Chapter 4

"Make yourself at home." Torchwick said, leading Sho into his hideout. "I just need to take care of something." He walked off into another room, leaving Sho behind.

Sho looked around. This hideout was very rundown. It was not at all like the professional, large-scale operation Torchwick's associates were running. It was more like an apartment than a warehouse, and not a good one at that. There was a busted TV, a map on the wall with some plans scribbled on it and two beat up couches. On one sat a short woman with pink and brown hair. She smiled at Sho but said nothing. He walked over and sat on the couch across from her.

"Who the hell are you?" Sho asked. She remained silent. She just held onto a fancy umbrella and stared at him. "You expecting rain or something?" She still just stared. Then she blinked and her eyes changed color. "What the fuck?!" She tilted her head and her smile changed ever so slightly. She seemed amused by his discomfort.

Torchwick walked back into the room. "Alright, let's get down to business." He said.

"Who the hell is she?" Sho asked.

"That would be my associate Neo." Torchwick replied.

"As far as conversation goes, she comes up short." Sho laughed hysterically. Neo's smile changed again. Sho found it vaguely threatening. "Oh lighten up."

"Your jokes are bad and you need to stop." Torchwick advised.

"Or what?" Sho challenged him. "Your boss and I are pals now, you can't touch me."

"I wouldn't, but she will." Torchwick said. "When I call her the most murderously deranged girl I know, I'm not joking around." He paused for a moment before turning to Neo. "I mean that as a compliment of course." Neo's smile shifted to one of pride and contentment.

"What do we do now?" Yang asked. "I thought the whole thing with Torchwick was over with him in jail. Now he's back on the loose and we're back to square one."

"It doesn't add up." Weiss said. "None of it adds up. Why would he need all that dust and the White Fang just to let some Grimm into the city? He could have done that alone. And who was that guy who broke him out of prison? We've never even seen him before."

"Team YYRN seem to know him, but they seemed just as surprised as us." Ruby said. "Maybe he's new here and just teaming up with Torchwick."

"What if there's more to this?" Blake asked. "What if Torchwick, the new guy and the White Fang are all working for someone else? What if the attack was only part of their plan?"

"But we stopped the attack." Yang said. "The plan failed."

"I can't help but feel like there's something we're missing." Blake said, frustrated. "They've always been one step ahead of us but now I feel like it's a mile."

"What could they be after?" Weiss asked. "What's the endgame? So they steal dust and let Grimm into the city. What does that accomplish? All it did was put everyone on alert. There are more soldiers and police in the city than ever before."

"What if that's the plan?" Ruby surmised. "What if that's what they want?"

"That doesn't make any sense." Weiss said. "If you're a criminal the last thing you want is more law enforcement."

"Worrying about it isn't going to get us anywhere." Yang sighed. "We'll just have to wait for them to make a move, then we'll stop them. We'll keep looking for clues and asking around. Who knows? We might get lucky. Right now though, we need to rest. We've all been through a lot in the last few days and we need to be in peak condition."

In the middle of the night Adachi's Scroll beeped, waking him. He slid it to his ear. "Hello?"

"It's time." The caller said. He recognized the voice as the Faunus from the White Fang that he had met with Cal.

"That was quick." Adachi yawned. "Couldn't you have called during the day?"

"I've sent a list of names to your Scroll." The Faunus continued, ignoring him. "These individuals need to be dealt with."

"Dealt with how?" Adachi asked. He figured he knew what the Faunus meant, but did not want to risk a miscommunication that could ruin his plans.

"They are problems." The Faunus said. "Solve them. I don't care how."

"I'll make your problems disappear." Adachi assured him. This was going to be easier than he thought.

"I sent him the list." The ram Faunus said.

"Good." Adam Taurus smiled. "As a human he should have no trouble getting close to them."

"Are you sure you only want him to go after Torchwick's associate and not the man himself?" The ram Faunus asked. "Torchwick got a lot of our people killed. He needs to pay."

"He will." Adam assured him. "But right now he's too useful. The disappearance of his partner should send the message I want to convey. Failure will not be tolerated."

"I just hope Adachi can pull it off." The ram Faunus added. "We can't even trust him."

"Whether he succeeds or fails is unimportant." Adam said. "If he eliminates our enemies, great. If he fails, he's expendable. We'll get them eventually."

"There was one other name I noticed wasn't on the list." The ram Faunus said. "Blake Belladonna. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she was one of those who interfered in Torchwick's operation. All the others are listed, why not her?"

"Just leave her to me." Adam said with a smile. "I have big plans for her."

Another day, another practice match. This time it was Rise against Jaune. Glynda was still concerned about putting the newcomers in the ring with top fighters so she decided to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Jaune was improving all the time, but he was still well below most other students. Rise seemed very unsure of herself and during the Grimm attack had served as support rather than fighting on her own, so Glynda could only assume that she was weaker.

The buzzer sounded to start the match. Rise leveled her weapon at Jaune and unleashed a brilliant beam of energy at him. Jaune raised his shield, blocking the incoming attack, and advanced slowly toward her. Rise tried to adjust her aim around the shield but Jaune was always able to adjust himself. Soon they were in melee range. Jaune lunged forward, pushing Rise's weapon to the side but also unbalancing himself. Rise swung the weapon around and struck Jaune in the back, knocking him to the ground. She swung it overhand and slammed it down but Jaune rolled out of the way and to his feet.

Rise converted her weapon into its spear form and faced Jaune. He charged again, deflecting her spear thrust, this time without overextending. He swung his sword at Rise's head but she ducked. Jaune slashed down at her but she easily sidestepped the attack. He jabbed his sword straight ahead but she jumped back. Jaune realized that there was something off about Rise's motions. She was moving to avoid his attacks before he made them. Could she be reading his thoughts? He would just have to attack without thinking.

Jaune hacked at Rise in a wild flurry of strikes. He had much more success, his sword glancing off her aura repeatedly as she struggled to counter. She finally managed to push Jaune back and forced him to back off with her spear. She raised her hand into the air and brought it down into a fist at her side. She was briefly engulfed in a pillar of light and she continued to glow after it faded. The spectacle concerned Jaune but he was winning. He had to press the advantage. He unleashed another series of wild swings but Rise seemed quicker this time, deftly avoiding each attack.

Then Rise punched Jaune straight in the face. It was far harder than he had expected, as if she were now imbued with extraordinary strength. Jaune staggered back dazed, his vision blurry. He regained his balance and squinted to clear his vision. He immediately knew he was in trouble. Rise stood in front of him, the butt end of her spear braced between the ground and her foot, the tip pointed straight at Jaune's chest. He finger was wrapped around something on the spear's shaft. A trigger? With a loud bang the end of the spear extended out into Jaune's chest plate with tremendous force, sending him sailing through the air. He landed flat on his back with a thud. The buzzer sounded to end the match. Jaune groggily gazed up at the scoreboard and sure enough his aura was gone. He was surprised to see that he had been close to victory though.

Rise walked over to Jaune and offered a hand to help him up. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Declining her help Jaune stumbled to his feet. "I'm alright." He said. Feeling dizzy he almost fell over before catching himself. "I'm used to it."

"Haven't heard from you in a while." Adachi said, leaning against the wall outside the weapons shop. Somehow Sho had not noticed him as he approached. "I knew you wouldn't leave well enough alone."

"I'm not here to waste my time with that." Sho said. "I've been busy, found some new associates. I need dust from the shop next-door."

"I know about your new friends." Adachi said. "I saw you on the news. That was a risky move, breaking a notorious criminal out of prison like that. I'm surprised you're able to walk the streets without people recognizing you."

"As you can see I've changed my appearance." Sho said. He had indeed. His wild red hair was neatly combed, his loose and unkempt clothing had been replaced by a neat if ill-fitting suit. Makeup made the scar on his face much less prominent. "I'm a businessman now, not legitimate, but still. I've grown up, just like you said I should."

"Sure looks that way." Adachi said, feigning approval. "I know we're not the best of pals, but I'd like to meet your new associates. I've made some friends of my own and they're very interested in working together. We'll both be rich and powerful when it all comes together."

That was something Sho could not say no to. "Fine, I'll meet you here tomorrow at the same time." Sho said. "Then I'll take you to meet them."

"I'll be here." Adachi said. Sho walked into the dust shop and Adachi headed off on his way with a smile on his face. That had been much easier than anticipated.

"We've got tomorrow off, why don't we head into town to have some fun?" Yang suggested. "You're all still pretty new here, you should get a chance to experience some of the good things about Vale. Except for our quick tour you've only really seen the Grimm attack and crime on the news."

"We were actually planning to go into Vale to do some investigating." Naoto said. "The sooner we track down our adversaries, the better."

"Why not do both?" Ruby said. "We can ask around while we're having a good time."

"Can we come too?!" Nora asked excitedly as she raced up to the group. "I want to have fun! We can help investigate too I guess."

Team RWBY looked reluctant and Ren, rushing after Nora, frantically shook his head and waved his arms as if to say no. "Okay." Yu agreed. "The more the merrier." Ren buried his face in his hands and Nora literally jumped for joy.

Adachi sat on the edge of the bed. His room, a spare room in Cal's house, was sparsely furnished. There was the bed, a single table with a lamp on it, and a closet to hang his clothes. The surroundings only made him feel more like an addict. He had been reading about some potential uses for dust and came across an interesting one. Apparently, injecting dust into the bloodstream could increase one's powers. There were serious side-effects and it was a major taboo, but he was not the type to dwell on that. If there was an advantage to be had, he was going to take it.

He filled a syringe with liquefied dust. Squirting a little out to make sure there were no air bubbles, the viscous concoction oozed down the side of the needle. He tied a belt around his bicep and found a suitable blood vessel. That first aid training the came with being a cop was finally coming in handy. He jabbed the needle in and squeezed the dust into his bloodstream. At first it just burned. It hurt like hell. The sensation slowly faded, replaced by a general tingling all over his body. His heart raced then returned to normal.

He stood. He could feel the power flowing through him. But how to test it? He unscrewed the lightbulb from his lap, leaving the room in darkness. Taking it in his hand he concentrated and lit it with his powers. It grew brighter and brighter until it exploded sending shattered glass flying in all directions. It was so easy now. If he actually put effort into it who knows what he could do? It seemed things were getting better all the time.

"It's raining now." Yosuke said with trepidation. "Do you think…?"

"It's almost midnight." Naoto said. "We'll find out soon enough." YYRN sat quietly in their dorm room, staring at the holographic screen. Just to be sure, Yu unplugged it. The alarm on Yu's scroll beeped, indicating it was midnight. The screen flickered to life. It was almost all static but there was something – someone – else. The figure was clearly human but the image was too unclear to make out any details. After a few moments, it faded to darkness.

"Holy shit dude." Yosuke said shaking his head. "I really didn't think it would happen. I really didn't."

"Oh I was afraid of this." Rise sighed. "I thought we were done with the Midnight Channel. I never wanted to see it again."

"This is quite alarming." Naoto added. "If the pattern is the same as we encountered in Inaba, someone is about to be kidnapped and thrown into the television. Unfortunately, we have no idea who."

"I think we can pretty safely guess who'll do the throwing though." Yosuke said. "Sho and Adachi have to be behind this."

"We'll find out what we can tomorrow." Yu said. "If we're lucky, we can stop them before they hurt anyone."

"An associate of mine wants to meet you." Sho said to Torchwick who was scribbling away on a piece of paper. "He wants to join us."

"Is he as talented as you?" Torchwick asked without looking up.

"Hell no." Sho admitted. "He's a real asshole too."

"What a ringing endorsement." Torchwick grumbled.

"But the son-of-a-bitch is clever." Sho admitted. "And he's a cold-blooded killer."

Now he had Torchwick's attention. "Interesting." Torchwick said. "Neo, what do you say we add another violent psychopath to our little operation?" Neo smiled, this time in agreement. "Fine then." Torchwick added.

"I'll bring him here tomorrow." Sho said.

"I've got something to take care of so I might be late." Torchwick said. "If he doesn't mind waiting until I get here it's fine." Sho hated the idea of working with Adachi but had to admit that the man was useful.

"So how are we going to do this?" Rise asked. "We shouldn't all go to the same place after all."

"I can use my family's business connections to see if there have been any recent dust thefts." Weiss suggested. "It should at least tell us if they're still operating in Vale."

"I'll go with her." Yosuke said. "My father's a businessman so I should be perfect for the task."

"It's really a one person job." Weiss said.

"Bring him just in case." Ruby said. Weiss rolled her eyes.

"I'll go t…" Jaune started.

"Why don't Jaune and Pyrrha ask around the school?" Nora cut him off. "Someone here might know something."

Pyrrha was happy Nora made the suggestion but a bit embarrassed all the same. "That sounds good." She said. Jaune looked a bit disappointed but nodded in agreement.

"I'll go with Blake, wherever that happens to be." Naoto offered.

Blake had not known Naoto for long but she always seemed shy and reserved. This was out-of-character. That made Blake intrigued enough to agree. "There are some people I could ask." Blake said. "If you want to come along, that's fine."

"I'll go ask around at Junior's club." Yang said.

"A club, I want to go!" Nora exclaimed. "Ren will come too!"

"It's not really…" Yang started.

"I can't wait!" Nora shouted. "It'll be so fun!" Yang knew there was no point in arguing.

"A club huh?" Rise said. "I'll check it out with you." Yang had hoped to go alone. Neptune had only embarrassed her when he tagged along the last time. She did not want a repeat.

"Well, I guess that just leaves the two of us." Ruby said to Yu. "I'm not really sure where to go, but we could just ask around town."

"Sounds good." Yu agreed. "I've been pretty successful with that technique."

"Have you guys done a lot of investigating before?" Pyrrha asked.

"You could say that." Yosuke replied. "We solved a serial kidnapping and murder case once. In fact, one of the guys we're chasing was the culprit. Not the guy you saw on the news though."

"The two you're looking for, do you think they're working together?" Blake asked.

"The last time was saw them the one from the news was trying to kill the other." Yu said. "That said, anything's possible. Right now we just need to find out as much as we can."

"Then when we're done, we'll all meet up to do something fun." Ruby said. "Today will be great!"