Teams RWBY and JNPR sat together in the middle of a large cell filled up with unconscious thugs. Ruby looked around at the others and smiled awkwardly, "So… uh… sorry for getting us all arrested, but hey! Look on the bright side! At least we all get to be roommates together now!"

Jaune sighed, "No need to apologize Ruby, it wasn't just you and Weiss' goal that caused this, we all agreed to it. That said I am kinda pissed at myself for not realizing we might get taken in with the guys we took down."

Yang looked over at Weiss, "Think your company can bail us out Ice Queen? You are the rich girl after all."

Weiss gave a flat look at Yang with a cocked eyebrow, "And let my father know what it is I've been doing? No. Besides, even if the company would bail me out I doubt that it would do the same for the rest of you."

Nora cracked her knuckles, "Welp, guess it's time to run the yard then! Who's the biggest, toughest guy here Ren?"

"That would be Junior," Ren answered while pointing to the sleeping giant, "the man who we already beat and who is currently unconscious."

"Oh. Right. Well I guess that makes us top dogs around here already then!" Nora proclaimed with her hands on her hips triumphantly.

All of a sudden a guard came up and unlocked the cell. He pointed towards the teens, "You eight, come with me, you're getting released."

The eight students looked around at each other surprised someone had assisted them. Yang merely shrugged, stood up, and began walking out with the guard and the rest soon followed her. The eight teens walked along the halls and Ruby sidled up to Weiss and whispered, "Do you think your company might have come through for us after all?"

Weiss shook her head, "How could they? The police took our scrolls and haven't let us contact anyone yet. I do not think we will find out who is behind this until we are put in their hands."

"More like in their grip." Blake inserted.

Yang scoffed, "Yeah, whoever helps us get out will likely want us to return the favor."

The teams walked silently through the rest of the corridor until they reached the door at the end of it. The guard opened the locked porthole and held it open for the teens, "The guy who bailed you guys is sitting at the first desk. Just go wait until he gets you guys finalized and then you're free to go."

The teams paused for a moment looking at one another, then walked forward into the room. A busy office area with desks arranged in a grid sprawled out before them and there, sitting in front of the first desk was a spectacled old man with gray hair in a green suit. Ozpin lowered his spectacles to look over top of them at the two teams, "Hello students."

Ruby's silver eyes went wide, "Headmaster! I can explain! It wasn't us! Well it was kinda us, but we were trying to stop it! See-these-thieves-robbed-a-store-and-me-and-weiss-stopped-them-but-their-boss-got-away-so-we-hunted-him-down-to-his-hideout-but-he-got-away-again-and-we-found-out-about-his-plan-to-rob-the-warehouse…"

Ozpin put up a hand to halt the red hood, "Enough Miss Rose, enough! I'm well aware of your situation."

Ruby stopped dead and paused with a vulnerable look on her face and a guilty trickle of her voice came out, "You… you are?"

"Yes. Your little excursions into Vale's underworld did not evade my attention."

"So," Jaune said with stoic submission to justice, "I guess that means our punishment will come from you instead of the police then."

"Punishment?" Ozpin cocked an eyebrow, "Mister Arc if I had wanted that for you I'd have merely left you to sit and think in that cell. No, quite the opposite in fact. I wished to congratulate you on a job well done." Everyone gave Ozpin a look of stupefied shock and the wizard chuckled, "You accomplished something the authorities and even other licensed and active huntsmen could not. Even though you skirted the law and some of my rules to do so I can hardly be unforgiving of that when doing so aided the greater good. So I pulled what few strings I had with the police and convinced them that you were merely responding to the robbery. You will not be charged for fighting off the real criminals."

"So… we're… not in trouble?" Nora asked inquisitively.

"Well…" Ozpin replied a bit hesitantly, "Unfortunately I cannot let you go completely free or else I would risk upsetting some of my more… straight laced staff."

Yang cocked an eyebrow, "Professor Goodwitch you mean?"

Ozpin cracked a bit of a smile, "Though she follows the rules a bit too rigidly for most tastes I still greatly value her skill as a teacher. I must give all of you at least a wrist slap to keep her appeased. So, all of you head back to the academy. I shall inform you of whatever sentence I deem for you tomorrow."

The teams hung their heads in acceptance of the headmaster's promise of discipline and began trotting out of the station. Ruby and Jaune followed behind the rest of their comrades but they were both grabbed on the shoulder by Ozpin. The two teens turned toward the headmaster who looked on them a bit more seriously, "You two may have a bit extra I must speak to you about, but not here and now. Just know that there may soon come a time when I need to call you into my office."

Ruby and Jaune looked at each other hesitantly. Jaune was the first to direct his perplexed gaze back at the professor, "Uh… Sure thing Headmaster."

"Good." Ozpin grinned, "Now you two go join back up with your teams quickly. I know you all probably need a long rest."

The two teens nodded and sprinted off after their friends and the old man looked at them as they left with a deeply contemplative expression.


Four girls made their way exhausted into their room and the blonde one collapsed onto her bed with her face in the pillow. Yang rolled over and splayed out wildly, looking directly upwards and groaning in tiredness, "Thank god we're finally back home. I. Am. Beat."

Weiss massaged the tricep of her sword arm, "I am quite sore as well. Fighting against so many enemies for so long is a bit more costly in terms of endurance than I am prepared for. I think it is high time for us to go to bed."

Yang held up a mimed shot glass, "Cheers to that idea Ice Queen."

Most of the team began their preparation for slumber. Weiss went over to the nightstand and removed the device which held her ponytail, and as she shook her hair loose she saw that Ruby wasn't yet hanging her hood. The heiress raised a brow, "Ruby? You aren't coming to bed?"

The red hood smiled awkwardly and pointed a thumb over her shoulder, "Oh, I was just gonna go check up on team JNPR, you know, make sure they're doing ok and all that. I'll join you guys in just a little bit."

Yang bolted up in her bed shooting an amused look at Ruby, "Are you really gonna go check up on the whole team JNPR? 'Cause it seems to me like you're only going there to check on the 'J'."

Ruby groaned, "No Yang. I am not making some weird flirty move on the guy who is just my friend and nothing more. How many times do I have to tell you this until you believe it?"

"Sounds like somebody's still in denial." Yang said in a singsong voice while making a romantic hand holding gesture with her own two hands.

Ruby groaned again, turned, walked out, and slammed the door behind her. Weiss rolled her eyes at the blonde, "Must you constantly annoy her like that?"

"Only til she finally figures it out for herself Ice Queen." Yang replied with a grin, "Though I gotta say you getting worried about her getting annoyed is new. Have you maybe finally decided to stop being so bitchy at her?"

Weiss turned away from Yang while continuing her sleeping preparations in an aloof act with a bit of a blush, "If I must stay on this team then my relationships with you might as well be at least cordial."

Yang hopped out of bed and embraced the heiress from behind, lifting her up and putting a wide eyed and startled look on her face, "Awww! How sweet! So you've come 'round to all of us huh?!"

"Let me go Yang!" Weiss shouted while squirming within the blonde's iron grip.

Yang ignored the plea of mercy and looked over at Blake, "Come get in on this little kitty! You're one of Rubes' big sisters now too!"

"I'll pass." Blake said flatly as she went through her dresser drawer while the other two wrestled. In mid pin Blake felt and heard a vibration in the pocket of her trousers and pulled her scroll out to look at the notification.

Blake went wide eyed for a split second but Yang caught it and froze her grapple with the heiress to look over towards the cat kunoichi, "Something up Blake?"

The black clad girl shook her head and stowed the scroll, "No, it's nothing."

Weiss broke free panting during the distraction and Yang shrugged at both other females, "Ok then, let's hit the hay."

Blake hesitated, "I'm... not feeling quite ready to fall asleep yet. You two go ahead, I think I'll walk around a bit first…"

Blake walked out of the door and closed it softly behind her. Weiss looked askance at the exit Blake had left through as she addressed Yang, "What do you suppose is going on with that one?"

Yang shrugged, "Cats sleep whenever they want Ice Queen, now hit the lights wouldja? Us wrestling wore me out even more."

Weiss sighed and cut off the lights before climbing into bed and switching her lamp off.


Ruby knocked on the door to team JNPR's room which opened almost immediately to reveal Nora, who immediately gasped, "Ruby!" The Valkyrie embraced the Rose, "So glad you could visit!"

Ren waved at Ruby from his seat on the end of his bed where he was sharpening his sabers, "Hello Ruby."

The red hood was released from the hug and caught her breath a bit, "Hey guys. I just came to see if you were doing ok."

Nora hand waved off the concern, "We're doing just fine. Tired but all in one piece! No need to worry about us!"

"Thank you for the concern though." Ren finished.

"Um, ok then, as long as everything is good with you two…" Ruby said awkwardly before perking up a bit, "So where are Jaune and Pyrrha anyway? I thought you'd all be in here."

Ren shrugged and Nora answered, "Pyrrha dragged Jaune out of the room to talk to him for some reason, if I had to guess I'd say they're up on that secret rooftop that everybody knows about."

"Secret rooftop?" Ruby asked innocently.

Nora placed a palm on the red hood's shoulder and sighed, "That you haven't heard those rumors makes you so innocent Ruby. Just head up the flight of stairs all the way to that door at the top and you'll get there."

Ruby looked puzzled at Nora, "Uh… Thanks I guess?"

The red hood walked off in the direction she'd been pointed and Ren cocked an eyebrow at Nora who put her hands on her hips when she saw it, "What?"

"Should you really be sending someone to interrupt Pyrrha?" The jade dragon asked critically.

"Oh relax Ren." Nora said nonchalantly, "Ruby talking to them for a minute isn't gonna hurt."


Pyrrha and Jaune stood up on a roof together and the white knight looked around awkwardly for a second, "So why exactly are we back up here Pyrrha? I mean if you wanna talk I don't see why we couldn't have just done it in the room."

Pyrrha looked hard at the boy, "I saw you get hurt badly in that fight Jaune."

Jaune grimaced at the obvious route his conversation with Pyrrha was about to go down, "I wasn't hurt that bad Pyrrha," the white knight lifted the mop from his brow, "look, you see? The cut's healing up already. There probably won't even be a scar."

"There was a bunch of blood running down your face and you're still acting like it was nothing! This is even worse than when you ran through the fire! I told you to make sure to run back to me if you were in trouble and you didn't! What if you had been hurt worse Jaune! What if you had been ki…"

"I can't run to you for everything Pyrrha." Jaune struck back at the redhead, "If I don't learn to hold my own then I'm no leader. All I am then is a burden."

"I want that burden Jaune!" The warrior princess grabbed the boy by the shoulders and slipped hands behind his neck, bending his head towards hers, "I want…" The girl's emerald eyes gently softened as they looked into the boy's widened sapphire ones, "you…" Pyrrha brought Jaune closer and their lips met with her eyes closed and his stunned open.

Pyrrha released Jaune and began to have a guilty look while shaking her head, "I-I shouldn't have!... I'm so sorry!"

The redhead spun and was about to run off only to be caught by the upper arm in a terribly strong grip. The girl was spun back quickly and gripped tight by both arms and in spite of her own strength she was unable to escape, frozen as she was by sapphire steel eyes. Without seeing anything beyond the blue she heard in a soft but strong tone, "Don't be."

The bronze girl became molten in the hands of the white knight as she was the one pulled into a white hot kiss. At this moment the door to the roof opened and a red hooded girl came through the threshold to be greeted by a romantic embrace between two others. The silver eyes of the rose went wide and from the corners of them a small bit of water trickled down. Ruby fled the scene, slamming the door behind her which caused the kiss to break again when the two engaged in it were startled by such loud sound. Ruby ran fast as she could down the stairs and back to the door to her room. She nearly opened it, but halted when a drop of water fell upon the back of the hand she'd extended to do so. The girl spun and put her back to the wall right next to her door with her head raised to look up at the ceiling, "Dammit…" The girl slid down the wall until she sat hugging her knees with her face buried in them, "I think… Yang might be right…"


A black cat walked the campus of Beacon all the way to its front gates which had been closed for the evening. Blake stopped at the obstacle and looked around, spying a different entrance off to the left. The ninja made her way over to the other gate which she tested with her paws, finding it loose as it squeaked slightly. The girl slipped thinly through the slight gap she created and made her way outside of the boundaries meant to contain her at night. Through the darkness the black clad girl trekked, ensuring that she remained subtle and unnoticeable. Eventually she made her way to an alley in the city into which she ducked.

Blake cast glances around to ensure there were no witnesses about. The girl whispered cautiously, "Psst. I'm here. Where are you?" Behind her a tall black form walked out of the darkness and a gloved hand was lain on her shoulder, shocking her a bit and causing her to spin around quickly reaching for her blade. Though once she looked at who had touched her she relaxed and exhaled, "Oh it's you. Don't do that anymore! What if I had hurt you?"

"I doubt you would have." Retorted a deep voice whose owner was still partially hidden in the shadows.

Blake crossed her arms a bit sheepishly, "Yeah… I guess you're right, but I'm still worried about you. Bad enough that you came to the city with all these cops around. What are you doing here anyway, and why risk us both with this meeting?"

"I got contacted by some of the guys here. Apparently there's something big about to go down and they're bringing in as many of the cells together as they can." The man placed both his hands on the girl's shoulders, "And since I was passing by, I thought I'd see how your mission is progressing."

"The humans I got put with are… different than I thought they would be…"

The man paused a bit, "How?"

"They found out I'm not one of them."

The man became tense, "They know you're with us!?"

Blake immediately went defensive, "No! They only found out I was a faunus, not why I am there, and they didn't push me away after finding out. They're actually still trusting me."

The man put a hand to his chin, "Hmmm… That is strange…"

"Should I get out of there?"

A hand was raised in a halting gesture, "No. If they trust you then all that does is make your mission easier. Just keep trying to acquire as much knowledge and supplies as you can for us." At this Blake merely nodded and looked down forlorn, only to have a hand put in her shoulder to get her to look up "It's only for a bit longer. After you've gotten everything we need we'll be back together." From the shadows that had been concealing it, out bent the face of a redheaded man with a white mask over his eyes and black horns. "For good this time."


A knock came upon the door of Beacon's headmaster and he called out, "Come in!"

The welcome was answered by a door being opened by a blonde woman with glasses. Glynda marched up towards Ozpin's desk and looked at him a bit angrily, "Headmaster what's this about team RWBY and JNPR being involved in some sort of fight with criminals?"

Ozpin put his hand up to calm Glynda, "That is what I actually wanted to speak with you about. Since they have taken successful action against this crime ring I would like to employ them further rather than punish them."

"Employ them? They are students! They are not yet prepared for actual huntsman duties!"

"They seemed more prepared than our local licensed huntsmen were. Though the criminals were a step ahead of them our two teams got a step ahead of the criminals. Since I have so little influence over the proper authorities I am somewhat forced to use my students to get to the bottom of such things."

"And why precisely is it that you need to look into such things in the first place?"

Ozpin leaned back in his chair with fingers steepled and a serious expression, "The creep outbreak on our grounds, the series of dust and weapon robberies rather than, say, bank robberies, the fact that both took place around the same time and seemed to involve extremely adept hacking."

"You think there is something larger afoot?"

"I do, and the fact that the enemy has attempted to distract me specifically from it with those creeps makes me think that perhaps we are dealing with the return of someone I had thought dead."

"Is this… some sort of personal vendetta against you sir?"

Ozpin sighed, "No doubt that is part of it, but it does not matter if I am personally involved. If who I think may be behind this is then it will affect many others besides myself. We must use every resource at our disposal to try and stop this before it begins."

Glynda grumbled a bit, "Even if we have better information about this than the authorities do I still don't like the idea of putting students in danger like this."

Ozpin cracked a bit of a smile, "Knowing those students they'll likely run headfirst into it whether we tell them to or not. Best if we at least guide and supervise them while they do so, and, luckily for us, a certain freelancer we know has become available again to do precisely that."

Ozpin tossed a scroll at Glynda who caught it and saw the portrait of an available huntsmen displayed on the screen. Glynda's eyes widened before becoming extremely hard, "No. Not him. Anyone but him."

Ozpin's grin got a bit wider, "I'm afraid I have already put in the call and he has already accepted. We can expect Mister Branwen to join our staff shortly."


Roman Torchwick walked on the black marble floor of a well appointed building accompanied by his secretary. Due to the master crook's new leg injury his cane was now being useful for its traditional purpose rather than solely as his weapon. Lounged on the couch was a tan, mustached man in a blue suit, yellow shirt, and black tie. The mustachioed man smirked at the thief a bit, "Roman! Good to see you've actually made it out of that huge catch the law officers made." The blue suited man cast a glance at Roman's obvious limp, "Well… mostly anyway… Still it's a shame all my work getting you access to that security system went to waste."

Roman sighed as he walked past the couch and the suit and tie hopped up to follow by his side, "Thanks Doc. I'm guessing that since you already know what happened the boss does too?"

"Not yet. I was keeping an eye on your status over the net but I thought it would be better for you if you relayed it yourself rather than having a middle man do it."

"Well then double thanks I guess. Know where the boss is right now?"

"Still in the office I believe."

"Well then that's where I'm headed I guess." As they came upon an elevator Roman called it down, "Wish me luck."

"I somehow doubt you will receive any even if I wish it on you Roman."

The elevator arrived and Roman stepped into it and sighed, "Yeah that's probably true." Roman looked down at his assistant, "Neo you stay down here and wait for me. I shouldn't be up there too long."

Neo nodded and the elevator doors closed. Roman rode his way up to the top floor of the building. When the doors opened he was presented with a long hallway and he started down it. When he reached the doors at the end he paused before bringing up his hand to knock on them. However before his hand struck anything a soft female voice came, "Come in."

Roman's hand stopped without a knock and instead he brought it down to turn the knob and walk in. The room was decorated in a shining black like obsidian and behind the desk at its center a chair was turned towards the large window to allow its occupant to view the night, "Roman. Have you come to bring me news of your successful mission?"

Roman gulped a bit, "Uh… no Boss… I'm sorry but there were some huntsmen in training who managed to interfere with the heist long enough for the cops to show up. We weren't able to grab anything and most of my boys got taken in. I only just barely managed to escape."

A long pause occurred building suspense within Roman's core, but the voice came back inquisitively, "Students you say?"

Roman hesitated a bit but answered back, "Yeah, at least I think so. They were all pretty young looking and bratty."

"Hmmm… So not only have we been prevented from acquiring more resources, but Ozpin may have been alerted to us once more…"

"Want me to try getting us more dust or dealing with those kids?"

A pale hand rose up from the chair to wave off Roman's question, "Neither. We already have quite a good stockpile and I'd rather you remain hidden from the law and those children and use your charm to help me. I've called together many faunus of that group, the white fang. I'd like it if you could attempt to solidify their cells into a single whole to work with us, especially now that we have run low on men."

Roman groaned a bit, "The faunus of the White Fang? Those things never listen to us humans."

A somewhat amused tone rang in the voice, "Oh I'm sure that with your charisma you could find a way to secure their cooperation. As for those trainee huntsmen I have someone else who I shall send to deal with them."

"Ugh. You're talking about that one aren't you?"

"That particular follower of mine is quite starved for a mission at the moment."

"Whatever, long as you keep them away from me it's fine I guess."

"I'll try and isolate you from one another as best I can. Now if that's all you have to report you may leave." Roman tipped his bowler towards the chair and began clacking out on his cane, but the voice sounded again, "Oh and Roman?"

Roman turned back quickly, "Yeah Boss?"

"We are quite close to achieving our goal here. Please don't fail me again."

Roman gulped, intimidated, "Of course I won't Boss."

"I certainly hope not."

With that Roman turned back and walked out of the office as quickly as he could, leaving the person in the chair to continue watching out the window.

Author's note: Welp that's the end of v1. For all you readers I don't like saying it but it's likely we'll have to hit a little hiatus in uploads seein as how we ain't yet got the chapter outlines for v2 finished yet. But, hopefully, it won't take too long for us to get those worked out so we can hit yall with even more entertainment. In the meantime any reviews, criticisms, or feedback is greatly appreciated. See yall next volume!