"Well, that escalated quickly." Sun rubbed his head. "Kind of a pattern with you guys, huh?" The floor was strewn with bits of broken glass, while the hole in the ceiling intermittently showered them all in sparks. Yang was trying fruitlessly to repair the Magnhild-shaped hole in her bed. Said hammer's owner sat in the time-out corner, getting a stern talking-to from her partner and team leader.

Weiss transmuted a light blue Dust crystal to a makeshift ice pack with a wave of her hand, and passed it to Neptune. "Here, that ought to help with the swelling." she said soothingly. "I'm very sorry about her." The blue-haired boy groaned, pressing the chunk of ice to his bruised cheek.

"Oi!" Scarlet called from outside. "Can we come in, or are we going to get hammered too? This tree's not exactly comfortable. I've got a branch going up my crev!"

Sable beckoned them in. "You may. Thanks for asking." He gave Neptune a contemptuous sneer. "You know it's rude to enter without being invited, right? Really, you've got no one to blame but yourself."

"I'm rude?" Neptune mouthed. Scarlet and Sage clambered over the sill. "Sorry about him, lads. Neptune's normally the sensible one, but he goes funny in the head sometimes...I blame Sun." said the redhead ("Hey!" said Sun). "And...er, good to see you again, Sable." Scarlet swung his arms awkwardly. "You're looking quite top today..." Weiss gave the inexplicably-accented boy her frostiest Ice Queen glare, and he shut up with faint squeak.

"Thanks." Sable said, in a tone that was almost friendly. "I think?"

Jaune looked out the window. "How did you even get up here? I thought Sun was the one to climb trees, not you guys. Uh...that wasn't racist, was it?"

Sun shrugged. "I mean, it's true, I do climb trees all the time." His tail scratched his head. "Man, I'm kind of a stereotype, aren't I? At least I don't fling poo at people."

"We used my Semblance. It lets me glide in the air." Scarlet explained, interrupting Sun's disgusting train of thought. "Took a runner off the roof carrying those two and landed in the tree." He rubbed the small of his back. "I swear Neptune's gained weight lately."

"Hey! What is this, Bully Neptune Day?" Neptune's ice pack was starting to melt. A trickle of water ran down his face, which he wiped away with a shudder. "Sun. My man. I still don't like this. Like, I really don't like it. Ever seen a heist movie?" ("Not a heist!" Sable corrected) "The faunus dude always dies first!"

"Have some faith in me, man." Sun took his partner's hand. "I survived growing up in Vacuo. I'm not gonna get whacked by some Grimm-cosplaying chumps!" He put his other hand over his heart. "Besides, even if it's dangerous...we're Huntsmen! It's our duty to put it all on the line and protect the kingdoms and all that jazz—"

"Uh-huh. Real nice." Scarlet said skeptically. "I suppose it's also a Huntsman's duty to do all that without telling his team? Which he's meant to be leading?"

"Can you have your important team talk later?" Blake cut in. "We're on a schedule here."

"Hey, wait a minute—" "I still think that—" Scarlet and Neptune continued to object.

"Enough!" Sable barked. "I'm not sure you realize, but we've spent gods know how many hours planning this. We didn't come this far to cancel at the last minute." His left hand moved to the pommel of his sword. "I don't want to hurt you, believe me...well, some of you, at least...but if it comes to that, it's ten on three."

Everyone else either paled in fear, sighed in exasperation, or thanked the Brothers that the other Schnee stood in line to inherit. "Time out! Time out!" Ruby jumped up and down, arms waving frantically. "We're all supposed to be on the same side! Look, I get you guys are upset we didn't tell you stuff." She looked guiltily over at Ren and Nora. "So why don't you just come with us? We'll work together! Having some more backup wouldn't hurt!"

Neptune sighed. "Guess that's the best we can hope for, huh? I'll do it." Scarlet and Sage nodded hesitantly. "Sun Defense Squad it is, boys."

"Actually, you know what?" Weiss spoke up. "If we're adding more people to the mission, I could use a hand at the CCT tower. It'd be nice to have someone help me analyze the data." She looked over at a certain blue-haired boy. "Like, say—"

"Like Jaune!" Sable interrupted, pointing at his partner.

"Jaune?" said Weiss, looking disappointed. "Why him?"

"Yeah, why me?" said Jaune, who looked equally disappointed for some reason.

"You asked for someone. He's someone! Is there anyone else who'd like to go?" Sable's ominous tone made the right answer very obvious. Neptune wasn't nearly dumb enough to take the bait, shaking his head at whiplash-inducing speed. "There you have it. Unless you don't need a partner after all, Weiss?"

"I...um..." Weiss tried and failed to find a dignified exit strategy. "Jaune will do." she gritted out.

Sun scampered for the door. "Welp! Let's get cracking! This heist isn't going to pull itself off!" He came to a sudden halt, for the door was still blocked off. "Uh, can someone take down this stupid wall?"

"Not a heist!"

Yang wheeled Bumblebee out of the airship, and out onto the streets of Vale. Thank gods it was finally action time. It was kind of depressing when the planning took several times longer than the actual mission, and turned about as destructive to boot. Hopefully Goodwitch had some free time tonight, or Yang would be sleeping on half a bed...welp, too late to worry about that. She gave the motorcycle an affectionate pat. "Meet Bumblebee! Whaddaya think?"

Sable looked over the bright yellow-and-orange paint job, and wrinkled his nose. "Well, it's certainly garish."

"Shh, it's okay." Yang said to the bike comfortingly. "He's got no taste." She wasn't what she'd expected from a boy who wore only black and white. She could just imagine little Sable throwing a tantrum and refusing to wear anything with a hint of color, so as to preserve his brooding edgelord aesthetic. "Get on." Yang slid into the driver's seat.

"What, on the back?" Sable tapped Bumblebee's rear end skeptically. "That doesn't look secure at all."

Yang carefully placed a lemon-colored helmet on her head. "Well, I don't think you'll fit in my lap, so yeah. It'll be fine! I've never lost a passenger!" Except for Uncle Qrow that one time, but Sable didn't need to know that. And it didn't really count, considering Qrow's general drunkenness and weird luck. "Just hold on tight. But careful where you put those hands, hear me?"

"Do I get a helmet, at least?" Sable still hesitated.

"Only got the one, sorry." That did seem a little unsafe, come to think. But then again, what kind of Huntsman were you, if you couldn't take a little high-speed motorcycle crash without getting a traumatic brain injury? "Don't tell me you're scared? You're starting to sound like your sister." Yang briefly imitated Weiss Schnee's shrill tones. "Good heavens! I cannot possibly board this vehicle without a seatbelt and full protective gear, that violates so many safety protocols—"

"Shut up and drive." Sable climbed on the back. "Yellow wouldn't suit me, anyways!"

Rolling her eyes, Yang stepped on the gas and Bumblebee accelerated down the street. Seriously, who else could get so pissy about getting on a motorcycle...she really wondered why he was their leader sometimes. Process of elimination? "Don't be so grumpy, Icy-Hot." she teased. "You know how many boys at Signal would kill to be in your position?"

"I don't see the appeal." She could practically hear Sable's scowl, even if she couldn't see it. "Excuse me for not worshiping at your feet with the rest of your island fan club."

"Right." The speedometer reading kept going up. "You'd rather be riding with some cute boy, huh?" Sable had put up with Scarlet David's awkward flirtations and not tried to murder him, which was pretty damn telling, in Yang's mind. Even if it felt bit stereotypical, on top of his lengthy hair care ritual and girlish looks.

"I don't care who I ride with, all right?" Sable replied testily. "So long as they watch the road! Yellow light!"

"Shit!" Yang smashed the gas pedal as hard as possible (pretty dang hard), and Bumblebee rocketed through the intersection. Wait, had he been implying something with that, or was she overthinking? Eh...sometimes a cigar was just a cigar. She had other things to ponder, like the ideal opening line for Junior. 'Guess who's back?' was sounding good, but maybe 'Guess who's back, bitches!' would be more intimidating. Screw being family-friendly. What Ruby didn't hear wouldn't hurt her.

"Nice weather we're having." Jaune was really grasping at straws here. His assigned mission partner made no reply. "Um, is that a new jacket? I like it..." He had never really had a conversation with his partner's sister, and he was starting to think that might be for the best. It was like talking to an ice sculpture—which was an incredibly lazy comparison now that he thought about it, but still true. He'd had better chats with Blake. Blake!

"Gods, why are you even here..." Weiss muttered, looking over her shoulder at him. "Look, you don't have to keep following me. I hardly need a bodyguard to walk around campus. You can go...do whatever you do."

"I don't know why I'm here either." Jaune admitted. He'd gotten all psyched for a roof party with Ruby and the rest of the crew, only to end up stuck in the school. Alone. Except for a girl who apparently wanted no part of him. Hooray. Why Sable had railroaded him into this, he had no clue...well, maybe one clue. Someone had to get dropped from the roof team, and naturally, it was him. Geez, it was like recess at elementary school all over again. "Didn't you ask for someone to help you with stuff?"

"I meant for—you know, I don't think I need to explain myself." Weiss huffed, cheeks turning slightly pink.

"So you don't want me here, and I don't want to be here...that's great." Jaune summed up morosely. Maybe he should've just said no. "But I've got a job, and I'm sticking to it." An Arc always did his duty, no matter how trivial it might be. "So, the CCT tower...where is the CCT tower?"

"Are you serious?" Weiss shouted."The giant tower in the middle of campus! It literally glows green!" Oh, there was the Schnee vibe he knew and loved...or rather, semi-tolerated. Jaune instinctively took a step back. "Do you even know what the CCT is?"

"Of course I do!" Jaune shouted back in a panic. "It's short for Cross Continental Transmit and it was developed in Atlas after the Great War but gifted to the rest of the kingdoms, and the main towers allow inter-kingdom communication while a network of support towers handle transmission within a kingdom..." he paused, gasping for breath. Weiss seemed astonished. "What? I passed my History final, you know! I just didn't know that was it! Everyone always calls it Beacon Tower, or Ozpin's office..." More deep breaths. "And I've never had to make a call...didn't really leave home on the best terms, you know..."

Weiss looked away from him. "Right. Anyways, I will go in to make the call. You...just wait outside. It's not as if it'll help to have you on the line. Quite the opposite." She let out a sigh. "And then we wait for everyone else to come back. I suppose we could start data analysis in the meantime..." Well, that was better than nothing, even if all this reeked of a boring side quest that would never be relevant. Math had been one of his good subjects, though it really didn't come up much at a Huntsman school. "...in the library. Maybe I should've just called from there."

"Wait, you could've called from the library?" Jaune asked. "Why are we even out here, then?"

"Well, you see..." Weiss began confidently. "There's a perfectly good reason for this. It's because I...um...maybe I just wanted to take the scenic route, all right? There's nothing wrong with that!"

Jaune nodded in sympathy. "No, I get it." Seemed he wasn't the only one wishing for a more exciting assignment. "Man, I'd feel even more useless if we only walked to the library. Already pretty lame that we're staying in the school—"

Weiss glared at him again. "I don't care what Nora says, it is not lame!" she hissed. "A Schnee hanging around a White Fang meeting is just asking for trouble. I'm...I'm making vital contributions here!"

"Maybe you are." That didn't sound too whiny, did it? Was he seriously going to complain about hanging out with a cute girl, safe behind Beacon's walls? Yes, yes he was. The old Jaune would've been thunderstruck. "And here I am, standing around while Blake and Sun are risking their lives!"

"WHAT?!" a feminine voice shouted. It sounded familiar, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The next moment, something hard slammed into his back at high speed, and he tasted concrete. A great weight was keeping him from getting up. "Friend Jaune!" Wait. There was only one person on Remnant who talked like that...Jaune craned his neck. Yep, that was none other than Penny Polendina (the girl, the myth, the legend), holding him down with one hand. With great unease, he remembered how those same hands had ripped a Bullhead out the sky like it was nothing. "Uh...hi Penny! Long time no see! You staying at Beacon? Haven't seen you with the Atlas students—"

"I request information on the circumstances jeopardizing Best Friend Sun and Human Friend Blake's lives, as well as their current location." Penny ignored his question, those unblinking green eyes staring into his. "Now." Jaune wiggled an arm in Weiss's general direction, signaling for her to just save herself. The heiress nodded in acknowledgement, and slipped off towards Beacon Tower. At least he'd been useful as a distraction. Hopefully Weiss would tell the others how he'd bravely made the ultimate sacrifice.

"I'm sorry, Weiss. I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Penny said in a flat tone. One of her swords-on-strings fired out of her back. Jaune only heard a scream of surprise, before Weiss was slammed to the ground next to him. Never mind that, they were both going to die together. Those heeled boots weren't exactly great for making a stealthy exit, as it turned out.

"Penny...let's be reasonable here..." Jaune wheezed. "We're your friends...it's kind of rude to attack your friends like that..."

"Is that so?" Penny seemed to mull it over. "Hmm. I can see how that might be." Phew. "However, Sun is a best friend, so ensuring his safety must take priority. It's only rational." What? "I do apologize for my rudeness, however." Her small hand seized his hoodie in an iron grip, and the next moment Jaune and Weiss dangled in the air. Penny held one of them in each hand, seemingly without any effort. "I ask of you again, where are they?"

"It's...it's secret!" Jaune gibbered, despite his fear. An Arc never spilled the beans under duress! "Gack!" His prized bunny hoodie was digging into his neck. He was starting to see spots in his vision...what a lame death...

"They're not in that much danger!" Weiss kicked at the air, to no effect. "It's just a simple espionage—gah! Not so tight!"

"Ah, apologies." Penny shifted her grip a little. "You need oxygen to speak, right? Go on."

"They're infiltrating a group of...unsavory characters." Weiss paused to cough. "And we've already got people watching over them, just in case. You—you'd blow their cover if you went in!"

"Oh, I see." Nonetheless, Penny did not let them go. "May I have a location? It would do much to put me at ease. I promise, I shall not interfere with their assignment." Awkward silence. A tumbleweed rolled past them (those were native to Vacuo, weren't they? What was one doing here?). Penny's expression turned more puppy-like by the moment, making his heart ache. Jaune looked over at Weiss, who gave him a reluctant little nod. He dug his Scroll out of his pocket, and pulled up the image of the White Fang flyer. "Here." What harm was one more person in the know, considering how bloated their crew had gotten already? He was quite sure Penny wasn't an undercover White Fang operative, at least. "Not sure exactly which building they'll be in, but—"

Penny blinked. There was a faint sound like a camera shutter going off. "Understood! Thank you for your cooperation." She unceremoniously dropped them on their rear ends and dashed off. "It was good to see you again!" Jaune and Weiss just lay on the pavement as if they'd been run over by the Argus Limited. "That was a thing." Jaune finally said. "So, the CCT?"

"I need another minute." Weiss murmured, staring up at the sky. "Dear gods, that girl has a few screws loose."

"It's this way. Come on, Sun."

"How can you tell?"

"The White Fang symbols." Blake pointed out the three white claw marks on the wall. "They tell you where to go, see?" Sun gave her a weird look. Oops. "Uh...my parents told me about it. They were members, until the White Fang began turning violent, you see." She'd nearly forgotten Sun only knew half her secret. "Also, all those faunus going in the door is kind of a giveaway."

Sun shrugged. "Makes sense to me." He blew out a breath and drew his brown cloak around himself. "Aight. Let's do this."

They walked up to the warehouse entrance, where a bearded bouncer eyed them up. "Welcome to—hey, monkey boy! What sort of faunus is your lady friend here? I don't see her trait!"

Blake moved a hand to her head, but then stopped. Was it really a good idea to expose her ears in front of a White Fang crowd? If she and the team ever crossed paths with them later on, that could be it for her cover story. They could expose her as a real faunus, and the team would know she was a faunus pretending to be human, not a real human, and that she'd infiltrated the meeting as a faunus pretending to be human pretending to be faunus, not a human pretending to be faunus...shit, this really was confusing. The bearded man's eyes narrowed suspiciously. No, she couldn't ruin the mission...couldn't put Sun at risk, over a bit of paranoia. Hand shaking, she prepared to undo the bow.

"Oh, we get that all the time!" Sun interrupted. "She's just a little self-conscious about her trait, haha! Echidna faunus, you know?" He gestured vaguely at crotch level. "Not something she can just whip out, if you get my drift." Okay, what. On one hand, that was a surefire way to save her from having to put her animal parts on display, on the other hand...she felt a strong urge to slap him for that stunt.

"Oh! Ohhhh." The bouncer looked nauseated. "Sorry I asked. You're a brave one, dude, I wouldn't dare stick it in that—"

"No! We're just friends!" Sun waved his hands around. "Besides, it shouldn't matter what parts someone's got! That's why we're here, right?"

"Yes, yes. My apologies." The bouncer said sheepishly. "Here, put these masks on. And you two mind staying to chat after the meeting? I think your friend would be great for an undercover role! With a trait like that, there's no way someone could tell she isn't human."

"No probs, bro!" Sun gave a thumbs-up, and they headed into the warehouse. Blake rubbed one of her cat ears. Good, they were still there. At this rate, she was going to lose track of what species she actually was. "Sorry about that." he whispered once they were out of earshot, slipping the mask onto his face. "But you seemed nervous about it, and I figured they definitely wouldn't call our bluff on that one." The inside of the warehouse came into view. Huh. Not exactly the aesthetic she was used to from old White Fang meetings. Rather than a dimly lit space with rows of grim-faced soldiers, the warehouse looked ready for a block party. Multi-colored floodlights sat on a stage, along with...goodness, were those fog machines? Posters of attractive faunus men and women wearing White Fang uniforms adorned the walls, including one of Adam posing seductively with a rose in his hand. There were more recruits in civilian wear than she remembered, so clearly it was working to an extent...Blake shuddered. A masked man stood in the corner, selling 5 Lien raffle tickets. Yeah, she wasn't touching that. She'd financed enough terrorism in her life as it was.

"I got us raffle tickets!" Sun grinned, waving two red slips at her. "Don't give me that look, we're trying to fit in, right? Besides, have you seen the prizes? I want that toaster, Blake!" With his other hand, he held out a plate of cookies. "Snacks aren't half bad, either. You want some?" Blake shook her head. "Eh, more for me." Sun brought a red plastic cup to his lips using his tail. "Man, I didn't expect the White Fang to just hand out tea and cookies!"

A loud blast of microphone feedback came from the stage, to yells and groans from the gathered faunus. "Whoops. Stupid thing." the muscular White Fang emcee grumbled. "Thank you all for coming. It's lit, fam!" Confused murmuring from the crowd. The emcee shuffled his notes. "Well, the council might have banned us, but you know what they say, there ain't no laws when you wear these white claws!" Crickets...as in silence, not a literal cricket faunus chirping. "Gods damn it, who wrote this crap? Anyways, allow me to introduce our guest speaker tonight. The man who keeps the Vale council awake at night! The man who will finally bring us to the promised land!" The crowd's murmurs turned excited. Blake looked fearfully at the poster of Adam on the wall. Surely not? "A very special man I'd like to bring your attention to! And his name is Roman Torchwick!" Trumpet music suddenly blared through the warehouse. The fog machines went off, covering the stage in white smoke, and through it swaggered the familiar bowler-hatted bastard. The human thief's cocky grin didn't waver under a hail of raucous boos; he cupped a hand to his ear as if to egg them on.

"Be cool, Blake, be cool..." Sun whispered, patting her shoulder soothingly.

Sable ran a comb through his windswept hair, trying desperately to restore it to its previous sleek appearance. Yang winced. Now she remembered why she wore a helmet. "Uh...sorry about that." she offered. A bit of reckless endangerment was one thing, but she really did feel bad about screwing up his hairdo. "Kind of forgot that was a thing."

"Gods damn it..." Sable muttered curse words under his breath. "Let's just get this over with."

"Over there." Yang pointed at the sign for Junior's Club. "Fair warning, we might get a bit of a hostile reception." With his current mood, there was a good chance Sable's trigger finger would slip and blow Junior sky-high, and they couldn't have that. Not before they asked their questions. "I kind of sort of trashed the place last time I was here."

"Why?" Sable asked in surprise. "Not that I'm judging, but how did you not get arrested?"

"Junior knows what's good for him. He blabs to the cops, and all his criminal buddies drop him for being a snitch." Yang answered the second question first. "As for why, let's just say I had some questions for him, and he wasn't talking fast enough."

"So he knows what he'll get if he doesn't answer? That's convenient." Sable's mood seemed to brighten instantly. "Did you find out what you wanted in the end?"

"Uh...no. I don't think he actually knew anything." Yang admitted. Either his 'knows everything in Vale' rep was false advertising, or her mom wasn't in Vale at all. Damn, now she felt sort of guilty about that night. "Maybe we should take it easy on him this time—" The club door slammed in their faces as they approached. "Never mind, let's show him who he's dealing with!"

Sable's mouth twitched. "Yes, let's." He flicked his sword (she could never quite remember its name. Schw...something unpronounceable), and a large red snowflake appeared over the door. "Breach in three. Two. One!" Yang punched the explosive glyph dead center with her right fist. The dual blast reduced the door to flying bits of burning debris.

"AAAAAHHH! Get the fire extinguisher!" someone screamed from within. Yang and Sable stepped through the hole they'd made. "Guess who's back, bitches!" she crowed. Down the entrance stairs, various uniformed henchmen were trying to beat out flames on the bar and dance floor; a man in a bear suit ran around in a panic, head on fire. "Oh, whoops. That might've been a bit much." Yang said in mild embarrassment.

"Why?" Junior Xiong whimpered, in a very small voice for from such a tall, burly, bearded man. "Didn't you do enough last time, Blondie? And oh gods, you brought a girlfriend—"

"I'M A BOY!" Sable yelled, pointing his sword right between Junior's eyes. "And we're here for some answers, Junior, or whatever the hell your name really is! It would be terrible if this place burnt to the ground, wouldn't it?" Two girls in red and white approached in combat stances. Oh, it was those annoying twins whose names Yang didn't remember at all; she'd been too busy kicking their asses to make a proper introduction. Yang flexed at them, and both flinched a little.

Junior flapped a hand. "Stand down!" Discount Ruby and Discount Weiss retreated, sulking. "Uh...sorry about that! Now would you get this thing out of my face, kid? You know you're supposed to ask first and stab second, right?"

"I think I'd better do the talking, Icy-Hot." Yang stepped forwards. How on Remnant did she end up being the good cop? "Look, we're not here to smash your joint. Just a few questions, and we'll be on our way, all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Torchwick said, as the boos continued. "You don't like me, and to be honest, I don't like you much either. But you know what they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend! Just like the Great War! I'm Vale, you're Vacuo, and we can take down big bad Atlas together!" Technically it had been Mantle, not Atlas, but Blake hardly expected historical accuracy from the man.

"Who needs you as a friend?" A floppy-eared faunus (sheep?) in the front row shouted. "And make us Vale at least! Vacuo? That's just insulting!"

"Oi! Don't diss Vacuo! I'm from Vacuo! You insensitive prick!" An antlered woman shoved the first speaker. "It's way better than Vale!" Sun let out a cheer. Blake elbowed him, and he shut up with a guilty chuckle.

One of the uniformed White Fang rapped them both on the head. "Shut it, you two. All kingdoms are the same. They're social constructs used by the collective ruling cabal to divide and repress us."

Torchwick cleared his throat. "Couldn't have said it better myself! As for your question, Woolie, I guess I'm totally unnecessary, huh? You're clearly doing great on your own!" He gestured at their surroundings. "Not like you're holding a secret meeting in some shitty warehouse, hiding from the big bad Huntsmen like a bunch of rats. Oh, wait!" He put a cigar in his mouth, lit it, and blew a puff of smoke at the crowd. "Face it, you lot need all the help you can get if you're going to have a prayer. Look who's against you. The councils, the police, the military, the schools...yeah, the schools." he said darkly. The crowd had gone into a sort of depressed silence. "I've seen what Beacon puts out these days, and I tell you what, they're not exactly a bunch of angels. They're taking thugs. Maniacs. Turning them into perfect little killing machines." Well, wasn't that a grim take on the Huntsman Academies? Although perhaps one with a kernel of truth, considering the likes of Sable...and Nora...and Yang, sometimes. Okay, so maybe the profession did attract some people of a rather violent bent. But still!

"But killing machines of Grimm, right?" Torchwick continued. "Funny thing is, humans and faunus die too, if you shoot and stab them enough. I'd know. Saw it myself, couple months ago. There we were, me and a bunch of my boys from the White Fang, just minding our own business, liberating some Dust for the faunus orphanages and that shit..." he sighed wistfully. "When this crazy-ass human bitch pops out of nowhere and tries to slit me!" Seriously? Bitches were dogs! Blake was sorely tempted to pull a repeat performance. "Then ten more of them dropped in. Started railing us like we were a snitch in a Vacuan prison. Even shot us when we tried to run. Rest your souls, poor little terrorist lads." he mimed wiping away tears. "And guess who was with them? Schnees, you all. Old man Jacques' icy hellspawn. Leading a little army of faunus killers, on your tax dollars!" More boos, but now they booed with him, not at him. "Now, do you lot want to crawl back to your holes? Beg for scraps? Hope they never come to get you? Or do you want to follow me and get them first?" The boos turned to roars of defiance.

"Hell yeah!" The sheep faunus from earlier shouted. "I'm in! Let's go wreck some shit! What's the plan? Where do we go?"

Torchwick looked at him disapprovingly. "You know, that sounds like what a spy would say. You a spy, Woolie?" A dozen guns were suddenly trained on the sheep, who let out a bleat of terror. "Kidding, kidding. Afraid this is strictly need-to-know, little guy. But I got two hints for you." He held up a finger. "One, we're getting on a ship, and going somewhere southeast of here. Bring a toothbrush. Two..." Another finger. Nothing happened. "Neo, that's your cue!" There was a mechanical whirring sound, and a freaking giant robot stepped onto the stage, accompanied by strobe lights and even more fog. Okay, that was new! Back in her day, the White Fang hadn't so much as had a working coffee machine, walked to missions uphill both ways in the snow and all that. "How's that for a plan?" The cheers reached a fever pitch. "Atlesian Paladin-290, folks! There, now you don't have to keep calling it a giant robot. You're welcome!" Jerkily, the giant robot...sorry, Paladin slanted both its arms upwards and to the left, then lowered its head into the crook of its elbow as if sneezing. The cheers turned partly to groans. "Dead meme!" someone shouted.

Torchwick slapped a hand to his forehead. "I can't believe she did that."

"I spy, with my little eye." Ren said dully. "Something gray."

"The warehouse in front of us?" Nora whispered curiously.

"No."

"The warehouse to the left of that?"

"Also no."

"Ooh, tough one." Nora pondered the great mystery. The seven members of whatever they were calling their group (the Sun Defense Squad? the Blake Bodyguard Brigade?) lay on a rooftop next to the White Fang warehouse. As exciting as staking out a underground criminal group sounded on paper, in practice they were half-dead from boredom. The occasional bursts of cheers and trumpet music from inside didn't help. It was like sitting outside a party you weren't invited to.

"Hey, who's that?" Sage said. Ruby crawled to his side, peering over the roof's edge, but saw nothing. "They're gone now, but I swear there was someone in that alley. Green and orange?"

"Might've been Penny." Ruby guessed. "She's...a friend of ours. Weiss did warn me she might be coming." In rather panicky terms, at that. Personally, Ruby wouldn't mind having her, despite the Atlesian girl's rather eccentric nature. Anyone who could hold ten swords at once and fire ginormous lasers was all right in her book. Besides, she wasn't that much weirder than Nora.

"Wait, Penny is real?" Scarlet said in disbelief. "I thought Sun made her up!"

Neptune looked up from fiddling with his trident. "You did? Why? He wouldn't just lie to our faces like that."

"She wasn't with the Atlas crowd!" Scarlet whispered back. "Come on, was I supposed to believe he met this nice, cute girl and became best mates on the spot? And two days later, she showed up and rinsed three Bullheads at once to save his bacon? It sounded like total wish fulfillment!"

"Rinsed? Why would she be washing Bullheads?" Pyrrha asked in confusion. "She did fight with at the docks, though. Quite impressively so." The champion smiled softly. "I don't envy whoever draws her in the tournament."

"Damn. That coming from you, Invincible Girl?" Neptune said with a grin. Pyrrha's smile faded, and Neptune's grin turned to a sulk. Sage rolled his eyes and patted the other boy on the back.

"I found it! Four warehouses to the right, six behind!" Nora cheered. Ren shushed her.

Sun wasn't sure what he'd expected from his first White Fang rally, but this sure wasn't it. Between the snacks, fog machines, and outdated references, he'd actually had a pretty good time, if you ignored all the talk about destroying humanity and burning down civilization. The orange-headed douche had eventually tired of his own voice, and they were onto the raffle drawing, in which neither Sun nor Blake won anything. To add insult to injury, the Vauco-hating sheep faunus got the grand prize. Stupid bigoted asshole didn't deserve Mr. Toasty.

"Dang it." he muttered. "I was sure those raffle tickets would amount to something."

"It's for the best. Did you really want to go up in front of everyone?" Blake hissed. "Come one, we should get out while everyone's distracted."

The two of them crept towards the exit with catlike tread (and monkey-like tread too, but that sounded less cool). Sadly, there was someone blocking it at the moment. A girl in a pink-and-brown outfit, with pink-and-brown hair and pink-and-brown eyes. Sun gulped. If he'd learned anything from Huntsman school, it was that people with obvious color schemes were dangerous.

"Yo, mind moving? We're just getting some fresh air." Sun said nervously. He faked a cough. "Uh, I'm not feeling too good. Might be that summer flu going around?" The girl only smiled wider. Uh-oh...

Roman sucked on a throat lozenge in relief. "Thank gods that's over with. The hell was with that script, Chainsaw?"

"I didn't quite understand either, but it's apparently supposed to appeal to today's disaffected faunus youth." the muscular White Fang lieutenant rumbled. Roman couldn't recall the guy's real name for the life of him. He owned a chainsaw, Roman called him Chainsaw, and that was that. If only they could all be so chill. "Our recruiters assured me the best way was to use...hip slang...and dank may-mays?"

"Well, never do it again. That was painful." Roman growled. "Screw it. How much longer?" He had a flight back to Mountain Glenn to catch, and every moment he was gone was another chance for the animals to blow the base to smithereens.

"Almost done. Just need to finish the raffle." Chainsaw reassured him. Great. Nothing he loved more than seeing a bunch of peasants get all excited over some shiny trinkets. If someone managed to steal the prizes, now that would be impressive. His Scroll buzzed. 'Look at the door'? If you say so, Neo.

Neo was at the door, facing off with two masked people. Were they trying to leave? After his masterful bit of bullshit—sorry, his rousing speech? That was just rude. One of them was a dark-haired girl with a black bow and a white shirt. If her shirt had been black, and she hadn't been a faunus, she would've looked a bit like that crazy hippie from the docks. Shrugging that coincidence off, Roman's eye wandered to the other person. He wore a concealing brown robe; a monkey tail and a few strands of blond hair poked out. Something about that physique was familiar, however.

"Do I know you?" Roman called out, gripping his cane, Melodic Cudgel, tight. There might be other blond monkey faunus around, but better safe than sorry. If he could get a look at those abs... "Take that robe off!" Scandalized gasps rippled through the crowd. Neo bent over in silent laughter. "Not like that!" And now they all thought he was some kind of zoophile. Fantastic.

"Whoa! It was a good speech, but I don't like you that much, okay? And I've never seen you in my life!" the monkey boy said, a bit too hastily. Roman raised Melodic Cudgel. "Maybe you met my...cousin? Sorry about him! He's an idiot who doesn't appreciate terrorism like I do!" Yep, that voice was Tail Boy from the docks all right. Balls of steel, that guy, coming in here after what he'd done, but brains of a much less impressive substance. "Real handsome bastard though..." As last words went, he'd heard better.

A sudden gunshot, and the warehouse lights went out. "She did that! That girl over there!" someone roared. "Get her!" Ah, so he had a friend. Too bad she'd apparently forgotten that while he and Neo did not have innate night vision, literally everyone else in the warehouse did.

"Give up and we'll make it quick!" Roman taunted into the dark. "There's a hundred of us and two of you; your little friends aren't coming to save you this time—"

There was no warning but the faint sound of something charging up. Roman threw himself to the side just in time. A little girl in a green dress ran right through the concrete back wall, like in those old drink mix advertisements. Oh gods, it was the walking anti-aircraft weapon from the docks. "BEST FRIEND SUN!" she shouted. "I'LL SAVE YOU!"

And then the front wall had a hole blasted in it as well. Raised voices and the reports of various weapons could be heard outside. He recognized the sound of Little Red's sniper rifle instantly, which was incredibly sad. What had he done to deserve this, damn it? Couldn't he commit crimes in peace, without getting jumped by a million violent children at once?

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Roman bellowed.

Phew. No idea why this one took me so long, I'm not even that happy with it.

Junior makes his one obligatory appearance, and we'll never see him and his crew again. At least he got to talk. Those poor Malachites just wanted some screentime, Yang...

Echnidas have one hole down there for all their various needs. And now you know. I wonder if there are many faunus with really inconvenient traits like that.

The White Fang rally is a bit different, isn't it? Let's just pretend they had to up their recruitment game after losing so much cannon fodder at the docks. And Neo strikes me as the sort of person who thinks she's up to date on the latest cool kid memes, but is actually completely out of touch (not projecting at all here!).