Summary: It all started the night Ozpin broke into Roman Torchwick's apartment and asked him to spy on his boss.

A/N: This starts immediately after the end of Volume 1, and will follow canon until something happens that forces it to diverge, which will likely be somewhere halfway through Volume 3. I started writing this around the start of Volume 3, so it'll follow fairly closely until that point and I'll do my best to incorporate events after that point, but this will almost certainly turn into an AU eventually. If something happens that I think I can add to whatever parts of this I've already posted, I may go back and edit, but probably not. So yeah, fair warning.

Another fair warning: like the series, this will get dark. While there will be humor too (I mean, it's Torchwick, and in my mind Ozpin is a massive troll), this is definitely still a world where shitty stuff happens.

I have up until Vol 2 Ep 3 written, and Vol 2 Ep 11ish planned out. The first few updates will be fairly regular, since I've got a buffer of around 4 chapters, but if school picks up and I run out of buffer, updates will be sporadic and happen when I've polished each chapter to my satisfaction.

This was inspired in part by theories I saw floating around somewhere on the internet (probably tumblr) and Unforseen Circumstances by Siena Goodwitch, although it goes in a very different direction than that.

Rating: M because Roman swears a lot and is generally not a nice person. And the imminent violence.

Disclaimer: Don't own, not making any profit.

"An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." - Orlando A. Battista

Hours after Vol. 1 Ch. 16, Black and White (but not many):

Several hours after midnight, I finally opened the door to my apartment. One of my many apartments, of course - I'm not stupid enough to have only one home base. This was one of the ones Cinder didn't know about, because if I saw her or her lackeys again before I'd had at least ten hours of sleep, a shower, and a gallon of coffee, I might 'accidentally' blow something up. I can only handle so much weird-ass shit at once, and the girl with the swords had filled my quota for the rest of the month. Maybe the rest of the year.

I tossed my hat at the hat rack, hoped it landed there and not the floor but couldn't be bothered to check, flipped on the lights, and - shit shit shit, mysterious cloaked figure in front of my bay window, damn it, why now? No one knew about this apartment, no one.

"Hello, Roman," the figure said. Male, vaguely familiar, figure it out later. Or maybe not, my cane was already aimed at him.

"What the hell are you doing here? Show me your face before I blast it off." I attempted to put a dangerous edge on my voice but it probably came out more tired than anything. Whatever, I could work with that. Play it like I was tired of this shit and not actually, you know, about to fall asleep on my feet any second.

Mystery Man chuckled and flipped back his hood. "Really, Roman, it hasn't been that long, has it?" I moved a couple steps closer and hit the lights near the window. White hair, glasses - what the actual fuck was Ozpin doing in my apartment?

I didn't lower my cane. "For some of us it has. Why are - actually, no, I don't even care why, how are you here?"

Ozpin took a couple steps towards me and I took a couple steps back. Kept myself out of his range (hopefully) and him in my sights (for all the good it would do, I mean, have you seen his cane?).

He frowned at me. "You can lower your weapon, I'm not here to harm you, or arrest you."

I laughed, "Oh really? A huntsman going after a criminal for reasons other than apprehending him? Sounds kinky."

He didn't even react to my (admittedly pretty weak, it was three in the morning, okay?) joke. "If I wanted to apprehend you, you'd already be in a cell. I'm just here to talk."

He had a point there. One on one, I had no chance against him. I lowered my cane and huffed out a sigh. "Okay, I'll listen. After I get a drink."

I walked over to the cabinet where I keep the good stuff and leaned my cane against the wall. Not like it would do me any good. I briefly considered pouring myself a reasonable amount of alcohol, but decided things had gone way past reasonable the moment the Headmaster of Beacon showed up in the apartment of Vale's Most Wanted. I filled the glass to the brim. When I turned around again Ozpin had seated himself in one of the armchairs in my living room, so I took the one opposite him.

I took a sip and put on an expression of contentment. When you have no clue what you're doing, act like you're bored as hell.

"Alright, talk."

"I want you to spy on your employer for me."

I nearly spit my drink. "What? Are you insane? Wait, don't answer that. Why? What makes you think this is in any way a good idea?"

"Your... unique position gives you the ability to gain information that would be very valuable to me."

I laughed. "'Unique position?' What's that supposed to mean?"

"You are in the highest levels of this organization, and yet it appears that you don't entirely believe in their goals. You have both opportunity and motive."

"What makes you think that?" Try to play it cool, don't show how freaked out you are by the fact that he knows things about you that he really, really shouldn't.

Ozpin just smiled enigmatically. "I have my sources."

Damn him. "Assuming any of that is true, why would I even consider doing this?"

He answered immediately, "Because they don't trust you. They're keeping things from you, and you want to know what and why. Deep down, you're wondering if they're not telling you because it's something so terrible they know you would turn on them."

I'd been contemplating my glass when he started, wondering how it had suddenly become empty, but at that my eyes snapped up and met his. He was leaning forward, elbows on knees, looking at me intently. Making a point. I looked away first, then got up to refill my glass. Maybe not so much this time, I almost stumbled on the edge of the carpet and the room did a tilty thing I'm pretty sure rooms can't actually do.

"The answer is no." So much easier to talk to him when my back was turned and I couldn't see him giving me that stare, like he could see exactly what was going on in my head.

"Very well. Just know that the offer remains open, should you change your mind. And if you say yes, you will also be free to stop at any time. You are the one in charge of this arrangement." Suddenly his voice was by my ear and I just barely suppressed the reflex to jump. Instead I found myself meeting his gaze again. "And, if I may suggest, sleep would be better for you than more alcohol, at this point." He slowly removed the bottle of scotch from my hand and moved it to the far corner of the tabletop, out of my reach, never breaking eye contact. "I can show myself out."

As he turned to leave, I regained sufficient control of myself to give him the best death glare I could muster. "Yes, please do that and kindly never come back!"

Once the door closed and locked I let myself slump forward. "What the actual fuck." I was not awake or drunk enough to deal with this. I raised my glass to take another drink before realizing I never got around to pouring any more.

Bullshit, that I was in charge of this situation.

Shortly afterwards:

I pulled my hood up before I left the building. No need to take any unnecessary chances of being seen. When I'd gotten a couple blocks away, my scroll pinged with an incoming call. The number was blocked, but I knew who it was.

"Hello," I said.

A slightly slurred drawl answered me. "Well, how'd it go?"

"As expected. He declined the offer."

"Told ya so."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, you did. I did get some useful information, though. He inadvertently confirmed what you suspected; he isn't truly the person in charge."

"Huh, now that's interesting. Nice job, Oz, I'll make a spy out of you yet."

"Qrow, I -"

"Yeah, yeah, you deal with teenagers every day, you have to be a master spy to figure out if they mean what they say and say what they mean half the time."

"Mm, that too, but I also dropped that bug of James's in his coat pocket."

There was a pause on the other end. "I take it all back, there's nothing more you can learn from me. Go forth and... do whatever it is you do."

I smiled. "I'll talk to you later, Qrow."

"Later, Ozzy."