The atmosphere in the chamber was deadly silent; none of the seated members were looking anywhere but at the head of the large black table. All sat in the same fashion, straight backed and alert with their hands on their laps, all except for the giggling man with the long plat down his hunched back, who was staring almost lustfully at his mistress. And at the head of this dark place was a woman with shadowy eyes, white hair to match her complexion, and very long fingers that drummed the table in a sort of marchers beat.

Salem had never expected the leader of the white fang to be late, he was usually so composed and in charge of himself. She was considering that maybe Cinder had not made a good enough impression on him, when the tall black door leading into the chamber burst open, and a girl with a long curled pony tail entered with a curt bow at the waste. She wore a mask that hid her eyes from view, but Salem could feel her fear as she stood before them all. All eyes had shifted to the girl in the doorway, all saved for the platted man who still gazed intently at Salem.

"Where is he?" Salem asked politely, fixing Ilia with a bored expression. The effect was anything but, she snapped to a crisp salute and answered so quickly, she almost cut Salem off, which made the hunched man stop giggling, and growl at the new arrival, having noticed her for the first time.

"My lady, h-he's coming." Ilia's voice shook slightly, she did not like how Salem was looking at her, she did not like being the centre of attention like this; it was making the mask on her face feel all itchy and uncomfortable. Besides, Adam usually did the talking. At this Salem sat back, satisfied at this update but still looking irritable. She casually raised a hand, and all eyes fell of her again.
"That will do, Tyrian."

The growling man called Tyrian fell silent immediately, looking to his mistress with his mad smile reinstated with great prejudice. The man looked as though he reached the pinnacle of mortal ecstasy by following and completing orders. Ilia relaxed somewhat with that lapdog off her, but Salem's gaze never left Ilia's mask. She was extremely relieved to hear the door creak behind her, and drawing the attention of the room to the entrance again, Adam Taurus walked in. He looked far better groomed than he had on the air ship, and he had changed into some clean, sand-free clothes for the occasion. Salem's scrutiny left the young white fang member and drifted over Adams stiff face, she smiled widely at him.

"Adam, we thought we had lost you. I heard you went on a little vacation." There was a low murmur of laughter, practically silent compared to the insane cackle that rang out from behind Tyrian's hands, which were cupped over his mouth. Hazel nodded in obligatory fashion, and Watts appeared to have attempted a greeting smile, but had devolved into a condescending smirk as usual. The leader of the white fang jerked his head irritably and took his seat at the table.

"My apologies" Adam spoke into the desktop, not looking at the table head. "I was…delayed." Salem leant back again, her hands resting on the arms of her chair; finally content that they were all but one of her council was gathered there. She spied the empty seat where Leonardo Lionhart should have sat, but who had kept finding reasons not to show up. Salem thought privately that she would have to be disciplined...perhaps by Tyrian.

Adam felt a tapping on his shoulder and turning in his chair, saw the scientist Watts trying to get his attention, his moustache quivering slightly. He spoke in a pompous nasally voice like that of a fussy old war general.

"It has come to my attention that your weapon has sustained severe damage, but that you still possess the necessary components?" Adam nodded silently without looking at him; Watts raised his bushy eyebrows and continued in a business-like fashion. "If a simple break in the blade is the full extent of the damage, I dare say a short treatment back at my workshop should have it spick and spam in a day or so, the material is not so complex that a small retirement within a-"

"Can you fix it!?"

There was a small period of silence as everyone looked at Ilia, standing a little ways behind Adams chair, breathing hard. He was silently grateful that she had been the one to stop Watts, as his own teeth were quite on edge at being in this humans' debt already. Watts looked over at the young faunus and his small eyes narrowed even more in dislike, but he recovered quickly, and smirked at the question.

"Of course I can fix it." He said with exasperation, emphasising the words as if talking to a child and continuing to smirk as he turned back to Adam, "We already have one faunus in here that won't sit still, can you please reign in your sidekick." Watts jerked his head over his shoulder towards Tyrian who was now leaning across the table to be closer to his mistress. Adam would have liked nothing more than to grab that stupid moustache and drop kick that man out of the window, but instead held up his hand as he saw Ilia place her hand on her weapon.

"Ilia stand down!"

…

There was a moment's pause where nobody spoke; they all just looked at Ilia and Watts, the wide toothy grin meeting the grimace. Wordlessly, Ilia released her weapon and brought forward a raged bundle, she placed in carefully in front of watts and drew back very quickly as he began to examine it. In her opinion, a humans hand on such a weapon was a crime, and Adam felt a similar pang of frustration at the powerlessness of his position when Watts drew out the broken red blade of Adams sword and examined it.

"The body isn't cracked; a clean break…the hilt appears to be in working order…" Watts drew out a notebook from his pocket and began to take the blades measurements, from the length of the hilt to the length of the sword if it was not broken. Salem raised her hand again, and Watts began to take notes in silence, as the meeting began.

"Beacon has fallen to the grimm and we have much to be thankful for. The full power of the fall maiden is now in our possession. However the relic is yet to be recovered, Ozpin has hidden it well. But no matter, it will be found in time. " Salem proffered her hand towards the empty seat next to her to show that Cinder was not there. "But that is not all; it has come to my attention that Cinder absorbed something more than simply the power of a maiden. From a source that she is currently unable to coherently reveal to us, Cinder acquired a vast supply of power, aura so powerful it would have destroyed her, had it not been for Watts' services, we may have lost her."

Watts looked up from his work for a moment to look smug before diving into his notes again, and Salem continued. "We are to first find a way to get a description of the original owner of this power from Cinder, and make attempts to apprehend him or her. Such power would be invaluable to me, but as Cinder has no means of controlling it all. It would be better if we convinced the original source to join our collective before giving it back."

Salem looked to each seated member of her council in turn, and moving from one to the next when they gave a nod indicating their approval. Mercury and emerald were last in the circle, and Emerald took a moment to look at the space where Cinder should have been before nodding. There was a loud cough and Hazel stood up, looking grace as she usually did. Salem did not look at him, but prompted him to speak with another casual wave of her long fingers.

"The takeover at Beacon was not entirely successful; there are still Huntsmen and Huntresses alive and fighting to reclaim the kingdom. The Nikos girl may be gone, but her remaining team members have allied with several teachers from beacon academy, as well as warriors visiting for the Vytal festival. There are rumours that the Branwen twins were also there... both of them."

Salem sat forward and placed the tips of her fingers together, her eyes locked on Hazels. "They will not last long. They are outnumbered and running out of supplies as well as strength. One by one they will fall, and then our path to the relic of Beacon is clear."

"But they are not faltering" Hazel continued, his demeanour growing graver still "They've retained vast number of fighters; a large portion of the city has been reclaimed in the absence of the white fang." He looked mournfully at Adam, who returned his gaze with a grimace, he had not expected his pulling the white fang out of beacon to be such a big deal, and he had not expected the huntsmen and huntresses to survive for this long. This was bad and he needed to find a way to shift the blame off of himself or his cause…as well as him, was doomed.

"That wasn't my fault" Adam blurted out, not daring to look at Salem. "I performed my role in the plan perfectly…if Cinder hadn't been so caught up in slaughtering children, we might have-"

Adam stopped talking at the sound of a set of chair legs scraping across the black floor as someone stood up. Looking over the visor of his mask, Adam saw it was that Emerald girl. She was standing with her fists clenched and her teeth bared, glaring at Adam as though trying to kill him with her gaze.

"Don't you dare blame her for your incompetence; it wasn't her fault that you decided to place the completion of the mission below your obsession with the Belladonna girl-"

"DON'T…say that name in my presents." It was Adams turn to stand up now, and he noticed in spite of himself that he had reached for his sword hilt before remembering that Watts had taken it. Instead, he had rather clumsily smacked Ilia in the face with his hand, knocking her mask askew. This served to break the tension, as Adam embarrassedly sat down to help Ilia correct her mask.

"Sorry about that, I…forgot myself." But when Adam looked beneath the visor so as to apologise to her face, he saw that she was blushing. This vanished immediately when she noticed.

"That's okay…Its inspiring to see your passion sir. I accidentally changed colour because of it." Ilia added the last part rather awkwardly, trying to explain away her red face at being touched by her boss. Adam did not pick up on this however; as he was very aware that Salem was looking bad temperedly from him to Ilia.

"That's enough, Emerald." And as if Salem had blown on a dog whistle, Emeralds face relaxed and she politely sat back down. "I won't deny that it has been harder than I would have liked to take Beacon with the absence of white fang forces. But the grimm should finish the job…they do not require rest like our enemies." Her dark eyes swept over to Adam, and all the levity in her voice vanished like a light going out as she went on. "You would do well to not blame Cinder; she is now my greatest asset…far less expendable than your adorable litter of terrorists." Salem gave a short dark laugh that wasn't reciprocated around the table.

Adam felt angrier than ever at this slight against the white fang, but he decided that one outburst was dangerous enough without incurring any more impatience from Salem. Instead he looked blankly into the distance and only replied with a small apology. "Sorry Ma'am."

"In any case, Adam's stake in this little incident hasn't been totally useless. His white fang were useful in extracting Cinder from the wreckage of that barn, and now we can still sue her gift to find them."

Everybody looked up, even Tyrian stopped smiling, everybody looked at Adam, who was just as confused as they were, he hadn't done anything to that old guy he had just attacked him with his sword.

"Confused?" Salem asked sardonically. "Don't worry, I will explain. You see, I gifted Cinder the power to drain the aura from anyone she wishes. And also leave a little gift it is place."

"Gift?" said Adam, his confusion now more potent rather than lesser at this cryptic nonsense. Salem's expression suddenly became loose and especially cruel, and a thin lipped smile curled the frozen face.

"A parasite transmitted by the hand to the host… It was intended as insurance in case Cinder attempted to drain the spring maiden before she was properly subdued, or indeed if any huntsmen or huntresses interfered. It would work its way into the body and remain dormant, absorbing the aura in said host. They attach themselves to the heart and drain the host of all power, before being ripe for removal…and consumption."

Salem leaned forward, her hands on the arms of her chair, staring into Adams visor whose mouth was slightly open. He was quite unaware of this particular type of grimm, clearly it was a recent addition to Salem's arsenal. And she had the ability to give that power to others, which would be a great asset to their cause. He quickly closed his mouth and coughed quickly before he spoke again.

"How will this help us find the gir-the old man?" Adam corrected himself just in time, and thankfully nobody seemed to have noticed.

Salem let out a short low giggle. "Oh that's right I hadn't told you yet. Well you see, I gave Cinder that power, I can feel its presence, I know exactly where every one of those little parasites are in this world. I feel their presence, their lust for power and hunger for life-force…and…"

Salem closed her eyes and raised her hand, as though to touch something in front of her. Everybody flinched away a little, except Tyrian who was watching so intensely, you'd think one of his yes would fall out of its widely stretched sockets. Salem took a few very deep breaths before continuing. "I can feel it…its far, very far away…high up in the sky at some faraway place…it is restless. It has begun its consumption of the old fool who crossed Cinders path…but it can sense another power, dormant in the others. The fool carrying it is unaware, and my child desires it greatly…"

Salem's head drooped a little, before rising again as she took a great inhale and that cruel smile returned to the pail lips. "You can find them and take what remains of that foolish old man in whose bosom my child grows."

There was further silence; nobody in the room seemed to have taken a breath since Salem had started talking. Adam thought this sounded absurd, how could they all be in the sky? There was no way those farmers could afford an aircraft. Watt's expression seemed to show the same thing, his eyebrows were now raised so high that they were in danger of disappearing behind his dark fringe. "Excuse me my lady, but how are we supposed to find the poor soul?"

"Seer will guide you to them…it is an extension of my will." Salem hissed, as though this had been the obvious solution, and that an intellectual man like watts should have guessed sooner, for which he slouched slightly, looking affronted. Salem however addressed Hazal. "You will continue your overseeing of the siege of Beacon, and I want result in days not weeks. Is that clear? "

"Yes…your majesty."

Salem nodded and turned to Ilia. She flinched at being addressed personally. "Ilia was it? I'd like you to go with Hazel and make sure that our exploits in Beacon…as well as the procuring of the relic go to plan."

Ilia gave Adam a fearful look, as though she was hoping for him to protest, but his face was stony and he nodded slowly to her deflation. Ilia hung her head slightly and crossed the room to stand beside Hazel. He nodded appreciatively.

"Emerald, Mercury…you two are to remain here, and assist the professor with his treatment of Cinder." All three nodded obediently, although some more enthusiastically than others. It was clear to all that Mercury would much rather see some action than be stuck playing scientist, and Watts looked as though having two kids hanging around whilst he was trying to work was utterly petulant. Emerald on the other hand had stars in her eyes at the prospect of staying to assist with Cinders care and repair. Salem looked satisfied and, with a wave of her hand, opened the large black doors at the front of the hall. Something horrible silently glided in.

It had the appearance of a font, coloured like a creature of grimm. Its most notable feature was the large crystal ball it held within its body, which reflected its own back. This was explained by the second of these Seers following the first one. They passed the council members, moving around the table from opposite sides. Ilia had top lead against the table as it passed, and Adam moved a little closer as well. He was by no means a man that scared easily, but these things were something else, there was no distinctive feature that he could relate to a human being, such as eyes or a mouth. This made them thoroughly unsettling.

Adam was further unnerved by the fact that one of the hovering Seers halted beside him, and the other stopped before Salem. Adam obeyed her prompt for him to look into the crystal ball and looked. He saw Salem's pale face staring back at him, as though she were right in front of him. "Hmhm…testing." Salem laughed at her own joke and Adam heard the sickly sound from two different sources, as though there were two Salem's talking at once. Nobody laughed except Tyrian.

"And you…" Salem addressed Tyrian and his smile vanished. "I would like you to accompany Mr. Taurus, and make sure that he keeps to my orders."

Tyrian grinned maliciously, but Adam stood up, looking furious. "Ma'am, I really must protest, I can handle this myself! I don't need-"

"Really? I was under the impression that you were defeated without even being attacked." Salem said sarcastically raising her eyebrows at the angry faunus, while the happy one beside her was beside himself with laughter. "Such inadequacies must be corrected."

Adam bared his teeth, but remained silent as he sat down. Tyrian was now looking at him with an almost hungry gaze. The idea of working with that screw loose insect man was worse by far than any reprimand he could have received from Salem. How did he get into such a ridiculous situation? Ilia was looking at Tyrian with utter revolution. Salem seemed to have noticed this and for the first time betrayed a little impatience.

"Your liking for each other is more irrelevant than the dust that sits beneath this table…you all have your jobs, and I will expect frequent reports as well as results. I will not tolerate any more deviations from the plan, particularly from you, Adam!"

The council respectfully lowered their heads in agreement, at least that's how Salem took it, in reality however, most of them were just so scared shitless by the witches anger that they were silently praying for her temper to lessen. Even Tyrian scented the danger and sat up straight for his mistress.

"Now…get out of my sight…all of you!" said Salem, less angry now, sounding rather lazy again. "I expect full reports of your success next week."

There was a minor commotion of noise as the council meeting was adjourned, and the council began to file out of the dark hall and off to their various duties. Adam had to hang back before leaving as Salem was still talking to Tyrian. Ilia looked in his direction without talking and their eyes did not meet. One of the seers' drifted between them and Ilia had gone before she had another opportunity to look at Adam. It stopped next to him and Adam shuffled slightly away from it. He did not like the look of those barbed tendrils, and thought he knew what they were for. Adam surmised what the phrase 'Extension of my will' probably meant.

"I will do well, my Queen…I will make you happy." Tyrian spoke under his breath without pausing, and repeated these words silently as Salem affectionately stroked his head; much to Adams annoyance, in the fashion one would pet a dog.

"Do not let him out of your sight, keep him in line and carry out your orders." She looked smugly over at Adam, who also saw the irony in being second to this lapdog of a faunus.

"Yes madam, oh yes I will!" And Tyrian's maniacal laughter echoed off the walls of that deep dark place where darkness gathered every other Wednesday.

Goku cracked his knuckles and stretched the muscles in his legs, smiling happily. He could hardly remember why he had given this up. It was amazing what a little exercise could do for an old man like Goku. Scarcely a week ago, a simple Ki blast wiped him out completely and now here he was going toe to toe with two huntresses with barely any strain at all. Ruby and Blake had learned quickly in their days training session and had pretty much mastered all that they could handle at their levels. Goku swelled with pride at their day of training. The experience had completely wiped them all out.

Ruby had found flight rather difficult, as she could not manage her power very well, but she got there in the end after practicing. The faunus girl was already so calm in demeanour that it was a second nature that she did not know she had, to fly. Goku had to teach them how to concentrate their power to certain parts of their bodies, in this case the feet, from scratch. Tentative hovering was soon followed by soaring through the skies above the lookout with total ease.

Goku had considered teaching them the 'Kame-hame-ha' technique, but thought it would be better suited to Ruby rather than Blake, given the small girls vast supply of power. It was amazing to see such a strong wave come from something so puny, and there was no sign of fatigue from young Miss Rose. Goku was having less luck with their friend Weiss. She was so twitchy and irritable that she could not muster the energy to defy gravity. This made her angrier because her friends could do it first, which in turn made it harder for her to concentrate.

Goku had decided to put Weiss on task learning to fire the same energy wave from her hands, something not completely alien to her. Her form was perfect, and the wave was pretty tough, taking the form of molten ice. She seemed to have a very steady hand for directing the slightly weaker attack, making it lesser but more versatile, which Goku said was an asset in battle. This cheered her up slightly, so much so that's he even managed to levitate a few inches off the ground. While not as good as the other two, whom had been flying around like jump jets, still impressive.

Goku had been hesitant to teach any of them the Kaio-ken technique, as it required a lot of energy, deciding instead to only show Ruby, who Goku found himself liking the most for her levity and sense of fun. The other two scowled slightly at being benched, but understood what Goku meant when Ruby finally managed to invoke the technique and promptly broke both her legs. It was fortunate that Guardian Buu was around, or that might have been a pretty serious screw up on Goku's part. They had all decided after that to wait until they all had a little more control over their own power before attempting that again.

The last technique Goku had demonstrated was the Genki-dama or spirit bomb, a much safer technique that was perfect for training one's mind to gather energy. He had explained that all you had to do was raise your hands to the sky and ask the energy to come, and form it into a throw-able ball with your will. They all tried…and they all failed. Ruby was worst of all; she kept fidgeting and losing focus, while the other two thought the technique was silly and useless in a fight.

Weiss had folded her arms and said "I mean your opponent would just let us stand there and charge it? That's ridiculous."

Blake had agreed. "It's just not viable in a fight, who would ever get hit by it?"

Goku recalled opening his mouth to protest that, when Buu had stepped in looking rather offended. "Big ball not weak, big ball make bad Buu go bye-bye!" and Goku had never seen such looks of utter all it all, as he watched the three hungry girls eat a well-deserved supper, which mr. Popo was now outdoing himself spectacularly, he thought it had been an excellent day of training. He had not had so much fun since he had trained with his own son in the time chamber, all those years ago.

His own power had begun to stir when he sparred with these young warriors. It was strange, almost like their youth and determination was reminding him of what he used to be himself. Who would have thought that he, a man who had fought with demons and aliens, androids and god knows what else; could be inspired by three young girls.

"If you guys keep this up, I doubt that Adam will be any match for you." Ruby instinctively looked at Blake, worried that the mention of Adams name might upset her, but the faunus was so used to hearing it now, and so determined to get stronger, that it seemed not to bother her. This stunned Weiss, but a look from Ruby told her not to pursue the subject. After dinner was polished off (Goku and Buu kept asking for more so this took a few hours), Goku belched loudly and clapped his hands together at the head of the table.

"Right, I think we've all earned a bit of shut eye, your friend should be out by tomorrow." Everybody got up, Ruby rather gingerly on her freshly un-broken knees and moved towards the door to their hospital beds. Goku called Ruby back for something, but the other girls were jostled along by Buu, who was eager for sleep after so much food.

"What's this about Mr. Son" said Ruby, and Goku noticed how tired she looked, today clearly having strained her.

"Don't worry; I just wanted to show something I've been saving." And Goku leaned in and prompted Ruby to do the same. "There's a technique I know that would make you a lot faster than you are right now. It would go really nicely with your surplus."

"Wow you mea-its pronounced 'semblance' by the way-you mean it?!"

"Yeah, it's called the 'instant transmission', and it's how I got rid of that Adam guy before…"

Goku lowered his voice and began to whisper excited instructions into the huntress's ear. Her face grew more and more excited with every second. She agreed with Goku's opt to not tell the others as they're use of it would require a vast change in fighting style. But it was perfect for her. That, and apparently the knowledge of the technique would also be available for Rory to use, her and Blake's fusion.

"…And remember, focus on your destination with your finger on your forehead, got it?"

"Got it." Ruby said in a rush, and in a burst of rose petals, she was gone.

Goku decide to stay up for a while and contemplate those girls. The sun was going down, much like the evening he, Vegeta, Ruby, and Blake had all eaten together for the first time. Goku's stomach lurched slightly at the memory, that had been the moment when the old itch came back...when his promise had been hard to keep. But meeting those girls had changed him. He was a Saiyan and therefore was used to strength, he had been strong all his life. His only goal had been to become stronger, leaving the competition in the dust. But these huntresses were different; they had gotten here from nothing with determination and will. In many ways, they were stronger than he ever was. He placed a hand on his own chest; and felt the long uninterrupted heartbeat beneath it.

"Sigh…maybe I've found someone to make you happy Chichi…maybe these can be the earth's protectors…and I can rest easy…"

Hey guys, Johnathan here.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long delays on chapters. I'm currently studying for exams and i also need to sleep sometimes so...yeah. I hope you enjoyed this chapter (It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not call it 'The evil council of doom').The next one might be while, but i don't know, i might be able to find the time. Otherwise, if you just can't get enough of my writing, please check out my other stories, they all had a lot of work put into them and i appreciate every view because I'm extremely proud of them (Except for that bleach one, i mean Jesus fucking Christ). Anyway, hope you enjoy the rest of this story and any others you check out from me.

Cheers

Johnathan Soulless