'I do not own RWBY. It was created by Monty Oum, and is owned By Rooster Teeth.'

Note: Mamma mia, here we go again! My my, how could I resist you!

Anyways, welcome back ladies and gents. Being entirely honest, while time constraints has been a huge reason as to why I haven't been able to pop out chapters so quickly, there's another reason.

I just… Not sure to be honest. RWBY has been a huge part of my life for over a year now, and I may need something totally unrelated to get my batteries back. It's not that I will stop writing, or that I can't write, or don't want to write, but I simply don't feel the same burning passion. RWBY is great, and I still enjoy it, but I need a passion for it again. (Hopefully my writing isn't suffering because of it.)

Any tips to get my fire back? (I will continue writing though, and I will never leave a story unfinished.)

Criminal Mastermind!

Chapter XXXVI

Winter swiped a hat from a nearby stand, dropping her old one. It was quickly trampled by the feet around her, swept away by the crowd making up her camouflage. Hiding in plain sight wasn't exactly a skill taught to you in Atlas, but Winter had grown particularly adept due to her father's constant trips with her when she was little.

Hiding in plain sight was essential.

With it, she could move through crowds, and act natural. Cameras nowadays are all scanning for suspicious behavior. However, in a place like Mistral, where she currently was, or Vacuo, where they thought she was, it was more common to wear a hat, as opposed to not wearing one.

Sighing, she squirted a small amount of sunscreen into her hand.

Lathering it onto her hands, before rubbing it up her arms she thought briefly about how she got there, hiding, in one of the most criminal filled cities in the world. Beautiful though it was, the waterfalls and jungles did little to hide the crime from someone like her, who was trained to root it out.

'If it weren't for the Rogue and his ridiculous idea of a joke, I wouldn't even be in this mess.'

Minutes after he'd left her in the cab, Winter had received a phone call from her superiors, telling her to stay still, and wait to be picked up by the authorities for questioning and detainment. Yeah, well, Winter has put people into Atlas cells before.

There was nothing to look forwards to in there.

So, she stopped by her small apartment to pack a bag, grab her weapon, and change, before leaving. While Winter didn't have access to a fake passport, she did have access to the Schnee family transport-Bullheads, meaning that it was a short cab ride away, before they were lifting off the tarmac and heading towards Atlas.

That's right, back to Atlas. Where all her superiors were based, and where they would least expect her to return back to.

Of course, there was always the risk that in her thinking of that being the least likely place for them to look, that they would decide to look there the most, but it had paid off. She was there for a day or two, gathering enough information to make a fake idea, while she went through her sister's contacts as the now head of the SDC to make arrangements for her to be put onto every CTT.

The entire world was pinging her scroll. Everywhere you looked on a map if you tried tracking her, you'd see a small ping. Meaning, that she was everywhere, while at the same time only being in one place.

While the Rogue, whos name she now knew to be 'Jaune', may have caught her off guard, Winter would never be bested.

There was a reason that on their yearly inner-department war-games her team always won. Her tactical mind was finely honed to guerilla tactics, and run and hide techniques. That, combined with her ruthless efficiency, allowed for Winter to nearly vanish off the face of the planet.

She didn't know if the Rogue was watching her movements or not, or even if he had a way to, but it was impressive if he was. Hell, she'd managed to lose Atlas, and they were expending all their resources to find her.

An senior officer, part of the largest most powerful family in the world, taking money from a master criminal, the same master criminal who killed her father? That was an international scandal.

So far, they've done a fairly good job of keeping it under wraps, but there was a theory that no great body of people could keep anything a secret for long. Meaning, that there was only perhaps a day left, if not hours, before it got to the news, and Winter's family name was disgraced.

'A Schnee? They'd say. Doing something like that? They'd say. They'd all watch and laugh, as my name is dragged through the mud for something I didn't even do. Running likely didn't help, but I couldn't let myself be arrested and paraded around. That would've simply let the news get out faster.'

Yes. Atlas, while well-meaning, wasn't the greatest at subtlety.

'Is this what it's been like for the Jaune for the past few months? Him, moving from place to place, never able to remain in one costume, one guise, as one person? Is he trying to say that I've been doing this to him, or that it should be happening to me? Is there a deeper meaning, or am I overthinking it?'

She turned again, and Winter took in the sights of Mistral. The streets, if you could call the massive wooden bridges connecting the mountains together streets, were filled with people, bustling around.

Most of them were normal civilians.

But, alas, she would say that perhaps one in eight was a criminal of some sort.

It didn't have to be anything particularly nefarious, maybe just someone who stole a candy bar once, but Mistral was famed for its shady underworld. The second best place to hide in the world, other than the fairly lawless lands of Vacuo, was here.

A thriving cesspool of people, all scrambling for success.

Scowling, Winter continued pushing through the crowd. Gone was the white specialist's uniform she'd worn with so much pride, replaced instead by a brown robe, which was unflattering for her figure.

Though, before the Rogue appeared in her life, what her figure looked like hadn't ever really bothered her too much.

Looking upwards at Haven academy, towering over the city of Mistral, Winter's icy blue eyes fixed onto the waterfall cascading from one of the nearby pools. It was a nice academy, and thankfully she wouldn't be going there.

A rogue huntress like her, was without a doubt being slandered against right now, even as they went over it.

Sighing, she continued through the crowd, hiding in plain sight, as she went back to her current residence. All she would need is a day and a half, and this dumb game would be over, her name cleared, a formal apology on the TV put on, and her job would be hers again.

But the real question is: If she was having so much genuine fun being on the run, did she even want it to stop?

Winter, in all honesty, was having fun… Ending something like this quite so soon, when there was finally a challenge centered around her instead of around someone else… That was intoxicating, the world was conspiring against her, and was pushing her to the limit.

For once, it didn't seem like a guaranteed win.

Maybe, this was just what she needed to feel confident in her skills again, from where her confidence had been previously broken down by Jaune himself… That charming, annoyingly bright, and confident young man.

Perhaps there was a deeper meaning behind all of this.

But even then, there was a deeper meaning behind all this. The government corruption he had been warning her of? She'd been aware that corruption was a thing for a long time, but once she started investigating? There was a lot there.

A lot.

She dug deeper, to the point now where even if she did prove her innocence, she wasn't sure she wanted it anymore. What was the point, if she was only going back to serving people with their own, hidden agendas? There was no point by then.

No, what was the point in serving people who would only use you, before throwing you aside?

What was the point in serving a government which had no use for you, other than using you? What was the point, if you didn't even know what you were really fighting for? What you were really fighting against.

Everything she's summoned, she had thought was a mindless monster, but what if they weren't?

He'd told her about that file, and while she hasn't found it yet, she was close. She could feel it. He made it seem like that thing had changed his life, and it probably had. There was no telling what it could contain, and it was right at her fingertips.

Winter was this close to unravelling it all.

But first, she would have to trust him, and that was a conflict in and of itself.

'Do I trust him? That I don't know. He makes it seems like I can, but I'm not sure… If I do, I go through with it, and never go back, no matter the consequences, but if I don't, then I can just go back to my ignorance. But now, what's more important, being someone else's lapdog, doing exactly what they say? Or releasing the truth, and changing the world as we know it?'

That in itself, was an interesting dilema.

Remain ignorant, or become educated and wish that she remained ignorant.

Those seemed like the only options, and Winter was teetering, when a single drop of moisture fell from the sky. She must've been standing there for a few minutes, for those clouds to roll in so quickly. Looking upwards, she saw more drops fall, none of them hitting her, before she was reminded of snow.

Snow that came down around his face.

Feeling the ghostly, lingering touch of his soft, and almost painfully hot lips on her cheek, she reached up and touched her face gently. Her smooth fingers ran across her skin, and Winter felt the drops continuing down onto her shoulders.

Yes. Winter knew exactly what she had to do.

She had to release the truth, and force the world to recognize it.

~o0o~ Criminal Mastermind! ~o0o~

Neo huffed, taking a second to herself as she sat on his couch. It was nothing new, her being in Jaune's apartment. However, what was new, was his new attire. Looking him over, she raised an eyebrow at him.

It was the closest thing she could do to questioning him using only facial expressions.

While it may have taken weeks of practice in a mirror, that eyebrow movement was one of her great prides. That, and the sheer amount of ice cream she could eat before a brain shutdown. Both had taken her a life of preparations and training, but it was necessary.

For the greater good.

Turning as he left the bathroom, Jaune looked at her, before raising an eyebrow in return. Ah, she has taught her pupil well. "Does it look good? Is the eyebrow a good thing? A bad thing?"

Neo wiggled them a couple times, causing him to give a face of confusion briefly before she smiled and gave him a bright thumbs up. While it wasn't what he usually wore, it actually did kinda look good on him.

In a weird sort of way. Almost like the movie by Eack Zeffron, he was back in school, and ready to roll.

A big, large, very expensive school training professional killers without their knowing of it. Killing grimm certainly wouldn't be the only thing they'd be killing in time, most likely 'guided' by their professors into doing 'what was right' and putting people like her and Roman out of business.

Permanently.

Yet still, she had to admire their fashion sense.

Red blazer, red slacks. A blue vest, and an orange tie. It fit him well, seeming comfortable while at the same time nice enough looking. The colours partially clashed, but at the same time seemed to flow naturally from one to the next.

Straightening slightly, Jaune seemed to preen slightly at her thumbs up.

What a guy. Getting all excited and proud about a simple sign of approval for her. Biting her lip slightly though, the look grew on her quickly. Perhaps he had a right to preen… She could taste the slightly sweet residue from her breakfast still on her lower lip, and Neo let her lip flick back.

Yes. Nice indeed.

"Thanks Neo. Man, I don't know the finer details of what this job will be, but it'll be weird. Apparently I'm also taking your spot with it?" He asked, and she pursed her lips slightly before raising a hand.

Tilting it, she let him know that she was only kinda mad about it.

But at the end of the day, it meant she would have to do less work, and therefore had more time on the payroll, while doing less. So, in the end, it was a good thing that he had taken her spot on the mission.

Infiltrating Beacon would've been a hassle anyways.

Having to constantly use her semblance and alter her looks would've just been annoying. Using all that power, for no real reason. It would've been draining, and her skin would've gotten even paler, and generally, she just would've looked unhealthy.

Though, breaking into Beacon and breaking some bones could've been a bit of a good time.

"They're just making sure it fits now though. Really, I won't be needing this for at least a month or so, since that's when we're going in. Until then, I'm meant to head to someplace called 'Mountain Glenn' and oversee some stuff." He said almost nonchalant, and Neo just waved it off.

While she knew the history of the place, what was the point to telling him, or talking to him about it? Though, talking would've been difficult, and immensely painful, so perhaps that had always been out of the question.

Sitting back on the couch as he went to change again, Neo picked up the remote, flicking on the TV. Seeing it on a random news channel, she blew a raspberry at it, before kicking her feet onto the table.

Just before she could change the channel however, Neo noticed a name scrolling at the bottom of the screen, and the entire news suddenly changed from mundane to interesting. She would've made some sort of noise to attract Jaune, but that was sadly not possible.

So instead, she reclined back, and watched.

"Schnee Daughter, taking bribes from the world's most wanted man? That and more, just after the break."

Giving a growl after the thing instantly cut to commercials, she had to praise their genius. By saying something like that before going to commercials, they get everyone staying around to watch the commercials, and make extra money.

Those conniving corporate bastards.

~o0o~ Criminal Mastermind! ~o0o~

"Hey Yang?" Came light, chirpy voice from one side of the room. The owner of the said voice, was none other than a small, fairly young girl, going by the name of 'Ruby Rose'.

"Yeah Rubes?" Came a more mature reply, which didn't lack any fun. Belonging to a blonde bombshell which absolutely ruled Beacon, it scared, and turned people on all at the same time. Yang Xiao-Long was a force to be reckoned with.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be as rich as the Schnee family?" The reaper said, continuing her previous thought as her sister continued with her apt attention giving. "I mean, if you could buy anything what would you buy?"

"Motorcycles." Yang said, flipping to another page in her magazine without a second thought, or a moment of hesitation. "And a bunch of other stuff. I'm not even going to bother asking you, since I know you'll just say weapons."

"Aww, I mean, you're right, but you can't know that!"

"I totally can." Continuing, Yang flipped to the next page, before looking upwards slightly, towards her fellow teammate. "How about you Blake? What would you buy with millions of Lien? Other than fish of course?"

Despite the fact she couldn't see it, Ruby could feel that Blake just rolled her eyes.

"First off, that's probably racist in some way." The faunus said amused, before continuing. "But, I would probably get some collectible books for my various series… Perhaps a new outfit or something."

"Pfft! Lame!" Her sister said, and Ruby giggled. She loved their back and forth relationship.

"What? It's not like I really need much to be happy now do I?" Blake said, continuing before hopping off of the top bunk, and landing to the ground with a barely audible noise. "I'm already fairly content."

"Yeah. Sure you are." Yang said. "Ask Sun, he'll tell you exactly how high maintenance you are."

"H-he'd never say something as ridiculous as that!" Blake sputtered, looking down at Yang, who was front down on her bed, still reading. "Besides! I'm not high maintenance!"

"You're right. He's too busy trying to get some pussy to notice!" Yang said with a laugh before rolling over and shooting Blake a pair of finger guns. Groaning at the terrible pun made by her sister, and team mate, Ruby ignored the sounds of a fight going on beneath her.

"By the way, what brought on that question Rubes?" Yang asked, rolling up, before pushing Blake away. Stumbling slightly, the cat girl looked back "We have a Schnee in our room, and it's awfully random for you to ask it now."

"Well, I was just reading about a scandal apparently involving Whitley's sister, Winter…" Ruby said, taking out her scroll and turning it sideways. "Not the one in charge."

"According to this, she took a large sum of money from that criminal guy… What's his name. Right! The Rogue! Apparently she took a bunch of money from him, and now's on the run!" She chattered out excitedly.

A huntress turned evil!?

It was like one of her comic books!

Then, at the end, she'd fall in love, and turn good again, before saving the day! But, there would be some sort of cryptic message at the end or something, meaning that the story wasn't going to stop there! It would be cool, and amazing, and everything would be awesome!

Not to mention that from what she's seen so far, The Rogue was like a real life super villain!

He was cool, and suave, while at the same time being mysterious, and effective! Like, he must've left her in some sort of oddly convoluted way to die at least three time! And every time they meet, he must get more powerful or something like Winter is, meaning that their battles will continue getting more and more epic!

Then, eventually, the two of them will meet for the last time, and The Rogue will allow him to be beaten by her, before she will collapse to her knees crying 'why!' now that the adventure was done!

'Oh my gosh, why don't I have a cool nemesis like that! Gosh, Whitley's so lucky, having a real life superhero for a sister… Yang's okay, but kinda blunt. Winter seems all cool, and collected, like she's got everything together! While at the same time, like she's frantically trying to keep herself together, as she's constantly thwarted! AAAAAAAAAAAAH! This is so romantic and exciting!'

"-ubes? Hello? Remnant to Ruby?" Blake said, standing on the bed below, with her chin resting on Ruby's mattress. "You kinda just stopped talking there for a second."

She felt her face go crimson red, briefly cursing her cheeks. "I-I'm fine! Anyways, what do you think this means? Do you think that she and that Rogue guy are in bed together?"

"Well I-"

"Ah! I mean in the business way! Not-not the other way! Or, maybe they could be in the other way, but I'm not asking about that!" Ruby said, holding her hands out in front of her before any accusations could fly in.

"Man, that would be cool. I know I'd be in bed with him, in both ways!" Yang said, lying on her back, arms behind her head. Looking down at her, Blake raised a perfect black eyebrow. "What?"

"Come on Blake, don't pretend you've never fantasized about him before!" Yang said, before pointing a thumb towards herself. "Well, mommy likey! He's a bad boy, in needing of some punishment!"

"Ugh, Yang, don't refer to yourself in the third person." Blake said, before fully understanding and turning back to her teammate, and Ruby's partner. "Hey! I don't fantasize about him!"

"Not yet. Now, I know you will be." Yang said, before looking at the door. Ruby followed his gaze, and Blake did so last. "So, when's our resident Schnee getting back?"

"Sometime later. He's getting pretty serious about those remedial lessons of his." Blake said. Sitting down on Yang's bed, which was below Ruby's, the faunus' ears twitched.

"It seems like everyday there's some new exploit about the Rogue, he's out there, fire up, angry, and determined to get tougher." Blake said, before continuing. "Which makes sense, what with him killing his father and everything, but still… It's unhealthy."

"Aww, you do care!" Ruby said, pointing at Blake who didn't deny it.

"So, it leaves me conflicted really. With the death of Jacques, a lot of good was done for faunus people, and Whitley's other sister Weiss seems okay with her way of running things." Speaking her thoughts, the ex-terrorist turned huntress continued.

"Yet at the same time, I think violence could've been probably avoided somehow. Or at least, I want to think that it's avoidable." The cat faunus said, finishing, before Yang sat up and pat her shoulder.

"Don't worry, if I meet that Rogue guy, I'll send him your regards either way." Yang said, before hopping out of bed. "Anyways… What do you guys think about that end of term exam we're getting a few weeks from now?"

Ruby perked up at this. Exam? "You mean the cool fighting one?"

"Yup!" Her blonde sister said, popping the 'p'. "Don't worry, no paper exams any time soon!"

"That's not quite correct Yang." Said Blake, who was already making her way over to her desk. "We have a entire set of exams coming really soon. We should probably get studying."

"Wait, we do?"

~o0o~ Criminal Mastermind! ~o0o~

Note: Anyways, like I said, I'm not stopping writing. Just want a way to get my fire back. (Also, thank you all, so, so much for sticking with me this long. We're almost at 1000 reviews! :D )

But yeah, as you can see, there's repercussions from Jaune's actions all over the place. Whitley is there instead of Weiss, and it's safe to assume money greased some palms… Bunks are in different places, but RWBY is still RWBY technically.

Neo meanwhile is enjoying her view of the Arc, while Winter is busy melting, metaphorically, and not. Now please, have a nice morning, wonderful afternoon, leave a review, drink a pepsi, and have a wonderful day!

Review Responses:

fall equinox 1: Thanks!

Benthino: Company? She's alone in this.

Primordia Inscriptor Z-09: I don't think anyone saw it coming.

Random O' Panda: Always.

B1ackAshes: Haha, thanks!

infadinityfollower: Here's more!

Glasses Writer: It'll only continue I hope!

DuplicateUserName: Meh, too much effort.

desdelor07: Why thank you!

Sm0keyPanda: Thanks!

FateBurn: We'll see.

Akashic Records: Hasn't she?

Cat Poster: You know it.

X3runner: Yup. Weiss doesn't know yet!

The Impossible Muffin: Whoops. What author inserting!?

TypedSomeWords: Good point. Interesting comments. Sorry, it's literally morning for me. 00:04

Umbrardor: Isn't everyone?

Guest: Musical number? That didn't go well.

Guest: Hey, he's still Jaune.

Joshua's Tall Tales: Thanks!

Caboose RvB343: Yup! Hopefully you're here for many more.

T51b Moridin: Haha, thanks.

SolidShinji104: This is the push!

ZHsteven: He is in another fic of mine!

Trey of the rebellion: Yup!

R-king 93: Thank you!

96hanzo: Sexual tension ;)

casvalo03o: You okay mate?

NyaNyaKittyFace: He did indeed! Smooth Jaune = Best Jaune!

MrWhitecoal: Why thank you! It means a lot.

That guy: Thanks, I like to think so too :)

EuclidWriter: Winter is indeed, hot.

Now! Time to sleep! 00:13 by the time I'm posting this!

-DragonManMax