In RWBY's Shadow

Confronting Faculty

You know, I haven't been in the Headmaster's office since the start of our mission, Lilly thought to herself as she stood awkwardly beside her team. How does he get anything done in here? That ticking must get annoying. The rhythmic throbbing of the giant clock gears beneath them droned on, causing a slight vibration with each advancement of the massive timepiece. Then again, maybe that's why he still has so much paperwork. The piles of papers on the Headmaster's desk had never been present in their previous visits, but maybe he just hid them before they arrived. Then again, with the ongoing Festival and Yang's incident only hours ago, it could've just been a sign of his increased workload. Ozpin probably looked forward to the end of the school year as much as they did.

Speaking of Ozpin, the man probably could've been a champion poker player, given how calm he remained in the face of the three assembled teams. Especially given how the edge of his desk creaked and groaned in Coco's angry grip as she stared down the much older man through her dark shades. Lilly thought it an odd accessory so late at night, but knew better than to question Coco's sense of style. In spite of the situation, Ozpin calmly set down the form he'd been looking over, taking a long sip of his coffee before clearing his throat.

"Miss Adel," the Headmaster greeted from his chair, looking up to the second-year leader over his steaming mug. "I neither expected nor desired visitors this evening. I would have thought the inactive elevators had made that clear enough."

"Might want to get those fixed," Coco growled between great, panting breaths. Her shoulders rose and fell with each violent burst of air. She jerked her head toward a door to the side, keeping her eyes locked on Ozpin's. "Took the stairs instead. Figured we'd let ourselves in."

"So I noticed. Well, you have shown such diligence in seeking me out. Why don't you tell me what's so urgent that it could not wait until morning?"

Coco stood a little taller, flicking her head to force her hair back into place before replacing her beret. "Made some new friends this evening," Coco nodded to where Lilly and her team stood, none of them sure what to do but content to await Coco's lead, "and they had such an interesting story, that I just had to come share."

Part of Lilly now regretted enlisting the aid of the bombastic girl in confronting Ozpin. Yang had gotten in contact with Velvet and insisted they all meet up. Coco seemed less than impressed at first, but agreed to hear them out after some prodding from Velvet. Yang basically threw Lilly into the middle of the whole thing, insisting she had some valuable information but not specifying what. All eyes had turned to her as she carefully described the nature of her Semblance and, more importantly, what she'd seen during Yang's fight. Coco's teammates seemed uninterested in the details, but the moment Lilly mentioned Yang seeing Mercury attack her, Coco had suddenly become very curious.

Lilly could still feel Coco's fingers digging into her arms as the older girl demanded to know if she'd seen anything during her fight. She was sure she'd be sporting some nasty bruises in the morning. Lilly described exactly what she'd seen, even as Coco's face began to light up in excitement. Her team looked to one another in confusion as the pieces fell into place, ending with Coco turning on them suddenly, insisting she'd been right all along. The guilty looks on her teammates' faces hinted that they'd doubted her and felt guilty, even if Lilly couldn't exactly blame them.

Yang insisted they needed to tell Ozpin about what happened. If someone had targeted them already, then no one was safe. The Headmaster had to be warned.

Coco quickly gained brownie points with Lilly by pointing out a flaw in their plan. They needed some way to convince the Headmaster what had happened. Something more than the word of a few students claiming to be victims of a mysterious illusionist. The group went silent at that, aware that they'd be asking a lot with little to offer. At least, until Lilly finally spoke up.