A New Hope Nier

Ozpin was sitting in his office with is both his right-hand lady in Glynda Goodwitch as well as his left hand in his wetworker Qrow Branwen as they went over Jake's information as Ozpin had hurriedly called upon his confidants feeling the all to powerful familiar feeling of excessive amounts of magic being used.

"Oz, why do you even think it was the brat and why does it matter? If anything, it would just attract Salem to him instead of trying to have her operatives finish off Amber." Qrow groused as he was being run ragged trying to find the people who had attacked the Fall Maiden Amber in her travels.

"Because such an outburst of magical power means he either was enacting some kind of grand ritual that could have done god knows what. Or he could have even been fighting her operatives or possibly even Salem herself!" Ozpin sharply responded as he messed with his computer before sagging in his seat and folded his hands in front of his face as he hummed in thought.

"Headmaster you received the news?" Mrs. Goodwitch asked calmly, and the immortal old wizard nodded as he leaned back in his chair.

"Yes, it seems that whatever he did he accomplished it as his 'mission' was declared a success and one of his ships will be retrieving him and his team." Ozpin responded before Qrow snorted.

"Kids smart to have whatever crap he wanted to do, be hired by a third party, but he and those androids rely too much on their control over cyberspace and neglect to focus on mundane forms of espionage... And even Androids don't care about a dusty old crow flying into their factory to check what they are doing." Qrow scoffed making both of the other room's occupants nod. "Now the question is what are they even doing with weird rockets and crap. There's no reason to go to space right Oz?" Qrow asked the wise man who had lived for thousands of years.

Ozpin frowned and cast his mind back millennia back when the gods were around and magic in all shapes and power filled the world, but even back then even if wind mages could create an air pocket for people to breathe and not be crushed by the void of space, they would also possibly freeze or burn to death in moments outside the planet's protections... In essence, there was zero reason to go out into space that Ozpin knew with all his knowledge unless they had some kind of magical telescope that needed to be at such a height.

But at that point, they might as well just invest in scrying magic... Jake's actions were most vexing as he couldn't keep as close an eye on his operations as almost all of his YoRHa group's activities have been moved deep underground both literally and metaphorically.

"No Qrow. Space is dead and beyond all but gods. At least I thought so, until Jake came here with proof of being a magic user from a different world. So, I cannot say what he has planned, but we have made a deal for him to attempt to deal with Salem... And until he makes his attempt on her I won't pressure or needle him until I can find out his worth." Ozpin said cooly as at this point, he was more than willing to trust a foreigner to the world. With his own magical system as Jake had even offered just throw his bitch of an ex-wife into the void of space or even between dimensions.

"Well with Vytal Festival being a couple of months away it's likely her agents will rise to the surface to try to make a distraction to find Amber if they haven't gotten into Beacon somehow anyway," Qrow said groaning as he popped his back when he stopped leaning on Ozpins desk to take an audible chug of whiskey from his large flask. "Haaa... Anyway, Oz I don't care if the kids your silver bullet for Salem but if he gets Ruby or Yang killed, I will be taking his head with my scythe." Qrow threw out as he morphed into a black crow and flew out an open window Ozpin dully stared ahead in his office without even responding to Qrow's warning.

Because in the end it hardly mattered to him. He was old, tired, and frankly, although he was willing to believe Jake had a bit of a chance with his magic system that was foreign to this world. But Ozpin had hoped for millennia to find a way to deal with Salem only to fail every single time as not even the conceptual power of destruction held in the Relic of Destruction couldn't kill Salem as her immortality was tied to the concept of Grimm within this world via her dip in the Grimm pools that birthed all the Grimm on the world.

Until every Grimm pool was destroyed which was impossible as they supposedly went down to the worlds core and every single living Grimm was destroyed which was also impossible as they could even slumber for decades in caves or just in the middle of a field so plants and soil will literally make a hill out of them. Only if those conditions were satisfied would her immortality lose its power.

'But with Jake's ability to just throw Salem off the world? That had potential.' Ozpin tiredly thought as he sighed taking a hearty drink from his own mug. "Glynda please try to approach Jake to see if he is willing to give you a status update about our deal for my assistance. I have given him much support in resources and making Vale's council look the other way but have received little in return. It's time I got some repayment." Ozpin ordered his headmistress to who nodded in assent as she pushed up her glasses.

"Very well. What should I press for in particular?" She asked respectfully and Ozpin huffed.

"Tell him I want a free membership... I know little kings and conquers like him. He is going to have something to appeal to the masses and with his background it's going to be something big. As he needs to amass more resources to do whatever he has planned for next. Should he give me a free pass to whatever he is doing I will essentially get a backstage pass into whatever he is planning for in the future." Ozpin spoke confidently as he dropped his metal mug onto his desk with a solemn clanging noise.

---

Salem was bewildered, to say the least... She knew every flavor of magic in this world and such a magical outburst that she could feel across the world was nothing she had ever felt before.

It certainly wasn't her pathetic ex-husband's decrepit and fading magic, and it most certainly wasn't the deathly wail of one of her previous daughter's souls that were made into Ozpin's precious Maidens flaring their magic before they moved onto another host.

"Most vexing... Has one of the gods left some kind of backup or done anything at all?" Salem pondered as she stood at the edge of her tower overlooking the blackened hellscape that was the Grimm Lands.

Salem looked to be a middle-aged woman with snow-white hair and ivory pale skin with black veins crossing all over her body under her tightly clinging black dress that had red highlights throughout it.

Salem just stared off into the distance as she pinpointed the relative direction of the magical outburst before her face creased into a frown as she realized that the destination was certainly within the lands surrounding Vale or even within the blasted city itself. With a flex of her will she called upon a Seer, an abnormally docile Grimm that she had created that could carry a piece of her consciousness across the world so she could speak to her servants.

And with a flicker a magical hologram showing her newest pawn already kneeling on the ground as the image cleared. "Ohhhh little Cinder why are you already kneeling? Have you already disappointed me again dear?" Salem spoke with sweet saccharine poison dripping from each word making Cinder's form shiver in place and in turn Salem's infernal red eyes tighten into slits as fury and disappointment filled her.

"What did you do Cinder Fall." Salem softly hissed as Cinder looked up resignedly as she began to speak.

"The White Fang operatives I have recruited have been gutted due to their independent action in raiding an unregistered military bullhead factory that was... Obscenely defended to the point of incredulity leading to many casualties and even after I burned a couple more members of their cabal to death as a warning to stay in line. Most have fled the Vale chapter of the White Fang." Cinder Fall tried to excuse herself in these actions, but Salem just took in Cinder's form as she jabbered on.

Cinder was of course a beauty, a pure femme fatale as she had been trained and actually molded by Salem's magic to reach her very peak of beauty to be of further use as Salem's tool. Cinder Fall had long black hair that was as black and shiny as pure darkness or even the sky even light was shone on it. Her body left nothing to complain about even for the most chaste as her curves her shaped to be within the range of perfection to fit upon frame her so she may ply secrets from men and woman alike before silencing them.

Salem then softly spoke as she cupped her face. "Cinder, I gave you two tasks. Finish retrieving the Maidens power and of course, bringing me back the relic held somewhere within Beacon. Messing with the animals doesn't seem to be in line to those desires..." Salem then leaned forward closer to the Seer so Cinder could properly sense her distaste at her fearful form.

"Quit with your power games and infiltrate Beacon as you were going to do in the future and along with those previous tasks you will also be searching for recent disturbances along with any odd things that happen around Vale... I will also be sending Tyrian to Vale to make sure you get into Beacon within the week."

"My lady that's not at all needed I can have-" Cinder tried to speak but Salem pushed her will into the Seer and before Cinder could react the Seer on the other end slapped her across the face with one of its many tentacles as the Seer was in the shape of a floating jellyfish with dozens of wrist thick tentacles that could shatter the limbs of huntsmen with aura reinforcement.

A moment of silence filled the magical call before Salem spoke with just a tiny amount of anger in her voice but that spark of anger sent chills down Cinder's spine. "Cinder, I hear your little pet Emerald is a bit younger than you and has an even more useful semblance. Make sure to train her a bit in how to use your Maiden powers... It would be highly convenient for me if after Tyrian kills you for failing me again, he can bring your gaslit little orphan back to me for reeducation." Salem bluntly said as she ended the call with Cinder Fall.

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