"What…?"

Their dorm room was utterly destroyed. The furniture was in pieces and scattered across the floor. Books were shredded. Pictures were torn apart. There were deep claw marks in the walls.

A girl with brown hair stood in the middle of the room, nails elongated into dark, curved claws. She turned to look at Glynda, pupils narrowed into slits.

The blonde walked through the doorway and began to repair to room with her semblance. "Tatiana, why did you walk out during Maurus's lecture? I know he's a jerk, but –"

"But what?" she hissed. "But it's okay since he's just talking about Faunus?"

"But everyone hates him anyway, and no one believes a word he says anyway." Glynda sat down on a repaired bed. "Besides, Oz and I both know what it's like to face prejudice. Still, you should have told us –"

"Told you what? That I'm a Faunus? That it's illegal for me to be in this kingdom, let alone this school? That I had to be smuggled here so I could fake some transcripts and get out of that hole they stuck us in?!" Her voice had risen to a near shout. "Because that would've gone over so well."

The blonde sighed. "I guess you're right – at least, you would be if we were still First-Years, but we've been a team for nearly three years. James and Oz deserve to know."

"But –"

"James is your partner – there shouldn't be secrets between you two – and Oz needs to know everything so he can plan accordingly."

"…I hate it when you make sense, Glynda."

"Hmph. You're welcome."

~:~

"You can't be serious!" James' eyes blazed with fury. "You're a faunus?"

Tatiana nodded, eyes glued to the floor. She held out her hands and extended her claws.

"We've been your teammates for three years. Why are you just telling us now?!"

"Can you honestly say that you wouldn't report me to Herleif?" The brunette narrowed her gold eyes into a cold glare. "You're debating whether you should right now. Admit it."

"I am not –"

"That's enough!" Alexander's voice echoed through the room. "We will not get anything done if we just sit here and argue."

"What's there to get done?" James frowned. "She told us. What else is left?"

Glynda met the team leader's eyes. "Contingency plans – in case someone overheard us or finds out."

The silver-haired boy nodded. "If Herleif finds out about Tatiana, she will be undoubtedly be expelled."

"It'd become a legal battle, wouldn't it?" Tatiana asked. Her lips pressed into a thin line.

"Crap," the blonde muttered under her breath. "The one thing we all suck at."

"Speak for yourself." Alexander smiled slightly. "I know a lawyer who could fight for us, if needed. He owes my father a favor, and if all else fails, I could also defend us. My father was a lawyer, and I picked up some skills from him."

"Your dad's a lawyer?" The dark-haired boy raised his eyebrows. His teammates had always skirted around the subject of family.

"He was." His smile became slightly strained.

Glynda cleared her throat. "So if Herleif finds out, we use a court case to fight back. What can we use to our advantage?"

The team's leader leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He raised an eyebrow.

Tatiana rolled her eyes. "It's not exactly the best time for you to do the whole 'I know the answer, but I'm gonna let you figure it out' thing."

Alexander's only response was a thoughtful hum.

"Wait." James suddenly straightened. "Wait, we're at school, so –"

"– The things that Atlas normally encourages are our best weapons," the Faunus realized. The two partners met each other's eyes and smiled until James suddenly frowned and looked away. Tatiana sighed.

"Exactly." The silver-haired boy smiled, seemingly oblivious to their quarrel. "Grades, social life, combat skills – everything we've learned at Citadel will be used against it."

It was a foolproof plan – their declaration of war. Sure ARGT was made up of purely students – half of which weren't on the best of terms with each other – but they'd have a top-notch lawyer (with or without that friend of "Ozpin Sr.") fighting for them. Sure they'd be on the defensive, but there was no way they could lose.

…Right?

A/N: Spoiler alert: they lose. This chapter takes place in ARGT's third year. I was going to have a couple more chapters for this-one where Tatiana leaves and another where the team tries to function without their fourth member. As it stands, here's what happens:

Another team overhears the argument from this chapter and reports to Herleif. Tatiana is expelled and set to be deported. ARGT tries to fight a legal battle over it but ultimately loses. After she returned to Menagerie, she began to use her skills to speak out against faunus confinement, using her experiences at Citadel to her advantage. She joined a civil rights group began traveling throughout Remnant and became a public speaker for the group, winning over the kingdoms of Mistral and Vale. She was arrested many times but always managed to escape. When the group and its allies began to turn to militaristic tactics to counter Atlas and/or Vacuo's attacks, Tatiana was at the forefront again, despite being only twenty, participating in countless defensive measures and offensive strikes.

Meanwhile, ARG(T) goes onto their final year, participates in the Vytal Festival at Beacon, meet Team STRQ (who are very...dramatic and theatrical: Look, I had to have some reason for my inane reference to Birdie's gold/butter suit), and Ozpin wins the tournament for them.