A/N: Apologies for the late update, but luckily I got into a session with my editor and we were able to cover several beta-chapters, so expect more regular updates in the coming few days...maybe.

Work Issues

Sleep came lightly to Abraham, as any noise at all woke him with a start, his hand always going for the axe next to him. The events of the previous day still left him an emotional wreck on the inside, though he refused to show it.

Some of the emotions within him conflicted with one another while a few others built upon each other like a tidal wave. On one part, he felt greatly betrayed by Ozpin after all the commitment and love the blonde put into every task that the man gave him – all to be disposed like a piece of trash. Although, there part within Abraham that reminded him how often he failed the tasks that Ozpin gave him always kept its counterpart in check from feeling any rage towards Ozpin. Instead, the raw emotions never burst into a flame but remained a miserable pile of cinders, a depression that made Abraham want to bury himself where no one would ever be able to find him.

A separate storm of emotions swirled within him over what could have happened to the areas surrounding the black market once they left. Many of the criminals and felons committing illegal activity in that area had either made their escape or had been apprehended by the time Abraham had fled with the mercenary, but over the sounds of sirens from different vehicles, Abraham's sharp ears could still pick out the familiar sounds of gunfire in the distance - and it made his throat burn. He had faith that the police and Judicator force in Vale could easily deal with a few thugs and criminals – even if they were well-armed, but it still did nothing to settle his nerves that someone could have been hurt and he did nothing about it.

The thought of asking Doombeak to go scout out the area in Vale and see what information he could gather occurred to Abraham at about two o'clock in the morning, but he pushed that thought away after remembering that he probably couldn't make the mental connection from this far underground, and that Drake probably wouldn't like it if he found out that Abraham had left the 'safe room' – as Drake put it – so late into the night without telling him about it.

Since sleep would not provide him an escape from his thoughts, the blonde teen decided to join the mercenary in preparation for whatever the day held. Since Drake had awoken a couple of hours ago in a fit, he had turned on the lights at the opposite end of the basement to provide him some light as he worked at the worktable.

It served well to provide enough light for Abraham to navigate about the basement, while providing him some cover of darkness to avoid drawing the mercenary's attention.

Getting to his feet quietly, the dirty-blonde scanned the room for anything that he might want to take a closer look at. A sort time passed before his eyes landed on the large map stuck to one end of the wall. He hadn't managed to get a good look at it before trying to fall asleep, but now that he was wide awake, Abraham's curiosity got the better of him as he made sure to make as little noise as possible as he started to read some of the large bold words scribbled across it.

Many of the words or phrases seemed to be directed at certain people, if the arrows pointing at different photographs stuck to the map were any indication. While the photos varied in sizes, they were all close-ups of different people that Abraham didn't recognize.

However, as the blonde's silver eyes darted about to each different picture, he started seeing a pattern in how they were set up, as some of the men and women in the pictures had red crosses over their faces.

It was a hit-list.

Amongst the faces that were crossed out, Abraham saw one individual that stood out from all the others – as he recognized the face.

It was a face that he had strived and fought to bring out into the light of justice.

'It can't be.' Abraham murmured to himself unconsciously as he reached out a hand towards the mugshot of a dark-skinned man with a short beard and a pair of silver earrings. It had been eight long months since he got anything about this man, and now he knew exactly what happened to him.

His hand came up short to touching the photograph as a black, gloved hand shot out of his peripheral vision and grabbed it, turning his attention to Drake – who had apparently managed to approach him without the blonde noticing.

'Don't. Touch.' He said before letting go of his hand and walking over the computer table.

Instead of being annoyed, Abraham's face split into a smirk as he turned his attention to the mercenary. 'So, you're the freelancer that took Snakebite out of the picture.' He said in a weak attempt to weave a pun into the statement. Drake said nothing in reply for a few moments before Abraham tried to pick up a conversation with the mercenary. 'You know, I've been going after that bugger for years. Wanted for illegal smuggling, murder, rape, grand theft-'

'Arson, blackmail, dealing in illegal narcotics and sabotage.' Drake finished for him, leaving Abraham stunned for a few moments before he regained his wits.

'I didn't even know about those last few.' The blonde muttered to himself in surprise as Drake booted up the computer. 'So, why'd you go after him – and how come you just offed him without leaving a trace?'

'That's kind of in my job description.' Drake replied before turning in his chair to face the former huntsman-in-training. 'Why the interest?'

Shrugging, Abraham just replied with, 'I just like to get to know the chaps I'm going to work with.' Drake only responded with an annoyed huff as he began to access the different layers of security on his computer. Unfortunately, being blatantly ignored was one of the few things in the world that really annoyed the blonde, causing him to speak up again. 'Listen, if we're going to be working together, I need to know I can trust you.'

'No you don't. You just need to do what I tell you – no questions.' The raven-haired teen's voice was monotonous as he didn't even bother to look at Abraham once again. That's very blinkered thinking right there.

'Then I won't.' Abraham spat defiantly. 'Not until you start being honest with me.'

Letting out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose, Drake finally turned towards him, but had his eyes closed. 'Gosh, you're annoying. Fine, if you must know, Snakebite had ties to Infamous Corporation.'

'The terror group?' Abraham thought out loud.

'Yes, the terror group.' The mercenary confirmed for him.

Taking a few steps closer towards Drake, Abraham took a risk and leaned against the mercenary's computer table before speaking again. 'Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're record shows that you've been going after those blokes a ton in the past.'

The statement seemed to have caught Drake off guard – much to Abraham's mild amusement - as he froze in place for a few seconds before relaxing again. 'You're not wrong.' He breathed out. 'How do they have a record of my activity – I always cover my tracks?'

Shrugging again, Abraham allowed a wide smirk to spread across his face. 'What can I say, Vale Intelligence is very good at what they do. What they haven't found out is why you're going after those vandals. So…' Abraham droned on, only getting an un-amused glare from Drake in response. 'Why are you going after them?' the dirty-blonde finished. When he received no answer again, Abraham narrowed his eyes in frustration before continuing. 'If you don't tell me, I'm going to have to start guessing. Do they…owe you money? Did they cheat you out of a deal? Something about an old partnership?'

'They took people I cared about from me.' Drake replied solemnly out of the blue, stunning Abraham momentarily before he continued. 'And for the record; I've never worked with them before.'

For a moment, Abraham didn't know what to say in response to this new piece of information, but eventually settled on pity. 'I'm…sorry. I understand where you're coming from.' The blonde said as what Ozpin told him started coming back to mind.

'Don't be sorry. The only people that have to apologize to me are those that work for Infamous.' Drake replied with more passion in his voice than normal, as his black eyes glinted with the trace of some buried emotion. This sudden change only lasted a second before he returned to his cool demeanour.

This is where – Abraham realised – that the line of morality blurred, and he was determined to find out exactly where Drake stood on it. 'I get the feeling that not everyone in Infamous Corporation was responsible for your parents' death.' Abraham said after a moment.

'It doesn't matter.' Drake replied in a heartbeat. 'If they ally themselves with Infamous, then they're no better than any murderer under Infamous' influence.'

There it is. Abraham thought to himself. There's where the line gets drawn. Abraham understood the desire to bring an entire criminal organization down, but Drake wasn't after justice – he was out for blood.

'If it doesn't matter, then what makes you any better than the killers you're out to kill?' Abraham tossed the focus of attention back to Drake with a question that seemed to have caught him off-guard. 'Not everyone there deserves to die.'

'It doesn't matter whether they deserve to die or not – if they chose to work with criminals, then they will share the same fate.' Drake bit back.

'Then what about you? You're not exactly a saint either, so why should you be shown any mercy?'

'I never asked for mercy!' Drake shouted in response, the enclosed structure causing the words to echo a few times. The black-haired mercenary's face was twisted with anger when he shouted, but it quickly relaxed after a few deep breaths. 'I have accepted my fate as a criminal – and a killer. I only want to get justice for the people that they took from me. My…my parents.' He finally confessed.

Abraham still felt like he was missing out an important detail as he tried to understand what the mercenary was thinking, as it still didn't make sense to him, but he understood at the moment what Drake was underneath the title of "mercenary".

He was a man on a vendetta.

'This doesn't have to be your fate, y'know.' Abraham said quietly, understanding now what Ozpin meant about giving Drake a chance to explain himself. I guess he really isn't a bad guy after all. 'Look, you helped me get away from Ozpin – and I'm very thankful for it, and they may treat me like a criminal now, but I still stand for justice – no matter what side of this fight I'm on. Once you help me get back on my feet and I'll have to owe you one, but I'm going to keep putting down bad guys even if that means you.' He said as he shook his head solemnly.

This time, Abraham received a physical response from Drake in the form of him slowly getting up from his chair to stand in front of the dirty-blonde. 'I know how this works out; you can't stand for justice but not answer to it. If you want to keep going like that, then you're no better than a vigilante. Honestly, I don't care what you do with your life, so long as you stay out of my way and my mission.' Drake hissed out the last few words through tight lips.

Taking slightly more time to shake his head left and right, Abraham's face twisted into a grimace. 'We may have started out as enemies, but I don't want to have to fight you.'

'I never wanted to fight any of the guys in Infamous either, but I can still tell you that my body count is getting close to a three-digit number.' Drake threatened with a stone-cold expression on his face.

Come on, don't make it any easier to label you as the bad guy. Abraham turned away from the mercenary for a moment, taking a sudden interest in the concrete floor before deciding that they had lingered on this topic for far too long, wanting to change the tone of the conversation to anything else. 'So…what's for breakfast?' Abraham asked after letting out a sigh.

It took Drake a few moments to blink away his cold demeanour and to return to a more neutral expression before he let out a sigh. Taking a few steps backwards, he eventually turned on his heel and walked over to the refrigerator. 'I have a very small menu, but it shouldn't be that different to the rations they distribute to Huntsmen on long-term assignments.' He said before opening the fridge and taking out a pair of plastic packet filled with various dehydrated foods.

Placing them on his work table, Drake then moved to open one of the large chests pushed up against a wall to take out an iron pot and portable induction stove. After filling the pot with clean water and loading the stove with Fire Dust, Drake then placed the pot on the stove and left it to boil as he quickly got two bowls from a cupboard hidden beneath the worktable. Grabbing one of the bowls, he passed it to Abraham, who stood in place, unsure of how to proceed or whether or not he should do anything.

'Go sit somewhere while I get the grain boiling.' He instructed.

For a moment, Abraham just stood where he was and looked into the bowl – his eyes scanning the inside of the bowl with great scrutiny, questioning the mercenary's level of hygiene. 'How do you get anything washed or cleaned in here?'

'I have a water filter on top of the building – I need to collect the water myself.' Drake said as he fished two spoons out of his fridge. The mercenary took his steps in wide strides as he crossed the room to pass the spoon to Abraham as the blonde made his way over to the couch. 'I usually go to the local laundromat to get any clothes clean, otherwise I wash up myself when it comes to it.' He finished, putting his own pair of utensils next to his bowl. Tearing through both packets at once, Drake quickly poured all of the dry, powdery contents into the scalding water before taking his spoon to stir it gently.

Once he was done, the mercenary quickly crossed the room to pour some of the mixture into Abraham's bowl. 'Help yourself if you want more, but I'd take it slowly if I were you.' Drake commented before heading back to his worktable.

Staring at the contents of his bowl, Abraham quickly realised that the mixture oddly resembled oatmeal, if only slightly more mushy. As he wondered why Drake had warned him about wanting to eat it slowly, he raised a spoonful of the substance to his mouth and tried it, finding the taste to be quite stale and not unlike fresh wheat.

It was only after a few seconds that Abraham realised that the oatmeal was still quite hot and that it burnt his mouth somewhat. He tried not to let the mistake he made show and shrugged off the pain, instead asking Drake something that had been on his mind for a while. 'How many are left?'

'What?' Drake asked back, utterly confused by the vague question.

'That's a hit-list you've got back there, isn't it?' Abraham stated while pointing to the map of Vale. 'How many blokes are left on it?'

For a moment, the mercenary remained silent as he pulled another pair of packets of a pink powder out of his cupboard along with another pot before responding. 'There were originally eight men, now there's only two left.'

With a huff, Abraham continued voicing his string of thoughts while bowling steam off a spoonful of the oatmeal. 'What happens after you've killed the last two?'

'Then I go after the rest of Infamous.' Drake said after a moment's hesitation.

'And after that?'

This time, the pause was longer as Drake poured the powdered substance into another pot of water before letting it sit on top of the stove. 'That's none of your concern.'

He doesn't know what he wants to do… A few moments passed by in silence as Abraham continued to eat before Drake approached him with a cup of rust-red slush, placing it on the ground next to him. 'What is it?' Abraham asked as he stared at the contents in disgust.

'It's a blend of proteins; it's not a sirloin steak, but it works to provide you your daily amount of protein.' Drake explained as he drank his own cup of the same slush in one go.

'Never imagined this would be what a mercenary's diet would be like.' Abraham thought out loud.

'It's easy to make and even easier to keep for long durations.'

'I get that. it's just…different to how I imagined it.' Abraham explained.

'It often is.'

'So…who're we going to be killing today?' Abraham asked as he took another mouthful of the oatmeal.

'Nobody.' Drake breathed out before explaining further. 'We need to lay low for at least one more day – undoubtedly the Judicators and Huntsmen from Beacon are still looking for us.'

Abraham nodded in acknowledgement at that. 'Yeah, I guess that's a good idea.' It only set in that he would be stuck down here for the entire day after a few seconds. 'Hey, then what are we supposed to do until then?'

'I would recommend that you look over and clean your weapon, after that make sure you're equipped for any situation.' Drake said monotonously while reaching out across his worktable to grab a small toolbox and what looked like an old gas mask. 'But if you're going to do anything, try not to disturb me.'

With a huff, Abraham turned forwards in his seat and stared blankly at the lifeless television, for a few seconds. 'Hey, mind if I use your telly?'

Pausing in his motions for a moment, the mercenary reached across the metal table for a touchpad and tossed it over to Abraham. 'My channels are limited.'

'Can't you just pirate and download channels illegally?' Abraham murmured under his breath, not expecting to be heard.

'Unlike you I don't have the time to sit around and watch other people trying to solve pointless problems.' Drake bit back, causing Abraham to shut up and scroll through the short list of channels available.

'We were lucky to slip away before anyone spotted us, but I think that this should be enough information for us to come up with an offensive against the cultists.' Horizon explained before passing a touchpad to Ozpin with the requested information.

On it were several files containing videos and photographs of the abandoned village that the Old Eclipse cult were currently using as their base of operation.

'On top of that, many of the cult's leading members seem to be gathered there, including Vicitor.' Horizon pointed out, tapping on one of the images to enlarge it, displaying Father Vicitor seemingly in a heated discussion with two other men wearing blood-red robes.

'We should strike now before they have an opportunity to attack us first.' Rachel commented as she tapped her foot on the glass floor impatiently.

'We'll need to enlist the help of the Judicators again.' The black-haired huntsman pointed out. 'With the arsenal and the small army they have, it may be a little too much for any one team of Hunters – maybe even too much for two or three.'

'Then we send in four or five.'

'Rachel, we can't just pull Hunters out of their hunts for a military operation against a cult. With our numbers so small at the moment and the demand for Huntsmen so high, we simply can't afford to split our focus any further.' Glynda countered, sighing in defeat as she did. 'I'm afraid Horizon's right.'

Letting out a sigh, Ozpin carefully reconsidered his options and the challenges presented before him before giving a reply, feeling sure about his assumptions. 'It won't be that simple. The Judicators are beginning to lose good faith in my command, considering how many were lost as of recently. They're commander-in-chief has put a limit on to how many Judicators I am allowed to request per operation.'

'How many?' Rachel inquired.

With a heavy sigh, Ozpin replied. 'Two squads.'

'Two squads!' Rachel exclaimed in disbelief. 'You can't even fend off a nest of Grimm with two squads of those incompetent trigger-happy buffoons.'

'Which is why we need to be strategic about our next moves.' Ozpin followed up before rising out of his chair. 'Now, I can get some extra support from the Vale army, but we need people that have adequate combat skills and can hold their own against other militants, correct?'

'Yes?' the three other people in the room replied, uncertain about the direction of Ozpin's conversation.

'And it would help even more if these combatants had prior experience fighting the members of the cult, correct?'

'Ozpin, where is this going?' Glynda asked with a warning tone.

'What if we enlisted Team NCKL to help us fight the Cult?' Ozpin asked bluntly.

For a moment, the room fell silent as everyone considered the option. It was true, every member of the team had prior experience with war and unconventional battles. Even the pacifistic medic on the team, Cody Winchester, had an impressive enough resume that proved he had seen more fields of conflict than most full-fledged Huntsmen, hence how he was allowed entrance into Beacon Academy.

Eventually, it was Rachel's voice that broke the silence. 'Come to think of it, the girl, Nicole, has been looking pretty depressed lately.'

'Probably because her boyfriend ran out on her.' Horizon chipped in.

'Maybe some live-fire combat will do her some good.' Rachel finished.

'What about the Master Speaker?' Glynda asked, the title sending a chill down Ozpin's spine. 'Do you think he could send some help?'

'He's not returning my calls.'

There was another moment's pause before Glynda felt that she had to inquire. 'Do you think that Miss Lunas' emotional state will impair her ability to act as team leader?'

'I do.'

'And do you believe there is no better way to resolve this condition?'

'Absolutely.'

A sly smile ghosted over the witch's face for a quick moment before it disappeared. 'Very well, I will inform Team NCKL's leader at once and see whether she agrees to the terms of this mission.' Glynda quickly said before leaving for the elevator.

'What about me, sir?' the gunslinger in the room asked.

'For the moment I think you've done enough for us, Horizon. Take a break, but should you feel the need to help the people of Vale, know that the guards along the walls could always use more help.'

Nodding quickly, Horizon let out a yawn before strutting over to the elevator as well. 'I'll consider it.'

'Glynda.' Ozpin quickly called out just as the elevator arrived. 'With what we have, we should be able to commence an attack by nightfall. I suggest you ensure that Team NCKL is prepped for combat by then, if they accept the terms.'

Nodding, the witch and the gunslinger stepped into the elevator and were sent down to the grounds of Beacon, leaving Rachel and Ozpin alone.

'Any luck?' he asked her a second after the elevator departed.

Shaking her head, Rachel's expressions became crestfallen very rapidly. 'No, it's like he disappeared without a trace.'

Letting out a sigh as his innocent hopes were crushed, Ozpin took off the glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose and placed them on the table. 'It's only been one day, Rachel. We shouldn't expect to be able to find him so quickly.' Letting out a light chuckle, the headmaster allowed one of his happier memories to enter his mind. 'Remember when we were playing hide-and-seek and we couldn't find him for the good length of an hour?'

This got the stoic girl to let out a small laugh at the memory, which left a lingering smile on her lips. 'Yeah, I'm still not sure how he got up there.'

Turning away, Ozpin stared out of the glass windows of his tower at the city below it, the sun high in the sky and bathing the Kingdom of Vale in a brilliant light as a few clouds passed in the way of the sun. 'Give it time, we'll find him.'

After a moment, Rachel let out a low groan. 'This would be so much easier if we knew where Thomas was.' She said as an off-hand comment.

At the mention of the scared, confused boy that Ozpin blamed himself for losing to fear, Ozpin's face fell. I only have myself to blame for anything that happens to him…

'Thomas Glass is more than capable of taking care of himself. I have a gut feeling that before this is all over, he will return to us.'

Letting out a sigh, Rachel's footsteps carried her further away from Ozpin until the chime of an elevator could be heard. 'If you think so, boss.'

Soon, Ozpin was the only one left in the room on top of the tower as metal gears turned around him to a rhythm-less tune. I guess it's our move now.