"Almost done, guys!" Ruby gave her team an encouraging thumbs-up. "Left side, Ice Flower! Right side, Flower Power!"

Nora whooped in excitement and jumped onto her leader's back. "Ack!" Ruby's knees buckled and they both fell to the floor. "Let me grab you next time, all right?" On the other side, Weiss and Ren executed their combination attack with much more discipline. The green-and-white pair glided towards their training dummy on an ice slick, before a black glyph suddenly launched Ren high in the air. With a stylish front-flip, the ninja boy came down behind the dummy and sliced through the back of its head with Stormflower's blades. Meanwhile, Ruby and Nora finally disentangled themselves. Ruby took her teammate by the hand, and they barreled forwards in a red-and-pink burst of petals. Nora became solid again, still traveling at lightning speed; she blasted right through the poor training dummy, reducing its top half to bits of flying scrap metal, and kept on going...

"Oops." Ruby looked sheepishly at the Nora-shaped hole in the arena wall. "Should've probably figured out a way for her to stop."

"Well, I think our attack worked quite well." said Ren. "Although, isn't it a bit confusing for us to both be Flower?"

Ruby scratched her head. "Uh...now that you mention it, maybe it is? I could always be Rose or something else." She snapped her fingers. "I know! We can call it Petal to the Metal!"

Awkward silence. Ren grimaced. Weiss had her head in her hands. "Boo!" Nora re-entered the room, creating a second Nora-shaped hole.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad!" Ruby sulked. "Ugh! I've spent a lot of time around Dad lately, all right? Him and his Dad jokes! You know how it is." More awkward silence. Too late, she remembered her teammates didn't know how it was. What with Ren and Nora...probably not having dads, and Weiss's dad not being the nicest person, if what her brother had let slip was true (seriously, that was some messed up stuff!). "Oh gosh, I'm sorry!"

Ren placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ruby, it's fine. You grew up with a loving family, there's nothing to apologize for." His smile was tinged with faint regret. "If anything, we're happy for you."

"Thanks, Ren." Their quiet teammate really knew how to make his words count, didn't he? "It's just, like...I didn't realize how lucky I was. I mean, I used to think I had it rough growing up without my mom, but—"

"Wait, you lost your mom?" Weiss exclaimed. "I didn't—I mean, um, I'm sorry to hear that—"

"It's okay!" Even more awkward silence. "Right...I guess I never told you guys about her, huh?" Between all the classes, training, and extracurriculars, dead parents didn't really come up in their casual conversations. Well, no better time to fix that. More people deserved to know how cool her mom was! "Her name was Summer Rose, and she was, like, Super-Mom..."

Nora was sniffling already. "Awww. Does everyone here have a sad backstory?"

"Listen up!" Sable thumped a desk for emphasis. "Now that all that nonsense is done with..." he scowled at the memory of the 'birthiest day ever' and ensuing detention. "...we have a very busy semester ahead of us. First, the Vytal Festival Dance is in a few weeks. Going with a companion is optional, but formal wear is not." He gave his partner a sharp look. "Jaune, if I see you show up with your hoodie and usual hairstyle, if you can even call it that..."

"Got it! Loud and clear!" Jaune saluted. "Companion? You mean, like, a—a date?"

Yang smiled teasingly. "Awww, feeling some pressure, are we?" She ruffled her fellow blond's hair. "It's a dance, dude, not a marriage proposal. Find someone you want to hang out with and shoot your shot."

"And if you don't find anyone, going alone is...acceptable." Sable added. Jaune did not look reassured. "Moving on, our first mission is scheduled to kick off the very next day, so don't overindulge yourselves at the dance—"

"Why are you looking at me like that?" said Yang. Sable ignored her. "—and be prepared to kill some Grimm, enough said. And after that comes the tournament." His eyes took on a manic glint. "I, personally, will settle for nothing less than undisputed victory! Crushing all challengers before us and becoming number one!"

Yang leapt from her chair, fist raised. "HELL YEAH!" Blake and Jaune just looked mildly terrified. "Come on, guys! Where's your team spirit?"

"But to do that, we need to improve tactically!" their leader continued, handing a thick binder to each person. "So, I've took liberty of drawing up a team playbook. Memorize this by next week. Any questions?"

"Yes. Many. First, how the hell are we supposed to remember what 'Attack Pattern Twelve' is in the middle of a fight?" Yang flipped through the binder, her enthusiastic expression turning to dread. "You know, Ruby mentioned something that might help? She's giving each attack a code name based on who's involved—"

"Oh, right. I forgot that we'd have to deal with your, ah, limited intellectual abilities." ("Hey!" Yang shouted) "Very well. What kind of names would you suggest?"

"Yeah, so see this one, with me and Blake?" Yang jabbed a finger at the page. "We could call it Bumblebee, since—"

"Because you're black and yellow? Have you noticed this entire team is black and yellow? It could just as easily be the two of us, or Blake and I, or Jaune and Blake—"

"Why don't you just remember what it is, since you're so damn smart, huh?"

Jaune watched them bicker away with a rueful smile. "Gonna be a great semester, isn't it?" he joked. "At least we got the dark secrets out of the way last time."

Blake sighed.

Weiss barely made it out the door before her cover was blown. "Where you going?" Ruby said curiously (if ungrammatically). Then her partner noticed her upraised hand, ready to knock on Team SJBY's door. "Ooh, a hangout! Can I join? I haven't seen Yang and Jaune in...hours! At least!" She started bouncing in place like some overly caffeinated jack-in-the-box.

"I'm sure it's nothing so frivolous." Weiss checked the message on her Scroll again. "Sable does not do...hangouts." She had her suspicions what this was about, considering the last time she'd been summoned across the hall. "We'll likely be discussing serious matters. You would be bored."

To her dismay, Ruby started vibrating at even higher frequencies. "You're having a secret meeting?!" she gasped. "I have to come! It's not good for partners to be keep secrets from each other, you know—"

"I assure you, my academic credentials are entirely legitimate..." Weiss began. "You aren't letting this go, are you?"

Ruby smiled innocently. "Nope!"

Rolling her eyes, Weiss threw in the towel and knocked. If her partner wanted to get yelled at for showing up uninvited, it was her funeral. The door opened; a blue eye and a few locks of unkempt blond hair stared out at them. "Hi Weiss." Jaune Arc stepped back to let them into the room. "Hi Ruby!" he added, much more brightly. The other three members of SJBY were huddled around a whiteboard. On it were three rather crude drawings, linked by an excessive number of arrows. There was a pile of Dust crystals...half-respectably rendered, at least Sable knew what those looked like...some sort of animal head that had been crossed out three times...an angry face topped by red scribbles that were probably meant to be hair and what looked like some kind of hat. Okay, she was reasonably sure she had the diagram figured out, in spite of her brother's questionable artistic abilities. So did Ruby, judging by her sudden gasp.

"Oh gosh, is that Pyrrha?" Ruby pointed at the poorly drawn face. "Why are there so many arrows? Uh, look, I get that you might still be mad about the soda thing but don't you think this is going a bit far—" Never mind, she was totally off the mark, even if the thought had crossed Weiss's mind. It had taken five rinses to get her hair back to normal; as much pride as she took in it, white was a very inconvenient color sometimes. Luckily for her, Pyrrha was just too nice to hold a grudge against.

"No! It's obviously Roman Torchwick!" Sable barked. "The hat should have made it obvious! And—HEY! What are you even doing here? Weiss, that's a security breach!"

"It's rather difficult to slip out for a secret meeting right across the hall." Weiss said drily. "Be grateful Nora and Ren were out, or they might've come too."

"Well in any case, she wasn't invited!" Sable pointed at Ruby, then at the door. "So leave."

"Hey!" Ruby said indignantly. "I'm her partner, you meanie! And her team leader too! I think it's not good to keep secrets from your leader, wouldn't you agree?"

Meanwhile, Yang swatted Sable's arm down. "Let her stay, Icy-Hot! She fought with us at the docks, didn't she? And might be Ruby could help us out. She's team leader for a reason!" She gave her sister a wink. "You're welcome."

"Tch, whatever. Close the door behind you." Sable cleared his throat. "So! Sister, teammates, Ruby..." "Hey!" said Ruby. Weiss didn't see what there was to be offended about. It was a perfectly factual summary. "...we are here to talk about the White Fang."

"Them again?" Ruby groaned. "I thought we dealt with them last semester!"

"Believe me, I'm just as sick of that lot. But no, they won't give up so easily." Sable said darkly. "The Atlas Military's raided more hideouts than I can count, and they've still got cells all over the kingdom. It's like dealing with cockroaches." Blake looked queasy, as if she'd swallowed a cockroach herself. Personally, Weiss found the description quite accurate, although perhaps comparing a bunch of faunus to insects was...not the most politically correct analogy.

"Mm-hmm." Yang said in mild disapproval. "Are you going somewhere with this, or are you just gonna make vaguely racist metaphors?"

Sable glared at her. "Actually, it was a simile, but fine. It's like...trying to get all the dirt off your shoes. Happy?" Was it worse to be compared to bugs or literal filth? Filth was less prejudiced-sounding, but arguably even more insulting. "Anyways. If there's one thing we know about the White Fang, it's that they hate humans. Yet back at the docks, we all saw them working with this...sentient garbage..." he swiped at the badly drawn Torchwick on the board, reducing his face to a smear. "Explain that, if you will!"

Jaune, of all people, was the first to volunteer something. "Guys, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way? What if...what if Roman Torchwick is secretly a faunus!"

"That's absolutely ludicrous!" Weiss snapped at him. "He's a fairly notorious criminal, and I've never heard that about him. How could someone hide their species for so long?"

"Well, has anyone ever seen him without his hat?" Jaune persisted in his delusions. "He could be hiding, I don't know, cat ears under it or something! Uh, Blake, are you feeling all right? You're looking awfully pale."

"Totally fine! Thanks for asking. I...I ate a bit too much at lunch, is all." Blake patted her stomach and gave them a rather shaky thumbs-up. "And I'm sure Torchwick is human. He called them animals back then, remember? A faunus wouldn't have said that. Plus Weiss is right, someone managing to conceal an animal trait that well is just...totally implausible..."

"Wait, I've seen him without his hat!" Ruby chimed in. "His mugshot was on the news, the day we came to Beacon, remember? Well, I guess Jaune was busy vomiting—uh, forget about that! But no cat ears."

"So let's dispense with that theory." Blake said hastily. "And I highly doubt the White Fang have suddenly changed their attitude towards humanity. Most likely they're desperate for Dust. So desperate, they'd resort to working with a human thief to get what they want."

"But why would they need so much Dust—an army!" Ruby squeaked, recalling the words of that nameless VPD detective. "They're going to attack Vale? That's terrible!" A pall fell over the room. Weiss tried to think of what SDC installations were near the city. Or maybe their target was grander in scope...the Vale council buildings? The utility grid? Beacon...no, that was madness, the four Huntsman Academies were some of the best defended spots on the planet.

"But the police know all that, don't they?" Jaune said, without much confidence. "I mean, we told them what happened, they must have people investigating..."

"They don't get paid enough to deal with this, remember?" Sable said mockingly.

Yang shook her head. "You didn't grow up near here, did you? The VPD's all right for getting cats out of trees, that kind of stuff, not...whatever the hell this is." She added another drawing to the board, of a police officer holding a doughnut and looking befuddled. "Look, we fought a dang battle in the middle of the city. Eleven of us, tons of them, ships crashing, people dropping from the sky, explosions everywhere, and the cops didn't show until it was over."

"Ozpin knows too." Weiss pointed out. That was it. She refused to believe there was nothing but a bunch of teenagers between Vale and utter annihilation. The city would've been a smoking hole in the ground long ago without someone competent in charge. Best to remind the others of that, before they all decided to run out and wreck more public property. "Even if the police are...underqualified...surely Beacon's Huntsmen are suited to the task—"

"Is that what we came here to do, Weiss? Wait for other people to solve our problems for us?" her twin snapped at her. "There are gods-know how many of those bastards infesting Vale, planning gods-know what, and they want us dead! Especially you!" He swept an arm out in overdramatic fashion. The whiteboard went tumbling to the floor with a loud crash. "Now do you all want to sit here, and hope they never come to get us? Or do you want to go out there and get them first?"

"NOOOO!" Ruby grabbed Weiss in a rib-crushing hug, silver eyes brimming with tears. "Never fear, Weiss, we'll stop them! I won't let those jerks touch a hair on your head!"

"Ruby, get off me! I'm not going to die!" Weiss flailed around ineffectually. "You're scaring her, you lunatic! Can you not be so melodramatic?"

Sable was unrepentant. "What the fuck do you want me to say, that the White Fang is going to invite us for tea and cookies?"

"Not in front of Ruby, dammit!" Yang chided him, rather hypocritically. "But I'm in! Let's smash some more bad guys! I mean, beating up other people is kind of how this team bonds, anyways." The others said nothing, but Jaune's nervous expression began to look more resolute, while Blake's face showed an odd mix of determination and fear.

In the end, it fell to Weiss to be the voice of reason. As usual. "Be realistic, will you?" she said, folding her arms. "I'm sure you feel ready to...cleanse the kingdom of those scum in a glorious crusade of righteous violence...ack!" Okay, maybe she wasn't quite as reasonable as she'd like to be. Weiss remembered the sight of Roman Torchwick's Bullhead going down in flames, and the sense of victory she'd felt...no, no, she had to hold it together. "I mean, apprehend some ne'er-do-wells..."

Jaune looked baffled. "What's a nerd wall?"

"But look, do you even have a plan?" Weiss pressed on. "How on Remnant are six students...six human students...supposed to find out anything about the White Fang? It took a series of highly improbable coincidences for us all to end up at the docks, and I wouldn't count on that again." At her words, the collective fever dream seemed to break. "This isn't some Saturday morning cartoon, you know. Things are never so convenient in real life."

"Welp. Way to pour ice water on us." Yang sighed. "Or should that be Weiss water?"

Blake sat on her bed, hands squeezed together in a white-knuckled grip. "I...may be able to do something." she said softly. "My parents, they still kept in touch with a few faunus friends in Vale. I could make some, let's say, discreet inquiries, see if anything unusual is going on in those neighborhoods."

Yang pulled a face. "Well, that's not as fun. I guess...I know a guy who tends to know stuff. I could pay him a visit over the weekend. Man, this is starting to sound like homework."

"It's a start." Sable conceded. "No one said uncovering the White Fang's secret plans was going to be easy."

Just two days later, their little working group came together for a second meeting, still in the same room. "So." Blake waved a wrinkled piece of paper at them. "I might have a lead on the White Fang's secret plans. One of the faunus I know picked this up off the street." The other five peered at it. The familiar wolf's head with claw marks was stamped on the flyer, though it looked more pink than red, as if someone's printer were running out of colored ink.

White Fang meet and greet (no humans allowed)

Friday, August 19th, 8 PM

Follow signs from intersection of Viridian/Vermillion

Tired of anti-faunus prejudice holding you back in life? The White Fang can help you eliminate racists with one simple trick (humans hate it)!

Featuring a special guest speaker. Refreshments available. For 5 Lien, enter a raffle to win a toaster and other exciting prizes!

Destroy after reading. Remember, snitches get stitches.

"A week from today?" Ruby said. "Well, at least we won't have class the next day. That was bad, last time." Everyone shuddered at the memory of the Monday after the docks fight.

"And...are you sure it's legit?" Jaune said skeptically. "I mean, if I was an illegal terrorist group, I sure wouldn't be handing out flyers."

"Lately, they've been recruiting aggressively in the faunus districts." Blake explained. "The police don't really go there, and people don't talk to them, either. Or so my friend tells me."

"My opinion of the VPD continues to decline." Sable glared at the flyer as though it were infected with syphilis. "How much do you trust this friend of yours, Blake? Forgive me if I hesitate to rely on some random faunus we know absolutely nothing about."

"We can trust them." Blake said firmly. "I've known this...person for a while, and I'm positive they want the Fang stopped as much as I do. It's safer if they don't reveal themselves, is all. Risky for them to associate with Huntsmen, especially present company." She jerked her head towards the twins. "No offense."

"You can't even give us a name, or if they're a boy or girl? Dang, you really don't want us meeting your friend, huh?" A grin broke out on Yang's face. "Wait, wait, is it embarrassing? Are they your ex—"

"No! Definitely not my ex-boyfriend!" Blake said, with considerable heat.

Yang held a hand up, laughing. "Whoa! Calm down, girl. And I never said it had to be a boy, you know!" The black-haired girl was rapidly turning red in the face.

"That's enough!" Weiss cut in. "We all agreed not to talk about Blake's...preferences. And it's quite irrelevant to the matter."

"Preferences? I don't get it." Jaune looked confused again. "Blake, are you sure you're okay? I don't think that shade is healthy..."

"Sorry, sorry!" Yang's giggles subsided. "I'll stop talking about your secret faunus lover boy, all right? Seriously though, nice work." She cracked her knuckles. "So what's the plan? I say we just crash their little party and kick some butt—"

"Yang's, that's not gonna work!" Ruby interrupted. "We're trying to find out their plans! What are we going to learn if we just run in and beat everyone up?"

"I'm the leader here, all right?" Sable bristled. "But, well...she's got a point. We should try and ambush someone when they leave, interrogate them a little—"

"Uh, that sounds like kidnapping?" Jaune said uneasily.

Weiss scoffed. "You're all overcomplicating things. Just bring this to Ozpin, and he can have some listening devices planted."

"Actually, guys?" Blake raised a hand for attention, face now only slightly pink. "I think it'd be best if someone attended the meeting, in person. You know, to hear things right from the horse's mouth...or whatever kind of faunus they've got. We go in, go out, no one notices anything. I'll do it—" Everyone disliked that. Blake was literally blasted off her feet by the sheer volume of objections.

"You cannot be serious!" Weiss shouted. "I don't care how pro-faunus rights you are, if they catch a human spying on them, you're dead!"

"Nope! NOPE!" Ruby frantically flashed a thumbs-down. "Blake, that's crazy! And not in the good way!"

"That's a terrible idea! And this from the guy who tried to take initiation without Aura!"

"You gods-damn idiot! What's wrong with you?" Sable swatted her with the rolled-up flyer. "How is committing suicide going to help us at all?"

"No! Just no!" Yang shook her partner like a ragdoll. "You're not going in there on your own, hear me? We'll think of something else—"

"Don't do it!" shouted Nora...Nora? Jaune pulled the door open. Nora flopped over the threshold, a glass cup held to her ear...then Ren and Pyrrha fell on top of her.

"SPIES? I don't believe this!" Sable raged. "Actually, never mind, I completely believe this from her. But you two?" He pointed at the red-and-green duo accusingly. "I'm disappointed!"

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha practically kowtowed in apology. "I shouldn't have gone along with it! But Nora was being all...Nora-y, and she said it'd be fun and I just want to have friends and I'm—I'm very susceptible to peer pressure, okay?" Ren just lay silently on the floor, in a posture of defeat.

Nora, not embarrassed in the slightest, promptly rounded on her team leader. "You were gonna fight the bad guys WITHOUT US?" she shrieked. "I'm hurt! Ruby! Weiss! How could you do this to me?" Nora put her traitorous teammates in headlocks, one under each arm. "This means noogies!"

"Nora, please." Weiss accepted her fate, in a very Ren-like tone of voice. "This is unfair..."

"No! It's not like that!" Ruby choked out. "I was gonna...invite you guys on the actual mission, promise! This is just...a planning meeting and I thought it'd be really boring and you...wouldn't enjoy it and...I'm sorry...bleh..." Ruby's face was starting to look more like a sapphire. Yang rushed over to try and pry Nora off, before her sister asphyxiated.

Jaune and Blake were left to give each other 'why-the-hell-is-this-happening' looks. As usual, they had no answers. "Sweet gods, it's the docks all over again." Blake let out a long-suffering sigh. "Penny, are you hiding in the vents? Sun, are you...Sun!" She jumped to her feet. "I got it! I got it!"

Amidst the pandemonium, no one paid her any mind. Blake sighed again.

Sun tilted his head at her. "Okay, I think you just asked me to sneak you into a White Fang meeting, but I'm not sure I heard right. Run it by me again?"

"It's our best shot at figuring out what they're up to." Blake whispered. They were secluded on one of Beacon's many rooftops—a safe distance away from the student dorms, naturally. "If I can be in the room and hear it first-hand, this could be huge. Except my team refuses to let me go, because..." she inserted some air quotes. "I am 100% human, and definitely not a faunus."

"Right, and a human pretending to be a faunus wouldn't go over well." No, it would not. Blake still remembered the time when a couple of Mistralian rednecks had taken it on themselves to infiltrate the White Fang. Between the obviously plastic cat ears, and the constant, annoying meowing, they hadn't lasted very long. "Except you're actually going to be a faunus, pretending to be a human, pretending to be a faunus? Gods damn it, my brain hurts." Sun palmed his forehead. "You...you are actually a faunus right, there isn't another layer I don't know about?"

"Um, yeah." Blake wiggled her cat ears under the bow for his benefit. "Why would there be another layer? That just sounds...unnecessarily complicated."

"What you're doing now though, it's all totally straightforward." Sun quipped. "But whatever, I'm in. Could be fun."

"Are you serious?" she stared at him. Not that she was ungrateful, but a girl he'd barely known for a few weeks was asking him to risk life and limb (and tail), and his only thought was 'could be fun'? "You're being remarkably laid back about this."

"Kind of how I roll." Sun shrugged nonchalantly. "Look, I haven't had a proper thrill since the docks. School...isn't really doing it for me, you know. What the hell is the point of Port's class, even?" Blake had no reply to that. "So yeah, sign me up. Just promise you won't flip out if a human shows up again."

"It's a promise." Blake nodded. "Sorry again about that..."

Jaune looked around the over-capacity dorm room with a groan. "Geez. Who knew fighting crime took so many meetings?"

"Well, it's a delicate operation!" Weiss said, crammed into a corner. "I, for one, think it pays to have a well thought-out plan of attack. Although...this is cutting things a bit close." The clock read half-past four on Friday, three and a half hours until the White Fang meeting began.

Sable scowled. He stood over Jaune's bed, staring at the map of Vale spread out there. "You can say that again. It's been like herding cats, I swear." Blake twitched. Considering the final plan involved ten people from three-and-a-quarter different teams, there had been some rather vigorous discussions. "At least we got it done." Fragments of a plan were scribbled on the map, the whiteboard, and various sheets of paper. They looked for all the world like a bunch of students desperately trying to finish a group project with a looming deadline...which, to be fair, was pretty accurate.

"Hell yeah!" Sun clapped his hands. The faunus boy was hanging from the ceiling lamp by his tail, for no particular reason. He'd wrapped himself in a brown cloak and hood (his stealth outfit, as he insistently called it), looking more bat than monkey. "The Warehouse Heist is a go!"

"It's not a heist! Heists steal stuff! We're trying to do the opposite!" Sable snapped. "And get down from there before you electrocute yourself!"

"Yeah, well, the Warehouse Intelligence Operation for Prevention of Future Calamity doesn't have the same ring to it..."

Weiss stepped forwards. "We don't have time to debate nomenclature, you two! Let's go over the full plan, at least once." She laid her finger over Beacon Academy on the map. "I'll go to the CCT Tower and make a call to SDC headquarters, to request some records on recent Dust robberies—"

"LAME!" Nora jeered.

"Hey! It's important information!" Weiss said in indignation. "Information I'm uniquely qualified to get, as heiress to the company!"

"Still lame!" Nora shot back. "You're not even leaving the school!"

"Nora, shut up." Sable said without looking up. "Next! Yang will retrieve her motorcycle from storage—"

"Her name's Bumblebee!" Yang called, seated on her bed. "And holy crap, I'm suffocating in here! Did you have to wall up the door?" She gestured at the solid stone barrier (formerly a vial of rock Dust) that was blocking anyone from getting in...or leaving.

"It's the only way to be safe! These doors aren't soundproof, as we've found!"

"They sure aren't!" Nora said helpfully. "But don't worry! If anyone else tries to get in, I'll smash them!"

"That's the spirit." Sable nodded in mild approval. "So, Yang and I will take a Bullhead to Vale, and travel on...Bumblebee...to a dance club owned by this 'Junior' person, which is named...'Junior's Club'..." He traced a route to the marked spot.

"Eh, Junior was never great at naming stuff."

"...and interrogate its proprietor for information." Sable finished ominously.

Meanwhile, over in Team SSSN's quarters, the other three boys were relaxing after a day of classes, notably minus a certain monkey boy. Now, there was nothing new about that, except that this time Sun was actually on the same continent, and still choosing not to spend time with them. It honestly hurt a little, being treated like side characters by their own leader.

"Is it just me?" Sage said quietly. "Or has Sun been acting weird lately?"

Scarlet leaned back in his chair. "You mean how he's always ditching us to hang with his new friends?" He rolled his eyes. "Feels pretty normal to me, Sage. Be weirder if he actually started, you know, being a responsible leader."

"Not that." Sage said. "More how he was wearing that robe all day. He...he covered his abs, guys..."

Scarlet blinked. "Huh. Bit odd, now that you mention it." He furrowed his brow. "Maybe he's bored with this kingdom too. Planning to scarper off to Vacuo and become a wandering Aura monk, or something."

"Come on, Sun wouldn't do us like that. He's just a little...irresponsible." Neptune defended his old friend. "Okay, a lot irresponsible. But still, he was on his own in Vale that whole time, and it turned out fine, didn't it? Nothing bad happened except...except..." Neptune froze in horror. "Aw, shit."

"I'll go next!" Ruby said, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. "Me, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren...man, I feel like we need a shorter way to say that...will head to the street where the meeting's happening. The whole block's a bunch of warehouses, and we don't know exactly which one they'll be in." She showed them several pictures of drab, run-down gray buildings. For some reason, each photo featured a smiling Ruby, flashing a peace sign to the camera.

"Rubes, why did you take selfies?"

Ruby coughed. "Never mind that! So, Ren jumps up on the roof with his mad ninja skills to see where everyone goes. The rest of us hang out one street over, and act all...normal-like." She whistled innocently. "Just a bunch of normal kids with normal knees, nothing to see here."

"I'm still not sure this is a good idea." Blake grumbled. "Isn't it kind of suspicious for a bunch of people with weapons to be hanging around? Including an international celebrity...and Nora."

"I can be stealthy!" Nora objected. "I was spying on you all, wasn't I?"

"You got caught!"

"Blake, this was the only reason we agreed to your ridiculous plan. You'll have some of the best fighters in the school watching your back. Jaune too." Weiss said pointedly ("Hey..." Jaune protested). "You know, it's not too late to just go to Ozpin and let him handle things."

"Um, Weiss? I don't think there's any stopping this." Pyrrha said tiredly. "We'll keep Nora in line. As much as possible, anyways."

Ruby continued. "Once everyone goes in, Ren tells us where it is, and we run overwatch on the meeting. Any sign of trouble, and Nora blows a hole in the wall—"

"Woo! Can't wait!" Nora cheered.

"We're hoping that won't be necessary, remember?" Ren shook his head. "Can we please wrap this up soon? It's getting quite warm in here..."

Neptune rapped on the door. "Nothing." He pressed an ear against it. "No sound from inside, either. You sure this is the right room?"

"Positive." Scarlet nodded. "Er...not that I've ever followed them here, of course..." Neptune ignored that. They could discuss Scarlet's possibly stalker-ish tendencies later, after they rescued their leader from his own recklessness.

"Maybe they aren't in." Sage suggested. "It's a big academy, not everyone goes right back to their rooms after class."

"Maybe. But I doubt it." Neptune held up a finger. "You guys don't know Sun like I do, and tell you what, my Sun-is-doing-something-stupid-senses are tingling like mad."

Scarlet snorted. "You didn't notice anything until Sage pointed it out!" Neptune ignored that too. Another knock on the door. "Well, if they won't let us in, we'll find our own way in! Let's see, I think we're three floors down...and that stairway back there had roof access..."

Sage frowned. "I don't like where you're going with this."

"Me neither. But we do what we have do, guys." Neptune shivered. "Scarlet, can you carry someone and use your Semblance at the same time?"

"I really don't like where this is going..."

"Home stretch!" Sun took up the narration, still hanging from the ceiling. "So, Blake and I show up to the party, say we're interested in a bit of the ol' violence and mayhem. I'll tell them Blake's a faunus...even though she definitely isn't."

"Are you sure that'll work?" Jaune said in concern. "I mean, the whole plan kind of hinges on that, and if they don't buy it you guys are in a lot of trouble—"

"It'll be fine, bro!" Sun gave them a thumbs-up, which unfortunately looked more like a thumbs-down from his position. He flipped his hand back and forth a bit before giving up. "Faunus culture, you know? It's a big no-no, questioning someone's...faunus-ness."

"For real?" Yang asked curiously. "I knew a couple of faunus back at Signal, and I've never heard that before."

"Of course it's real! Look, who's the faunus here, you or me?"

"And you're certain you won't be recognized?" Weiss pressed him. "You two weren't exactly inconspicuous at the docks."

"We didn't leave many witnesses." Blake commented, perched on a desk. "Um, that sounds kind of bad, doesn't it...but no, I wouldn't worry. Besides, the White Fang always wear masks. Or so I hear."

Sun plucked at the cloak he was wearing. "Plus I've got my stealth outfit! I'd like to see them recognize me without the abs! And Blake's...wearing a different shirt...uh, maybe you should change your haircut to be safe—"

Suddenly, Blake held up a hand, frowning in concentration. "Hold that thought." Turning, she pulled the window curtain open in one fluid motion...only to find herself nose-to-nose with none other than Neptune Vasilias. The blue-haired boy stood precariously on the windowsill, one hand holding the window open and a guilty grin on his face. Behind him, Scarlet and Sage sat in a tree, facepalming.

"Again?! You...you insufferable little blue bastard!" Sable shrieked. "And who the hell left the window open?! That's completely insecure!"

"Just a crack!" Yang said defensively. "It was boiling in here, all right? I couldn't take it any more!"

"Take it easy, bro! I can—SUN!" Spotting his team leader, Neptune leapt through the open window and grabbed onto the blond faunus. The boys swung back and forth like a pendulum, before the ceiling light ripped out in a shower of sparks and sent them crashing to the floor. "Dude! Don't do it! I've done some dumb shit to impress a girl, but I draw the line at joining a terrorist group!"

"A SPY!" Nora shouted happily. "I'll break him!"

"AHHHH! AHHHH! CALL HER OFF!"

"COME HERE! HAMMER TIME!"

"Hey, watch where you're swinging that—" *crunch* "NO! MY BED!"

"Hide the Dust!"

Scarlet and Sage remained in the tree, taking in the screams and sounds of breaking furniture. "A right bugger's muddle, innit?" Scarlet said, checking his nails. "Let's just wait for that to blow over. Care for popcorn, Sage?"

We're back! Happy 2021, y'all. Lots of talking in this one, but it takes a bit of wrangling to put together a 5...6...9...10...13-person heist* crew. I might have an unhealthy obsession with sticking everyone in a room and letting them all yell at each other.

*not a heist

Added a Team RRWN segment since they've been kind of neglected, and it turned out depressing as hell. Welp. It reminds me of that 'you guys are getting paid?' meme.

RUBY: Weiss, I can explain...

WEISS: You have a dad that loves you?

REN: You have dad that's alive?

NORA: Wait, you guys have dads?