Chapter 7: First Day as a Huntress in Training


"Tsk, fuck my shoulder hurts," groaned Gaige as she woke up, the pain in her shoulder socket still in pain, though it was more of a dull pain than the extreme pain of yesterday. She looks at her dorm room, and sighs as the others were still asleep in their bed. Rather thankfully, the room they had gotten was fully refurbished, and thus they had two bunk beds on either side of the room, with a folding desk that could be placed in-between the two just under the window.

She got up and began to change into Beacon Academy's uniform. While she was used to wearing a skirt, the long sleeves of the shirts annoyed Gaige, as the fabric tended to catch on her robotic arm. Besides, she likes the feel of a breeze on her right arm, giving her a reminder that it was normal. Gaige didn't have a problem with the color pattern (a dark brown coat, white shirt, and red plaid skirt), so when she finished dressing, she decided to check her echo device to see if Deathtrap was okay and to figure out what caused the Tyrant code to misbehave.

She first began by running a diagnostic scan on Deathtrap, making sure that none of his vital functions were damaged or corrupted with the installation of the Tyrant code. She saw that his systems were acting as they should; albeit at a slightly higher rate than normal, but that was a good thing. She then began scrolling through the codes, trying to see where the sparks came from.

Two hours later, and she still hadn't found the source of the Tyrant code's alter state. She saw that all programs of Deathtrap were working as intended; hell they were running better than before she installed the Tyrant code. She assumed that it being hours after defeating the Rakk Hive the code would shut down (similar to Discord, a code she used once before deciding it wasn't worth the effort), but it appeared to still be running. Frowning, she decided to see how it was interacting with her anarchy codes, and she groaned as she saw what was happening.

"God damn it, why is the Tyrant code continually eating at my Anarchy?" Gaige whined. "It shouldn't be doing that; it should take the stacks I accumulated, use those stacks in a one-time cost, and give an output. So why is it continually taking and producing an output?"

She paused, wondering if she should remove the Tyrant code. If she did, she would be back to using anarchy to get improved damage output at the cost of accuracy. But the output the code was giving her was beneficial; Deathtrap was running better than before, and she got the shock attack attached to her melee without having to invest in a new set of codes.

She decided to give the code a trial run, and turned her echo off, just as her teammates got up.

"Good morning," Gaige said calmly to Robert, who moaned into his pillow.

"Morning," Robert replied. "What time is it?" Gaige looked at a clock.

"It's seven thirty," Gaige replied, and saw Nash roll out from the bottom bunk across the room. "That looked comfortable," Gaige said sarcastically. Nash chuckled.

"Morning to you to," Nash said. He paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Gaige, I want to apologize for my outburst yesterday. I didn't know what Angel had-" Gaige shrugged, interrupting Nash.

"Look Nash, I knew exactly where you were coming from," Gaige said. "You were acting like a normal person would. I would be shocked if you didn't hate me before you saw what happened to Angel and I wouldn't be shocked if you still did. It's in the past, nothing either of us could do about it."

Nash nodded, and Gaige began to wander her eyes to the top bunk across the room. She was shocked to see that Erica Sherman, the black knight, was in pair of pink pajamas, her red hair flowing down to her shoulder, and her red eyes groggily opening up. Gaige hadn't seen Erica change last night as she hit the sack hours before the others did, and Erica had worn her gas mask at the initiation ceremony.

"Oh my god," Gaige breathed, flabbergasted by how girlish Erica looked. Nash and Robert snickered.

"You had the same reaction as we did," Nash said. At this point, Erica was glaring at the trio.

"Hey, this is comfortable to sleep in," Erica growled out un-angelic. "Don't judge me based on what I wear to bed." Gaige shook her head, trying her best not to laugh. Erica swung off her bed and began collecting her uniform before going to the bathroom to change. When the door closed, the three teammates snickered at the pajamas.

"My god, that was hard not to laugh at," Nash said. "There couldn't have been a more girlish pair of clothing ever." Robert shook his head.

"Nope, I think my younger sister has her beat," Robert said. "Her pajamas have ponies on them, which thankfully Erica's don't." Nash shook his head.

"Your sister is eight though; on her, those girlish pajamas are considered cute," Nash countered. As the two friends argued back and forth over the semantics of what constituted girlish, Gaige was beginning to consider her deal with Ozpin. She knew she had to begin somewhere, so why not begin with her teammates?

"Hey guys, can you shut up for a minute?" Gaige asked. "I have a proposition for you." At this Nash and Robert stopped their conversation, and Erica came out of the bathroom fully dressed in the school uniform.

"What kind of proposition are we talking about?" Robert asked first. Gaige brought up her Dahl , and showed it to them.

"As you guys know, I'm an engineer, and as such I often used programs such as this to improve my performance," Gaige began. "What I am offering is that I build you guys your own and help you with calibrations of the software." The three looked at her, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"What would be in it for you?" Erica said. Gaige shrugged.

"I actually have a deal with Ozpin to fufill," Gaige explained. "He was interested in the combat capabilities of my software slash hardware and wanted to see how they would work with other hunters. So I would be improving your fighting abilities and I fulfill my promise to Ozpin."

Erica nodded, her question finished. Nash and Robert however fired off their questions almost immediately.

"How can a program improve my capabilities in battle?" Nash said. "I trained to use my rifle very effectively, and I doubt a computer program will make me a better shot."

"Same here," Robert said. "But I made my turret to suit my needs, so while I am not as well trained as Nash, my turret is capable of wrecking things up." Gaige chuckled at the boy's questions.

"Well, to answer you guys' question, the program works by being in synched with you," Gaige began. "It learns your patterns, your tendencies, and offers ways to either compensate for your weakness or buff your strengths. As for your turret Robert, the program is smart enough to offer upgrade options, like with my Deathtrap unit. It offers an upgrade code, and I install it, improving Deathtrap's combat performance."

The two boys were about to speak up when the boys' stomachs growled. Nash sighed.

"Screw it, let's get something to eat and talk about this later, kay?" Gaige and Erica nodded, and the four made their way into the cafeteria.


"Dear god how many pancakes can Nora eat?" asked Robert, his eye twitching as his brain tried to compute the bubbly bomber's pancake eating habits. The others meanwhile were in the middle of eating their breakfast. Nash went for a simple meal consisting of scrambled eggs and sausages, Erica had a plate of hash browns and bacon, and Gaige was mulling over their class schedule while eating a bowl of cereal.

"Robert, eat your plate of hash already," Gaige stated. "We don't need to be hungry today, as we have classes today." Gaige saw they had first Grimm Studies with Professor Port (she was going to enjoy his over the top stories). That was followed by various other classes that Gaige could've cared less about, before classes ended at three in the afternoon.

"So," Ren spoke up addressing team GREN. "What was that thing you guys fought yesterday?" Gaige raised an eyebrow.

"Er, what?" Gaige asked. Nora then spoke up.

"You know, that Goliath like beast with a ugly mouth, multiple eyes, and had flying snakes coming out of its back?" Nora provided. "It looked like such a monster, much more terrifying than the Deathstalker we fought, right guys?"

The others of team JNPR nodded.

"Yeah, when we were watching your guy's initiation, we saw that massive beast you guys fought," Pyrrha stated calmly. "It wasn't a Grimm, so what was it?" Gaige shook the shock of the first round of initiates watching their initiation to answer.

"Er, it was a Rakk hive," Gaige explained. "They usually are found in deserts, and they have a symbiotic relationship to the Rakk, the flying snakes as Nora put them." The Ren raised an eyebrow.

"But we never saw anything quite like it before," Ren said. "I remember having a massive collection of encyclopedias of both Grimm and non-Grimm species that have been categorized, and never once was that beast documented."

Gaige felt a sweat roll down her back. How the hell was she going to explain herself out of this one? Thankfully for her however, Erica spoke up.

"Didn't you explain Gaige that the Rakk Hive usually stays dormant underground, only exposing its back?" Erica asked rhetorically, offering her leader a way out. "So in theory researchers could've been walking past them, and not disturbed the hive."

Ren nodded, not totally buying the reason but stopped fishing for information. At this point, Pyrrha looked at Gaige.

"So guys, how about we hang out after classes today?" Pyrrha suggested. "We could get to know each other better, maybe have a friendly little spar?"

"Oh yeah!" Nora said. "I want to test Magnhild against Gaige's deathtrap! I bet I could smash it, although I probably shouldn't because it would be difficult to rebuild, right? Oh well, maybe I will refrain from doing too much damage, and just go for knocking Gaige out!"

"You know Nora," Gaige began. "People don't like the idea of getting knocked out, so perhaps you should maybe not be so enthusiastic about knocking people out?" Nora pondered on this for a moment.

"Maybe your right…" She said, before pounding her fist together. "I got it, instead of knocking people out, I will break their legs!" And thus began Nora's obsession with breaking legs. Gaige could only facepalm and sigh, unbelieving that her attempt to get Nora tone downed. At this point, a bell began to chime quietly, marking the end of breakfast, and the start of classes.

"C'mon guys, we need to head to Professor Glynda's combat tactics class," Gaige told her team. Unlike Team JNPR, who would be heading to Port's Grimm Studies, Team GREN was heading to Glynda's combat tactics class, which was to improve team performance. This included communication, leadership skills, and team building exercises, with team sparring being the main focus of the class.

"See you guys after classes today," Gaige said to team JNPR, who were heading down the hallway to Port's classroom. Jaune nodded.

"Yeah, see you later," Jaune replied. Gaige and the others headed to the auditorium, wondering how the first class would be.


Team GREN was sitting in the middle of the bleachers, overlooking a field with a mock city. Gaige pondered for a moment why the field had a mock city? If the purpose of beacon was to train hunters to ward off and kill the Grimm, surely a forest would be a better environment. She glanced at Erica who was sitting to her right with Nash on Erica's right, while she noted Robert was to her left.

Glynda strolled in front of the bleachers, her riding crop in her hand. She took a quick glance at the class before nodding to herself (probably to make sure everyone who is supposed to be here is here, Gaige thought.).

"All of you here have shown yourself capable of handling threats by yourself," Glynda started, pacing back and forth in front of the bleachers. "However, the Grimm are not mindless beasts, despite what others say. They learn from each encounter, becoming smarter, more adaptable, and even more vicious than before."

"Therefore, you must learn to work with others when in the field. However, sometimes the foes you fight are not the Grimm, as sometimes huntsmen are sent to remote villages or towns that lack a central police system that Vale has to deal with serial killers, terrorists, and others that wish harm to the citizens of the four kingdoms. As such, this class will focus on improving your ability to work with your teammates, as well as deal with these more human threats."

Gaige realized that the field was for training against the threats that aren't Grimm. She could see a number of scenarios being run here; from hostage rescue to pursuing an enemy in a crowded environment. Gaige saw that Erica wanted to pound her head into something, as she was regretting making her flamethrower her primary weapon.

"But I think we should begin with seeing how you, as novice, would handle a situation," Glynda stated. "Therefore, each team will be given a scenario to run through, and they will attempt to complete their objective as quickly as possible, when in the end we will review what they did right, and what they did wrong."

Most of the class began buzzing, wondering who would be up first and what their scenario would be. Gaige was desperately hoping they wouldn't be first as…

"Team GREN, after changing into your combat clothes, please proceed to the field to begin your first scenario," Glynda ordered. Or we just go first, and screw getting some tips from those that precede us.

~45 minutes later~

Many think of Professor Ozpin as an oddity. He was rarely if ever seen without his cup of coffee, he was always calm, never angry, and he seemed way more relaxed than others in his position would be. After all, dealing with hormonal young adults with lethal weapons and training that made them think they were on top of the world drove many mad. But not Ozpin.

He knew that time could iron out the kinks out of system. A person that is too hyperactive can be mellowed with humbling experiences and learning from their mistakes. A person shut out from others will open up with time with teammates that care for one another. Of course there are rare exceptions where it doesn't work, but Ozpin didn't fret too much on the rare exceptions; after all the world wouldn't be what it is if everything was in order, rank and file, going according to societal norms.

Which was why it was certainly an exceptional moment seeing Ozpin staring at the sight of Glynda's Combat Tactics Class dumbfounded at the carnage in front of him. The once pristine field that was a mockup of a typical Valen outskirt town looked more akin to a war zone.

Many of the buildings had bullet holes, a couple were on fire. Many of the volunteer actors that Beacon had hired to act as stand in for the village were not acting like they were on the normal script, which was for only a select few to be hostile to the team, the rest being civilians ranging from neutral citizens who didn't care about what was going on to those who supported the hostiles. But all the actors were armed, and trying to push on the village center, where he could see (thanks to being on the bleachers) Team GREN holding out.

"What the hell did we do to piss everyone off?!" Nash yelled, while picking off some of the actors who were acting like snipers.

"I don't know!" Robert replied, blasting a building in front of him with his cannon, clearing it out of the actors. "Who would've thought going to the bar was a bad idea?" Ozpin wondered what exactly happened in the bar.

"It would've been fine," Erica started, pausing to unleash a torrent of flames at a group that was taking Robert's cannon's time to reload to approach it and try to disable it. "If Nash hadn't decided to start a bar fight because one of the patrons was hitting on one of the girls and decided to step in!"

"How could I know that the two were actually dating?!" Nash retorted, punching one of the chargers in the face, knocking him out. "I thought the guy was acting like a conceited asshole! Anyway, what Robert did with Gaige at the warehouse paled in comparison to what I did!"

"Screw you buddy!" Robert yelled. "Me and Gaige had found the terrorist hide out, but we didn't know that the police were in on the take!" Ozpin sighed; of course Glynda choose to do the corrupt-cops-helping-terrorist-smuggling scenario for the first course. Of course, it usually ends with the team being reprimanded for not investigating the scenario carefully, but who could blame them; they only had an hour and a half to complete the scenario.

"Shut up and deal with the men on the rooftops Nash!" Gaige yelled. "Robert, pulled back your turret; it is overheating and is getting in the way of Erica covering the south street. I will deploy Deathtrap again to cover you!"

Ozpin watched a few minutes more, amazed that while the situation was completely FUBAR (yes, Beacon recognizes FUBAR as a legitimate and totally acceptable response to situations that escalate out of control), team GREN was holding onto their ground. Shaking the initial shock of the chaos unfolding in front of him, Ozpin walked over to Glynda.

"Shouldn't you perhaps pull the plug on this scenario?" Ozpin suggested. "I think that the scenario has escalated outside the parameters of what you were trying to achieve with it." Glynda nodded slowly.

"Yeah, but a part of me doesn't understand how this situation got out of hand," Glynda admitted. "It was like a bunch of little things just culminated into this disaster of a scenario." Ozpin nodded.

"So what happened?" Ozpin asked. "I heard some things from Team GREN, but not enough to get the full picture." Glynda took out her scroll, and as Ozpin got the highlights of this scenario, she began to explain.

"Well, they did a little bit of everything that other teams have done in the past," Glynda said. "They split up, one pair getting intel from the locals, the other pair checking out likely hideout locations. The first pair managed to stir up the hornets' nest, inciting the locals into a large scale brawl at the bar."

"Yeah I heard that," Ozpin said. "Didn't Qrow and his team, when they were at Beacon, do the exact same thing?"

"Yes," Glynda confirmed. "And it would've been fine, had the other pair not stumble on the warehouse when the cops and the terrorists were making the exchange, and then caused a massive firefight. The ensuing firefight managed to take place to the center of the town, along with the bar brawl, and when Team GREN began their stand, everyone involved in both fights began calling in back up, which led to this fiasco."

Ozpin watched the other teams grimace at the sight when the Riot control detachment of the police arrived and unleashed tear gas at Team GREN's position. Soon, the four young hunters were surrounded, and completely made combat ineffective (they got the shit beat out of them in other words), resulting in the end of the scenario.

"So, that happened," Ozpin noted. "I suppose next time we instruct the actors in their duties better; I don't think that would happen normally."

"I agree," Glynda said. "However, I have a class to instruct, so I better get to it." Ozpin sighed at Glynda's retreating figure, approaching the battered team, her face showing her lack of amusement at the situation. Ozpin took a sip of his coffee before moaning; how did it get cold?


It was now dinner, and Gaige was mulling over meatloaf while listening to Jaune recant there first lesson. He was explaining the fight between Weiss and the Boarbatusk (the heavily armored Grimm counterpart to a boar), and the resulting detonation of Weiss on Ruby. Meanwhile her teammates were recounting the horror that was their first lesson.

"So wait, you got the entire town to rise up against you?" Ren asked. When Nash solemnly nodded, Ren shook his head.

"That is, by far, the most horrible thing I have heard. How did it end, did Professor Glynda end it?" Erica snorted.

"I wish," the black knight said, drinking a protein smoothie. "We got tear gassed before she could call off the scenario, and the actors had to be pryed off of us."

"The actors were beating you up why?" Pyhrra asked. "Aren't they supposed to end the scenario when you can't fight?"

"Probably," Robert said. "But I think they were caught up in their anger to kick our asses due to Gaige's Deathtrap and my turret." At this Gaige high fived Robert. "Robots are for the win, but they sure do piss people off."

"I see," Ren stated. "So what are you guys going to do next time?" The four of Team GREN deadpanned at Ren.

"Not what we did last time," Team GREN responded in unison. The others turned back to their meal while Robert continued with the conversation. "I know Gaige mentioned to us about giving us some battlefield hardware to improve our combat capabilities, but I don't know when. Gaige, any idea on when what you mentioned this morning will be ready?"

Gaige shrugged, having spent the classes after the fiasco with the first class (and trying to clear herself of the tear gas) thinking about what to give each of her teammates, as they had different combat styles and focuses.

Nash was a marksman specialist, favoring the use of his lever action rifle Freedom over getting close in with a knife, so she would need to design his hardware to improve accuracy, damage, maybe even ammo capacity. Robert favored using his turret to cover him while he provided heavy firepower, thus making Gaige lean towards giving Roberts upgrades to his turret and maybe even his cannon. Finally, Erica was either crowd control (with the flame thrower) or the tank (paired with her armor and her sabre), which meant Gaige have to design a completely unique program to handle her style of battle.

With the needs of three entirely different fighting styles, with little resemblance to one another short of their favoring mostly distance combat (Gaige and Erica could handle themselves up close decently, and Nash in a pinch), designing their hardware would take time. If she was to guess, if she wanted to present them with a finalized program, with only a week to synchronize them to the user…

"Maybe two weeks?" Gaige offered. "It depends on how much time I have, how much resources I have, and if I don't get distracted by the lessons." Robert nodded.

"Very well," Robert said. He wiped his face with a napkin. "Well, I am done eating, see you guys in the dorm."

"Hey, wait up for me," Nash said, hurriedly taking his plate and following Robert to dump the plate off and leave, leaving Erica and Gaige to chat with Team JNPR. Gaige turned back to Jaune and their earlier conversation.

"So, Weiss bit off Ruby's head because Ruby was giving advice to Weiss during the fight?" Gaige asked. Jaune nodded.

"It wasn't only that, but that was a large portion of it," Jaune said. "Apparently she believed she didn't need the advice, and that it was distracting to her. I don't know where Weiss and Ruby are now, but I hope this doesn't become a regular thing."

"I agree," Gaige said. "Last thing I need on top of my training and my pet projects are for team-breaking drama. I hopefully got mine out of the way by now. So anything you guys are going to be up to?"

Ren shook his head.

"Not really," Ren stated. "Probably focus on the work load, train a little, and keep Nora from doing extremely crazy things. Sometimes keeping Nora in check is a work in and of itself."

"I know the feeling," Gaige said, remembering the horrors of trying to keep Claptrap happy. She liked the CL4-TP bot, sometimes, but he was a bit much, especially with his self-deluded sense of ability. But she did know that it was somewhat founded due to his adventures on Elpis, and was going to give the little bot his program back, before she ended up on Remnant, that also had a hidden personality file that would make him combat effective and not an annoying little robot.

"Anyway, we better get back to our dorm," Jaune said. "We're all done eating, and we have to finish setting our room up. See you guys later." Team JNPR got up and left, leaving just Erica and Gaige at the table. Erica looked over at Gaige, her eyes indicating she had something she wanted to talk about.

"Gaige, that file you let us watch," Erica began. "It wasn't from here, was it?" Gaige raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Gaige asked, wondering if Erica knew she wasn't from this world. Erica began listing off things mentioned in the videos with her fingers.

"Eriduim, those combat robots of which design I never seen before, that Siren Lilith, Angel, and even this Handsome Jack, they don't seem to be anything like you would find on Remnant. And that Rakk Hive, I know Ren was right, it isn't documented in any encyclopedia, book, or online source I have looked through. So tell me, what is the full story?"

Gaige sighed; she was thankful Nash and Robert, as smart as they were, either didn't notice these things or didn't care enough to ask. She pushed aside her plate to make room for her arms.

"Look, you're right," Gaige said. "But what could telling you about from which I come from do for you?" She saw Erica pulled up her scroll, and showed Gaige the video's last few moments, to where Handsome Jack made his appearance.

"I only want to know, just how dangerous is Handsome Jack?" Erica asked. Gaige looked at Erica. Here was a person her age that wasn't questioning the how or why she was on Remnant, or what Pandora was like, or how Jack was here. The only thing Erica wanted to know was the bigger picture; just how dangerous Jack was, therefore, Gaige chose not to lie.

"Handsome Jack is unlike anyone you've seen before from what I can gather," Gaige said. "He is the sort of person who finds pleasure in human experimentation, laughs at the sight of burning villages and crying children, and would do anything in the pursuit of power. In other words, he is by far the biggest threat you could imagine short of a genuine apocalypse."

Gaige could see in Erica's eyes that Erica was looking for some falsehood in Gaige's view of Jack, but couldn't find it. She closed her eye, sighing at the implications.

"Very well," Erica said. "Then I guess we better train ourselves in case we meet Jack again. You know him better than Nash, Robert, or I, so please, tell us what he is like, and prepare us for his wrath." Gaige nodded; while her debrief by Ozpin gave the professors of the academy and General Ironwood and idea of the danger Jack posed, they were concern withed the threats of the Grimm and those of the White Fang. So, she would take it upon herself to make Team GREN capable of dealing with Jack.

"Alright then," Gaige said. "Then I guess I better tell the other two and get you guys up to speed on Jack."


Roman Torchwick, thief extraordinaire, hated working with the White Fang. He didn't like the Faunus too much; afterall, they were very much like some freak of nature. The only good the White Fang were for was a disposable army that threw itself to cover his operations. Which coincidentally was gathering as much dust, weapons, and supplies for Cinder, whose goals were still unknown to him.

Taking a drag from his cigar, he looked at the map of Vale, noting the rough overview of the city. Corrupt cops that were in on his operations, where the wealthy aristocrats lived, the location of possible threats (most notably Beacon), and the locations of his next targets. It wasn't much on the surface, but he didn't keep all the plans on paper; oh no, he preferred keeping some information in his head.

He gazed as a White Fang group came into the warehouse, pushing another trolley full of Dust. Roman smirked; this operation was really beneath him, but his curiosity for what Cinder had in mind was too great for him to pass this job up. Plus, he got a lot out of the gig; money, suitable lackeys to take the fall for him, hell he even had a protégé now that was wonderful (and sadistic), Neo. Granted, he wished for something grand, like orchestrating a raid on one of Vale's military bases, or raiding Ironwood's private R&D labs, but unless Cinder cleared it, he would never get the chance.

A pity, he thought, watching the animals unloading the trolley, considering Ironwood's labs probably had several new toys that he would love to get his hand on. For instance, he heard they were making a large mech that was fitted with the latest in terms of target acquisition and firepower. Such a unit, while probably wasted on the grunts the White Fang had, would still do good against the line and file the kingdom's had for armies.

"Hurgh!" Roman turned his head to wonder what caused that choking sound, only to see one of the animals get choked out by a burly man with a goatee, graying hair, and cybernetic features. He saw the other raise his gun, only to have his head blasted off by a cowgirl with a purple trench coat and duster, toting two revolvers in her hands. Roman thought to go for his cane, only to hear someone clapping from behind the two.

"Bravo, bravo," mused the man in a yellow and gray suit, and a synethic mask over most of his face. "God how I miss seeing you two killing bandit scum in person."

"A pleasure as always boss," The cyborg replied. "This is better than being blown to pieces by those pesky Vault Hunters."

"And you always know that I am up for a good time," the cowgirl replied. "I miss actually going around, killing, torturing, and maiming bandits from sun up to sun down."

By now Roman realized that he was shit out of luck. Not like with Cinder, where she would send a lackey (like that green hair bitch or the all-grey douchebag) to do it for her. No, with these guys, he would be killed right now by their hands, and they would take pleasure in it. However, noting the fact that he was alive, he figured they wanted something.

"And here is the man of the hour!" plastic surgery face man called out. "Roman Torchwick, criminal mastermind and procurement specialist!"

"That's right," Roman replied. "I get the feeling you aren't here for a casual conversation are you?"

"Right you are," the obvious leader replied. "I have been around the area for some time, looking into the wonderful and abundant resources this… place has to offer, and can't help but want a piece of it. Therefore, I want to enlist your help."

Roman raised an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt. If the guy wasn't wanting the resources Cinder wanted, then why not take the guy's offer; more money (presumably) for him.

"What I want are two, maybe three things," the leader commented. "The first is relatively simply, I want Grimm; alive."

"You do realize that Grimm are highly dangerous and most die in captivity, right?" Roman asked. "I got the men to get them for you, not a problem, but explaining to… the one running this operation would be an issue if she noticed people were going missing for no reason."

"Oh, I do realize that, but I need them for an experiment," the man replied. "But the details of which aren't important to you as of yet. Next, I want all the information aviable about Dust; to include the classified information that the military is keeping quiet about."

Roman nodded; the information bit wasn't an issue, considering he was already compiling it for Cinder.

"And the final thing, Mr. ?" Roman asked, fishing for a name. The man laughed.

"Jack, Handsome Jack," Jack replied. "The final thing, no rush on this by the way, is in particular this lovely bitch." Jack handed Roman a file, and he saw an orange-hair girl with a robotic arm staring back at him. "I want her alive, and in one piece. Oh, bonus if you get her friends too; the info on them is behind her's."

Roman flicked through the file, noting that all were attending Beacon Academy. He mentally scowled; first there was the blonde bombshell that wrecked Junior's bar that was attending that academy, then little Red who ruined his robbery of a Dust store, and now this wonderful group. What was it with wannabe hunters fucking with his life?

"Alright, say I take this job," Roman began. "What do I get?" Jack smiled.

"Weapons that make these guns the animals carry around look like toys, men who are actual soldiers and not some two bit bandits, access to some top of the line equipment, and even, if you work out, a place within my ranks, to reap the benefits of what I am working towards," Jack explained. Roman smiled.

"Oh, I think I can work with this," Roman said, closing the file, extending his hand out for a shake. "And tell me, who are your two lieutenants?" Jack took his hand, giving a firm shake.

"The one to my right is Wilhelm, my personal enforcer and commander in the field," Jack said, indicating the cyborg. "And to my left is Nisha, interrogation specialist, law bringer, and my girlfriend."

Roman nodded to Wilhelm and Nisha, noting that the two looked like they have seen combat and were extremely capable of holding their own.

"So, how about we go into details with natures of my assignments?" Roman said, calculating the likelihood of this Handsome Jack being able to rival Cinder. He watch Wilhelm deploy two aerial drones from seemingly nothing, stating he was going 'to check the perimeter', and Nisha was examining the dust crystals with mild interest. As Jack began going into the details, Roman smirk; if I do what he wants, I can actually get what I want, and without those dirty damn animals, Roman thought.


A/N: And that's a wrap! A new chapter, and with the beginnings of a new plot. While I like the original RWBY plot a lot, I hated how Cinder's plans are never really made clear. Does she want to take over Vale, destroy Beacon, what does the bitch want?

Anyway, we get (while not in too great of detail) Team GREN's first day at Beacon, and a look at Jack's plan. Don't worry, I won't spoil what Jack's plans are for you guys, just note that like Jack, it is going to be epic.

As always, please follow, favorite, and review!