AN: Sorry it takes me a while to release each chapter! I already have Chapters 4 and 5 done too but they're going through the proofreading/editing process now. I want to make sure that each chapter is as polished and well-written as they can be, so thank you for your patience! Be sure to leave feedback!

Leonidus and Brutus stood side by side with their hands clasped behind their backs. They had just come back to the large warehouse that was the Lioness's Pride's base to report to the Lioness herself. When they went in, they found Signal watching the whole news report of what went down on a holoscreen. She paused the feed as soon as the two brothers approached her. Standing next to Signal was her lieutenant, Khol Taurus.

"I assume you're here to give me a report," Signal said. Her words were not a question.

"Yes, ma'm," Leonidus replied. To Leonidus, Signal was a figure of absolute authority. All of the beauty that would attract a man to her that she might have had at some point in the past was gone as far as Leonidus could see it. She was like a goddess who had traded her beauty for the power needed to gain respect and obedience from those she commanded.

"Does it look like I need one?" Signal asked. Her words were hard.

Leonidus stiffened. "No, ma'm."

"Everything was caught on camera. Every juicy detail. The four kingdoms are witnessing this now, and it's an important step in bringing us closer to victory," Signal said.

"In other words: excellent work, boys," Khol said.

Leonidus frowned for a moment, then brightened considerably. "Good. I was confused."

"You are both dismissed. Wait for further orders. We'll have more for you to do sooner than later," Signal said.

Leonidus and Brutus bowed and walked away. Leonidus made sure to take one last glance over his shoulder to look at both Signal and Khol. The relationship between the two were unclear, but there were rumors spreading throughout their band of radicals that their leader and lieutenant had developed somewhat of a romantic relationship, but if there was one, Signal and Khol weren't willing yet to make that clear in public. But if this was true, Leonidus wondered if Signal knew that Khol killed his previous love very shortly after the birth of his son, Adam. He hadn't done it directly, however. He had fed her to a trio of Beowolves somewhere deep in the forest of Forever Falls.

As soon as the brothers turned a corner, Brutus took Leonidus by the shoulder, his grip firm but not violent.

"I'd like to dig nails in your shoulder right now," Brutus said.

"What's your problem?" Leonidus demanded under his breath.

"Why did you throw the knife away from Plum? The plan was that I was supposed to deliver the killing blow," Brutus said.

"I was worried about you. I didn't think—"

"You don't think I'm capable. Don't give me that 'worried' crap. You think I'm not capable enough to handle myself and get the job done," Brutus said.

"You've always been sensitive to our work. You kill more than I openly give you credit for, but—yes—I don't think you would've been capable of this one," Leonidus admitted.

Brutus let go of Leonidus's shoulder and his own shoulders sagged under the weight of his brother's words. "We're supposed to work together. You might as well have not told me to teleport into the banquet, it wouldn't have made a damn difference."

Leonidus couldn't think of anything more to say, because his brother was right. As usual.

"Prove to me that you can be strong and do what needs to be done some other way. I don't honestly care how you do it, just do it," Leonidus said.

He took out his knife with the strands of Brutus's hair tied around the handle and held it out to his brother. "Maybe you'll learn by killing me."

Brutus stared down at the knife in horror. "You wouldn't dare ask me to do that."

"If it means that my brother grows up, then I would have no problem with that."

"I won't do it."

"Suit yourself."

Leonidus returned his knife to his belt. "Don't ever grab me like that again," he said. Though his scowl was clear when he moved on down the hall, so was the pain in his eyes.**

*Ozpin landed his ship in a visitors' hangar in the city of Splotch, with Qrow and the remainder of his team landing right next to him.

All of them met up with the lookout overseeing the hangar. A man shorter than any of them with a trembling finger tracing over the screen of his scroll.

"Huntsmen and Huntresses. Of course," he groaned as he scanned their IDs.

"As soon as we get to the Black Hole, we separate. We can't let any of Signal's spies know we're coming for them," Ozpin said.

Qrow nodded. "Agreed. Me, Summer, and Taiyang will look for other leaders Signal may have at her disposal. We don't leave the Black Hole without taking care of Signal and her cronies."**

*There were many places in the world of Remnant that Ozpin never wanted to step foot in, and the Black Hole was one of them. It was in the top ten.

The sidewalk he walked down was littered with trash. Every building as far as the eye can see had dark, discolored moss creeping up the walls. Most of the few holographic streetlights that were in the Black Hole flickered, threatening to completely shut down.

"Excuse me, sir!" Someone shouted directly in front of Ozpin. Ozpin jumped at the sudden sound and looked straight again to see a young Faunus woman with long white rabbit ears poking from her head and eyes that were structured like perfect circles. Ozpin felt guilty immediately after he thought to look and see if she had buckteeth. She didn't.

What caught Ozpin's attention even more though, was the clothes she was wearing, or, more accurately, lack thereof. She wore an extremely short mini-skirt with every bit of her legs completely exposed, and she wasn't even wearing anything on her feet. Her midriff was also completely exposed.

The saddest part about this was that she couldn't be no older than fourteen.

"For only twenty-five lin, you can have me for the night! You game?" She asked.

Ozpin looked around to see if anyone was watching, possibly her boss. There was no one he could see.

"Follow me," he said.

The rabbit girl follows Ozpin into the lobby of an apartment building and looked around again for any sign of company.

"Just give me some information, and I'll pay you double," Ozpin said.

"Oooh, double?"

"Yes. Tell me, what's the most famous bar around here and where is it? Do you know anyone that hangs around there that I can talk to for information on the Lioness's Pride?" Ozpin asked.

"Oh that would be the Gold Lock. Daddy hangs around there all the time," the girl replied.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Daddy?"

"He takes care of me and makes sure I'm always happy."

"Right," Ozpin said and handed the girl fifty lin, which she gratefully took.

"Are you sure you don't want any of this?" She asked, "Daddy says that I have to beg for it if you don't want it."

"Trust me, the last person you would want to get intimate with is me. Ask the last girl I was with," Ozpin said. In truth, as he walked away, he wouldn't have ever gotten with that rabbit girl. It was wrong, and he wished he could find a way to free her from "Daddy", but his attention had to be dead-set on stopping Signal.**

*The Gold Lock was about exactly what Ozpin expected from a bar in the Black Hole. Dark, with dim lights overhead that transitioned from red to white to black to yellow then back to red again and repeating the cycle.

What is it about this world and its fascination with the color red?

The bartender, with a name tag that read 'Marcus', glanced at Ozpin with a grim stare that tried to stab through his eyes, but he couldn't intimidate Ozpin. Ozpin placed his cane on the bar counter and folded his arms.

"I'm looking for someone that can help me. A huntsman or huntress that can help me fight Faunus radicals. And, the person needs to know this city inside and out," he explained.

Marcus smirked and continued cleaning the inside of the glass he held. "I always say if you need to know a city, ask the rats."

Ozpin scanned the bar, and his eyes fell on someone in the far corner who had his feet propped up on his table and his head resting against the wall.

Is that really him? After all this time…

"I think I found my rat," Ozpin said to Marcus.

The young man in the corner sat straight up when Ozpin approached him. His jet black hair had grown so much longer since the last time Ozpin had seen him and there were shades of shadow highlighting his eyes, indicating he was severely sleep-deprived.

Ozpin sat down across from him and folded his hands with a smile. He decided to keep quiet for a moment, allowing himself to enjoy it.

"Oh no no no, it is not you," the young man said with a nervous smile.

"Hello, Dusk," Ozpin replied.

"Oh Dust, take me now," Dusk said. He stood up and Ozpin followed suit so Dusk could throw his arms around his old friend.

"Look at you, you old bastard. You've already got silver hairs popping up. What have you been doing to yourself?" Dusk asked. He playfully rubbed his fingers between some of Ozpin's hair.

"One word: stress. Tends to knock the years off your life," Ozpin said as he sat back down.

"Please tell me you came all this way from your comfortable tower at Beacon to find me. It would really make my day," Dusk said.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I had no idea you would be here. The fact that you are though—will help me more than you realize right now."

Dusk's expression changed. All the delight and energy in his face had passed away to be replaced with the same grimness Oz first saw him have when he spotted him.

"You're here to stop the Lioness's Pride, aren't you?" Dusk asked.

"Bingo."

Dusk sighed and he picked up the glass of beer he had by him. "You haven't changed a bit. You still believe that you can fix everything."

"I wasn't able to fix a Faunus girl's life earlier. She's in slavery and—not exactly in her right mind because of it. Dusk, I know I cannot change everything, but this is something that I'm meant to deal with," Ozpin said.

"Why this exactly?" Dusk asked.

"Do you remember Signal?"

"Yeah. Always thinking she could be as strong as us by herself."

"She's the Lioness. She's the one that's leading the Lioness's Pride. She used to be a student of mine at Beacon, but she ran away after her friend Onyx died. You weren't there when me and her first met Onyx, but one thing led to another and now Signal wants to exact her revenge on the human race," Ozpin explained.

"And you believe that by confronting her, you can help her have a change of heart because of the goodness that's still in her blah blah blah."

"If this is the sort of attitude you're going to have, then maybe I should just ask for Ironwood's help," Ozpin suggested.

"Please no, not him," Dusk sighed, "I'll help you, for old times' sake, but I can't guarantee you'll see me anymore after we're done. A lot has happened since I left the Emerald Forest."

"And I'm sure you can tell me about that soon enough, but first we need to figure out how this is going to get done," Ozpin said.

Before Ozpin could say anything else however, he felt two hands grab his collar from the back and lift him off his chair. The hands spun him around so he was face-to-face with the man that had grabbed him.

"You must be Daddy," he choked out.

The burly man hurled him across the room. His body hit the counter and he slid across the wood, spilling drinks along the way. Pain sliced through the skin in his back once he reached the edge.

Customers leaped from their seats and started running out to clear the bar.

"Ozpin!" Dusk shouted.

Ozpin sat up and reached out his hand to catch his cane spinning in the air towards him. The burly man, who was 'Daddy', and two other men came after him.

"If you're not going to use my property as advertised then don't use it at all," Daddy yelled.

Ozpin ducked as Daddy swung a lethal punch at him and kicked him square in the chest hard enough for him to jump back. One of the men attempted to do an uppercut to catch Oz's chin, but Ozpin prevented it by grabbing the assailant's wrist and twisting it as hard as he could so that he was almost off his feet in pain. With the other hand he struck the second man with his cane, leaving a gash between the eyes.

Ozpin flipped Broken Wrist over his shoulder, sending his body crashing down on the table next to them. Ozpin whirled around to see Broken Wrist aiming a plasma gun at him, and ducked in time when he fired a scarlet round off. Ozpin twirled the cane so that the butt end caught the plasma and held it there, using the magnetic energy coursing through it. He stabbed that end of the cane into the ground, shattering the plasma into tiny bits that were spat back at Broken Wrist and Gashed Face in a wave of energy, which knocked them out cold.

Daddy lunged at Ozpin again, having managed to avoid the energy blast. He had a long red sword with him this time.

"I remember you now. You worked for Collus at that night club in Vale," Ozpin grunted.

Daddy grinned, flashing not-so-flashy teeth. "You don't have your fat friend with you this time."

"You were taken out by a trumpet," Ozpin pointed out. He remembered everything clearly now, when he and Peter Port visited Collus in his night club to interrogate him about a stolen red cabbage, and things went downhill fast once Ozpin found the cabbage inside the disco ball. It amazed Ozpin that his adventures went from searching for missing cabbages to stopping Faunus terrorists.

Ozpin's cane and Daddy's sword clashed, then clashed again, then the fight turned into a dance, with both the cane and the sword moving in a poetic rhythm, foiling each other's attempts at breaking flesh. Daddy thrust his sword straight over Oz's head as the Headmaster ducked, and it severed off the head of the beer bottle on the counter.

When Daddy's sword-arm was stretched out to the side, Ozpin seized his opportunity to attack his opponent with his cane, calling upon his gifted speed to bombard Daddy with multiple strikes from his cane all over his body, then activate the bubble shield from the cane and collide with Daddy so that he was taken off his feet by the shield.

Dusk, who was still sitting at the table, calmly lowered his head as Daddy's body flew over him and went sailing out the window, shattering glass everywhere.

"Acceptable," Dusk said with an approving nod.

"I never asked for your opinion, I know I did well," Ozpin replied.

Dusk got up and dusted himself as if he was the one that had been fighting. "Clearly you still get yourself into trouble. I could've died."

"But you didn't. He wasn't even looking for you," Ozpin said.

"Sooner or later he probably would have. Now, are we going to get started?"**

*There was no quiet in the Black Hole, even at night. Qrow had to excuse himself from Summer and Taiyang to meet up with his contact in an alley. The contact was there waiting for him with a hood that conveniently hid her eyes.

"You're a coward. You know that, right?" Qrow asked.

"I don't believe Ozpin knows everything about what he went through after Gray's death."

"So you're okay with Tai being with Summer?"

"I want him to be happy. He thinks I'm dead. It should probably stay that way for now, and Summer is a good person, he deserves to have someone like her. Someone who's better than me."

"So why am I meeting you here then?" Qrow asked.

"I fear for Summer's life and the life of her child just like you and Taiyang do. Take Summer to the underground cave beneath the city. There you will find an answer to Summer's problem. She needs to be strong in this time while she bears the child, and that strength will grant her the ability to fight while pregnant."

"And you're not coming with?" Qrow asked.

"No. I'm leaving the city. You won't be seeing me again. Not for a long time," Raven Branwen replied.

"I don't know if I can wish you the best," Qrow said with an irritated shrug.

Raven smiled. "You've never had to. You know I always make it through."

"That's—not what I meant."

"Goodbye, brother."

Qrow left the alley without saying goodbye back. She was already gone before he could.