An elderly looking man was waiting in the courtyard outside Beacon. He checked his watch; it was three in the morning, and it was time for his rendezvous. He heard someone whistling the opening bars of Ode to Joy.
He smiled and replied, "Let us sing more cheerful songs" and waited for his visitors to appear. Three figures stepped out of the shade. He was impressed despite himself by the strength of the small girl's semblance. Had he not known better, he would have sworn that it was Professor Ozpin, Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose standing before him.
The figure who looked like Pyrrha Nikos said, "Well met by moonlight, Professor Peach. Roman, authorize the first payment. The male figure pressed a few buttons on his scroll and a couple of seconds later the special bank scroll belonging to the Professor's new Argus bank account vibrated.
He checked the scroll and nodded, "That will do nicely. You are certain that the semblance will fool the security cameras."
The man looking like Professor Ozpin said, "Yes. By the way, who do you want Neo to make you look like?"
He though a moment and said, "So long as it is not me, I do not mind. Perhaps an anonymous medical attendant?"
"Neo, you heard what the man suggested."
Before they entered the building the woman said, "Hand Roman your key to the elevator, Professor. It will be less suspicious if anyone is watching the surveillance footage in the elevator for Ozpin to press the button leading to the Vault."
The elderly looking man complied and they entered the main building. He was relieved that no one challenged them on their way to the lift, so far everything was going to plan. His scroll reverberated again; the second instalment had been paid. He was relieved that the payments had been made as they increased his confidence that they would not try and kill them before they had achieved their main objective.
In the lift he positioned himself next to Ozpin AKA Roman Torchwick. The man, although far from safe or trustworthy, was undoubtedly the least dangerous and least psychotic member of the trio.
As Roman used the key to allow the elevator access to the vault and pushed the appropriate button, he noted thatRoman was in front of him, Cinder was next to him, and Neo was in front of her. He had expected that combination but was relieved that it was the case
The lift opened with a long corridor in front of them. They stepped out of the lift and Cinder Fall still looking like Pyrrha Nikos held up her hand indicating that they should stop and listen. They heard nothing and she relaxed. She nodded at Roman and the third installment was transferred into the account belonging to Professor Peach.
Cinder strode down the corridor gesturing for Neo to keep pace with her. Roman sniggered and whispered, "Prof, I think it best that we keep a little behind her. If anyone is down here, I prefer that her and Neo deal with them."
"Only a little bit behind, I can warn you if anything seems out of place."
"OK by me. Professor." Roman however did keep himself a step or two behind the elderly man. He whispered, "Don't feel too bad Prof. Remember that the alternative plan was to lead a Grimm incursion into downtown Vale through the old railway lines. You are saving lives today."
As they reached the room, he saw that at one end of the room were two pods and that one of them contained a young woman who seemed to be sleeping. Cinder turned to Neo, "Release the illusion. I do not want to take the risk that it interferes with the glove's mechanism."
The girl nodded and everyone returned to their normal shapes. Roman started to light a cigar and then thought better of it. "Don't want to leave a clue for Oobleck's forensic team, do I Prof."
The small young woman had taken out a large block of dust and placed it in the middle of the room. She then started laying a trail of dust away from the block.
Roman shrugged, "Perhaps I may as well have a smoke."
Cinder put on a glove and, to his mixed fascination and horror, a Grimm like tentacle appeared out of the glove. She turned an eye to Roman and said, "Do you believe in destiny, Roman?"
The man said, "I believe that you have a destiny, Cinder."
The small girl rolled her eyes safely out of Cinder's eyeline.
The elderly looking man used the distraction to move behind Roman, placed some dark glasses over his eyes and thought hard, "Now, everyone."
Suddenly a cell dropped from the ceiling, albeit also travelling sideways, and imprisoned the small girl while the elderly looking man drew a knife and held it to Roman's throat before he could trigger his aura. Roman stiffened but seemed disinclined to argue at least after Melodic Cudgel had been kicked out of his reach. To further disconcert everyone a famous melody started broadcasting.
A flash of silver light temporarily blinded everyone who was not prepared for it. There was a scream from Cinder Fall, but no one expected her to give in and Glynda, Pyrrha and Weiss advanced from their hiding places.
The cage looked to be empty, and the man thought aloud, "Fox, is she still in the cage?"
"Her aura has not moved. She is bluffing with her illusion."
"Roman, tell your friend that we are calling her bluff and to drop the illusion. Could she also put down the parasol? We know all about that from Yang."
"Neo, you heard the man. Let's try and get out of this alive." Jaune handcuffed the man and checked that there were no hidden weapons. Again, the man seemed relaxed about it apart from an amused request to mind the hat.
As predicted, Cinder was not giving in without a fight and semi-maiden powers meant that she was a still a threat even half blinded and with a seemingly useless left arm. Her eyes glowed and she directed a fiery glare at the trail of dust and tried to flee to the elevator. Glynda lifted the block of dust out of the dust trail's reach while Weiss used her ice dust to temporarily immobilise Cinder and to put out some fires.
Pyrrha and Weiss took turns wearing down Cinder's aura. Pyrrha was shooting metal bullets from behind cover and using her semblance to ensure that Cinder could not dodge having to use up her aura. Weiss used her glyphs to keep out of Cinder's fireballs and was clearly using up her supply of Ice dust in reapplying an ice trap every time Cinder burnt it away.
Glynda after double checking that the cage was secure around Neo started throwing large objects in Cinder's direction which indirectly tested Pyrrha's ability to swerve bullets. Jaune checked, but his team's auras were still safely above the danger zone although the occasional shot was getting in.
Cinder's aura finally broke, but she still did not seem to have given up. She seemed to be preparing one final effort when to everyone's surprise the small girl in a single movement reached down for her parasol, pulled out a swordstick and threw it at Cinder's back. The woman screamed and the collapsed. An orange glow left her body and moved towards a seemingly unoccupied corner of the room.
A rabbit eared Faunus appeared from that corner and clicked a switch on a device in her hand. The two original pods vanished and reappeared behind the rabbit Faunus. She looked at the readings on the pod, "I thought that might work. The power has gone back to her and, while we will need to have Tsune look her over, her vital signs are improving."
The elderly looking man reached behind his head and pulled off his prosthetic mask. "Roman Torchwick, Neo Torchwick, you are under arrest for robbery, theft, burglary, attempted murder and treason." He looked across at Neo, "In your case actual murder."
Roman Torchwick looked suspiciously unfazed, "Come off it, Jaune Arc. We are both professionals. That was self defence. The mad woman boasted that she could use her maiden powers to take out a city block. Neo saved your lives as well as mine and hers. Besides which are you really going to want to have this little incident publicized in court. Also remember that I talked her out of a plan involving Grimm of mass destruction."
"No doubt Secretary of State Oobleck will take such considerations into account. Certainly, any further cooperation which you can give us in relation to the activities of the so-called Nefarious Crimes Squad."
"Let's cut to the chase. A free pardon for both of us and access to our bank accounts. We are open to a two million lien signing on bonus if you want to make us a job offer."
"We can negotiate on the jail sentence, but you will be serving time. The money is non-negotiable."
"We are in a negotiation. Fine, we will talk again in a few hours. One free bit of advice. I would strongly recommend that you do not announce the demise of Cinder Fall publicly. Also, if you want to increase the chances of Neo playing nicely with her semblance, keep her in a cell next to mine."
Glynda transported the cell with Neo in it away. They had checked in advance that it would fit into the lift. They warned the girl to hold on tight to the bars and handcuffed her to them before Glynda turned it upside down. She placed the floor of the cell in position and then Pyrrha used her semblance to lock the floor into position.
Roman was escorted by Pyrrha and went up in the lift after Roman had been taken upstairs.
Jaune checked that Ruby was fine as using her silver eyes took it out of her. She waved at him happile as she made her way to the lift. She had a flight to Argus in the morning where she would be reinforcing Coco and Yatsuhashi.
He then checked in with his point man and tech woman.
"Nice hustle, Fox. That illusion semblance is a bugger to deal with and without your reassurance we could easily have panicked that she also had a teleportation capability."
"No trouble. Glad to be of service."
"Velvet, those holograms were convincing. It was a risk, but it turned out to be worth it. At least the maiden semblance is in one place now. Also, congratulations on the cage, you Glynda and Pyrrha did excellent work with it. I hope Oobleck and Ozpin appreciate it."
"Thanks, Jaune. Hope it is reflected in my research budget. Roman seemed more relaxed about being arrested than I would have expected. I know he started as a conman, but do you think that there is really something up his sleeve?"
"I don't know. The suggested signing on fee suggests that there is something he has in mind. Still, that is for Ozpin and Oobleck to worry about."
"How real was that alternative plan?"
"I don't know. He said enough to me when he thought I was Peach to suggest that they had thought about it seriously, but whether they had taken steps to implement it I don't know. If there is something to it then I suspect that he will get a significantly reduced sentence."
Jaune reported to Oobleck and Ozpin an hour later. Ozpin with a beaming smile, said "Congratulations, Mr. Arc. Commendations all round. Glynda enjoyed her temporary secondment to the Impractical Missions Force and now can insist on me tidying up the vault. Doctor Tsune says that Amber is showing signs of waking and I am about to join the good doctor for the first attempt at resuscitating her. I however had to express my appreciation in person."
Professor Ozpin left the room, but Oobleck remained, "Jaune, I think we should take Roman's warning seriously. Where are all our operatives now?"
"Coco and Yatsuhashi are in Argus investigating a dust smuggling ring, Ren and Nora are in Mistral city trying to infiltrate the Malachite gang. Qrow and Yang are in Vacuo dealing with accusations of slavery in the mines. Luckily it is not the SDC, so we are not having to worry about Weiss finding out. Blake and Arslan are on their way back from Menagerie and should be here within the next ten hours."
"Think about how easy it will be to pull them out of the missions and if it is problematic whether a few days absence would be fine. If Weiss's company jet is in Vale at the moment, make certain that it is fueled and ready to leave at ninety minutes notice. Also check up on the availability of the better freelancers."
They sat and discussed administrative matters for the next hour until Oobleck's scroll buzzed. Only a few people had the number and when it was used it was inevitably something important.
Oobleck apologized and took the call. His face hardened and said, "Please send me everything you have on the incident. I will contact the IMF and ask them to lend you assistance. I will need to tell Jaune Arc how high the stakes are."
He listened and said, "That last is non-negotiable. If you want the mission to succeed, he needs to know the worst-case scenario and factor it into his plans."
A further pause. "OK, speak to who you have to and get back to me in thirty minutes."
He turned to Jaune and said, "If any of your team are celebrating this morning's success, please tell them to stop drinking now."
The man paused and said, "Jaune Ethan Arc, in half an hour's time I will be offering you a mission, which if you choose to accept it, will avoid the world self-destructing in five days. I am afraid that if it goes as horribly wrong as it could do, Ozpin and I may have to disavow you as having acted on behalf of Vale and Beacon. We will probably be able to arrange asylum in Menagerie or Vacuo."
Obviously, this is a Mission Impossible/RWBY hybrid. It is going to be a shortish story which as the MI films will mostly consist of set piece incidents. The main difference from the canon world is that the main cast are all licensed hunters, Ozpin is also president of Vale and Oobleck the head of the Vale Intelligence Agency. Fox's semblance is faithful to the EC Myers books. NB I have edited this to remove a few typos and deal with a plot hole.