"A nightclub?" Asked the one girl wearing white among the eight students lounged around in a dormitory room.

"Yep. One supposedly run by a Hei 'Junior' Xiong, though that's just the front man for Torchwick's base." Answered the farm boy to the ice queen, "At least that's what the Shay D. Man gave up anyway. We walked by it and scoped out the front for a little bit but we didn't see any Torchwick goons going in or out. That said they supposedly hang out in the back so it wouldn't surprise me if they go in and out back there too."

Weiss cocked an eyebrow at the reconnaissance team leader, "And why precisely could you not simply observe the back exits to confirm this?"

"Oh, I don't know Ice Queen, maybe 'cause a bunch of teens walking down the street like normal ain't gonna set off an alarm like sending a couple of scouts to sneak around an alleyway apparently does! I mean do you want Torchwick to go even further underground?" The golden mane snapped back.

"To play devil's advocate for us 'scouts,' it wasn't the sneaking that set off the alarm at the chop shop but rather the attempted interrogation." Retorted the jade dragon.

"Either way I didn't wanna risk it." Jaune cut in, "Especially since word might have gotten around about the hit on the chop shop and that might have put the Torchwicks on higher alert."

Weiss crossed her arms, "I still do not like needing to rely on such assumptions."

"Yeah, well, it's a more accurate assumption than we could make with what we found." The red hood said.

"What did you guys come up with anyway?" Jaune asked.

Ruby leaned back in her seat with an exasperated sigh, "A bunch of SDC records with the shops' schedules and the dates they got hit. All we could figure out from it is that Torchwick probably has a guy in the SDC who hacks the security for him when he comes in to do updates, but he doesn't always hit them immediately after the hack and too many shops get updated around the same time for us to know which is the next one on the hit list."

"Any way we could question the security guys?" Jaune asked.

"More like there is no reason to do so." Weiss responded, "All those workers tend to do is plug in their scrolls to run the update program loaded onto them. I doubt any of them are the actual hacker. More than likely that individual merely installed a back door for themselves into the update files. They may not even work at the security branch at all."

Ren shrugged, "It would be easier to not get caught that way."

Jaune put his hand to his chin, "So the club really is our only potential option as a target."

"Great!" Nora said with a gritty grin and a palmed fist, "Then let's bust in there and grab Torchwick's ass!"

Blake gave a rough sigh, "Are you kidding? We can't just break down the front door."

"Why not?" The red headed bombshell inquired with a pout.

"Given our knowledge of the Torchwick gang's size a direct attack might very well be suicidal." Ren answered, "Not to mention that a master thief like Roman likely has an escape route planned out for himself in just such a scenario."

"So… What exactly are we supposed to do?" Ruby asked.

"Infiltrate." Blake said curtly.

A huge gasp went up from the short redhead beside Ren, "Oh! My god! Yes!" Nora turned to Ren and began shaking him by the shoulders, "Ren, we are finally gonna get to go clubbing tonight!"

Ren facepalmed and sighed, "An infiltration is not a party Nora."

"Well we still gotta dress up like it is and act like it is so it might as well be!" Nora snapped back.

Yang shrugged, "She's got a point."

Nora narrowed her eyes at Yang and nodded, "You're alright Xiao Long."

Yang gave a quick up tilt of her chin back. Weiss rolled her eyes, "No. She's not, and neither are you Valkyrie." Nora recoiled with the fingertips of her right hand to her chest and Weiss gave a cocked eyebrow to her in return, "We cannot simply dress up and act to infiltrate that club. First of all, we are all still underage," Weiss then pointed a thumb at Ruby beside her, "especially Rose here, who, as my second point and along with me, is already known to Torchwick."

Ren chimed in, "I can at least handle adjusting our scroll IDs to get past that first hurdle."

Pyrrha's face grew concerned, "Um… Ren… If you don't mind me asking, how exactly do you know how to do that?"

"I'd actually prefer not to ans…" Ren started.

Nora immediately leapt in front of the jade dragon into Pyrrha's line of sight, "We used to work as underaged, unlicensed huntsmen!" A slapping sound and a sigh could be heard from behind Nora. Nora continued with her elbow rested on Pyrrha's shoulder, "I was the muscle and Ren was the brain! I'd crack the skulls and he'd suck the stuff we needed to know out of them!" Nora then jumped back over to Ren and embraced him tightly, "My adorable best friend here used to make us fake IDs to get us past the bureaucrats and guardsmen all the time!"

"Yes, well," Ren said as he pried Nora's arms off, "in any case I can likely grant us access." Ren then looked over at Weiss and Ruby, "Though you two are probably better off staying out of Torchwick's surveillance. Even if he thinks you don't realize the club is his he may be unwilling to take any chances if he sees you there on camera." Ren then looked at Pyrrha who got a bit surprised, "You aren't exactly unknown either Pyrrha, it might be that you draw too much attention to us as well."

Jaune perked up from his pensive pose, "That distraction is actually exactly what we need!" Jaune looked to Pyrrha, "If you draw eyes to the front then we could have Ren and Blake sneak through the back."

"Sorry Jauney boy but sneaking around back rooms ain't like sneaking around back alleys." Yang interrupted, "You gotta act instead of tiptoe. I don't think a guy like Ren can pull it off," Yang looked over at the black clad girl appraisingly, "Blake might could though."

"I guess we'll just send Blake then?" Ruby said.

Jaune shook his head, "Nobody goes anywhere without someone backing them up."

"Just send me in with her!" Yang said with a thumb pointed at herself.

"You?" Blake asked with a cocked brow.

"Yeah me!" Yang answered with hands on her hips. The golden mane struck a confident pose, "It'll be perfect, you'll play the eye rolling bitch and I'll play the flirty ditz!"

Ruby snorted, "What do you mean you'll play the flirty ditz? Aren't you always like that?"

Yang growled a bit at the red hood but heard a slight snicker from behind her. She turned to see Blake sitting completely expressionless and narrowed her eyes at the kunoichi. Yang turned again slowly and addressed the entire group, "Look, I can talk our way through the back rooms, just put me with Blake and we'll snag this guy."

Jaune hummed ponderously and Pyrrha looked concernedly at him, "Jaune, are you really considering this?"

"It's basically the only option we have Pyrrha." Jaune replied, "Ruby and Weiss can't even come in so we need to post them as escape route guards. Ren and Nora are experienced out in the wild and on the street but apparently not on the dance floor so we'll just use them as the internal backup. You and I need to make a diversion up front. Yang seems to know the club scene and Blake at least has a mystery vibe going. Those two are the best bet we have on infiltrating the back rooms."

Ruby stood up and addressed the entire group, "I agree. This is the only way we can get close enough to Torchwick to drag him out."

"See princess?" Yang said to Pyrrha, "We got both leaders on board. Now are you gonna hop on too or not?"

"I… I suppose…" Pyrrha gave in, "So long as Jaune thinks it's the best option I can't really oppose it."

Yang went up to the warrior princess and clasped her by the shoulder with a fox like grin, "Well then princess, it looks like we're gonna have ourselves a night out after all!" Yang then turned around and gave the entire group once overs with her hand to her chin, "But before we do that we are gonna have to go shopping."

Ruby and Weiss sat nested in their combat gear on a rooftop which overlooked an entire nightclub lit up by dancing red lights. From their vantage point Ruby observed both the front and rear entrance and exit guarded by large bouncers through the scope of her rifle which was set up on the bipod made from its scythe head. At the front Ruby spied six familiar teens lined up to enter the establishment. Ruby brought her head up to stop looking through the scope and sighed, "Man I wish I could go in with those guys…"

Weiss scoffed while sticking to her own observation via binoculars, "Why on remnant would you want to enter a nightclub on the seedy side of town Rose? It is probably a run down mess in there."

"I don't mean I wanna party in there Ice Queen!" Ruby snapped, "I just wish I could go in there and help em snatch Roman."

"Well you never know Rose. It may be that your hotblooded sister and the one always in the corner with her books will let him slip out of their grasp and we shall be forced to intercept him on his escape route."

"Nah…" Ruby said in disappointment, "If Yang gets a hold of him he's gonna be pretty much locked in her grip. All we're probably gonna do tonight is sit on this dumb roof."

Weiss shook her head and pressed her ear, "Infil team, this is overwatch team, what is your status? Over."

Jaune, who was outfitted in a collared white shirt beneath an open black blazer over top of some blue slacks pressed his own ear and whispered, "Still good overwatch, they don't seem to be checking for concealed carry so we should be able to get in. Over."

"Solid copy infil. Out." Jaune heard over the hidden headset.

"Knowing this side of town I bet everybody they let in is packing." Yang said in her bright yellow dress that revealed much of her figure while being embroidered with sparkling orange flames.

"More like the guards themselves are packing so much they just don't care." Blake added in a much more modest black dress with a single slit up the left and an open violet jacket atop it.

"Speaking of which do you really think you can fight without Magnhild Nora?" Jaune asked the girl in the pink sequined dress with a heart cut out of it to show cleavage.

"What are you talking about Jaune?" Nora hitched up the right side of her attire to show a folded up silver block strapped to her thigh to the knight, "Magnhild's right here. I just had to take the cylinder out to make it fit but I can still use it, just with no grenades."

Ren grabbed the hem of Nora's dress and yanked it down, "Please don't show it like that Nora."

Yang put an elbow on Ren's shoulder and grinned with bedroom eyes, "What's the matter quiet guy? Don't want your buddy baiting in some competition?"

Ren merely got stuck in a vocalized pause but Nora jammed herself between the two and pushed both away from each other, "Ren and I aren't together like that!" Nora snapped, then paused and began an awkward laugh with a blushing face, "He just wanted to make sure I didn't tip anybody off to Magnhild!" Nora then turned to the boy in the green button up shirt over white slacks with her teeth gritted in a grin, "Right Ren?"

Ren broke out of his trance with a cough, "Yes."

Yang put up her hands in mocking surrender, "Alright, whatever you guys say."

The group neared the doors and the girl in the long red dress that covered her arms and neck while she wore a bronze chain around the waist looked around concerned. Pyrrha whispered towards Ren, "Are you sure these IDs are going to work?"

Ren shrugged, "I haven't failed at it before, but who knows? They might use some sort of confirmation that I am not familiar with."

"Relax Pyrrha." Nora chimed in, "Ren's never gotten us caught unlicensed yet, I'm sure he can fool some dumb bouncers just as well as the top beurocrats back in Vacuo."

The teams got to the top of the steps up to the club and the bouncer gave them a hard look over, "ID?"

Jaune swept his arms out in front of Pyrrha who blushed at the gesture, "Ladies first."

Pyrrha walked up gracefully as she could muster and showed the guard the ID on her scroll. The huge man simply looked it over without even scanning it and made a thumb directional point into the club, "You're good."

The warrior princess was able to relax a bit and walked in. Behind her followed Yang who winked at Jaune's move as well as Blake, Nora and Ren. Jaune then brought up the rear and they all got into the club without any problems. The group looked over the landscape of the establishment with a bit of awe. The club was actually rather brightly lit in this main portion, most of which was taken up by a white dance floor in the center which was surrounded by black and red seating and flanked on the left by a DJ booth and the right by a bar. In the back was the obvious entrance to the back rooms which was itself flanked not by the expected huge men, but rather by two petit and ornately dressed women.

Jaune stepped out in front of the group that was impressed by the unexpectedly well put together dance hall, "Alright guys, we should probably hang around for a little while before we kick off the plan so we seem normal."

"Let's go to the bar Ren!" Nora said exuberantly and dragged the boy by his arm over to the area she had called for their team.

"Blake and I will hang out near the back rooms so we can slip in quick when you set off the distraction for those two bouncer chicks." Yang said and the two infiltration girls both headed over to that area together.

Pyrrha was left alone with Jaune and she immediately got awkward, "So, uh… Where do you think we should go... hang out? Of course anywhere you decide is fine by me! You are the leader after all."

Jaune put a hand to his chin, "Well we need to be somewhere where we can draw attention so I guess we should go on the dance floor and act like we're dancing together."

Pyrrha's face began matching her dress and she began breathing heavily and stammering, "W-well, I-If you think that's the only way to accomplish the mission then of course we have to do it."

"Well we could always think of something else if you don't think this is…"

"I do think this is the right plan!" Pyrrha burst out right as she grabbed Jaune by the hand and began dragging him, "Come on! Let's go dancing!"

Ren and Nora dropped down on a couple of barstools right in front of a large, broad shouldered man who turned to face them while polishing a glass, "Well you two look new around here! So, what can I get you?"

Nora hit one of her elbows down hard on the bar and stuck two fingers up on the hand attached to that arm, "Two strawberry sunrises on the rocks, hold the umbrellas."

Ren gently tipped Nora's arm down until it lay flat on the bar, "I'll just take water."

"Comin right up!" The huge bearded bartender immediately began filling some glasses with various elements of Nora's requested concoction, "So I ain't seen you two round here before, where you from if I might ask?"

"Actually I'd rather not…" Ren started.

"We're Vacuans!" Nora ended, "Or, well, Ren's the 'native' Vacuan. I'm from a Mantle immigrant family, but I don't even remember Mantle at all since we came over to the empire when I was tiny!"

Ren facepalmed but the barkeep just continued, "Well what a coincidence, my dad was an immigrant from Vacuo here! Old man Hei Xiong, but everyone used to just call him 'Senior.'"

Nora skewed an eyebrow towards the barkeep, "Wait… Are you Junior?!"

The big barkeep made a thumb point towards his chest, "Yep! The younger Hei Xiong that everybody just calls Junior!"

Ren now skewed his own brow, "You own this place don't you? What are you doing serving drinks?"

Junior rubbed the back of his head embarrassed, "Well I enjoy working out here more than doing a bunch of paperwork like I do while we're closed, plus it lets me keep a close eye on the customers to see what they need."

"Fair enough." Ren replied flatly.

Junior brought drinks out on the table, "Here you go, one strawberry sunrise and one water, drink up you two!"

Nora brought up her glass in a toast like position towards Ren and the jade dragon sighed and clinked glasses with the redhead.

Blake and Yang sat in one of the booths near the rear that gave them a good view of the two girls that stood guard at the entrance to the back rooms. "Yep." Yang whispered with a pop, "No doubt about it. Those two are the ones in charge of the entry back there."

"They look like normal club goers, not bouncers." Blake said.

"The outfits do, sure, but you see those crossed arms and those steel looks? They're bouncers no doubt about it. And from the lean muscles I'd guess ones that are supposed to be able to take on skilled fighters. Like us huntsmen maybe."

"Elite guards... A confirmation of Torchwick's presence perhaps?" Blake queried.

Yang shrugged, "No telling. But if I had to bet I'd say we're on the right track here."

"We just have to wait until Jaune and Pyrrha set off their end of the plan then." Blake replied.

"Yep." Yang popped once more.

Jaune and Pyrrha walked onto the dance floor side by side to an open spot they were certain would be clearly visible to the pair of rear guards. Pyrrha looked around awkwardly again and then at Jaune, "Um… Jaune, before we start, you should know that we might not seem normal out here because… well… I don't know how to dance!"

"What?" Jaune queried surprised.

"I only ever spent time learning combat Jaune, I never danced with anybody…"

Jaune grinned and thumb pointed himself, "Well you just lucked out Pyrrha! I happened to grow up with seven sisters who did nothing but force me into their hobbies, one of which was dancing! If there's one thing I know better than fighting it's how to move on the dance floor!"

Pyrrha went red at this, "Um… Well.. In that case, would you please show me?" She put up her hands in a defensive wave, "Only if you feel like it's necessary to the mission of course!"

Jaune laughed, "It ain't necessary Pyrrha but it won't compromise us anyway, come on I'll show you. It's real easy, just take that combat stuff you know and put it to the rhythm."

"Like this?'' Pyrrha began slashing and parrying to the beat with her invisible sword and shield.

"Almost!" Jaune chuckled, "Now just smooth it out to be less jerky and spin around every so often!"

"You can't turn your back on the enemy Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed unbelievably.

Jaune laughed again, "You're right about that, but you can turn it on your dance partner Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha awkwardly looked at Jaune, "Ok…"

Jaune cocked a brow and extended an arm, "Here, take my hand."

Pyrrha went wide eyed and reached for Jaune's hand. The knight grasped it preemptively before she went all the way and manipulated it upward, spinning the girl into a closer contact with him which left her even more wide eyed for a split second before he made a back step which widened the distance between them. Pyrrha fell into the groove, following the directions of Jaune to the rhythm without thinking about the mission at all. So it continued for a few songs before suddenly the melody shifted to be much slower and the lights went down.

Pyrrha looked around at the other dancers as they swayed close to each other slowly, doing little more than embracing each other. She looked back to Jaune awkwardly, "We um… I mean, if you don't want to dance to this we probably don't need to Jaune."

"What do you mean Pyrrha?" Jaune asked curiously, "This is just perfect!"

"Huh?!" Pyrrha was pulled in tight to Jaune who placed his hand on her waist and in doing so elicited a high temperature from her.

Jaune leaned in close to Pyrrha's boiling ear and whispered, "When I give you the signal slap me across the face."

"What!" Pyrrha exclaimed in a whisper back.

"To distract the twin guards!" Jaune replied, "We'll make them think we got in a fight and they'll come break it up since they're the closest."

"Oh." Pyrrha whispered back as she came down from her confused heat, "Ok, what's the signal then?"

Jaune thought for a moment, "Uh… Know what, forget any signal, just do it now and get ready to act well after!"

Pyrrha wound up for a slap but dropped her hand before doing anything, "Jaune, I… I can't do this, especially not to you!"

Jaune held her even closer, "It's ok Pyrrha, I'm ready for it and it's for the mission. There's nothing wrong about it this time."

Pyrrha hesitated but then steeled herself. She stepped back from Jaune and raised her hand again, "How could you!"

The warrior princess unleashed a slap so hard Jaune nearly spun in place from it and it echoed through the dance hall. She put both hands over her mouth in shock at the power she'd unwittingly unleashed upon the farm boy. The two guards closest to them saw the conflict and rolled their eyes and let out a simultaneous groan as the walked away from the back room entrance over towards the abusive couple. As soon as the twins left their post Yang nodded towards Blake who nodded back and the two snuck quickly past the velvet rope barring the entrance to the rear. The twins walked up to Jaune and Pyrrha with annoyed expressions on their faces. The one on the left in the white outfit spoke up, "Alright you two, what's going on here?"

Yang and Blake strolled casually down the dimly lit corridor of black illuminated by red. The golden mane leaned over to the black bow with a hand to the side of her mouth, "Just follow my lead, ok? If anybody comes to talk to us just act all cold and uptight like you always do."

Blake growled a little at the direction, "Where exactly do you think Torchwick could be back here?"

"No clue, we're just gonna have to wander round til we find him."

"And when we find him? What then?"

Yang punched her palm, "Easy, we just get close to him however we can, knock him out, and then drag him out."

"And if that sets off the guards?"

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there ninja girl."

The two girls walked past several rooms filled with black suited men surrounded by club clad women. Both styles of dress were often somewhat loosened and wrinkled as the wearers laughed and clinked glasses with each other. Occasionally a woman led one of the black suited goons to an even more private area and closed the curtains behind them when they walked in. Blake kept a sharp eye on everything around her and leaned close to Yang, "These men's uniforms…"

"Yeah I noticed." Yang responded, "They're Torchwick's men for sure."

"So then Torchwick is here."

"Maybe, but even if he isn't here right now this is definitely his hideout. The intel we got from the Shay D. man was right."

"We need to speed up the search."

"I got an idea. You just stay behind me and keep your aloof act up."

Yang spotted a guy stumbling his way around the hall and went up to him with Blake in tow. Yang tapped the man on the shoulder and he spun towards her, "Huh?"

Yang leaned into her cleavage revealing pose a bit and put her hand on the grunt's shoulder, "Hey there handsome, me and my friend are new back here. Do you know where the boss is, we got told to go…" Yang leaned in closer with soft eyes and voice, "pay him a visit…"

The thug looked between the two girls for a bit and puffed up a little, "Sure you don't just wanna pay someone else a visit?"

Blake rolled her eyes but Yang steered into it, dragging her hand down from the shoulder as a single finger which she used to draw on the thug's chest, "Tell you what big guy, If you help us with the first one we'll for sure pay you back with the second."

The bruiser went redder in the face than the spirits had made him and pointed down the hall, "Just up those stairs," the man hiccuped, "The door at the end of that hall."

Yang grabbed the thug's tie and pulled him down eye to eye with her, "Thanks handsome."

The golden mane then slightly loosened her grip on the tie and allowed it to naturally slide out of her hand as she walked off, with both Blake and the gangster's eyes following her. Once they were out of earshot Blake narrowed her eyes at Yang, "Quite the performance you put on back there."

Yang cracked her neck and knuckles with a grin, "Yeah." She player groaned out, "I still got it."

The two girls began walking up the small stairwell which ended on another hall. The door at the end of that one was clearly some kind of office rather than the lounges that lined the sides. They began their elegant step towards the lair of their prey. Blake leaned in again, "What's the plan? Sneak in for an ambush? Or maybe act our way close to him?"

"The heels ain't exactly making sneaking easy, but I guess we could take em off. Acting our way close to him might give him time to figure out we're packing heat. How quick do you think you can draw that gunsword?"

"Pretty quickly. I practiced the draw from concealment a bunch of times before we went out."

"Ok then, we'll act our way close but we're gonna make it a short act. Soon as you're in good range put the pistol part to him to keep him still so I can unconceal my gauntlets from this bracelet mode and knock him out."

Blake nodded coldly and the two made their way towards the door. The two merely stood in front of the office for a bit looking at each other before Yang nodded, let out a relaxing breath, went into her flirtatious face, and opened the door. The office was spacious but completely divorced from the rest of the club's aesthetic, it looked rather like a typical work environment. There was a desk, some shelves, and a large board upon which a large blueprint and some small photographs hung, each marked with some red writing. There in front of that architectural diagram, focused on it rather than the opened up door was the redheaded man in a white coat that had been described to the two girls by Ruby. "Neo would you…" Roman turned around as he spoke and saw the two girls who had walked in, "You're not Neo… Who are you? Why are you here?"

Yang and blake kept stepping forward as seductively as they could muster and Yang spoke, "We're the new girls. The boys sent us here to take care of the boss."

As the heels kept clacking closer to him on the office floor Roman sighed, "Of course they did, look I'm sorry to turn you away but now isn't a good ti…" Blake surged forward in an instant and a pistol pressed its muzzle against the center of Roman's brow. Roman sighed "And it turns out you two aren't the new girls at all. How'd the huntsmen find me?"

"Sorry Torchy boy," Yang said as she strode forward and gauntleted vambraces extended from the bracelets on her wrists, "I'm afraid you'll have to take a little nap before you find out."

Roman simply smiled, "Oh, I doubt that goldy."

Yang wound up a right hook and was about to unleash it when something hooked around her right elbow and yanked her back, causing her to spin around and fall. Blake caught this out of the corner of her eye and turned her head towards it only to receive a hit to the face with some black hook like object that sent her away from Roman. Blake was pushed up against a wall by the blow rather than knocked over and when she looked up she saw an extremely small girl with half pink and half brown hair wearing a short white coat over a hip revealing and skintight brown unitard tucked into some brown trousers which themselves were tucked into the white riding spats connected to her shoes. The girl smiled and twirled an umbrella around as she directed her one pink eye and one brown eye both at Blake mockingly.

Roman readjusted his collar and hat before chuckling, "I'm so glad you two could swing by right when I had called Neo in. A real fine coincidence that!" The bowler outfitted criminal then produced a scroll from his pocket which he showed off to the two girls. "What do you say we invite some more people to this little get together?"

The crime boss pressed the gold diamond icon on his scroll, causing it to blink red.