Xanthic used his semblance to assure his silence as he changed and snuck out again. He was completely oblivious to the fact that his lack of noise made the still awake Olive more concerned. When she had asked him previously about his persisting habit of leaving at night Xanthic explained that it was Nivens going out to practice in the Emerald Forest. Which may be true for when her and Amelia noticed him sneaking out before, but this was clearly different. Nivens is stubborn and cocky, but even if he was the one awake he would know better than to exhaust himself like that. And she doubted Xanthic was going out to kill grimm. So she took the chance on this windy night to wait until he left to get up and follow after him. With her semblance she was able to easily close the distance between them and the weather covered the trace of her semblance. Knowing that Xanthic seemed to have sensitive hearing like Riliane she made certain to follow her espionage training exactly; Mask up, stay low, breathing slow and steady, and always have a plan A through G. The two blonds went down the cliffside; Xanthic used his gauntlets to maintain a grip as he slid, while Olive waited for him to be just out of sight before teleporting down in segments.

When they got into Vale she used the rooftops to follow him. And quickly recognized his destination, though she didn't want to believe it. She watched as he knocked on the door to the restaurant they had been attacked at. The wooden door was opened and Xanthic bowed his head as he entered. Olive teleported to the ground and took the risk to open one of the windows, glad that they were curtained on the inside. Pressing herself up against the wall, naturally being mindful of her shadow she listened carefully.

"...As good as I've been told?" That voice was definitely the man that had attacked them. What was his name again?

"Yes sir."

"Then take care of this. The muts started being more careful."

"Mr. Winchester… Thi-this is Atlesion…"

"It is. That a problem?"

"N-no, of course not sir."

"Then get started." Olive could make out footsteps coming closer and shifted around the corner of the building. "Hold it," The man ordered Xanthic and lowered his voice so that she could really only understand through context. "Did you let yourself be followed?"

"Wha- N-no- I… I don't think so…" There was a pause, "I wasn't followed, sir."

"I must have missed it then…" He closed the window and Olive went back to the rooftop.

She continued to trail Xanthic until he was just on the edge of the Emerald Forest and teleported just in front of him, causing him to stumble back in surprise. "What was that about?" Olive demanded in a harsh tone.

"I- wh-what are you do-doing here!? You'll- I'll be in s-so much troub-ble… He'll, oh gods… I-I don't wanna kn-know what he'll do…" He looked up and pleaded with Olive, "Ple-please, can you… Just please f-forget you saw anything tonight I- I can't let any-" Xanthic was silenced as Olive grabbed his collar choking him a little.

"You expect me to just let something like that slide?" She was pissed. Nobody had even seen her upset before. "What are you doing working with Humanity?"

"I-I can explain! Ju-just please don't… don't tell anybody."

"No, I'm not going to keep a secret like this for you, good reason or not." Olive let go of him, "If you're telling anyone, then you're telling everyone."

"I ca-can't that's t-too many. They won't-"

"Either you explain yourself or I tell everyone what I heard."

Xanthic swallowed hard and stared at Olive's red eyes, he was amazed at how harsh they were now compared to her usual cheery expression. It was almost as if she was a different person entirely, but he knew better than that. "Um, a-al-alright the-then…"

She lowered her bandana to be around her neck again and turned her back on Xanthic, "Let's hurry up."

"C-could we ma-maybe wait until after classes tomorrow?"

"Fine." They went back in complete silence and had a few hours of sleep before needing to get up again.

Owen yawned awake and stretched his arms. Or at least he tried to, one of them wasn't responding. He sighed and sat up, noticing only his natural eye was working. The fingers of his robotic arm twitched. Each twitch was larger until his hand formed a fist. He flexed his hand and twisted his wrist until the motions seemed normal. Within this time his prosthetic eye had adjusted its focus and he could clearly make out his teammates. Eve was retying her ribbon for probably the fifth time, her thoughts had been almost completely occupied by her old friend since they saw each other. D'art was stretching as he usually did in the morning and Celeste was clinging on to her last available minutes of sleep. Owen hoisted himself out of bed and got dressed for class.

He really didn't understand why his teammates protested against Beacon's uniform. It took Celeste a week before she finally submitted to wearing the skirt, but her and D'art still didn't button their jackets.

Once they were all ready, team CODE went down to the cafeteria for breakfast. ROXA was already there, waiting for them. It was a perfectly normal day. Both teams had the same class and walked together. Their leaders walking a few paces ahead, completely enamored in their own conversation.

Later in the day the teachers got more difficult to listen to and Owen let his mind wander into his classmates'. One in particular had been looking at him occasionally. "I still can't believe they let some sort of Frankenstein into Beacon."

"Considering Frankenstein was the brilliant scientist that created life from a bunch of corpses," Owen responded to her, "I'll take that as a compliment." The girl jumped in her seat and looked at him with a blush of both embarrassment and anger.

"Is there a problem, miss?" Professor Port asked.

"Ah, n-no. Sorry…" She sat back down. "That smart alec jerk! Of course a faunus would be the one to-" Owen would have said something to her again, but she stopped herself. "No, I'm not like those monsters…" He wasn't sure what to think then. Was she calling faunus monsters? Or was she referring to Humanity? Were their violent plans backfiring on them?

Owen didn't hear most of what his teachers had said after that. Him and D'art were on their way to meet back up with the girls after their last class, Sparring. Olive met them halfway across the locker room though. "Hey there~" She greeted both of them.

"Hey," Owen replied.

"'Sup Olive?" D'art asked.

"Hm, a lot actually." She hummed happily, "Think you two could come to our dorm with Cel and Eve in a bit?"

"Sure, why?"

"We have something we need to talk about." Owen tried to peak at the surprize, but Olive had been expecting him to do so and was already thinking about her family as a distraction.

D'art sighed, "More Humanity stuff I'm guessing. Yeah, Eve'll probably want to hear it."

Olive reunited with her team and they waited in their dorm for CODE to arrive. When they were all there Celeste asked, "So what's so important you couldn't just say it during lunch."

"I'm curious too," Riliane began, "Why did you wait to-"

"You little…" Owen growled. He connected with everyone and repeated the same confession that he had heard. They all stared at Xanthic, except for Olive who watched from the door. Eve stepped back in disbelief.

Xanthic pleaded, "Pl-please let me expl-plain. It's n-not what you all think."

"Of course it's not." Riliane moved closer in Owen's direction, "Do you really think Xanthic would be a part of Humanity?"

"He's not denying it," Owen argued.

"Think about it, why would they kidnap somebody who was already a member?"

He didn't accept that, "Then why is he blocking me out?"

"We-well I wouldn't want to have somebody rummaging through my head when I have something important to say either."

Owen knew Riliane was forcing herself to try and have faith in her partner for having yet another secret and took a deep breath. He crossed his arms and stepped back, "Get on with this announcement then."

"Th-thank you…" Xanthic managed. "I um… W-well that day they to-took me was when I j-joined," He purposefully avoided looking up to see how many of his classmates were glaring. "Bu-but I ma-made a deal with O-Ozpin to try and he-help fight them…"

"And why should we believe that?" Celeste demanded. "You've had no problem lying to us before."

"Well I um…"

"Is that why you were asking me those questions the other day?" Eve's usual calm expression was replaced by a glower. She was at her limit and didn't let Riliane stop her from getting closer to Xanthic. "Did you want to know if I was a threat? If you could learn any sort of weakness to fight Yukina?"

"N-no I just-"

"And being a new member is even worse, because you know full well what they've done to me. What they've done to other faunus. And you can just stand there and let them do it!?"

"I-"

"If that's how you really feel then how can you even stand pretending to be friends with faunus like Simba and Moonracer!?"

"I-it's difficult…"

"I'll bet it is! Having to hide the kind of hate Humanity has. But I suppose you're just that great of a liar!" She spat her accusations at him.

"I don't hate anyone!" He suddenly raised his voice silencing her. "I-I'm actually really je-jealous of Owen and the guys on Sandst-storm…"

"Jealous?" Eve questioned with a sarcastic laugh. She took a step forward and her hands turned into fists. "You joined a terrorist group because you're-" She was cut off as Xanthic used his semblance to make sure she wouldn't interrupt or speak over him.

"I di-didn't really join Humanity," He explained. "I cou-couldn't… I…" Unable to find the right words he took his hat off and the room fell completely silent save a few gasps. Eve's expression hardened and she looked away.

"If that's the case," D'art was thinking about what Cerise had told him, "Then why didn't you just tell us to begin with?"

"Be-because-"

"He didn't want people to know he was adopted," Olive deduced.

"I keep forgetting that you're actually smart," Nivens sighed.

"Pardon me," Riliane spoke up. "But I get the feeling everyone's had some sort of big revelation here."

"He's a faunus," Amelia whispered to her.

"W-What!? But how? He doesn't have any extra bone structures like Owen."

"He has floppy ears like a rabbit," She clarified.

"So that's why he always wears hats?" Riliane thought for a moment, "But adopted… Then when Xanthic said that he had lost everyone…"

"Yeah, one morning thirteen years ago Xanthic woke up to see everybody he had ever known was torn apart by the Grimm." Nivens explained, "That was the day I was born. We worked together to survive in the wild until finding a small town with an orphanage. But they refused to take faunus children, luckily our hair was long and messy back then so nobody could tell. We were there for about a year or two before turning seven and getting adopted by Claire."

"Why would she adopt though?" Celeste asked. "Typically family businesses make a big deal about the family part."

"I'm not sure about the exact reasoning, but Claire said something about not being able to have kids. So they thought it was some sort of miracle to find Xanthic, since he looked so much like her. They took him back to Keshiki and raised him like their own."

"So they made you hide your faunus trait?" Owen asked for clarification.

"No, she was actually ecstatic to find out. Xanthic was the one who refused because Claire wanted to use him as a sort of marketing tool, like, 'look how much we care about faunus, we took in an orphan.' He was the one that decided to fight through the pain and try to live as a human rather than let himself be used like that." Nivens leaned back against the short bookcase. "Nivens is actually our original surname, I took it as an attempt to remember the village I think."

"If you really aren't with Humanity," Eve began, relieved that he had explained himself, "Then why were you asking me what I knew?"

"That's because I was honestly curious about your sadistic ex."

"Sadistic?" Eve interrupted.

"Hm? Yeah, I guess she has some serious abandonment issues."

"She's just misguided. Not everything is just black and white like that."

"Misguided?" Nivens snickered, "That's a bit of an understatement, but whatever." Eve frowned at this but said nothing in reply. Nivens continued, "I also needed to know if you were a threat to my cover, but since you don't actually know anybody important, other than Vincent at least, but he's supposed to be one of the most trusted, so there's nothing for us to worry about."

"Do you know who's in charge?" She questioned with a thin line between her shock and anger.

"Naturally," Nivens shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "He was the one who recruited us after all."

"And you didn't tell us!?"

"Of course not. What would you do if I had?" He leaned forward and waved his hand nonchalantly, "You all would have concocted some sort of grandiose plan to take him down with the power of friendship, or whatever. When that failed my cover would have been blown and I wouldn't be all to surprised if he killed me."

"So then who is he?"

"He didn't tell me his name. And before you ask; he was wearing a cloak, so I can't describe him to you either. But it doesn't matter, you guys shouldn't interfere anyway."

"C'mon, whoever he is, the eight of us can take him." Celeste insisted while punching her hand.

Nivens laughed at her, "Oh please, I wouldn't be surprised if he could take down Basil and Mic Jay at the same time."

"I'm guessing those two are supposed to be impressive?"

"They were the ones who kidnaped Xanthic and as it turns out Basil is actually a graduate of Beacon."

"That musician isn't one to laugh at either," Olive pointed out.

"Only in combat. He's a complete joke any other way." He leaned back again after shrugging, "Anyway, even if you don't do anything hasty, but still plan something and get caught, then we're the ones in trouble." Nivens pointed at himself.

"This probably sounds like a stupid question," D'art began.

"It probably is then."

He ignored the interruption, "How can you be so calm about this?"
"Hm? Is there a reason I should be freaking out? We've hardly raised any suspicion, the only way to ruin that would be if you all decide to ignore me. Plus by being a direct route of information I can send copies to both Ozpin and Ghira Belladonna so they can act how they see fit. Honestly the only difficult part is that we're awake almost 24/7 so the strain on our body builds up."

"That explains why you haven't been volunteering to spar like before," Olive thought aloud.

"And falling asleep in class," Amelia added. "Are you sure you're okay if you're really that sleep deprived?"

"Yeah, mentally we're both perfectly fine, it's just physically."

"But then…"

"It's fine," Nivens insisted. "We're tired, not exhausted. You'd be surprised what a good nap can fix."

"Pardon me, but what about La Crête?" D'art asked, hiding his shaking arm. "I mean, aren't the other kingdoms being affected too?"

"Naturally. Mistral had an attack, similar to the one that hospitalized Dan, about a month ago. With Atlas it seems like they're trying to be more political; though, I kinda doubt Ironwood will budge an inch."

"What about my home?"

"I'm not sure what their plans are for your oversized village."

"O- Oversized village!?" D'art repeated with stress affecting his usually relaxed temperament. "We're an officially recognized nation."

"Sheesh, sorry, chill out. Nothing wrong with being a village anyways."

"Pourquoi ne prenez-vous pas cela au sérieux!?" D'art resorted to his native language.

Nivens eyed him down and responded fluently, "Qui a dit que je ne suis pas?"

The shock of a response calmed him down enough to think clearly, "Do you know if there are Humanity soldiers in The Ridge?"

"Of course there are. La Crête was the first, after Vacuo, to get proper laws surrounding equal rights for faunus. It's only natural they station people there to make sure they don't get in the way. Besides, if they were able to get The Ridge on their side that'd be a huge victory." D'art clearly wasn't put at ease by that. "If you're worried by a sudden attack, then don't be. Basil doesn't do anything unnecessary and knows I have contact to a guardsman. I'd be the first to know if something is going to happen."

"I want to believe you," He said quietly. "But there's always something more with you."

"I wish I could say you're wrong, but I can at least promise you this; we have one more secret left and I'm almost certain you people will figure it out within a year or maybe two."

"If we're gonna find out anyway, then why can't you just tell us?" Celeste asked.

"What's the fun in that? You all seem to enjoy tearing down the walls we've painstakingly built over the years."

"Why," Riliane quietly questioned in a hurt tone having been silent since the faunus revelation, "Do you still not trust us after everything we've done together?"

"Should I?"

"Of course you should!" Riliane unexpectedly shouted back, "That's what teammates do!"

Nivens paused and stared at his partner. He sighed after recovering from his initial shock, "I still don't understand why you're so insistent on that team junk." Wincing in pain he held his head. Owen was able to listen to his internal dialogue, "What're you complaining about? I thought we agreed on that."

"You don't have to say it like that though."

"Why not? She hasn't listened to when I said it before."

"But she's just been trying to be nice."

"Fine," Nivens sighed, "It was your idea in the first place though."

"I um… Sorry," Xanthic muttered with his head bowed.

"No!" Riliane exclaimed, "You don't get to keep apologizing for him and expecting us to forget everything!"

"I…" He was focusing on trying to prevent Owen from getting anything more. "I-it's not that I d-don't trust you, I just… I'm t-too afraid… I-I can't…" The only answer he got was the continued angry attempt at a glare from Riliane and the quiet murmurs from the rest of the group who had never seen Riliane get this worked up over anything. "Pl-please I…" He looked up and flinched at her gaze. Retreating from her, he looked back down at the floor, "Please d-don't make me say it… I can't… Please, I can't… He'll-" Xanthic completely silenced himself as his leg shook furiously and he held himself.

"Um, Riliane," Amelia stepped forward, "I really don't think this is the right time. Whatever it is, I don't think he can tell us right now." She lowered her voice, but not enough that Xanthic couldn't still hear, "He looks almost as bad as when we saved him from the factory."

Riliane thought about it for a few seconds and then sat down on her bed with a quiet "fine." She had not intended to upset Xanthic as he was not the one she was mad at.

With her no longer pressuring him Xanthic was able to calm himself down. As expected the first noise they heard him make again was a meek apology. "Um… I-if it helps you guys to trust me ag-g-ain then I can maybe s-share everything from Hu-Humanity with you t-too..?"

"Like what?" Celeste asked with disbelief.

"We-well um…" He looked around, "Oh," Xanthic pulled a small white chip with the Atlesian emblem out from his pant pocket. "I'm s-supposed to decode this. I… I can tell you guys what's on it."

"Then do it."

"Wha- n-now?"

"Why not?"

"I um- well… I-I guess…" Xanthic went to his desk and connected the device to his large scroll. A wall of text filled his screen and everyone watched as he went through it muttering to himself as he rewrote everything unencrypted. When he finished he read over it and did his job of informing Basil.

He then handed the device over to Celeste who read it outloud, "At 13 hundred hours meet with representatives from Le Crête and Vacuo at, wherever these coordinates are, to discuss faunus regulation and the issue of GoHC." She handed his scroll back, "What's GoHC?"

"I-it's the acronym for Humanity's fu-full name." Xanthic's scroll vibrated as he received a message, "Th-they're gonna in-t-terfere somhow…"

"Then we have work to do," Celeste cracked her knuckles.

"What? Nono, you can't-"

"We agreed to take them down."

"Exactly," Eve said, "And I don't want to run away from them anymore."

"But if Ba-Basil is there and recognizes you, th-then he'll know what I did…"

"Cerise is gonna be at that meeting," D'art added, "There's no way I'm not going."

"B-but I'll!-" Xanthic pleaded.

"Give it up," Nivens was clearly agitated. "They're not listening to you anymore."

"I…" His leg shook harder and he looked down while trying to think of possible excuses to make so he wouldn't get in trouble.