And The Prom's Tomorrow!
A/N: Oh, rare pre-chapter note! Just mentioning for those who might be worried(considering half of V2 is the size of all of V1), the plot is not on pause and, in fact, is going to be rapidly moving from the end of this chapter on.
They're just normal girls, Adam. His mind tried to placate his agitation as Adam read through his current notes on the Dust robbery sprees Weiss had done research into. He'd gotten himself comfortable against the very same tree he'd happened to find Velvet's book against. Adam was reluctant to admit that it did feel just a tad bit lonely without her around here. CFVY was on a mission for the majority of this semester now, somewhere off in Mountain Glenn. Perhaps when she returned, he could ask her to the dance—
No. None of that. There was still so much work to do. The girls had their reasons to be so focused on something so foolish and wasteful: they were teenagers, they were students, and they didn't exactly ask for their current situation. Not until they were older, anyway. They had deserved this. He had brought the enemy to their doorstep. To Blake's doorstep.
Adam's eyes flicked up from his Scroll to the students of Beacon meandering about, some with intent, others aimless and wandering. He caught the eye of a cheetah faunus who happily saluted him—the very one whose saving had provoked the creation of his little faunus brigade in the first place. She had now cast aside her hood, letting her ears sit freely. On her arm was a black armband formed from just a large, tied ribbon. It was becoming a familiar sight among the faunus, yet one that some, admittedly, were not that fond of. They were those that Adam taught. Those who could defend themselves not by being submissive or invoking terror, but through strength.
He was bringing the enemy to their doorstep, as well.
As Adam saluted back with the faintest hint of a smile on his lips, his eyes caught something: a flicker of red darting away behind the pillar of a nearby building. His eyes briefly narrowed, but he fell back to his work.
Until another flicker caught his eye. Adam glanced up once again and waited. No sign of movement. A frown began pulling down at his lips. Was he seeing things? This time, he merely pretended to be sifting through his Scroll until the red returned. Now, he caught a good glimpse of what was drawing his attention: it was very clearly someone bobbing a red cape.
Now, Adam was a mostly rational man. At times. Usually. That being said, he could recognize that his tendency to always wear a hat and the fact that he was currently teaching a class of mostly faunus how to defend themselves after personally defending two in particular would lead many in Beacon to believe he was a faunus, himself. That being said, if this person was trying to get his attention—and from the incessant waving that kept distracting him, it was—with a crimson cape, then there was no doubt in his mind that they knew he was a bull faunus.
Only four groups in this school would know that. His team, JNPR(only Nora would probably think that would be funny), CFVY(on a mission), and Cinder's group.
Adam closed his scroll and slowly rose up to his feet before making a beeline for the pillar the offender was hiding behind.
He wasn't entirely sure if there was a single person in any of those groups he would not beat—no, have a stern talking to, the part of his mind that wanted him to actually stay at Beacon reminded him—if he found out they were blatantly insulting of that trait. A short distance away from the pillar, the cape waved again. Adam flashed behind it in an instant, putting all of his speed into the element of surprise.
A crimson cloak fluttered to the ground. The perpetrator ran off like a coward, leaving behind... rose petals. Ruby. He took a deep breath. Imbecile. Only an imbecile believed that it was really a red cloth waving that inspired such rage in bulls. Anyone who actually did their research into their target would know that it was entirely motion-based—and there it was again! Further, now! Shifting from corner to corner, pillar to pillar, tree to tree, leading him further away!
Fine! If she wanted a chase after interrupting him, then she'd get one. But she'd best be prepared for some 'additional training' when he caught her! Adam found himself dimly glowing as he darted from location to location, just barely too slow to catch Ruby each time. Finally, he caught the cape waving in the window of an empty student lounge. Adam clicked open his blade and shot inside: if this was somehow an ambush, they made a grave mistake in enraging him beforehand.
Instead, however, as he spun around to face down Ruby or whoever else was doing this, he found the rest of his team lingering around the window. With a pleased smile, Weiss, who was holding Ruby's cloak, locked the door.
"We need to have a chat," Yang said with a grin from one corner of the room.
Adam stared at the three for a few seconds. Maybe they were just ignorant on how offensive that was, but his faunus pride wasn't letting rationality get in the way of righteous anger. He cracked his neck.
"You have fifteen seconds to explain why this isn't going to be an impromptu 'sparring match'."
"You're going to the dance," Yang continued as if she hadn't even heard that.
"Twelve seconds."
"Aw come on, Adam! If we all don't go, it'll feel like something's missing! You wouldn't ruin our fun like that, would you, Adam?" Ruby asked in what Adam was certain was a shameless attempt at guilt tripping him.
"... Five seconds." That being said, he was somewhat worried that it was working, if only a little. Those silver puppy eyes Ruby was giving him certainly weren't helping his situation. He sneered and turned his gaze away.
"Cut the crap, Adam." That coming from, of all people, the prim and proper heiress caught Adam off-guard. "If one day is going to prevent us from bringing an end to Cinder's scheming, then we never stood a chance in the first place. It's time to wake up: having fun won't kill you." Weiss casually strolled up to the man whose countdown had just ended. But no attack came. "Besides, if one day would've stopped us, the whole... oh, what was it, entire vacation we wasted would have doomed us outright, right?"
Adam was silent. They had him beaten and beaten hard. He hadn't even been able to put up a good fight this time, too: how embarrassing. He finally let out a sigh of defeat. Why was it that he never won these arguments? When did teenage girls get such strong will?
"How about if I throw a dance in there?" Yang's jest gave Adam the out he needed without looking like he was just rolled over by their combined points. Maybe she knew his pride would've been hurt.
"Deal." He didn't even hesitate to take it.
Weiss threw up her arms in frustration. "Really? That's what it took?"
Ruby stifled her giggles. "What, are you jealous?"
"Ugh, don't you start on that too!"
Yang rubbed her chin and looked over the three before wondering aloud, "Who are you all taking to the dance, anyway?" The sputters, mumbling and aside glances told her all she needed. "Really? Not one of you has any ideas?"
"H-honestly, as a heiress to a company as prestigious as the Schnee Dust Company"—Weiss disregarded Adam's bark of laughter to speak on—"there is a most rigorous, stringent and, most importantly, long process I must adhere to in order to decide whether or not any of my suitors are fit to court me."
"No one's asked her yet," Ruby cut in, leaving Weiss blushing hotly with embarrassment.
"H-hey! There's been one—"
"Is it Jaune?" Ruby asked with a knowing grin.
"... Look, nobody's asked you, either!"
Yang chuckled nervously to herself. "Oops, that might be my fault."
"I don't even want one! What's wrong with just going with your friends?" Ruby protested.
"I second this. I'll be doing the same, anyway," Adam agreed, earning scoffs and shock from both Yang and Weiss.
"No dates? Where's the fun in that! We're, like, the best first years in Beacon: we gotta wow 'em!" Yang declared with determination in her eyes.
And in a rare case for something so frivolous, Weiss actually agreed: "And as students bound to be influential in later years, we have an image to uphold!"
Ruby and Adam only glanced at one another with looks of faint confusion and disgruntlement both.
Yang continued and targeted Adam himself. "Since I can just stop paying a visit to first years getting any ideas about Ruby, that just leaves you to worry about, Adam. We've gotta get rid of that menacing aura of yours!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Come on, don't tell me you aren't doing that on purpose. Just smile a little, show a soft side, and we'll have the whole Academy clamoring for us in no time!"
Weiss nodded thoughtfully with a confident smirk beside Yang as she went on. Probably, Adam thought, to make sure that the three didn't round back onto her.
"... What a foolish notion," he mumbled as he shook his head.
This was silly. This was nigh-on insane, and the fact that Yang could casually suggest this even more so. Though, as Weiss turned to bother Ruby on 'bolstering her feminine side', he would be lying to himself if he said he didn't find at least a little humor in this entire situation. In fact, the more he thought about it, the funnier it became. Here he was, a year after directing a war on humanity, talking with three human girls about getting dates for a school dance of all things. It was like a picture into another life: had things turned out differently, perhaps he could have legitimately found himself here among the upperclassmen.
There was a hint of sadness to those rambling thoughts, though: if that were the case, it was unlikely he would have ever become friends with the rest of RWAY.
Snap!
Adam blinked at the sound of a camera going off somewhere, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Apologies, I was thinking of other... things..." He narrowed his eyes at the sight in front of him: Yang was holding up her Scroll with a dopey grin, Ruby mirroring her sister and standing beside her. Weiss looked disgruntled about something, her cheeks a faint pink and eyes turned away from them altogether.
The former terrorist realized he'd been smiling. Worse, when Yang turned her Scroll for him to see the incriminating photo, it looked warm. Caring, even. The departure from his usual expression vanished in an instant, replaced by a sharp glare and a snarl.
"Delete that—"
"A~and uploaded!" Yang chimed in a sing-song tone. "I knew you'd look better without, y'know, looking like you're going to kill someone." she said, staring right up into Adam's murderous gaze.
He might not have truly been able to bring himself to hate the three for it, but Adam would be damned if he couldn't at least look like he did.
Jaune awoke at midnight to the sound of his Scroll buzzing. Groaning, he patted around his surroundings until he could find it and forced himself to sit up. With a yawn, he looked at the caller ID: Unknown Number. Great. Just his luck, telemarketers would manage to get a hold of his school number. He answered the call and was ready to tell whoever was on the other side in the most certain, quietest terms that he was absolutely not interested.
A male voice, cold and commanding even through what was clearly some sort of modulator or something immediately began speaking. "Jaune Arc. I have your transcripts. Your real transcripts."
He was found out again? So soon? Cardin had found out and done a real number to his reputation—alright, Jaune could barely even think of himself having a 'reputation' with a straight face—but he didn't have any proof. If this new guy did...
Shoulders already slumped in defeat, Jaune looked over the sleeping figures of his team. A team he cheated his way onto. Quietly, he murmured, "What do you want..."
"I've heard rumors you have something that can assist me. Meet me on the rooftop above CRDL's room. You should know well where that is. Do not disappoint me." And just like that, the voice hung up. Jaune winced: he even knew where he was training? Great, just great. After curfew, no less, though he guessed that being caught after curfew was probably better than the alternative. With a sigh, Jaune slipped off to change from his blue onesie pajamas, but stopped.
You know what? No! He was tired of being kept down! He was gonna march out there, pajamas and all, and show this guy just how little he cared! He'd trained hard, he'd done his work, and Jaune Arc wasn't going to lie down and let himself be walked over. Nothing was going to dissuade him from this, now!
Oh sweet heavens it was cold outside tonight.
Jaune tapped his foot impatiently on the rooftop and hugged himself tighter. Never before had he regretted a decision so quickly. These pajamas were not meant for the cold at all.
"Interesting." Jaune yelped at the and spun around to face the only door to or off the roof. The speaker was cast in shadow, yet Jaune could still feel the disdain pouring off of him.
"I did not anticipate"—the figure tossed what looked like... a plastic cup, of all things over his shoulder—"you managing to make this even more demeaning than it needed to be." It was a familiar voice. He strode out from the doorway and into the moonlight, emerald eyes staring down upon Jaune in a mix of disappointment and second-hand embarrassment.
"Adam? You're blackmailing me?"
"Correct." Adam continued walking right past him and up to the edge of the rooftop. He sighed to himself, looking as though he swallowed something sour. Frankly, it looked more like Adam was the one being blackmailed in the first place, not him. "I need something from you."
Jaune furrowed his brow, still not entirely sure how to take all of this. He wondered if this was just some big joke and the rest of RWAY were about to jump out from the doorway laughing. "What?"
Adam gritted his teeth and turned to face him.
"I need you to teach me how to dance."
... This had to be a joke.
Unfortunately for both of them, it wasn't. Luckily for Adam at least, after so many times vanishing in the middle of the night to be the Ace of Spades, no one questioned why he would leave at night and return both tired and severely frustrated. Though, in this case it was both at his own ineptitude and the fact that, as much as he hated to admit it, Jaune was actually a good teacher. Once, that is, he all but threatened Jaune in order to have him actually be critical.
A mere two days before the dance, however, one of those nights was interrupted by a call from Ilia. Fortunately for him—and unfortunately for the three girls still asleep—it brought with it some very interesting news.
"Wake up, we've got a problem!" Adam's shout as he threw open the door was responded to by a myriad of confused, sleepy cries, Yang rolling off of her bed and at least one pillow being thrown at him. Undeterred, he strode purposefully into the room and, after batting a pillow at Weiss, continued: "The White Fang are planning something massive!"
"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Yang grumbled and climbed back on her bed. "Tell us something we don't know."
"How is this: there is news all the way in Menagerie about the Vale White Fang reporting that 'despite delays, its membership is about to double!' " Now, that got their attention.
Weiss sat up straight and leaned over the bed. "Double?! How can they suddenly grow that fast!" she cried.
"Normally, the White Fang searches out and recruits members one-by-one, but there are rare times when they will hold recruitment rallies," Adam explained.
"But if they're going to double their numbers, this must be a huge rally! They've been planning this for a long time... How come no one's noticed?" Ruby wondered out loud.
Yang snapped her fingers. "The Dust robberies and the gang war! They've been a cover this entire time to hide the prep for the rally!" She sat up. "So, when is it?"
His and Ruby's eyes met. Their research said they were planning a rally of considerable size, but this was way earlier than any of the predicted dates.
"I'm not certain," Adam answered. "We—the White Fang is smart enough not to spread our information very far, lest someone be captured. All we know is that there will be a rally, and a massive one, at that."
"Well, we know what we're looking for, don't we?" Weiss crossed her arms and let her legs dangle off the bed. "That just means we can begin asking the right questions. I didn't think that it meant anything at the time, however, SDC files have been showing a sudden downturn in the number of robberies in Vale, even though there are still plenty of targets."
"Now that I think about it, you're right!" Ruby said. "And I noticed in the files Adam and I nabbed that fights between the Torches and the White Fang suddenly dropped off!"
Weiss raised an eyebrow at the mention of files, but with Yang not reacting, she brushed it off and lowered her head in thought. "It could be attributed to the two sides staying in their territory, however, knowing Cinder's come all the way here and the White Fang are going to double their numbers?"
"Sounds like Cinder might be paving the way for 'peace' between the two sides. That'd leave the whole criminal underworld against us!" Ruby sounded just a little too happy about that fact.
"And speaking of criminal underworld, I know just who to talk to if you want some answers," said Yang. "Well, I know who you'll be talking to. I think after the second time I wrecked up his club, he won't be too happy with me hanging around." She chuckled.
"Oooh, can I come?" Ruby peered down from her bed.
"You're lucky I even let you go out to beat up bad guys after I found you sneaking into the club the first time, Missy!" Yang shot back.
Ruby groaned and flopped back onto her bed.
"Weiss and I can collect the information tomorrow night, then," Adam decided. "And I believe I know exactly how we will do so..."
Junior leaned against the bar's counter with his head in his hands and let out a deep, rumbling sigh just barely heard over the thumping music of his club. Adam and Weiss sat across from him, both with confident smirks as they leaned forward. The club was open yet again and, while the numbers certainly took hits at first, the bar brawls and clashes were giving his business a dangerous feel that was starting to bring people in droves hoping to see another glimpse of all the excitement this place kept attracting.
And right now, it was beginning to look a lot like it was about to happen yet again.
"Let me get this straight," the giant of a man began.
"You slice my front door in half"—he glared at Adam, who merely smirked back—"freeze my men to the wall"—that glare went down to Weiss, but only got a shrug for its efforts—"storm into my club, and you want me to answer your questions?"
"We'll pay," Weiss said, looking over her nails.
"It's not about payment! I should have the twins throw you out on your asses, not take business from you!" Junior threw his arms up and, with a groan, finally surrendered to his frustration and poured himself a drink.
"So be it, Junior. It's clear we will have to make this worth your while. How about we play a little game? You versus the heiress. You win, and we'll not only pay for our losses but for everything our partner caused. We win, however, and we get the info," Adam offered.
"And the money, of course," Weiss added.
Adam glanced down at her.
She grinned back.
A seasoned veteran of the underworld versus a cocky heiress. Even knowing their little reputation they built for themselves cleaning out a few overconfident gangsters, Junior knew he could have them paying out the nose for Blondie's screw ups.
"You know what?" He waved a henchman over to cover the bar and drained his drink. "I'm game. It's about time someone teach you two kids a lesson, anyway. Why don't we head to the back. Let me guess: Atlas hold 'em, right?"
This was going to be a piece of cake, Junior thought.
"That was a piece of cake," Weiss said with a smile.
Junior was slumped over the table, staring at the cards. He wasn't just beaten, he was destroyed. The incessant arguing of the Malachite twins about how they'd cheated was little more than a quiet din in the back of his mind compared to the frustrated thoughts rushing through his head. How in the world did this even happen? He was certain he'd even fixed the cards! Junior looked up at Weiss, who had a pleasant little smile on her face and her hand outstretched towards him, wordlessly demanding his side of the deal. Adam stood just behind her, a hand on her chair and the other gripping his weapon. He might've looked smug, but Junior knew full well he was only here to make sure he paid up.
His teens and himself put together couldn't stop Blondie. An ex-terrorist leader and a Schnee heiress? He'd be dead before he blinked. He'd lost.
"Alright, alright, enough, you two." Junior waved off the two arguing teens. "You won. Maybe not fair. Maybe not square. But you won. Now, what do you want?"
Weiss motioned to her hand and, begrudgingly, Junior gave up the lien. "Excellent. Now, then, we've heard a few things about a certain major White Fang recruitment rally going on, nearby. We just need to know where and when it is taking place."
Junior arched an eyebrow and did not even try to hide his curious glance up at Adam.
"That's it? The rally?"
The former leader of the entire Vale cell didn't so much as blink. He was dead serious.
By the gods, he didn't even know! Junior laughed openly and leaned back in his seat. All this, just for some bargain bin info like the rally! Gods, he'd need a few more drinks when they left.
"Is there an issue?" Adam's cold voice brought a swift end to Junior's laughter.
He cleared his throat and replied, "Well, no. I just thought someone like you would've already known. Five miles east of here, there's a warehouse, right? Top floors' windows are busted, and its across the street from an abandoned lot. 600 Magnolia Street, hard to miss. Word's been going around that the White Fang's been using the Dust robberies to keep the authority's eyes on the shops and not on their recruiters. They've been moving a whole lotta supplies over there: something big's going on, but I don't know what, and that's the truth."
"And what about that scoundrel, Roman Torchwick? Any news about him?" Weiss inquired.
Junior scowled, flashing a genuine sign of anger for once, rather than mere frustration. "Oh, that rat bastard. He's got his men running all over this city, but I haven't seen heads or tails of him or his little pipsqueak assistant, and for good reason. The last time I loaned him some men, they never came back, and the next time I hear from him he's practically carved out half the underworld to himself. I don't know where he is, but if you're trying to stop him, go ahead and give him an extra shot in the gut for me."
"I'll be sure to think about it," Adam replied with a dark chuckle.
Weiss chose to ignore the more... vicious comments between the two. "What time is the rally taking place?"
"Tomorrow at 9PM. It's a good thing you came here now: you almost missed it." Junior arched an eyebrow as Weiss' eyes widened and Adam looked rather amused by the date. "What, you two know something I don't?"
Adam waved his hand dismissively and moved to pat Weiss' shoulder. "No, no, not at all. We just had a few plans, that's all..."
How funny, Adam thought: the rally and the dance were happening on the same night.
