The benefits of having outside aid is that they are often smart enough to find out what you are unable to. Pointing out various flaws in your security, for example. This will become apparent as Ironwood returns to the picture. Also, sorry this posting is so late. My food coma nap took longer than I expected (darn burritos...). Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, the Persona series, Five Nights at Freddy's, or Devil May Cry.

Volume 3-2: A New Semester

Ruby was walking through the courtyard when she saw an Atlesian bullhead flying in, with several more fighters overhead. Susie was nearby. "So who's that?" Ruby sighed. "Ironwood..." Sure enough, Ironwood stepped out of the bullhead. "Ah, Miss Rose. Ozpin told me you were accepted into Beacon two years ahead of schedule. Considering your combat prowess, I'm not surprised." "Why the sudden military?," Ruby asked, "Has war broken out?" Ironwood looked sheepish. "Just a... Precaution." "Pretty obvious precaution," Susie noted, "Why not announce to all our enemies that Atlas is in town? Given how low their numbers are, they're not going to be intimidated. It'd be Fort Castle all over again."

Ironwood cleared his throat. "To be honest, I actually came in with fewer units that I originally intended. Especially after the report that Roman Torchwick had offered information regarding said enemies. He couldn't say much, being kept in the dark, but he was able to give us some idea of who and how many we're dealing with." Ruby noticed Ironwood was looking flustered. "You feeling okay?" "I feel like I'm on a tightwire about to fall off," Ironwood admitted, "Finding out you have less control than you assumed is a bit of a shakeup for a man like me. Especially since my duties double as Headmaster of Atlas Academy. Speaking of which, I need to get to a meeting with Ozpin." He walked off.

Tower (James Ironwood) Rank 2: Roman's reveal of just who the Kingdoms are facing is a sobering experience, causing Ironwood to start feeling more stress...

Inside Ozpin's office, Joker smirked as Ironwood made an attempted pass at Glynda. "Not exactly Romeo there, are you?," he noted. "Don't read the wrong message," Ozpin said, "She really is attracted, but she never forgave James for returning to Atlas after graduating from Beacon Academy." Ironwood nodded. "Anyway, we should discuss more important matters. Roman's reveal of his former employers fits in with Qrow's latest report." "Indeed," Ozpin admitted, "I'm frankly amazed you didn't bring in more than you have." Ironwood sighed. "Had we no idea of just what we were up against I would have. Balancing security and necessity is no small task."

"You can just leave these so-called 'Pawns' to me and my gang," Joker assured Ironwood, "If it's a game of infiltration they want, then we will provide. You should just focus on the Vytal Festival. I trust you understood Oracle's message with our first calling card." Ironwood nodded. "Loud and clear. I was honestly surprised. The only other person who could have so easily hacked the Cross-Continental Transmit is presumed dead." Joker raised an eyebrow. "Only presumed?" "Arthur Watts' body was never found," Ironwood explained, "But he hasn't turned up in six months, so legally he's considered dead."

Later in the library, the group of friends were sitting around doing things. Team FJGS was playing the board game Remnant, with Fritz as Vacuo, Jeremy as Mistral, Gabriel as Mantel, and Susie as Vale. They had also brought Cardin in to play the Grimm side. He had done fairly well thanks to his team giving him pointers, but he didn't last long since the four siblings actually started by ganging up on him before turning on each other. By the end of it, Fritz was ready to toss his cards in the air. "See... This is why Gabriel is Dad's successor even though all four of us are the same age."

Team RWBY was nearby going through other board games available in the library. Ruby had wanted to get familiar with as many games as possible so they'd be prepared for when they hit the next Bastion. "What about Cards Against Remnant?" "I'd save that for something more late night," Yang suggested, "That game's designed to be as offensive as possible. It would be interesting with twelve people, however." "I'd recommend this one," Blake said, getting out a shogi board, "So far from what you've told me, these games are based on the personality of the Bastion's ruler. Dad personally taught Adam how to play shogi, and he still practices as a means of learning new strategies."

Team JNPR was nearby reading. Well, most of them. Jaune and Pyrrha were just reading comics, while Nora was sleeping. Penny walked over with her team. "Hey there, guys. I thought I'd introduce the rest of my team. This is Imp Nereid and Ebony Liddell." "I think we more or less got acquainted with them during the food fight," Jaune noted, "Thanks for the backup, by the way." "Not that it really did much," Imp noted, "Anyway, I traveled here from Patch. Not very far, actually." "I thought you looked familiar," Ruby said, "Me and Yang are from Patch too."

"Yeah," Yang said, "You were in my class back at Signal. Your parents were... Uh..." "A hornbill Faunus and parrot Faunus," Imp finished, "Honestly, I'm surprised I still had wings like they do." She grabbed a nearby apple from the fruit bowls on the tables and bit into it. "What about you, Ebony?," Weiss asked. "I'm from Vale too," Ebony said, "Orphaned after my family was killed in a fire during a Grimm attack. A kindly Faunus couple, a hare and a mouse, took me in. So I basically have two fathers now." "Huh," Jaune said, "You don't often see same sex couples in Remnant. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is my sister Saphron."

"Populations are pretty low as it is," Penny pointed out, "So not people are mentally wired for same-sex relationships. I imagine if the population were larger, we'd see more same-sex couples." "That reminds me," Ebony said, "Are Doctor Wilson and Doctor Barnaby still teaching at Signal?" "Wilson is," Ruby said, "But Barnaby got fired for questionable experiments. Thank you, Uncle Qrow..." "Wow, looks like the gang's all here," Sun said as he and Neptune came over. "Hey Sun," Susie said, "Who's your friend?" "This is Neptune," Sun said, "I didn't get the chance to introduce him earlier after the food fight."

"Probably because he had to do laundry," Jeremy quipped, "Last time I saw him he looked more... Violet. How did you avoid all that, Sun?" "Easy," Sun said, "I clung to one of the flagpoles on the walls." He demonstrated his prehensile tail to explain how. "So where are you from?," Weiss asked. "Haven," Neptune asked. He sidled over to Weiss. "And you are?" "Taken," Weiss pointed out, showing her engagement ring. Neptune facepalmed. "Right. Sorry. So who's the lucky guy?" "Yo," Gabriel called out, raising his hand.

"You'll have to excuse us," Pyrrha said, "After what happened at the docks, we're kinda on edge." "That's not so bad," Ebony replied, "When you're not on edge, you take up too much space." "That reminds me of a saying we have in Mistral," Neptune said, "A bowl is most useful when it's empty. Meaning when you have nothing, you are able to obtain anything." Ebony smiled at him. "Nice to meet a fellow philosopher." "The guy likes to be a ladies' man," Sun pointed out, "And most ladies aren't the shallow type, so he feeds his brain too."

Penny smiled. "Say Imp, how come you've never been interested in guys?" Imp blushed. "I... Swim more upstream..." Penny's eyes widened in realization. "Oh..." She placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well, we don't judge here. After all, we all have our own personal secrets." "Speaking of that," Ruby said, "Does your team know about you... You know... Beep Bop Boop, does not compute." "I told them," Penny said, "They were surprisingly okay with it." "Me and Imp were," Ebony said, "Nava fainted upon learning that his partner and crush was a gynoid." Penny blushed, as did Nava. "Yeah... That was embarrassing," Penny admitted, "He seemed okay when he woke up, however." "She feels way too real to be just a robot," Nava noted.

Later that night, Team RWBY was heading back to their dorms. As they reached it, they ran into a familiar face. It was Mercury, alongside a green-haired woman. Both of them were wearing student uniforms. "Hey there," Ruby said, "You guys are more exchange students, right? Cuz I don't think I've seen you around." "Oh yeah," Mercury said, "We're in from Haven." The girl smiled. "I'm Emerald. This is Mercury. Our team leader Cinder should be here somewhere." Ruby nodded. "Well, welcome to Beacon."

They headed inside. "Think they recognized us," Blake whispered. "I don't think Cinder got a good enough look at you," Weiss assured her, "And the rest of us were wearing masks." Outside, Emerald and Mercury met with Cinder. "Was there anything familiar about those girls?," Mercury asked, "I get the weirdest feeling of deja vu from them." "I've never seen them before," Emerald noted. "I don't think any of us have truly met," Cinder pointed out, "We should be fine here. Meaning our infiltration of Beacon Academy is a complete success. All we have to do now is lay low until the Vytal Festival Tournament."

'We should be fine here. Meaning our infiltration of Beacon Academy is a complete success. All we have to do now is lay low until the Vytal Festival Tournament.' Akira played the recording Oracle had made from the cameras installed in the academy. "Looks like we have our spies," he said. Ozpin was on the other end. 'We have their dorm room. I'm sure Ironwood would want to have them arrested right away.' "Not enough evidence," Akira pointed out, "We don't even know how high up they are. Only that Cinder seemed to be directing the White Fang. Our next step should be finding out why she's having the White Fang steal all that Dust."

Poor, poor Cinder. She's good at sneaking around, but when the original Medjed is told to find you, the only place you can hide is somewhere with zero Wi-Fi that's outside the range of any remote drones. And that's assuming you know she's looking for you. Read and review.