Chapter 71

The day started early for team RSTY as they were woken by an overly hyped Penny. Then they had a quick shower, changed and ate breakfast all before Atlas Academy truly awoke. After that, they joined JNPR and the Ace-Ops for missions.

Such was their day-to-day for about a week after becoming Huntsmen.

It was… busy. It kept them working. It was pretty satisfying too. For the moment JNPR focused around Mantle, the walls mainly though Jaune kept up a recurring mission to guide some kids to school, to the amusement of Pyrrha. RSTY however focused on Grimm hunts. Beast after beast fell to them as they kept the Amity launch site clear.

Soon enough things began to calm down, offering them more time in the evenings and soon more time to train. It was one of those days, where they had finished early enough to return to the Academy in time for dinner when something came to surprise them. Especially Adam.

For once they are in the cafeteria with some of the older students. It was just RSTY at the time, with JNPR on the way and Blake, Ilia and Oscar off training for as long as they could. The first surprise was that Adam was mostly ignored. He'd expected looks, jeering and general hate for him but instead he was simply acknowledged.

He simply existed to these students.

"Mmmmmm coooookiiiiieeeesss…" Ruby practically moaned in bliss as she chomped on another one. Weiss glared in disgust before returning to her far more balanced meal. Yang and Adam shared a grin over their own food. Things were starting to feel… peaceful.

"Someone has an appetite." A familiar voice laughed, causing the four to turn. Adam's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the tall young man with burnt-orange hair. "Yo." He said.

"I didn't expect to see you here." Adam said with another grin.

"Well, what can I say. Atlas has the best tech, the best gear. It all helps." The young man chuckled back.

"Fair enough. It's good to see you, Winchester." Adam stood and held out a hand. Cardin Winchester smirked and took it, giving a hearty amount of force into it. Adam gave the other man a quick once over. Cardin definitely looked a bit more mature with a very short beard growing in and a little longer hair. He was wearing the Atlas Academy uniform which looked a little absurd on his muscular physique.

"Good to see you too, Taurus." Cardin rebutted with a laugh. "Never expected you to turn up and start working for Atlas."

"Hah. Yeah. Me neither." Adam chuckled and returned to his seat. Cardin took the one next to him with a respectful nod to the rest of the team. "Wasn't really my idea, but it does have its perks."

"True enough. It's not too bad either. I'm sure you've noticed, but the students here aren't too big on the whole 'hating Faunus' part of Atlas. Though to say that some aren't into it would be a lie. They just… care about their image too much." Cardin shrugged. "Nobody should say anything. If they do, they risk being harshly reprimanded. Not that that gets the school many Faunus supporters…"

"And what's your take? Last time we met you had some thinking to do, right?" Adam asked before popping a mini-sausage into his mouth.

"Yeah." Cardin nodded solemnly. "I… went back to my Dad. Talked with him. Heard his side again. It… it didn't sound right. Not anymore. The issues he holds onto are in the past and don't define an entire race. And it's not like we humans are pure innocent angels who've never committed atrocities. Both sides have done terrible things and great things." He sighed and shrugged again. "I couldn't support him, so he kicked me out. Disowned me. My team and I talked and eventually, we decided to go to Atlas. We're still… spotty as a team to be honest but… it's better. Slightly."

"Cardin… good job." Adam smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder. Because that's what he was: a friend.

"Woah… Cardin is making sense? The hell happened?" Yang half-joked with a lopsided grin. Weiss sighed and slapped Yang's shoulder.

"Well. I'm glad you've matured Cardin." Weiss gave him a nod.

Cardin smiled and returned it. "I'm glad to have done so myself. I can't say it was simple or easy but here we are. Well, it seems easy in hindsight suppose."

"Cookie?" Ruby asked with a shining smile as she pushed her plate Cardin's way. He blinked in surprise and then took one with a 'thank you'.

"You guys have been the talk of the Academy by the way." Cardin eventually said after polishing off his cookie.

"Oh yeah?" Yang asked, leaning in.

"Mm. People are surprised a couple of teams appeared out of nowhere, instantly worked with the Ace-Ops and then were given licenses. You guys are kinda a big deal."

"Hm. Hadn't thought of that." Adam muttered under his breath, though it seemed the others still caught it.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, you aren't the only popular ones." Cardin smirked.

"Oh?" Adam and Yang chorused.

"I've gotten my own fame around here. For the past week, I've been asked similar questions time and time again. You see I got the… privilege of helping train up this new little trio that's appeared and, because two of them are attractive women, that's made people keep asking me about them. And to introduce them." He laughed.

Adam smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess: Blake, Ilia and Oscar?"

Cardin nodded. "I thought they were your friends. Gotta say now that I'm over my old hangups: Blake's got a nice ass." Cardin had a shit-eating grin on his face as he spoke, causing Adam to frown and karate chop his head.

"Don't even try it. She'd probably stab you for trying."

"Hot." Cardin cackled as Adam's frown intensified. "Oh damn you are too easy! I'm half-joking okay."

"Only half?"

"Well… she is pretty fine." Cardin said with a shrug. "But I hear you. Besides, I'm not looking right now and if she's with you… she's probably got some intense story and I'm not ready for that kinda baggage."

"With me?" Adam asked, raising a brow questioningly.

"With him!?" Yang sputtered out.

"As in friends with him. And also former WF. All of you have shit I'm not ready for." His smile showed he didn't say it to be harsh. "I'd prefer not to have to carry someone else's baggage right now is all." He finished with a shrug.

"So to steer away from this tangent," Weiss interrupted with a sigh, "why don't we talk about literally anything else?" Her desperate question brought a bit of laughter to the rest of them.

"Then how about how you got to Atlas?" Ruby asked Cardin.

"Sure. It wasn't hard exactly, though it took some time. Normal plate armour isn't exactly made for travelling the wastes you know? So we were marching along when we found this chasm, and coming out of it was this horde of Sulfur Fish…"

The cold winter air of Mantle only served to stoke the fires of hatred within Cinder as she glared out the window at the floating monstrosity of an island that was Atlas. It didn't help that in her ear all she could hear was Tyrian, singing an off-key song as he butchered another member of Ironwood's opposition.

"Hehehehehe! Oopsie! You dropped your intestine there! Hehehehehe!" Tyrian cackled through her earpiece. Cinder's only solace was that she wasn't there to see him.

"Please keep it down Tyrian, I'm rather busy securing our next hideouts." Another voice, that of Watts, came over next.

"Watts. How long are we going to play hide and seek down here?" Cinder growled into her scroll.

"As long as we can. Ironwood has given us the perfect opportunity to destroy all the trust he's built up over the years. Of course, he's doing a good job breaking it himself, but it's always good to lend a helping hand, you know?" Watts chuckled. "If we cause dissension between Atlas and Mantle we can weaken them. Then when we make our move it will be easy to claim all we desire."

"The Lamp and Maiden." Cinder allowed a slight smile to come over her face.

"Correct. Our main objective is simply to weaken Atlas, but if we take those then our Mistress shall have a simple victory."

"So then, what's your long term plan? When do we move?"

"The election. An old friend is running in it. I can ensure he wins while gaining access to codes in Atlas. With that, both cities will fall under my control. We'll move you up to Atlas around that time so when things get… fun you can go right for the Maiden."

"Not the Lamp?" Cinder didn't try to hold back her curiosity. She wondered deeply about how his plan would work, and whether or not she needed to… intervene.

"Getting both is optimal, but if we have to choose then denying them the opportunity to use the Staff is more important. As well as removing a powerful individual and gaining much more power for our side."

"Alright then. This… friend of yours… can they be trusted?"

"Oh no, of course not. But I have intel he'll want. I've already sent an anonymous tip about our problem children. You see he hates that bull just as much as you do. He'll be helping generate all the negativity we need all before I offer him the election."

"Oh really?" Someone that hated Taurus? How useful. Cinder smirked. "I'll leave it to you then."

A glass shattered as it crashed into the wall.

"She's back! She disappears, comes back and doesn't tell me! Worse she's working for Ironwood! And even worse she's with that filthy terrorist!"

Jacques Schnee was normally a man who could easily keep his cool, even during hard times. He'd done it when he visited Vale during that whole attack. He'd even gained new customers from it. But now?

His daughter had vanished only to return, working for Jacques' foe while bringing along a man who could be called the SDC's archnemesis.

"Aaaaargh!" He screamed and smashed another glass.

What can I do!? How can I turn this to my advantage!? Jacques wondered as he slumped down in his seat. He'd originally planned to investigate Ironwood's claiming of that old mine, but he'd heard a worrying rumour.

That Adam Taurus had appeared in Mantle.

Investigating that was more important. If he had come to destroy more SDC property then he had to act fast. But this was worse. He missed his chance to confront Ironwood and instead was informed of this.

But as despair struck him, an idea formed.

Ironwood is working with that beast. Perhaps I can use that… yes… yes. It's good. I'll need to figure out how to avoid taking flak for Weiss' actions, however. Perhaps that Taurus is manipulating her? Then I can claim Ironwood is allowing my daughter to be seduced by a wanted criminal.

A hollow chuckle slipped out of his lips.

Yes… this was something… something he could use…

A/N: Late again but oh well. Cardin returns, now disowned by his family. Cinder and the other villains discuss plans. Jacques prepares to do some things. The weirdest thing I've ever written may just be Cardin and Adam talking about Blake being attractive. That just kinda... happened? Far from planned lmao. I got a few ideas for some small stuff before we get to the big deal election stuff. Mainly just what can be done because this is fanfiction and I have no timelimit, unlike the show. Hopefully it goes well.

I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!