn't it? You're actually seeing that stuff and reading it?"

Neptune looked confused. "What do you mean? I — can you actually not? It's pretty clear to me." The pages fluttered as Neptune searched for some hidden thing that might be causing this.