Chapter 23: Omelettes and Eggs

Later, at Team RWBY's Dorm room

Ruby was proud of herself. She had managed to keep herself awake for almost all of Professor Port's lesson today. She decided to reward herself with a muffin before starting on her homework when she heard a knock on her door. She groaned in frustration, then turned to Weiss and said, "Hey Weiss, would you mind getting that?"

"Sure thing. I wonder who it is though. JNPR is off doing some extra training. Oum knows Jaune could use it."

Weiss walked over to the door, and opened it and to her surprise, Team SRDS was sheepishly standing outside. It drew Ruby's attention from her muffin.

Uh-oh.

"Yo. 2 things. Can we come in, and do y'all have food?"

"Uh, what are you doing here?"

"It's a long story involving Ozpin and Silver. Best discussed inside."

Definite uh-oh.

Weiss opened the door all the way and watched silently as the four huntsmen sat down on the floor like awkward sacks of flour. She closed it and walked to them with a neutral expression.

As she did so, Diamond noticed Yang scowling at them from the corner of the room with crossed arms and clenched fists. Ruby, on the other hand, stared at them with an expression of worry. Blake shifted uncomfortably in her place, leaning away from them slightly. The ears on her head were folded, a clear sign of agitation.

The tension in the room was palpable. Thick enough to break any knife trying to cut through it.

Private matter or not, Diamond felt a twinge of guilt for not telling them.

It was conflicting. Arguably, RWBY needed that information. That was justifiable. He didn't really mind that part on its own. But did it have to come at the cost of breaking friendships? He and his teammates were concerned about Team RWBY knowing intimate details prematurely: he was especially concerned about what RWBY made of them after knowing so much.

One look at Ross and Diamond could tell that he wasn't bothered too much by such considerations. The behaviour could be alarming to some, but Diamond found it reassuring in its own right. Everything he'd thought was, so far, in his own head (though Team RWBY's body language said otherwise) and he wished for it to be the case.

"We know you went and asked Ozpin for our files," Ross said calmly.

Ruby decided that this was best discussed in a more comfortable situation. She reluctantly put down her muffin and decided to bust out her secret stash of hot chocolate and cookies.

"Here. You did ask for food. Come on, let's sit down."

The two teams sat in silence, both unsure how to broach the topic. It was not something one brought up in common conversation.

Finally, seeing no point otherwise, Sigbjorn decided it was best to cut to the chase.

"How much do you know? Not just about our missions, but about our past and training?"

"We know when your team was formed. We know what you guys specialised to train in. And we know about Team FRST," Ruby responded.

Ross put down the cookie he was eating as Diamond stopped sipping his hot chocolate. Sigbjorn sighed, while Steele seemed completely disconnected from his surroundings. All four of them looked lost for a moment.

Seeing this, Ruby's voice softened. "We saw your mission reports... all of them. I'm- no, we're all sorry about what happened." She wasn't just saying that either. Her sadness was evident in her light frown and concerned stare.

"We understand why you chose not to tell us," Weiss said with a sigh. "Even if we did need to know what we're up against, it's still your private life. Rest assured, we won't tell anyone else without your consent."

"You were just trying to protect yourselves, I can understand that," Ruby said. "But you can trust us."

"I'd like to apologise for being so abrasive back on the Bullhead," Blake's nervousness was apparent both on her face and in her voice. "I've kept secrets about my past, too. Not that I expected any trust in return, but I should've been more understanding."

"Just-" Yang began in a sharp tone, then interrupted herself with a sigh to let the frustration and anger out. "Just be honest from now on. I need to know that I can trust you and that you have our backs."

SRDS was fairly taken aback. They were expecting a full-blown argument, not an understanding.

"Ozpin was right," Sigbjorn sighed before continuing, "if you'd asked first, I probably wouldn't have granted access to those files. Don't get me wrong, I consider you friends. We all do, and we don't want to see you endangered, but there is a lot that we'd each have felt more comfortable sharing on our own time. But now, I guess we don't have much of that. So... fair enough."

"Whatever happened until now has happened," Ross said. "I think we should just move on and focus on doing what we can."

"It makes sense. I don't think we should stop being friends just because of this," Diamond said.

"Splendid, let's move on then," Steele said.

"Right," said Sigbjorn with a sigh. "And as a show of good faith..."

Sigbjorn raised his hands to his hood. His teammates were taken aback, while RWBY watched in curiosity.

The hood fell, revealing two black-and-orange-striped triangular ears protruding from the head.

"You're a Faunus?! What?!" asked Ruby.

"Yeah. I figured I might as well tell you this now. You did ask us to be open with you."

"Oh, I... it makes sense. That's why you were angry at Cardin," said Blake, pleasantly surprised.

"And why you eat so much food! Blake can never stop when it comes to tuna!" Yang exclaimed. Blake glared at her partner but quickly joined in the others' laughter. The air was cleared for now.

"Alright. Seeing as none of us have any more rabbits to pull out of our hats, uh, pardon the pun, I'd like to get to the point," said Steele with a smidge of hesitation. "We have some information we'd like to share with you."

"Yeah. Thanks for trusting us enough to volunteer for this," Diamond said.

"Since you did volunteer, we came up with a few things that you should know about, and could potentially help us with."

"Go ahead, we're listening."

Once again, SRDS laid out all the facts for Team RWBY.

"So this Jade, she's been Silver's spy at Beacon this entire time?" Blake asked.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Steele muttered. He redirected his attention to the gathering, "To sum up, we need whatever you know about Roman Torchwick. We'll be monitoring the other leads. Any information you provide could explain how he ties into all of this."

"Okay, sure. Torchwick has been involved with the White Fang. He's been involved with the Dust heists we told you about earlier. It seems he's in touch with some powerful people," Ruby said, remembering her first encounter with the criminal, and the lady aboard the Bullhead.

"He seems to have contacts with the general criminal underbelly of the city," Weiss said.

"From my experience," Blake said hesitantly, "Roman does seem like the businessman type. He might be willing to sell it all off."

"Then it'd probably be a good idea to get some surveillance on him. Maybe an eye on the black market in case something about weapons pops up," Steele said, looking at Sigbjorn, who nodded in response.

"What about Jade?" Yang asked.

"Nothing on her so far," Ross explained. "We can't really do anything except keep going through stuff related to her. Kind of a dead-end if you ask me."

"Always worth looking into and being sure. Never know what we might find," Diamond said. Ross raised his hands and curled his lip. "Alright, if you say so."

"So... we've told you what we know about Roman," Yang said. "It's probably fair if you tell us about Silver."

She noticed they had differing reactions to this. Sigbjorn sighed, Ross shook his head slowly, and Diamond adopted the same lost, melancholic look they all had when Team FRST was mentioned. Steele, however, turned his head to the side and for a split second his face glowered with rage. Though just as quickly, he took a deep breath and composed himself.

"Alright. Since you've gone through the files, you know why he's turned. What do you want to know?" Steele asked, turning to face them.

They thought about it for some time before Ruby spoke up, "Back in the forest, it seemed like he was prepared for us. Down to our every move. Is it something to do with his Semblance?"

"Actually, it has everything to do with his Semblance," Steele said. "We used to call it 'Timeline'."

"Meaning what exactly?" Weiss asked.

"I'll tell you only if you promise not to panic and hear me out fully because this will sound intimidating."

"Fine. Promise. Now go ahead," Yang said.

"He can, to a certain extent, predict the future."

Safehouse Psi,
Northern Vale

The second he'd learnt of SRDS' attack on the Atlas White Fang outposts, Silver had aimed to get there as quickly as possible. At the time, he only knew someone was crippling their FOBs, he didn't know it was them, so he was quite surprised when he saw them at the site of his objective.

Under Silver's guidance, the White Fang had been setting up operating centres for a while now as a part of a larger operation. But as the smaller and under-equipped force compared to Atlas' titanic and robust military capabilities, secrecy was crucial. The plan had to be airtight; no room for compromises.

The White Fang Lieutenant was one such compromise. Silver had to eliminate him, but SRDS' presence had distracted him. Long enough for him to consider taking a shot at one of their members but rejecting the plan. Long enough for the Lieutenant to be safely tucked away inside an armoured vehicle. He was now an asset to the Atlas military, which made him a real threat.

Silver knew how the interrogation would play out: the Lieutenant would be offered two choices: spend the rest of his life working for the Schnee Dust Company mining raw Dust or divulge all the information he had related to the White Fang.

The Lieutenant had probably agreed but notified them that this information was especially sensitive. That explained the heavy security detail that Silver was currently examining through the scope of his rifle.

It would've been crude, but effective to craft a Dust bomb and smuggle it inside the complex. It would level everything and make sure the job was done, but Silver needed the Lieutenant alive.

He needed to know exactly how much Atlas knew about the plan. The devil was always in these details: even a minor one being off created future outcomes that led to downfall (improbable ones, yet possible ones) and Silver wanted to stay right on top of them to ensure that the plan was carried out without any damage.

Lookouts look casual enough, but it's probably Special Forces or Intelligence for a mission like this.

If it is Intelligence, could SRDS be here?

Silver thought about it.

Atlas probably hasn't informed them of this until now. If the Lieutenant is still being guarded, he's probably not said anything. Then, there's no reason to suspect me.

Good. I'll deal with them later.

He never thought he could infiltrate Atlas' database, but he decided to cover all the bases nonetheless and consequently the unexpected happened. He was able to pull up their personnel files. He knew that 15 guards were inside that building, the building plans, and how they were communicating. An information jackpot.

Silver closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to compose himself. Just a slight mental nudge was enough for the outcomes to flood his mind. Occasionally, the guards would overpower them. But the overwhelming majority of events showed his plan would work.

It would surely alert Ozpin, Ironwood and SRDS once they found out. He would be their first suspect. But if things went according to plan, the only thing he'd have to worry about would be staying underground for a few days.

Oh well.

Omelettes and eggs.

5 guards were keeping a lookout from the exterior of the building. Three from the balconies, and two near the main gate. The northern rear of the house was nothing more than a featureless wall but sported a far and wide field of view from which possible intruders could be easily spotted by the guards on either of the side balconies.

Silver knew from past experience that if the main gate closed, it would instantly send an alert to the local authorities and Atlas forces, as well as place the building on lockdown. On top of that, they had probably prepared emergency procedures in case they were attacked.

Simply put, once a direct assault began, it had to end quickly. Silver was a Hunter, yes, but being outnumbered would put him at an extreme disadvantage.

That's what had happened when-

No! Focus now!

He stared at the northern wall of the house, taking a few deep breaths. He'd need them.

The plan was to scale the building's northern wall, get to the roof and release carbon monoxide into the ventilation system. It probably wouldn't suffocate them, but it'd be enough to trigger the fire suppression and alarm systems.

They would then proceed to make the informant exit the safehouse (probably with some form of shielding), even if they only carried him so far as the courtyard. As long as they were outside, they were vulnerable.

Problem was, the guards on either side of the northern wall would quickly take note of him approaching, and he would need to keep the target alive for a little.

But Silver had a way to kill both birds with one stone.

Through his binoculars, Silver observed Jade sitting on a bench that was to the south-west of the building. Disguised as a golden-haired ram Faunus, her appearance was completely morphed: a trait quite advantageous to an infamous cuttlefish Faunus as herself.

But she wasn't the only White Fang member present in disguise there. Silver had inserted 12 other hand-picked men and women in the area, waiting for Jade to make a move. He was counting on using their perceivable anonymity as a weapon.

"Waiting on you," Silver said into his microphone.

He noticed Jade lean a bit into the mic near her shoulder blade as she responded.

"This isn't exactly my comfort zone, you know?"

"We need that distraction, Jade."

"Yes, yes... of course..." Silver heard a sigh. "Moving now."

Jade's facial expressions became more suspicious with each step as she approached the house. A part of the act. It was working well, Silver noted, as the guard on the western balcony observed her movements. Played right into their subconscious anti-Faunus bias.

"Excuse me," Jade said as she approached the guards near the front gate, "but this house belonged to an old couple whom I had frequent contact with. What happened to them?"

A simple piece of information gained from the local residential records. Good enough to begin the confrontation with.

"That is none of your concern, ma'am. Please continue walking."

Typical Atlas grunt response, Silver thought wryly to himself.

"But... are they alright? I haven't heard from them in a while, and now I see some strangers taking over their house..."

Silver noticed the eastern guard tense up as the conversation continued. Both of them were facing the front gate; backs turned to the north.

He exited his observation position and began silently making his way towards the northern wall. The only way to ensure that he didn't get caught in their peripheral vision was to move straight towards it from the midpoint; the longest path. He couldn't run, lest the guards hear him, so Jade would have to keep this going for a bit.

"No, ma'am, we cannot tell you who we are, but we can assure you the people you're talking about are safe."

"Really? No identification? Should I call up the police then?"

That was the cue for the nearby Faunus to start coming closer to the house. After Jade said this, the Atlas guards would be compelled to show their ID to avoid a fuss.

"Ma'am, this is an Atlesian security operation, and we are legally in control of this property."

Little did they know that that one sentence would create an even bigger mess.

"Wait!" a third voice came through Jade's microphone, informing Silver that the main phase of the distraction was underway. "That's what these Faunus-hating bastards always say!"

Keeping his movements as silent as possible, Silver pulled out his fast rope and gripped it near its end, which had a thin, small metal cylinder. As he activated it, a cyan light flickered to life. The glow spread in a curve until a small circle of light radiated from the cylinder. Silver began whirling the rope, then threw it to the top of the building. As the cylinder hit the roof, the Ice Dust inside the cylinder activated, effectively fixing the cylinder to the roof.

"They said something like this when I begged them to let go of my 12-year-old cousin! He was 12 and they suspected him of being in the White Fang! I haven't seen him since, you racist pieces of shit!"

As Silver reached the bottom of the wall, he held the rope taut and tugged hard on it. It was secure. He tied it around his waist and began scaling the back wall, listening to the conversation.

"Sir, please calm down."

"The hell he should!"

Once Silver reached the top of the building, he noticed the crowd of Faunus near the front gate. Silver's disguised White Fang associates were proceeding according to plan, but he didn't expect actual Faunus bystanders to join in.

Some part of him didn't want innocents being dragged into this. He considered telling Jade to tell them off. But he quickly realised it would look suspicious to the Atlas guards if this mob started ushering some of their support away.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply. He would've preferred this to go another way, but the bystanders were here of their own volition. Even if the events to follow were premeditated, they would be responsible if something happened to themselves.

Silver carefully unscrewed the opening of the ventilation duct, activated the gas canister and placed it inside. He then placed the outer covering back. The gas would descend into the rest of the building via the ventilation, triggering the alarms. This would force all of them out into the grounds, where Silver would begin his assault.

Now, he just had to wait.

He returned his attention to the mob at the gates, bringing out his rifle. If all went according to plan, they would have little trouble storming the compound.

"Come on, you all, calm down now!"

"Who do you think you're ordering? Atlas robot!"

"By order of the Atlas Military, disperse in-"

The fire alarms inside the building began to go off. Silver took cover near the edge of the roof and peered over into the grounds to see the Atlas soldiers spilling out. 14 of them had already gathered in the courtyard.

Good.

... and they kept coming out. There were presently 20, with no sign of the Lieutenant.

And the number grew to 25.

And then Silver realised exactly why it was so easy to hack into Atlas.

They had intentionally made it that way so that he would have wrong information and be underprepared.

Ironwood, you bastard... damn you!

Silver grit his teeth. Were they prepared for him? Had one of his group ratted him out? Did they know about the plan?

But then he saw two men in black masks being led into the courtyard. Silver assumed that one of them was the informant and the other was a decoy.

Why would they bring them out here if they knew what my plan was?!

He came to a simple answer: They wouldn't. Because they didn't.

So the database wasn't a surefire strategy against Silver, but a precautionary measure.

However, the increased enemy numbers complicated things. He wasn't so sure he could take them on, even with support.

"Silver, it's your call," Silver's earpiece crackled.

All the new possible outcomes flashed through his mind as he used his Semblance again. The guards weren't a huge problem in themselves, it turned out. He could deal with them just fine; they wouldn't have any Aura. The trouble was that the Lieutenant and the decoy would most likely make a break for it during the battle. There were equal chances of him being caught and him escaping.

Silver considered the alternative: leaving the Lieutenant be.

Not an option.

"Take the shot," Silver said.

"Got it."

A second later, the head of one of the gate guards exploded into a fine red mist, followed by a thunderous roar. Jade used the opportunity to take out the second guard as the remaining White Fang rushed in. Most of the bystander Faunus fled, as Silver had foreseen. Two of them chose to charge in. Meanwhile, Silver tossed two smoke grenades, covering the area in a thick, white blanket of smoke. Silver knew Atlas' recruitment policies: most of the guards were human, and so they were unable to see clearly. Silver and his White Fang team, however, comprised entirely of Faunus. They could see quite well in low visibility conditions, be it darkness or smoke. A few of them even had control of their Auras. The Atlas guards, for all their pride, had left this element of combat to their Huntsmen, leaving them vulnerable to bullets. Silver had won them the advantage again.

As Silver took out the Atlas guards from his vantage point above, he noticed the informant and the decoy fleeing towards opposing exits. He shut his eyes and tried to recall anything that would be of use.

Lieutenant had a semblance. He's likely brought his Aura field up.

Silver took aim and fired at both of them. One of them collapsed to the ground clutching the site of the bullet's entry, while the bullet appeared to bounce off the skin of the other.

You're mine now.

Silver jumped down, switched his rifle to full-auto and emptied the clip as he aimed for the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant's Semblance blocked any damage, all while he barely broke a step.

Silver had no choice but to run for it. He used his Semblance again to determine the best path to get there. Close to the walls, straight through the courtyard... it all seemed to be the same. Now that the smoke cover had dissipated, those extra soldiers would slow him down considerably. He hadn't yet seen a single outcome where he nabbed the Lieutenant. Which meant that he wouldn't.

So, he blocked all of my bullets. But the Atlas guards couldn't have allowed the Lieutenant to gain much of his Aura back. He's likely out now.

"Jade! Knife!" Silver called out as he approached Jade, who was busy engaging 3 guards simultaneously.

"A little help!"

Silver directed his fire at the guards, allowing Jade to toss him a knife.

In one smooth motion, he put aside his handgun and caught it by its hilt. He aimed carefully while using his Semblance and threw it. A nearby guard interrupted with an attempt to tackle Silver. He rolled aside, letting the man's momentum carry him over, came up kneeling and fired two rounds into the man's back.

"Everyone, on me. Do you have visual?" Silver said into his mic.

"Negative. There's too much smoke and foliage."

Shit.

"The traitor's gone! What do we do?" one of the White Fang said as they regrouped and the smoke began to clear.

Silver spoke after a brief pause of consideration.

"Reggie, Duke, Cianne and Jade, head in the direction of the Lieutenant. He's bound to be bleeding. Pick up on his trail and give us updates."

"Got it," Jade said. "What about you?"

Silver reloaded his rifle. "We'll make sure that there are no witnesses."