There were four things in life that Roman Torchwick did well: lie, steal, cheat, and survive. All of these things were instrumental when gambling with others. Using Dust sown into his gloves, he kept one hand stroking his chin so that the cards of the other players were transparent to him. Dust with the power of X-ray vision, courtesy of his partner-in-crime, Neopolitan. A short young woman just a few years shy of Roman's age, Neo lived up to her name simply because of her colors: pink, brown, and white. Half of her hair was pink while the other half was brown, and one eye was brown while the other was pink. In her hand she held a pink and white parasol.

One of the players, a large, burly man with a violet-tinted monocle began to quickly lose patience. "You're a cheating scoundrel. This man is a thief and a liar," he said. The other two players nervously continued focusing on their cards, trying to figure out how to gain the upper hand.

Roman feigned offense, eyes wide. "I'm the liar? Oh why, how could you say such a horrible thing? What proof do you have?"

"I just have a damn good hunch," Monocle snapped.

Roman chuckled. "Well, every sore loser has a damn good hunch that the winner is cheating."

Monocle stood up from the table with his fists at his sides. "Was that a confession I heard?"

Neo moved to defend Roman, but he put his hand in front of her to stop her. "Whoa, darling, there's no need for things to get physical." Roman folded his arms. "Would you like to know what a real liar is? A cheating scoundrel? A thief and a liar?"

"I don't give a crap, me and my boys know perfectly well that it's simply impossible for anyone to have three Queens at the same time," Monocle replied.

"My father Collus lied his way into the weapons business. He—of all people—was entrusted with collecting Dust and crystals from the soil and using them to create weapons that had the potential to kill thousands. One day he even forced me to survive on my own in Forever Falls for eight weeks." Roman grabbed Monocle by the throat. "Eight weeks, man. And I make one harmless insult to my father when he came to pick me up, and I'm put on patrol at his main facility."

"What's your point?" Monocle growled.

Roman grinned. "My point is, I'm not the one who's the scoundrel. I'm the one that eliminates the scoundrels. Shortly after my father was put in prison for his dastardly deeds, I went back to finish him off and it was by far the best thing I had ever done for myself. I did the world a favor."

"You're a terrible man," Monocle groaned.

"You haven't seen or heard anything yet," Roman said. Before he could do anything else however, someone began clapping. He turned to see a tall Faunus walking towards him with several other Faunus soldiers behind him, all bearing the mark of the Lioness's Pride.

"Roman Torchwick. I've heard a lot about you."

"I'm kind of in the middle of terrorizing someone, can you come back later?" Roman asked.

Monocle's two friends leaped to their feet and ran away. Khol Taurus took up a pistol from his belt and fired a shot at Monocle. The bullet cleaved the side of his head and he fell lifeless out of Roman's grip.

"Let's talk business. One of my boys told me that you helped him broadcast the footage of Jenta's assassination. Now you can help me with something else."

Roman looked at Neo, who smiled and nodded in approval to hear Khol out.

Roman sighed. "This better be good." **

*Ozpin was jolted awake as someone's hand fell on his shoulder. He took up his cane and held it at the newcomer's neck.

"Relax, it's just me," Dusk said, careful to hold himself still.

Ozpin relaxed, the cane falling back to his side. "That was faster than I expected."

"I got what we needed. I know what Signal's Semblance is now and how it works. I can steal it the next time we confront her in order to take her down. Then she's all yours," Dusk said. He sat down on the edge of the roof of the building they were on.

"Did you end up hurting her?" Ozpin asked.

Dusk shrugged. "Any way I did was taken care of when she fixed it herself. She is powerful, and can't be underestimated." He grimaced. "I certainly learnt that for sure."

Ozpin stood up. "It's soon time to face her again then, and I hope it will be the last time."

"So what is it exactly that you're trying to do? Do you want her dead, or do you want her alive?"

"Alive, alive. It has to be alive!" Ozpin said.

"What if you don't pull it off? What if you've already caused enough damage that can't be undone? Then what?" Dusk asked.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to kill her."

"I can see why you're trying so badly to hope that things will be alright in the end, but that's not usually how this crap goes down. Believe me, I've been there."

"What do you know about loss?" Ozpin asked.

The shadow of a fire flared in Dusk's eyes. "Try an entire team that's slaughtered in front of you."

Ozpin stopped and raised an eyebrow. "You had your own team?"

"Not just some team I assembled myself. It was entrusted to me by my father, Vesper. He believed I was ready to handle the responsibility of leading a team, but I failed him. Another team from Signal Academy came down on us, and all of my teammates were killed in front of me. I barely escaped with my life, and my father would not trust me with anything ever again."

Ozpin allowed this new information to sink in. He began to understand Dusk's overall demeanor. There was a heavy sadness in him that was simply impenetrable and he usually masked it with anger. Vengeance was on his mind, but he clearly didn't know where to start. He was directionless.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about your team. I hope your father will one day trust you again," Ozpin said.

Dusk shook his head with a sad smile. "I appreciate your sympathy, but it doesn't matter. My father is gone. I will never see him again."**

*Summer Rose stepped into the pool and the liquid Dust rose up, covering most of her naked body so that only her shoulders and the top of her chest could be seen.

At first, nothing happened. Then a bright white light swallowed up her vision and she felt her head jerk up and she let loose a howling scream that sounded like an Ursa's roar.

First there was only white, then she could see everything above ground. The whole city and all the people traveling to their destinations. She could see the energy in everybody drifting around within them like billions of dust particles. She could see their Aura, some glowing in an intense white light and some hovering above their hearts looking like tainted water. What was most noticeable about the city amidst the tall buildings, flashing lights, and masses of people however, was the growing feeling of fear. It plagued the hearts of most of the population. Some people were even stealing glances both ways with nervous eyes.

Don't be afraid, Summer thought. You know what happens when you fear.

The creator of this fear came from the Lioness's Pride, the group that was determined to scare the living daylights out of everyone in this city, this kingdom, and eventually all kingdoms.

Summer couldn't see Qrow and Taiyang and Krystal, but to them, they saw her eyes blast nothing but white as she felt the Dust she was bathing in connect with her bloodstream.

"I want to be strong," she heard herself say.

Flashes of colors, red, white, black, and yellow, fled across her vision, and she felt her whole body jolt as newfound power bolted up her chest.

"I want to be feared," Summer heard herself say.

The Dust accepts you. You are worthy.

"I want—to be powerful," Summer said, and one more jolt through her body completed the task. She finally opened her eyes. Red Dust was drifting down all around her to rest in the pool again. Qrow and Taiyang stared at her with their jaws dropped.

"That—was—awesome!" Krystal yelled, pumping her fist in the air.

Taiyang ran to be by Summer's side. "How do you feel?"

Summer took Taiyang's hand. "We need to hurry. We must stop Signal before she does anything else to cause more fear, otherwise this city will be ambushed by Grimm."

"I'm sure Ozpin is doing what he can, he said—."

"I know what he said, but we haven't heard from him and time is running short," Summer said.

Taiyang helped lift Summer out of the pool and gasped. "Honey, the baby—."

"The baby is fine. I can still feel it in me. The power passed on to me in that pool comes with an illusion to hide my pregnancy. I am powerful and stable enough now to fight as if I'm not carrying a child," Summer explained.

Taiyang whistled. "Baby, I'm more attracted to you now."

"Shut up and give me my clothes," she snapped.

Once Summer was dressed and ready to go back up to the surface, she led her team. "Once we get back up there, we'll contact Ozpin and ask him about his progress, but we need to start heading for Signal's location with or without him."

"Are you sure that you're strong enough to do this?" Taiyang asked.

"I come from a long line of silver-eyed warriors with power that you can only dream of having. Sound satisfying enough for you?" Summer asked.

"I'm gonna need more than that," Taiyang joked.

"You should listen to your boyfriend, Ms. Rose. Sometimes he knows what he's talking about," a voice said. Summer and Taiyang had been so engaged in their banter, that they failed to see that Roman Torchwick and his partner Neo were waiting for them at the entrance of the tunnels. Behind them was a group of Faunus soldiers from the Lioness's Pride armed to the teeth. Standing with them was Signal's lieutenant, Khol Taurus.

Qrow stepped forward with his arms folded as he surveyed Khol's forces.

"The Lioness's Pride is determined to destroy all humankind, so they hire humans to help them," he said.

"They made me an offer that I," Roman paused to fake a cough, "can't refuse."

"We're here for Summer Rose. The boss wants what she has. The power that can help us complete our agenda," Khol explained.

Taiyang stepped in front of Summer with his sword already out. "If you want her, come and claim her."

"I hope he dies," Krystal whispered to Qrow. Qrow's gaze snapped to the girl, and he glared at her.

"Surrender now, or we will have to take you by force, and not all of you might get taken alive," Khol said.

Qrow removed his sword from his back and the gears in the hilt spun faster and the sword reformed into a long scythe. He spun the scythe and latched it around the heads of one of the Faunus soldiers. With a jerk, the soldier's unattached head exploded into a cloud of Dust before it could even hit the ground.

For what seemed like a long moment, nobody spoke. Khol seemed thoroughly flabbergasted with what had happened to one of his soldiers.

"Um, force it is then," he finally said weakly.

"Stay with me," Qrow said to Krystal.

"I don't need to," Krystal replied. Much to Qrow's surprise, Krystal broke away from the group and started walking towards the Faunus soldiers. She reached into her pocket and produced a long metal pipe, which was too big to even fit in her pocket in the first place. It seemed to materialize as she was pulling it out.

Khol recognized Krystal as a Faunus and removed his own katana to face her.

"Traitor!" he screamed. He leaped after Krystal to fight. His katana easily knocked Krystal's pipe away from him.

"Attack!" He ordered his men behind him.

All around Khol and Krystal, swords clashed and bullets lit up the tunnel. Bodies of Faunus soldiers fell and dissipated into Dust. Krystal's pipe lit up in a pale scarlet light and as she parried Khol's attacks from his sword, her weapon absorbed every impact. Once Khol struck Krystal's pipe a satisfying number of times, Krystal seized the opportunity to swing her pipe as hard as she could, blowing Khol back, who knocked a couple soldiers down in his way as he flew.

Feeling proud of herself, Krystal licked her pipe.

"I was impressed until the 'licking' part," Qrow shouted from where he was at, cutting down Faunus soldiers as they advanced at him.

"Sorry. Bad habit," Krystal said.

Qrow had just enough time to raise an eyebrow in response before blocking a sword swing that was going for his torso.

"Krystal, help!" Summer shouted behind Krystal. Krystal whirled around to see Summer off her feet covering a wound in her leg. She ran over to Summer's side.

"Are you okay?" Krystal asked.

"Yes. I'm perfect," Summer said with a devilish smile. Krystal then realized that that wasn't Summer's lips. Summer's silver eyes transitioned into one brown and one pink, and her hair changed so that half of it was pink and half of it was brown, following the same pattern as the eyes. Her clothes changed too into a white and pink Huntress uniform. The next thing Krystal saw was an umbrella in her face, forcing her backwards. Neo stood up, umbrella in hand.

"Really? That's all you've got—" she started, but was cut off as she felt her nose, her torso, and her left leg experience a blow from the bottom hook of Neo's umbrella, all within a split second.

Krystal managed to get her pipe back up to deflect Neo's next set of moves, blocking her umbrella as it came for her. Neo leaped, kicked, and spun in the air, trying to throw Krystal off and beat her again once she was open.

You're a Faunus. You can follow the girl's pattern.

The problem was that Neo was unpredictable. One pattern of combat moves always seemed to transition into an entirely different one and it grew harder to anticipate what she would do next the longer Krystal fought her, which was the exact opposite of what Krystal would expect.

The pipe grew heavier in Krystal's hand as the number of impacts it received grew. She had to swing it before it became too heavy for her to keep holding. It was one of the defects of her weapon that she failed to look into while she was creating it, and she didn't have the resources she needed to fix it either anyway.

A rush of adrenaline surged through Krystal as she lifted her pipe over her head and struck it down on the ground, sending an enormous gust of wind out that blew Neo back, but not hard enough to keep her from landing on her feet. Neo quickly shook her head to stop feeling stunned, and ran at Krystal again with a big smile, using her open umbrella as a shield.

Krystal waited for just a second before scooping up her pipe, crouching down, and striking Neo in the leg. Electricity popped across Neo's body and she fell on her back with a gasp. On her way to kneel by her side, Krystal smashed the side of her pipe against the head of an oncoming soldier.

Krystal took hold of Neo's chin so that Neo's eyes were staring straight into hers.

It was time to for Krystal to activate her Semblance.

"Don't talk. Listen to me or you will die. Fight the Faunus soldiers. Don't stop until they're all dead or they retreat," Krystal commanded.

The colors in Neo's eyes drained until there was nothing left but solid black. Krystal allowed Neo to stand up.

"Go," Krystal ordered.

Neo grinned and she turned to face the Faunus soldiers she had sided with not too long ago. She lunged at them, scattering the bodies of Faunus in her wake.

"Neo! What are you doing?" Roman demanded.

"Doing what the nice lady says," Neo sweetly, but her word's were Krystal's.**

*Qrow gaped mindlessly, stunned by what Krystal was able to do, watching as Khol broke away from fighting him with an enraged snarl. He pulled out a pistol from a holster in his back and fired a round at Neo. The bullet caught in her leg and she went tumbling onto her face.

"You have to do something, Summer. Now. Otherwise we all go down in this chaos," Qrow insisted.

Summer gazed down at her hands, unsure of what to do. "I—I've never used those special powers. I don't even know how to start."

"Your Aura can help guide you. Use it," Qrow said.

Qrow watched Summer shut her eyes as she tried to concentrate.

"Keep trying, I'll defend you," Qrow said. He stepped in front of Summer and his scythe-turned-sword turned into a blur as he deflected all the bullets that came his way, batting some of them right back at the ones that used them.

"Qrow…" Summer said behind him. Qrow turned around and gasped at what he saw.

The color of Summer's skin was grey, and blood was pouring from her terrified eyes, streaming down her cheeks like teardrops. A bright light was forming around her.

"Qrow, help me…"

"Summer…" Qrow choked out.

"I'm scared."

Something exploded, and the world went white.

AN: Please let me know if you caught my little nod to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was so much fun to add in there because I got the idea while I was writing the scene.