(A/N yeah, that was a twist I wasn't even expecting. I had written that entire bit out before I realised I was crying. Oh yeah, if anybody hasn't noticed, I have removed all knowledge of Fanfiction (especially the two I'm using parts of) from Zarek's memory. It makes him seem more realistic and not be unsurprised at literally everything. Anyway, enjoy!)


(POV - Zarek)

'Merlot… what kind of crazy shit were you looking into? Grimm Dust? Grimm Eyes? Obviously the mutated Grimm. Illusion Barriers? And a plan to turn the CCTS into a massive PAG?'

I had spent the next few days after the mess of extracting Merlot just looking over what research had been copied over to my helmet. And it is all fascinating. Take the Grimm Dust, a new blend of Merlot's own design that, when used on a living creature, it kills it (doesn't insta kill anything with an active Aura, however) and replaces it with a Grimm of equal strength to what just died. I even have the blend copied to my helmet, so I could make Grimm on the fly if I wanted.

Next, the Grimm Eyes; The Black Eyed Warriors are extremely powerful once they unlock their powers. They usually unlock their powers through a contract with Salem, though this is not needed. The powers confirmed by both Salem and Ozpin are an innate control over Grimm, and, in extreme cases, able to spawn Grimm on command. Every Grimm Eyes user has what is known as Salem's Influence, a tiny bug Grimm in their heads leaving them under the control of Salem. Apparently Merlot had one such warrior he was experimenting on, Bross, before Mountain Glenn fell.

The mutated Grimm is fairly self explanatory, but the Illusion Barriers are very interesting. Spatial distortions that make copies of whatever is in the surrounding area and puts certain targeted beings into it. The Illusion Barrier is in between the spirit realm and the real world. This allows Grimm to spawn freely within one. Illusion Barriers can be created in a few ways, extreme negative emotions, powerful Grimm, and being created by a Huntsman. A powerful enough Huntsman can create Illusion Barriers, and can choose to allow Grimm to spawn. This is useful for when you don't want to wreck and area but want to wreck some guys face. There are a few ways to break an Illusion Barrier, clearing the area of Grimm, fulfilling a requirement, and shattering it under force of will. The requirements to break an Illusion Barrier set as a trap are not always immediately obvious but they can range anywhere from defeat the creator of the Illusion Barrier, to solve this really complex puzzle while Grimm are bearing down on you. Safe to say I want to master this.

From what I could find of this 'Spirit Realm', there are apparently fucking magic weapons floating around Remnant somewhere, which spirits (from the Spirit Realm) inhabit and give them their magic qualities. As much as I want one (or all of them) the Maiden Powers remain my top priority. Along with not dying again.

"What'cha lookin' at? Better not be porn~." Neo, you sound as sweet as your namesake.

"The files I stole from Merlot." I answer truthfully.

"Still?" Neo asks, exasperated.

"There's a lot to get through. Plus it doesn't help that most of it is 'nerdspeak' as you put it. Plus a lot of it is recordings of his experiments and not notes that I can have Flyss read at me."

I had attempted to explain some of Merlot's research to her and merely got a head tilt and a "What?". Google has been my best friend so far, well Flyss has as she has been the one Googling everything for me.

I'm currently in the middle of watching one of Merlot's tests, specifically one on Illusion Barriers, when I get a ping from my scroll. I open the text from Cinder (who has been in my contacts since Roman gave me her number) and it reads, "Here's the compiled information I have on the Repository". Short, simple and straight to the point, that is good information giving. The attachments is a few pictures of what I assume is the Repository plus doodles labeled 'Guard Routes' overlayed onto the photos. There is also a spreadsheet with guesses on guard rotations, not as helpful as the routes as it's incomplete, well, more incomplete than the guard routes as none of the photos are inside the Repository.

I guess I'll plan that later as Neo is trying to get my attention, "Hm?"

"Did you hear anything I said?" Neo huffs.

"Nope." see Qrow, I can do it too!

"We have a meeting to get to now!" Neo yells.

I mumble a curse and fall out of the chair I was in. Not too long and I'm ready and we're off to see the bitch herself.


Knocking, because we're polite and not trying to break Romans poor warehouse again, the door opens to reveal Emerald. We invite ourselves in, passing by the "Rude." she mutters after us.

By this point, I know how to find the meeting room Roman commonly uses and head there practically subconsciously with Neo a step behind. We enter and take our seats, mine next to Roman and Neo on a crate in the corner. I take off my helmet and put up my hair with a few bobby pins. Oh how I hate having my hair in my face, but I prefer my hair long. Emerald joins us a short while later when Roman speaks up.

"Looks like we're all here, shall we get started?"

"Not yet." Cinder commands. Roman shoots a questioning look and Cinder adds, "I have another contact to introduce to you to."

Roman and I share a look when the door clicks open and only THE Adam Taurus enters plus what I assume to be the White Fang Lieutenant that Weiss faces during the Breach. I do note the lack of a certain kitty cat at his beck and call. Good. That means the Black trailer happened.

"Allow me to introduce Adam Taurus and Steel Scream, the leader of the White Fang in Vale and his second respectively." Cinder announces slyly.

I think if Roman were a cartoon character his jaw would be on the ground right now. I'm unsurprised but acting at least mildly interested and Neo is… well, Neo.

"I'm sure you have heard of our actions and seen our deeds," Adam begins but Cinder interrupts him, "And you two," Cinder points to both Adam and Roman," will be working together."

It appears as though either Adam is good at lying under that mask or he already knew this was going to happen. Either way, it doesn't matter. Roman seems to have dislocated his jaw while I frown and raise an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Adam will be providing manpower to Roman's operation while Roman," Cinder turns to face him fully at her end of the table, "You will be stealing every bit of Dust in Vale."

At that, Roman finally closes his mouth and gives an impish grin, "When do we begin?" A valid question.

"August." A month before Beacon… Her plan is coming together.

"Well," I speak up, "if we're going to be working together, we're going to need contact information."

It only takes a moment as Adam has a business card, it makes sense but I'm still surprised regardless.

"Now that formalities are out of the way, onto planning!" Roman exclaims, excited to get back to his favorite part of this job.

I stand up, "Actually, I have my own heist to plan, Roman. I'll be back in time for the tail end of this planning though, so don't leave me out on the fun."

I grab my helmet on the way out and Spiderman my way out to the Repository.


The building in question is a squat grey complex that looks like it's from Warhammer 40k, specifically the Guard but missing all of the skull paraphernalia. Well, that's what my mind is telling me anyway. I'm currently on top of a nearby building overlooking the area. My scroll rings and I pick it up first ring.

"Hey Neo." I greet my slightly crazy girlfriend.

She smiles in what I understand to be her greeting and turns the camera to face the whiteboard, where Roman is standing and talking strategy.

"Flyss, record the scroll feed." I command and get an affirmative beep.

'Now back to watching the watcher be bored out of their minds… You know what? Screw it. I'm making my own opening.'

Literally a day time heist. Not my brightest idea, but here goes.

I drop swing my way across the street and land in a nearby alley way. I find the outer wall not heavily guarded, not to say it's not entirely covered though. Whoever designed the guard patrols did well. But, far more time than I care to admit did go into Assassins Creed and Metal Gear. And a lot of other games. But that's beside the point. Getting in is the easy part. Finding the original plans for Beacon is proving to be rather hard. It also doesn't help that whoever designed this building did not want anyone entering. Like, who the hell designs a dead end hallway with murder bots waiting between whoever is unfortunate enough to head down the corridor and the exit.

I'm just glad that this helmet is super handy and waned me of that ahead of time. ...And that guard is very well placed. I can't get around him and it looks like he's guarding a basement. By this point I've already searched the above building and found little more than office space. Nothing of too much interest up there. I did snag a snack from the break room. Hey, I got hungry and besides I have a plan. You know how in most stealth games you can get a lure? Yeah, the wrapper of the granola bar is my lure. I need him to move from his spot.

Huh, I wasn't expecting that to be so effective. He moved alright. At a sprint. I meant to get past him but instead I had to take him down. Oops. Although, I have a guards uniform on now and used my Semblance (which I have dubbed Adaption) to become this dude. Slightly shorter than I am at about 5'10" and very well muscled. Well, I guess you have to be considering he's a security guard. Although he didn't have an active Aura. Might have been a Huntsman washout. Who knows and who cares? Not me.

Now in disguise, I enter the basement. That sounded better in my head. As long as it looks like I'm supposed to be here it's fine. Okay, so there are vaults down here. If I were the original plans for Beacon, where would I be? Probably deeper and under more security… Here goes.

"Hey," The guard I just spoke to turns and begins to say something but I pistol whip him before he could, "I don't feel like acting."

Deeper into the depths I go.

Thank god that there's no more than two basements. Probably from here it would be alphabetical. So, vault one, open sesame!

Coughing a bit as the door opens, I idly wonder how long this vault has been closed.

'Let's see, A, B. Be, where are you?' Once I made it into the vault finding the plans weren't hard. I've found a big ass blueprint with with Beacon plus the sub sub basement and make sure to snag a photo of it before taking the plans myself.

'Is somebody watching Star Wars?' Is my initial thought as Klaxons go off throughout the complex. That is before I hear a lot of footsteps coming my way. Dropping a curse under my breath, I hide as best I can in a guards uniform in where they are going to be searching. Yay. Actually, wait. I've heard of this trick of joining in on the investigation when they all burst into the room during the confusion. Screw it, doing it.

I'm waiting above the large vault door, on the inside of course, just waiting on guards to enter. Shit, those ain't guards. Those are AK-130's. Literal murder bots. Dropping down anyway.

"Spread out! I want this intruder found!" I command from behind the AK-130's. Time to raise the alarm to get out of a heavily defended area. Again, not my brightest idea, but doing it anyway. I did check the vault I was in, it didn't have any well placed cameras. So I make sure to destroy a few AK-130's to create evidence of a breakin. Along with snagging a few random things to throw off the inevitable investigation.

Not too long after making the misleading evidence, actual guards show up.

"Hey Jim," I turn at that, as the guard I am currently disguised as name is Jim.

"Hey," I greet the random guard.

"We got here as soon as we could, what did we miss?" the same guard asks.

"Our intruder." I state bluntly, "They've destroyed a few AK-130's, stolen a few things, and," I pause, feigning thinking about what else this 'Intruder' did, "And that's it." I finish.

The guard sighs, "I'm going to head back to my post. I'll let you handle things from here." I say as I walk 'back to my post'.

I find the guard I had knocked out earlier, reclothe him, and switch back into my stealth suit. I'm surprised he's still unconscious. In video games, they tend to only be out for a few minutes tops. Eh, its fine. Slipping my helmet back on, I see on my radar guards running about like headless chickens. Raising the alarm was not a good idea.

It's really unfortunate I had to kill a few guards on my way out. I would have rather had a ghost ranking on that… Whatever I got what I needed. Time to rejoin that meeting.


"...we have any back up?" Adam finishes as I walk in.

"You are the back up." Roman responds.

I slam the plans for Beacon on the table, "There you go Cinder. Just as you wanted."

"Good, good." Cinder responds, handing me the burn card she promised.

"What is that and what is it for?" Roman asks.

"A later stage of my plan, Roman." Cinder being vague (despite me knowing what this means).

"Now, what did I miss?" I ask, genuinely curious while stowing the burncard for later.

"Basically, you are the escape route should everything go horribly wrong. Hope you know how to fly a Bullhead." Roman explains. Huh, the board shows the docks…? Wait. Oh, the docks! Riiiiight… I'm actually forgetting things. Writing things down may actually help.

The rest of the meeting is actually boring. Neo left a while ago, leaving her scroll connected to the call. I grab it on my way out after the meeting.

"Hey Neo." I greet my little ice cream girl. She smiles, still in her 'Image to keep'. Although she uses her semblance to create signs whenever she does need to 'speak' or want to.

"How'd the meeting go?" Neo's sign reads.

"Boring, I can see why you left." I mildly complain.

The sign shifts, "Did you grab my scroll?"

Instead of answering, I toss it at her. She thankfully catches it before the sign shifts again, "Thanks babe!".

I pull out my scroll and update my calendar with the new dates. Now that I am looking at the order we are hitting these Dust shops there's a kinda faint pattern to it. Of course the last one to hit is From Dust till Dawn. Well I know who's going to be there at that time. Shame I may not meet her before Beacon. Actually, that brings up a good question. Will I be going to Beacon with Cinder and her posse instead of Neo? Whenever she brings that part of her plan up, I'll have to pay attention.

In the meantime, I have an Aura skill to master. Illusion Barriers. Yeah, that'll be useful, I like Vale and don't want it to be destroyed.

Neo and I walk into the main area of the warehouse to see Adam had brought some… colorful reinforcements.

"Alerio, that's our boss." A female bird faunus tells her (I assume) brother while dragging him off.

"That doesn't mean I can't hit on her! Hey, hey! Watch it!" Alerio retorts.

"She's 17." The female faunus responds as Alerio slumps in her grip.

Looking over the rest of the faunus I'm going to be working with, there is what looks to be a tiger faunus, Alerio and Aleria, a cat faunus (not Blake), a fish(?) faunus, and… Huh, Illia's here too. Cool.

Cinder and Adam are off to the side talking in hushed tones when Alerio notices us, or more specifically Neo.

"Oh, hello beautiful! Might I ask the name of such a fine lady?"

"Her name's Neo, but you can back off as she's already claimed." I reply smugly.

"Can I not ask the name of a beautiful lady?" Alerio asks innocently. Neo facepalms at this guys absolute lack of dignity.

"Not when you hit on and get rejected by the most powerful person in the room." I deadpan.

"And who would that be?" I think he was genuine that time.

"Cinder, who else?" At that he winces, "Besides, Neo's out of your league. Cut the romantic crap before I cut you." At that her sister seems to find Alerio.

"Alerio! What did I just tell you! Stop hitting on your new co-workers! Remember that time you hit on Blake in front of Adam?!" Alerio winces as she is yelling right into his ear.

"Sorry about that, Alerio doesn't learn. I'm Aleria. My brother," She glares at Alerio, "and I work together on everything. You won't find him alone as I'm just around the corner at most." The newly named Aleria (that's not confusing) says.

"I've found threats of violence tends to work against pretty boys like him." I pause, "And most people." I add as an afterthought.

Looking a bit closer at siblings, they are in matching outfits: a plain white shirt with a brown jacket and jeans. They also have feather capes, which look really cool. Might be a faunus trait. Yet, despite not dressing like fighters I can tell they are clearly geared for it with their slim yet fit physique.

I jolt as Neo smacks me and points to Aleria, "Oh, right. I haven't introduced myself yet. My names Shiro, and this is Neo." Neo waves at Aleria.

"So my sister gets special treatment and I don't? What's the deal? I'll double it!" Alerio calls from behind her sister.

"It's called not hitting on a man's girlfriend in front of him." I sarcastically yet seriously state. A pitiful "Oh," comes from his direction.

"Should we meet the others before we head home?" I ask Neo. She cocks her head before nodding yes. I shrug in response.

The next faunus we're going to be working with is the tiger faunus. I… I don't have a guess on what this man's personality will be. But, from a distance, he's wearing a suit with a logo'd towel over his arm. Kinda looks like a butler now that I think about it. He has tiger ears too, which is kinda cute.

"Hey, looks like we're going to be working together for a while. I'm Shiro, and this is Neo." I introduce us.

He looks us over and says, "Osvoldo Gervinho." A curt introduction if I ever heard one. We stand awkwardly for about a minute before he walks off to talk to Adam.

"That just happened." I state buntly as Neo nods in agreement. I'm kinda disappointed I couldn't get anything off of him beyond his name. That might have been a good friend or somebody I needed to put down.

I don't actually walk up to the cat faunus as she walks up to us.

"Hiya! I saw that attempt to get Os out of his shell. That was kinda sad," I drop a "Yeah…" "But I'm Veronica! Veronica Lambert!" the surprisingly peppy cat girl introduces herself.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Shiro and this is Neo." I introduce us again.

"So, tell me a bit about yourselves." Veronica inquires.

"Well, I'm Roman's right hand man-" I get a smack from Neo, "Hey, you're his right hand woman." I am really laying on the sarcasm with her today.

"We join Roman for his bigger heists and otherwise act as lieutenants for the gang, Smashing Pumpkins." I finish our basic job description, "What about you?" I ask interested about the cat girl before me. What? Cat girls are adorable, look at Blake!

Her ears fold down, "Me? I- Why would you want to know about me?" Veronica asks panicked. Side note: that was an adorable response.

"You are the one who walked up to me and started conversation," I logic at her, "So, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself."

"A- okay. I used to be a freelance engineer before the fall of Mountain Glenn, worked for Merlot Industries before all went to hell. I was trapped inside the new headquarters in Mountain Glenn for… A long time. I eventually ran out of MRE's and had to leave. I spend some time making D.S.M.N," she pulls out a freaking miniature fighter jet before continuing, "and working freelance as a bodyguard. It turns out having a miniature fighter jet is great for detering any would be assasins or adoring fans. Eventually I wound up escorting the wife of the leader of the White Fang of the time,"

'Kali Belladonna' I mentally note.

"And her husband gave me an invitation to join something which I hadn't ever had: a family. I've been with the White Fang Phantoms ever since." Veronica finishes her life story, speaking of…

"I asked for a bit about you, not your life story." I get on her case. Again. She's really making it easy for me to lay on pressure like this.

"I- I'm sorry! I- I- Uh-," "Don't worry about it," I interrupt, "Now, what are these 'Phantoms' you mentioned?"

"Oh! We're the elite members of the White Fang. The Phantoms were founded by Kali Belladonna. The Phantoms used to consist of Alerio, Aleria, Illia, Naomi Oceanus, me, and Blake Belladonna. Though it now consists of Alerio, Aleria, Illia, Naomi, me, and Osvoldo Gervinho. Most of us are assassins, or thieves with one more of a… support type." She cheerfully explains.

'Did I hear that right? Blake was a part of the Phantoms? Holy shit.' I'm actually stunned. I knew Blake was a part of the White Fang, but the elite subgroup of assassins? I- what?

"A- alright, thanks." I attempt (and fail) the recovery and walk off to meet the fish lady.

While walking up to her, I take a closer look. The woman that I presume is Naomi is wearing a plain white lab coat with a white undershirt and a pair of slacks. She is currently tapping away at her plus size scroll, seemingly working on something.

"Hey, it looks like we're going to be working together for a bit. I'm Shrio and this is Neo." I introduce us again.

Without looking up from her Scroll, "I'm Naomi Oceanus. And yes, we are going to be working together." she responds in complete monotone. As in either something really, and I mean really traumatizing happened or she is extremely stunted in her conversation skills. Like I used to be. You really did not want to know me in elementary or middle school.

"Can you tell us a bit about yourself?" I ask, trying to actually get more information out of her.

"I'm Neomi Oceanus, I am a Doctor in Aura and Semblance applications as well as an associates in Human/Faunus Biology. Though I don't remember taking the classes, so that means I either have a good forgery or the degrees are the real deal. But, I am the person to see should anything happen to your physical form." She actually told me a bit about herself and not her life story. She still was monotone unfortunately.

"What do you mean you don't remember any of your classes?" I press, interested.

"I remember nothing beyond the past few years." Oh. Oh.

And this suddenly became awkward. Leaving now to talk to Illia.

Illia, well, her appearance hasn't changed from the show but I wouldn't be too surprised to see a few changes in her personality at this point.

"Hey, it looks like we're going to be working together for a while. I'm Shiro and this is Neo." You get the drill by now.

She glares at us, "..."

"Are you going to introduce yourself?"

"..."

"Or maybe you'd prefer this?" I say while activating my Semblance. I gave myself cat ears.

Illia raises an eyebrow, "How did you do that?"

"Semblance." I state simply, "Now that you've come out of your shell, will you introduce yourself?"

"...Fine. I'm Illia Amitolia. I don't normally talk with humans," She spits the word with disgust, "but considering your Semblance, I'll make an exception."

"That's all I ask for." And that's all I get out as, "I didn't notice you were also a cat faunus!" Veronica appears in front of me.

"Actually, it's my Semblance. I can adjust my genetics and others on the fly to fit any situation, I call it Adaptation." I explain as Veronica's ears fold down.

"Aww, I wanted another cat faunus to spend time with…" Veronica dejectedly states.

"Well, technically I am a faunus right now…" I respond.

Veronica's ears perk back up and is giving me a perfect (:D) smile right now. What is it with me and adorable, if not slightly psychopathic girls? ...And she's trying not to squeal. Or tackle me, I'm not sure which.

"You good there? Or does Neo need to get you a new pair of panties?" I tease the way too hyper cat girl. Seriously, she looks like she could be bouncing off the walls right now. Illia, I noticed that snicker. I made the stone faced Illia break with one line! Er, two!

Veronica on the other hand, pouts at me, "No, I'm fine! Just really happy."

"You still don't looks so fine. Maybe Neo does need to get a replacement pair…" I keep teasing her.

Her pout deepens as Illia busts out laughing, "Stoooooooooooooop thaaaaaaaaaat!" Veronica pleads.

"Nah," I respond while stretching out my hand, where Neo obliges me with a fresh pair of panties, "Here, you've spend too much time stewing in your own juices, go change." I keep teasing as I hand her the panties. She blushes as she sees what panties Neo picked out. Neo picked out her cat panties (I do NOT want to ask why she has that). Yet, wordlessly, she takes the panties to the bathroom. Neo and I share a look before following the trail of the cat girl.

"You know, I didn't think I was actually accurate in my teasing." I deadpan.


(A/N Hey look a longer chapter. Eh. But, GO CHECK OUT VOL 6 RUBES IS SO PRECIOUS.)