At the last rendezvous with Team STRK before the end of the mission, two days later, Team RWBY was preparing for their final out-and-back mapping session, gathering the supplies they would spread out over the city and doing maintenance on their weapons, when a message arrived on the scrolls of all eight of the Hunter trainees, causing a few chuckles from Shane and Yang at the strange mix of ringtones that echoed throughout the desolate city.

But their mirth was stifled when they opened their scrolls to find a brief, but alarming message from Ozpin, "The Bureau was invaded by Templars, multiple identities compromised, your teams are needed back at Beacon now. Bullheads will arrive at your location in thirty minutes."

Horrified stares were all that went around the group until Tabitha muttered a few nasty words under her breath, before addressing the group. "Well, I guess we'll have to just deal with whatever comes, no use fussing about it now."

"Agreed." Blake said. "No matter who was compromised, we will protect them. We are a brotherhood for a reason, we stick together, no matter what. Let's just hope our teams weren't among those who got exposed."

There was a moment of silence, then Shane, who was technically the senior mission leader, clapped his hands together. "Okay, everyone! Round up your stuff! We're going wheels up in thirty, anything not ready by then gets left behind!"

The group began rushing to gather their belongings, loading their rucksacks and bags with their things, before hopping into the Bullheads when they arrived.

Back at Beacon, Teams STRK and RWBY were met by Professor Oobleck and hurriedly escorted to Professor Ozpin, who wasted no time in explaining the situation.

"At 0345 hours this morning, the Assassins' bureau in downtown Vale fell under attack by a force of Templars of an unknown size. There were significant casualties during the attack, and our databases were breached at 0405, with four team being compromised, one of whom, Team CFVY, has already been notified. While neither Team STRK or Team RWBY are confirmed to be compromised as of the current time, we are still searching the data of the computers to see which files were accessed. Until then, I would like you eight to remain at Beacon for the time being. You will not be using the training base, and will make every effort to downplay any connection to the assassins' order. For now, you are simply huntsmen and huntresses, attending the Beacon Academy that is known to everyone. Do I make myself clear?"

Once all the students present had acknowledged him, Ozpin continued. "Very well. Report to debriefing for your mission to the collapsed city, I will see you all in your lessons tomorrow. Stay safe, all of you."

With that, the students headed to the elevator entrance of the Headmasters' office, down to the debriefing rooms for Beacons' hunter students then headed to the dorms' common rooms for a little R&R. Immediately, they noticed that the common rooms were far too empty. Only Teams CRDL, CFVY, JNPR, and a few first year teams were there, no more than 20 students in an area fit to hold over 50 comfortably.

Teams CFVY and JNPR were gathered in a corner with some snacks sitting untouched on the table between them. It was obvious that they knew what RWBY and STRK did, that CFVY had been compromised, and it was possible that the rest of them were as well. Weiss walked over towards the group, and surprised them all by sitting on the arm of Coco's chair.

"You're worried aren't you?" she asked softly. "for your teams' safety?"

Cocos' reply was a silent nod. She was always the type that took it upon herself to ensure the safety of her team.

"I won't say you shouldn't worry." Weiss continued. "But just know that you aren't in this alone. We're all here for you."

Others in the group murmured their assent. Jaune leaned forward. "just in this little group, you've got 16 highly trained and motivated fighters, 4 whole squads of huntsmen and huntresses. If you ever need any of us, we're just a scroll beep away."

Yatsuhashi, just returning from getting the group drinks, patted Jaune on the shoulder and nodded his thanks, while Coco just smiled slightly, her usual "tough girl" façade returning slightly as she managed to relax a little bit, reassured by her friends.

"So, anyone up for some games?" Shane asked. "I could go get my poker setup, if you guys want?"

"You're on!" Nora and Yang said simultaneously, while Yatsuhashi and, surprisingly, Fox and Velvet joined much more sedately, with Ren being dragged along by Nora as usual.

While those seven went off to another side of the room, the rest split into smaller groups to discuss different current events. Weiss, Pyrrha, Jaune, Tabitha and Kenneth went off to another corner to discuss current politics, while Ruby, Blake, Coco and Rachael decided to talk about their current situation regarding the break in at the bureau and recent missions.

With Ruby and Blake thoroughly entertaining the other two with the description of their fight against the gryphons, Weiss was more interested in how a certain businessman from atlas (*cough* her father *cough cough*) was being very outspoken against the Abstergo Corporations' recent strong-arm tactics with their buyers and partner corporations. Now that she knew that Abstergo was the face of the Templars, Weiss was more than a little nervous that something might happen to her father, since he was the head of the largest competitor of Abstergo. It was not unlikely he thought along similar lines, because rumor had it he was hiring extra security as of late.

Another problem child in the political world was coming from Vacuo, where civil unrest was a growing problem. The Government there was trying to keep order, but something was stirring the people up, and the leadership was at a loss of what to do next.

Soon, however, the common rooms' intercom rang loudly first once, then a second time, then, horrifyingly, a third time. Every Beacon student knew the meaning of the beeps: 1 for normal announcements, 2 for priority summons of a certain team or group, 3 beeps for emergencies that required the attention of every huntsman, huntress and trainee on the campus. A moment of stunned silence echoed through the commons, before the Intercom squawked, and Professor Goodwitch, in a strained voice, began talking. "All secondary type trainees (A/N: assassin's trainees) report to the Briefing room through the closest door immediately, this is an emergency situation. I repeat, all secondary trainees report to briefing. Do not worry about identities, make all due haste."

Teams CFVY, STRK, RWBY and JNPR looked at each other with wide eyes, before Shane shot to his feet, sending his poker chips cascading to the floor from the overturned table they had been playing at. "SECONDARIES, ON YOUR FEET, HUSTLE, HUSTLE, HUSTLE!" he called out, jerking his comrades into action.

Extending the hidden blade he kept under his perpetually long sleeves, Ren hurried over to the hidden door to the side of the large entertainment system of the common room, and quickly picked open the door. While Shane took care of keeping team CRDL from going down the hidden stairs, the rest of the group quickly made their way downstairs, joining the small-ish crowd heading to the briefing room in the hidden training area, where Masters Ozpin, Goodwitch, and Port were waiting as everyone filed into their seats. Once everyone was accounted for, Master Goodwitch spoke up.

"As I'm sure you have all heard, earlier today there was a breach of our servers in the bureau in lower Vale. 4 Beacon trainee teams have been confirmed to have been exposed, and are currently weighing their options. However, with information recently retrieved by Team GAST (A/N: Team STRK as assassins.) on an away mission, we have pinpointed the base of operations we believe this raid was launched out of, and are preparing a counter attack, which will certainly include all of those here, as we will need the maximum amount of manpower to breach the Templar compound.

"Said compound is located beneath the Vale Branch office of Abstergo Tech Industries, accessible only by a pair of secure lifts, both of which are heavily guarded, and accessed by scanning high ranking Templars finger prints.

"Those here will be briefed on the mission tomorrow, so until then, please make sure to get good rest, and remember your oath to the Creed. Laa Shay'a Waqi'un Mutlaq Bale Kul'un Mumkin." With that, Master Goodwitch dismissed them all to their rooms, where the Initiates set to cleaning their weapons, preparing their equipment, and readying their minds, bodies and souls for the coming storm.

Hey guys, sorry for the delay with getting this chapter up, I just started a new job recently, and it's mostly scheduled from 11 night to 7 in the morning. In other words, I'm constantly tired, which isn't exactly conducive to good writing. But anyway, here's chapter 10! And wow, I've actually gotten a couple more followers after the last chapter, with the tally sitting at 21!

Also, I am now going to respond to reviews (with distinctive usernames only)! If I have already messaged you in PM previously, please forgive the redundancy:

The Canadian Patriot(ch1&2): I'm sorry to hear you don't like the story, hopefully it's gotten more to your liking.

TheXiaDarkness(ch1&2): thanks so much for the constructive critism, it's reviews like yours that keep me going!

queen angela(ch8): I'm glad you think so!

Blacksword1(ch10): Thank you for the information, I greatly appreciate it!

And I saved the best for last: a shoutout to desdelor97! He/she has reviewed on every chapter since Ch6! Thank you thank you thank you! Your review makes me look forward to posting every chapter!

With that, I'm signing off! Till next time, Gajeel out!