Ilia sat at the booth of the restaurant, hands clenched around the menu and forcing her skin tone to remain it's natural dusty brown. She should have insisted on a dead drop. Dead drops were easy, you put the information somewhere, you trusted the other person to get it. The chances of someone catching you were significantly less and…

Blake slid into the spot across from her, Yang sitting right next to her, her bob of hair swishing. On the opposite side of the restaurant, Pyrrha sat down across from Weiss Schnee. Ilia wanted to bring out Lightning Lash, but resolved to crush chew her cheek and grit out, "Does she know?"

"Wha-?" Blake blinked, before looking at Weiss, "No. We're just using her as a distraction."

"Good," Ilia said. She might be willing to work with humans for Blake, but she drew a hard and fast line at a Schnee, "Let's get this over quickly. I only have a couple of hours before I have to head back out, and need to buy supplies. Where's Ruby?"

"Off doing something," Yang said, looking like she was sucking on a lemon as she said that, "So?"

"...Adam's working with someone, I think," Ilia said, "I haven't met them, but there's a mute woman I don't know that's been flitting in and out of… ok, it's gonna sound weird."

"What?"

"Me and Bane were sent to Mountain Glenn," Ilia said, "There's they've been cleaning an old subway out. It's taking a while because there's these walls we've had to remove-"

"Shit," Yang said.

"What?"

"I'm not the best at history," Yang said, "but those walls were put up to keep Grimm from getting to Vale."

"They want to let Grimm into the city?" Blake said, "What's Adam thinking-?"

"Don't know," Ilia said, "I haven't seen him much, he's been running things in the city."

"That's… What's that noise?" Blake asked, turning towards the window, and mouth falling open. High in the sky, airships were flying towards Beacon, the symbol of Atlas clear on them, "What the hell?"

"Must be the students from Atlas with Amity," Yang said, "but why such a big fleet? Were they worried about Grimm attacks on the way over?"

"I don't know," Blake said, "...Ilia, I'm gonna have to tell Ozpin about Mountain Glenn. It's not something I can just… I can't just let it happen, if they're planning to let Grimm into the city."

-X Ruby X-

Ruby breathed in through her nose, the small, hidden holes in her mask letting her suck in air as she watched Braig dodge the attacks from the large, saurian lizard. Crescent Rose braced against the tree as data flashed across the screen and an aiming reticle struggled to lock onto-

There!

Ruby fired a shot from Crescent Rose, the small spike of energy punching through the lizard's arm and out the other side with a burst of blood. Despite that, the animal only got angrier, turning towards her and charging at her with flames billowing from its mouth, fins flared as one arm dangled by a thin string of meat. Before it could hit her, Ruby warped space, disappearing from the bottom of the tree and reappearing on the side of a cliff further away. The T. Rex like beast, an anjanath, slammed into the tree with the groaning and splintering of wood and crackling of fire. An ear piercing roar echoed across the forest before Braig appeared in a warping of space directly above the beast, flipping the purple longsword as he plummeted and wrapped his left arm around the thrashing animal.

Slamming the sword into the back, Braig quickly let go of the neck and summoned one of his arrowguns, firing a shot into the skull and causing the anjanath to rear its head up, "Now, Ruby!"

"Right!" Ruby fired a shot, not waiting for the mask to get the lock-on, it was nice, but she didn't need it. The bolt punched through the throat, blood pouring out as the animal collapsed onto its side and gave weak thrashes, claws digging into the ground lightly as it tried to find purchase through the pain. Ruby shifted Crescent Rose into shotgun as she warped space so she was in front the anjanath's head. Putting it against the skull, Ruby pulled the trigger. Bone shattered, and the struggling stopped.

Braig planted a foot on the spine, grabbing his sword and yanking it from his back with a twist. Black flames ignited across the blade, burning away the blood before vanishing, "Thanks for comin' with me, Ruby. Always funner to go hunting with a friend, and I needed this, really."

"Stuff rough at the Garden?" Ruby asked, sitting down. Months ago, this would have been impossible. Months ago, she'd be attacking him.

Months ago, they hadn't both been Luxu. Or, well, they had both been Luxu, but she hadn't known.

"Yeah," Braig sighed, "Really rough. I need to make a hard decision, and soon… might need your help, in a way."

"Ok…?"

"I'll come to you, if it comes to that," Braig said, the sword fading, "don't worry about it. How about things on your end?"

"Boring," Ruby said.

"Good for you," Braig said, stretching and patting her on the shoulder, "catch you on the flipside, kiddo."

"Sure," Ruby said, watching him vanish into a Dark Corridor before taking off her mask. A brief jaunt took her to her room in the Land of Departure where she dropped off the mask, before another Corridor brought her to Beacon, "Hey, I'm- what's up?"

Blake was pacing across the room, chewing her lip and ears twitching wildly. She stopped, turning towards Ruby with a worried look on her face.

"I need to go talk to Ozpin. Come with me, please?"

"Sure," Ruby said, "What's up?"

"It's… Adam's doing something in Mountain Glenn. And I'm gonna need to tell him that I have a past with the Fang…"

Glynda hid the awkwardness behind a layer of cool distance as James stepped out of the elevator. They had parted on distant terms, it was natural for them to be awkward, right? He wouldn't realize she was hiding another form of magic from him, right?

Eyes scanning the General, Glynda asked, "Where's Law?"

"I don't use it anymore," James said, "and I renamed Order, it's Due Process now."

"Amazing," Glynda deadpanned, "You managed to replace a bad name with a worse one."

"And 'the Disciplinarian' is better?" James asked, a smile ticking at the corner of his lips. Glynda chuckled, "It's good to see you, Glynda."

"Same, James," Glynda said, before frowning, "Why'd you bring a fleet?"

"Safety," James said, "after Queen attacked Autumn, I didn't want to risk an attack. There's members of the Operations Decision on Amity. And not just any member, the four best I've got, Ace Ops, I call them."

"We appreciate the concern, James," Ozpin said, speaking up for the first time as he stared at the ships, "but I'm not sure it's the correct message to be sending. What do we say to justify a fleet of another Kingdom appearing in our airspace?"

"The truth," James said, "there's been an increase in attacks recently, we wanted to make sure something as important as Amity wasn't attacked by Leviathans or Sea Feilong."

"And you intend to send the ships back to Atlas immediately?" Ozpin asked, "Amity has arrived safe and sound, it will remain here for at least three months."

"And the fleet will remain to defend it," James said with the utmost confidence. Completely missing the point, as was usual.

"Which implies you believe the Vale Defense Force and our Huntsmen are not enough to defend it," Ozpin said.

"Atlas has a right to defend our investment," James said.

"Then I'll go make the calls to Headmasters Leonhart and Sauda," Glynda said glibly, "despite where it remains when not in use, Amity is an investment from all four Kingdom, James."

James winced, coughing into his gloved hand, "Uh… is that really necessary? Atlas can protect it, that should be eno-"

"Vale can protect it," Glynda said, "and that should be enough for our people."

James shifted uncomfortably, looking like he had been caught between a rock and a hard place. Which he had. If he agreed, he had no excuse for keeping the fleet around, if he refused, he was implicitly saying he didn't think they were good enough to defend Amity, and by proxy, their own Kingdom.

"I-"

"Professor Ozpin," Ozpin's secretary said, "I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting with General Ironwood, but Team RNBY is asking to see you with… with some interesting information."

Oh no.

Interesting information from Team RNBY didn't bode well for anything at all. Those girls were problems incarnate.

"Send them up," Ozpin said, jaw clenching for a second.

-X Blake X-

Blake continued her pacing in the elevator, biting her lip so hard her Aura sparked around it. Slowly, a gloved hand slid into hers, and she met Ruby's eyes. They were harder than normal, but at the same time calming. Ruby wasn't frustrated at her.

"What if they kick me out?" Blake asked.

"Then they're stupid," Ruby spat the word like a curse, and given the teen's general aversion to swearing unless things were going really badly (or they were really minor swears), it probably was, "You want to be here more than I do, and they pushed me to be here."

"You didn't want to come?"

"It would be easier to train Riku if I didn't have classes," Ruby said, "I might even be able to train Sora too like Riku keeps begging me. It'd- wait…"

"What?" Blake asked.

"Ozpin said I would get extra credit for training Riku," Ruby said, "Nobody's asked how that's going!"

Yang, Blake and Pyrrha shared a look over Ruby's head. Should they tell her? They should probably-

"Rubes," Yang deadpanned, making that decision for them.

"Yeah?"

"I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure Ozpin was lying and hoping Beacon would keep you too busy to train Riku," Yang said.

"...I really should just quit," Ruby sighed, crossing her arms, "If they're not gonna keep that promise, why shouldn't I focus on Riku? He's more important that being a Huntress."

"Please don't," Blake broke from her worrying, "I can't imagine Beacon without you."

"It depends on what they do here," Ruby grumbled, "If they don't want you, I don't want to be here. Keyblade Masters do have better things to do with their life. We could go explore worlds together, if you wanted?"

"You'd take me along?" Blake asked.

"If you wanted to come," Ruby said before the door to the elevator slid open, letting the quartet step out into the Headmaster's office. Blake swallowed, and before she could open her mouth, Ruby beat her to it, "So, when are you grading me about my Apprentice?"

Silence stretched between the trio already in the room, Goodwitch blanching and Ozpin closing his eyes with a sigh, "You've been training a student?"

"Yep," Ruby said.

"...Then we'll have to figure out something to do about that," Ozpin said, breathing in through his nose and opening his eyes, "but I doubt that's why you're here?"

"No," Blake said, stepping forward and deciding to bite the bullet, "That's because of me… Professor, I'm a former member of the White Fang."

Blake had expected several things. She had expected weapons drawn, she had expected tension. And the form of General Ironwood did that for a second, but it was immediately diffused by a snort of laughter from Goodwitch and an almost airy, "You don't say?" from Ozpin.

"Professor?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Belladonna," Ozpin said, "I'm trying to find my surprise that the daughter of the former Supreme Leader of the White Fang and current Chieftain of Menagerie is a former member of the White Fang, but I seem to have misplaced it. I assume that you're here because you have information that you feel I need to know?"

"Yes, sir," Blake said, "A… contact of mine, within the Fang told me that they're working out of the subway tunnels below Mountain Glenn, trying to remove the walls blocking it from Vale."

"To let Grimm in?" Ironwood said.

"She- they don't know," Blake said.

"Nonetheless," Ozpin said, voice not breaking, "that isn't something we can risk. I'll send a team as soon as possible."

"Ace Ops," Ironwood started, "They're-"

"Your men, James," Ozpin said, "if they deal with a problem that is, by any standard, a Valen problem, we will look weak."

"I thought the Vytal Festival was a time for unity," James said.

"Unity," Ozpin said, "not letting Atlas stand triumphantly over the other Kingdoms."

"Then send some from each," Ruby said, "Like, two from Atlas and two from Vale."

"...Fine," James said.

"That still might send the wrong message," Ozpin said, "but nonetheless, it will work. I'll call Qrow and Tai, you call your men."

"Dad and Uncle Qrow?" Ruby saud, "why them?"

"Because they might not look it," Ozpin said, "but few work together better than those two."

-X Raven X-

Raven stepped through the gates barring the mountain pass into Vale, teeth clenched as she stared up at Beacon. Finally, finally she'd get some damn answers on what this thing was, and could go back home. If only the iron maiden… thing it was in wasn't too large for Kindred Link.

-X AN X-

A lighter chapter, as I didn't want to immediately smash cut to the attack on Glenn or Braig at Radiant Gardens. But on that note, the next chapter will likely be on the longer side specifically because we have the attack on the Glenn to deal with. I'm trying to decide, other than Clover, which member of Ace Ops will be on the team.

Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?