RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

by UGX7

In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. Meanwhile Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. Arkos, WhiteRose, SunnyBees, Renora

63. Taking Action

Chapter 62: Taking Action

Argentius marched down the statue-lined hallways of Tintagel swiftly, with Soul Searcher the prognosticator following, holding her staff held firmly as she hurried alongside the silver-eyed Knight. Neither spoke to each other as they passed through extensive corridors, up smooth marble staircases with striking patterns inlaid within them, and through chambers of unyielding opaque stone as their footsteps carried them towards the soaring tower which housed the Prognosticator Sanctum.

As he walked the scythe-wielder fastened on his silver-blue helmet, edged with gold filigree lines onto his head, as though preparing for a battle. Iconoclast was already magnetically-locked to his Aegis armor, ready to be drawn in an instant should the situation require it. While no alarms or automated defenses within the tower had been triggered, precautions were nevertheless undertaken as he gave orders into his helmet's built-in communication unit which were instantly obeyed.

After making their way across the spanning bridge known as the Path of Knowledge, its sides lined with huge statues forming tall arches overhead with their overlapping swords, Argentius and Soul Searcher reached the massive doors that led into the Prognosticator Sanctum. They were impressively towering, easily stretching a few hundred feet tall and covered with several painstakingly-crafted images portraying the history and greatest triumphs of the Remnant Knights, and at the very top was the image of the Vale King siring the first twelve Knights with his own sword who all would then go on to form the Knight Order of Remnant.

Arrayed on both sides of the huge gates were several squads of knights along with a pair of veteran prognosticators; Mind Weaver and Night Gazer, their individual weapons held within their gauntleted fists as they all took up positions facing the gates, and the Cavaliers of the knight squads all turned and saluted Argentius respectfully by clashing their fists to their chest-plates as they made way for him.

He already knew what had happened through communications made during the journey to his destination, the senior Knight walked past them with a nod of silent acknowledgement and proceeded towards a secondary door located at the foot of the gates. It was rather less imposing than the main entryway, but was just as lavishly decorated with an image of an knight spearing an Ursa Major through the head with his jousting lance.

Argentius paused in front of the smaller door, gesturing only for Soul Searcher to follow him. Once they were standing in a designated spot before the door they stood statue-still as a compact security scanner swept them up and down with a beam of azure light. Another built-in scanning device took snapshots of their respective Aura, and lastly the two pressed their gauntlet-clad hands into the imprint mechanism on the door's surface which depressed and took a tiny sample of their blood.

"Knight Champion Argentius. Prognosticator Soul Searcher." The sophisticated security system built into the secondary door voiced tonelessly, "Identities confirmed. Aura imprint confirmed. Blood sample confirmed. Security Clearance Platinum and Diamond confirmed. Welcome to the Prognosticator Sanctum." With loud grinding sounds the heavy door opened itself, and Argentius hurried through it with Soul Searcher following behind even as the door slammed behind them, sealing them in.

Argentius ascended the long, curving stairs and found Soul Seer sitting at one of the larger stone benches amidst ancient tomes of knowledge, clutching her flower-shaped staff Life's Requiem in her gloved hands as she took deep breaths. A small distance away from her a healer with the name of Flesh Mender was preparing a specialized medical cocktail from the vials of colorful elixirs he had taken from the open medical pack laying atop a stack of uncensored history books, while another grey-robed prognosticator by the name of Dream Seeker kept watch nearby, his own staff at the ready.

"What happened here?" Argentius inquired urgently. Flesh Mender's head turned a little from his medicinal ministrations to regard him carefully, but said nothing while he pushed a ceramic bowl full of brown liquid into Soul Seer's gloved hands which she slowly raised to her delicate lips and drank little by little.

Dream Seeker and the healer remained silent as they both looked at the senior knight, and Argentius was about to ask again in a more authoritative voice when he felt the unique bond he shared with Soul Seer pulse a little within his mind, and from what he was feeling she was mentally telling him to wait. A few moments passed while the other knights present waited for the Chief Prognosticator to finish drinking the bowl, after which she returned it to the healer and bowed her head in gratitude. She was breathing much easier and more naturally now, the calming effects of the medicinal fluids kicking into effect within her body, and she looked up at Argentius directly with her gold orbs which seemed to hold countless secrets within them.

An unspoken conversation passed between both Knight Champion and Chief Prognosticator in a flash and Argentius slowly held up a hand for the attention of those present, "Dream Seeker, Flesh Mender, Soul Searcher... leave us. Soul Seer and I have important matters to discuss."

The two prognosticators and knight healer immediately stood up and bowed, clapping their fists to their chest-plates despite looking a little uneasily at each other. They rapidly cleared the area, giving the warrior and mage the privacy they needed. Nonetheless, the sanctum halls were so huge that whole libraries could be stocked inside its interior with plenty of space to spare for multiple balconies and reading areas, so it was no question that they would still remain close by, observing from afar and not interfering.

"Soul Seer," Argentius knelt in front of her on one knee and reached up with a gauntleted hand to caress his sister's cheek with concern, "What ails you? What has your clairvoyance shown you?"

"Snatches of the future." The younger sibling winced as her grip on her Life's Requiem tightened considerably, "And none of it good."

The elder brother gently and carefully helped his female twin to her feet, and even though they were nearly the same height Argentius was still a little taller than Soul Seer in both bulk due to the thicker armor he wore, and by his presence alone as a formidable warrior. Soul Seer, on the other hand normally exuded great wisdom and tranquillity, and yet her brother knew that the incredible potential of her spell-casting abilities could also be used to enhance her already potent combat prowess in battle.

"What did you see?" Argentius asked with concern, "Is it the same as the visions you saw before? The massive battle in ice and snow?"

"No." Soul Seer shook her own head of platinum-blonde hair slowly, "I was meditating and using my Semblance to search for possible futures that may give clues to what the agents of our enemy were setting into motion for their grand plan to conquer Remnant, when something suddenly rushed into my scrying consciousness, drowning out all of the possible futures I have scryed before like an endless nightmare. I managed to catch as much detail as I could, before pulling out quickly to avoid any hidden traps within the mindscape."

Her older brother gave a nod but remained silent, gesturing for Soul Seer to continue. After all, his sister had a natural affinity for literally able to perceive visions of possible events that could happen in future, which was undeniably a rare and indispensable skill among the prognosticators who had served the Order, and her precognitive abilities have saved many Knights, himself included, from various unseen traps and disasters. Despite her unique Semblance Soul Seer's abilities had its limits, since they aren't always potent enough to give a clear enough picture of the future that would actually happen unless she uses her divination abilities under intense concentration.

"I saw… I saw a huge city surrounded by desert dunes being attacked by hordes of Grimm boiling out from the sands. I saw several ancient Grimm stir as well, throwing off their hibernation and joining in the attack on the Kingdom's brave defenders. I saw the agents of the Dark Queen attacking another Huntsman Academy when all of this is happening, and they sacked the entire place after finding taking what they needed from it. The Grimm swarms were dangerously unrelenting, destroying and consuming everything in their way. Countless humans and Faunus fell before them. Even the brave warriors of the Kingdom were devoured." She spoke anxiously, taking a shaky breath as her golden eyes glimmered a little, and the silver-eyed knight thought he caught a glimpse of the terrifying possibility that lingered behind her normally elegant eyes.

Argentius paused and considered what Soul Seer had said, and saw her wipe a tear rolling down her cheek. His younger sister has always been benevolent and selfless, looking out for the welfare of others and putting their concerns before her own. That was how she had always been even during their youth before they came to the Order's attention due to their unique abilities and the calamitous predicament that had befallen their family. Even though a long time had passed, her kind-hearted personality still remained more or less the same despite adopting another name after rising to the post of Chief Prognosticator within the Order, while her initially headstrong and sarcastic elder brother also matured under the watchful tutelage of Lord Emmanuel and became a powerful warrior.

Argentius reached up to the gorget of his armor and unclasped his helmet, allowed his sister to see the deeply concerned visage beneath, and worry slowly crept into his usual commanding tone, "Then time is of the essence. If the other prognosticators have also seen what you have, we need to bring this to the direct attention of the Knight Castellans and Grand Knight Master Seraph."

"The future is not a straightforward path, brother." Soul Seer spoke carefully, "It's made up of countless choices and trajectories from multiple individuals, and the far future is a dark, bottomless depth. Time flows like a raging river that splits into innumerable creeks and waterfalls, and our choices, no matter how big or how small, affect the future in ways we could never imagine. I still need to scry for further details so that the other knights operating in the field can have a better idea of what they're up against other than a frightening vision."

Her brother nodded in agreement, slowly stroking his chin with the fingers while contemplating what she had said. A while later he spoke up once more, "Then how certain are you sure that this vision of yours will come to pass?"

Soul Seer closed her eyes for a few moments, lapsing into deep thought as her staff shimmered slightly with golden light. She murmured a few litanies of soul-warding as she sifted cautiously through the many details of the vision she managed to collect before pulling out of her divinations within the mindscape. Out of all the prognosticators currently active within the Order, Soul Seer was perhaps the most proficient in scrying the various possibilities of the future through her divinations while keeping her consciousness intact. Other prognosticators tried numerous times, but most turned up with either tiny glimpses of the future or riddles full of metaphors, parables and hidden meanings that don't make any sense until the vision in question already played out.

It was several moments before she collected herself once more and replied, "Given the information that I have heard from the Relentless Crusaders, I'm quite sure that the vision I have divinated long and hard upon stands a high chance of happening. But even my Semblance has its limits, so I can't be completely certain of that everything I've seen in my vision will come to pass."

"The Relentless Crusaders Legion has already taken several precautions to protect the Summer Maiden, and the Kingdom of Vacuo is on high alert as well." Argentius pointed out.

"That's true, but how a vision exactly plays out is never certain even for an experienced Seer like me." Soul Seer remarked calmly, meaning every word.

Silence reigned once again between them until Argentius decided to change the subject, "What else did you see?"

"A pair of rhyming prophecies of sorts, but both were given from an unexpected source." Soul Seer answered and Argentius raised a thick eyebrow before she continued with, "In my brief contact with the Aura Crystal when the two crystal guardians granted me access to it during our meeting with Team RWBY and JNPR over six months ago, I communicated with the crystal's avatar during the authentication process and it gave me two different prophecies which I have used in further divination sessions of my own."

"And what are they?" The senior Knight Champion asked quietly.

"The first prophecy is this," Soul Seer said before her voice took on an otherworldly quality as her golden eyes flared brightly, "They will return, the legends of old. And when they do, the fate of the world they'll hold. We thought them simple children's tales of the past, but now we know they will save us from the Grimm's grasp. Many hardships and trials they will face, but in the end they will save the Human and Faunus race. Their friendships must never be broken or sever, for we know that love is forever. And though the darkness' reach is far, in the end love will ignite the stars."

The flare of gold light dimmed as quickly as it came, and Soul Seer blinked a few times before looking at Argentius, "My divination senses so far are drawing this has something to do with Team Beacon, and possibly, their fates. But judging from what I have seen so far… the path ahead of them isn't very smooth and is fraught with many dangers that will no doubt test their bonds and resilience. However, they have already become qualified Hunters after everything they have been through, so the future ahead of them isn't set in stone."

"Nothing is, my sister." Argentius spoke solemnly, "What of the second prophecy?"

"Ah, that… is a bit trickier." The Chief Prognosticator sighed and adjusted her grip on Life's Requiem, and a moment later her voice took on an ethereal quality one again, eyes glowing vibrantly once more, "A daughter of the phoenix, brilliant feathers of red and orange, a fierce fighting spirit so pure and true. A son of the dragon, scales of azure and all shades of blue, a loyal spirit and a mighty warrior. Like Yin and Yang they complete each other in mind, body and soul. He is her pillar, a source of hidden unfathomable strength. She is his heart, a clear reason to keep fighting no matter the odds. She flows like lightning, he strikes like thunder. They search for each other across the lands and oceans, their separate paths in parallel but never in unity. Her power is a gift, granted by the Wizard of old. His power is expected, but sealed away with his line long dead. A strong beauty with the voice of an angel, a powerful warrior with the skills of an unmatched swordsman. When the darkest times arrive, they shall come together and bring dawn's bright light. Together they stand, together they fight, two kindred spirits side by side, for their burning love turns darkness into light." She paused for a moment, her eyes flickering a bit more, and then added, "The Promethean Sun shall rise once more."

Soul Seer took a moment to collect herself before noticing that Argentius's face had turned a little pale, and he turned his head away slightly and muttered something to himself. Even though it was a soft whisper, she could lip-read her elder brother's mouth easily, "Could… could it be him?"

Despite herself, Soul Seer felt her youthful face slowly crease into a frown. Could her brother know something about the second prophecy she didn't? It seemed strange, but she waited until he spoke again, "I need to seriously consider the second prophecy. Regarding the first one, I advise you to continue your divinations along with the rest of your visions until you have a clear confirmation of what could potentially happen in the desert war."

He wasn't telling her everything, but since both siblings knew each other rso well, Soul Seer had an inkling what her brother might be thinking at times. So she nodded and answered, "Then I shall continue to do so. By the way, you can call off the silent alert outside the sanctum, I can still feel their tension all the way up here. It would also go a long way not to disturb the meditations and scrying sessions of my acolytes and me."

The silver-eyed knight gave a nod, and raised the vambrace of his left arm upon which a section of his armor plates slid back to reveal a built-in electronic system into which he tapped a line of coded message which instantly dismissed the squads of Remnant Knights and their commanders who assembled in combat formation outside the sanctum in case of any problematic situations. While ultimately it had been a false alarm, their unerring vigilance and rapid response to his swiftly given orders had to be commended nonetheless.

"I will inform the Knight Castellan of the Relentless Crusaders and Fire Walker to be vigilant for any further developments within and around Vacuo's borders." Argentius continued, and looked at Soul Seer who nodded, "And have you spoken with Merlinus about your recent visions?"

His oracle sister shook her head, "My mentor is currently indisposed at the moment in a meeting with Grand Knight Master Seraph. While he believed many of my visions in the past, I'd need verifiable proof that my recent visions would warrant the redeployment of other knights in the field. There are still many unknowns and missing pieces that I need to scry further from my divinations before I can give a near-complete answer."

"Very well." The other Remnant Knight agreed, "When you're as sure as you can be and confirmed your visions with the other prognosticators, inform me immediately and we shall bring this matter up to the attention of the Round Table. With regards to the prophecies, I suggest we both try to discern their true meanings before we do anything else."

"Would that I could say otherwise, dear brother." Soul Seer inclined her head in agreement, "I will send for you when I'm fully ready to present my most recent visions to the Round Table."

"Good. One last matter..." Argentius looked at his younger sibling directly in the eyes, silver to gold meeting across their faces, "Sharp Strike will be leaving for his appointment as representative of the Order in Vale soon. I'd like it if you'll come to the blessing ceremony to mark his departure, since you are as much of a teacher to him as me."

"Of course." Soul Seer agreed as she gestured with her left hand, "It's the least I could do before he goes on his way to fulfill his purpose as a Knight of Remnant."

"You have my gratitude, Soul Seer. I'll leave you to your meditations." Argentius bowed a little, and turned to leave as their conversation is over. However, before he reached the sweeping staircase that would bring him back to the huge gates at the front of the Sanctum, he turned back and spoke, "Before I forget, I'd advise you to get some much-needed rest before you attempt any more scrying sessions with your Semblance. Be careful."

"Thank you for your concern, brother. It's very much appreciated." Soul Seer returned a warm smile as she watched Argentius's armored and cloaked shadow vanish down the staircase, his footsteps slowly receding into silence.

---

The bright glow from the shattered moon covered the Vacuoan capital along with countless large and small lights that populated its sprawling cityscape and many winding streets. Qrow had landed on the upper levels of one of the main stone temples located in Vacuo's capital and promptly slipped into a sizable shadowed alcove where he shape-shifted back into his human form.

Rubbing his neck and stretching to work the kinks out of his limbs, the veteran Huntsman leaned against a caryatid that was one of the many which supported the huge statue-covered roof overhead. From what he could see, none of the monks or the temple guardians of the holy building would be out here after dark except for the main entrances, so it was a safe bet that he wouldn't be spotted.

And besides, he needed a place for two main things: One to rest his exhausted body after flying the rest of the way to the western capital, and two he needed to update the rest of the Guardians on what he had found so far in his investigation.

Oh, and his much-needed drink as well.

Producing his scroll and checking the time on the gently glowing screen, Qrow reached into his trouser pocket and took out a small metallic device which looked like a small metallic button. Giving it a gentle tap, the scrambler activated with a soft click and rendered any conversation he would later have over his scroll as unintelligible static to anyone who might be eavesdropping on him. Then he keyed in the code to connect to a private channel while taking out his drinking flask, all the while breathing in the cool night air which was tinged with a considerable amount of incense.

Once Ozpin and the others answered, he filled them in on his progress; "... and now I'm here talking to you guys. I tried following Callows's trail but the sheer number of Aura signatures in this city is messing with my Semblance's senses." He reported into his scroll, which showed the pictures of Ozpin, Ironwood, Glynda, Henry, Winter and two new additions: Commander Central and Willow Schnee.

"It's a good thing you contacted us when you did, Qrow. Now we can compare our findings." Ironwood's image told the dusty Huntsman, "Task Force Omega reported an unusual discovery from their own encounter with the Red Fang in Atlas, and I think you'll be surprised to find out that they can confirm what you told us about Tyrian Callows."

"Him becoming a Faunus? What did they find?" Qrow asked as he took a sip from his flask, "Let me take a wild guess… Human-Faunus Hybrids working with the Red Fang?"

"Not exactly." Ironwood responded grimly.

Elsewhere, in the Atlas Military Headquarters, General Ironwood stood with Colonel Chamberlain in his office while holograms of Ozpin, Glynda and Councilman Henry stood not too far away from them in a loose semi-circle around the sizable holocom table. Qrow was represented by his I.D. picture through his scroll's connection, and there were additional holograms of Winter and Willow Schnee, as well as Central who also stood in attendance for the meeting, the latter of which who at first glance was seemingly keeping his gaze forward but also subtly glancing in the direction of the Schnee Specialist every now and then.

Ironwood tapped some buttons on a holographic screen projected by a control lectern which brought up a 3D rendering of a DNA strand, allowing everyone present to see it while sending a smaller version to Qrow's scroll.

"Ozpin has informed me that the security footage you saw of Tyrian Callows shows him to now possess a peculiar Faunus trait, that of an arachnid no less. Well, from what new information we have received it might not be an isolated case." Ironwood revealed to the other attendees as additional information began to revolve around the DNA strand and highlighting certain areas in glaring red, "What you see here now is the DNA taken from a Red Fang cell leader named Drago Sanguine. He was initially a Vampire Bat Faunus, but this blood sample shows clear evidence that his genetic makeup had been tampered with, and an additional element was added which resulted in him having the features of a Komodo Dragon."

Almost everyone was surprised to hear this new development, and Winter commented, "I take it that these are the results of more experiments courtesy of the less-than-morally-sound scientists under our foe's employ?"

"We don't know for sure, but that theory adds up." Ironwood said.

"Drago Sanguine, as well as other members of Adam Taurus' more loyal troops, were reported missing by our allies from the reformed White Fang. Apparently they were sent away on some secret mission by Taurus, and now Drago suddenly resurfaces with a second Faunus feature, a non-mammal one at that. From what we know from the information provided by Razor, he reported that a couple dozen of Taurus's followers were sent off on that mission but given the time since then we don't know how many we could be dealing with, or how many human or single-trait Faunus have been turned into these unnatural Faunus." The Commander of Task Force Omega elaborated.

"That isn't that surprising. If the scientists of the enemy can combine Grimm features into certain individuals, then Faunus-Human hybrids or Faunus with traits of non-mammals could just be a simple task for them." Glynda commented, while being careful not to explicitly mention Salem in the presence of Willow Schnee whose face flickered briefly with a slight unease at what he had heard.

"Agreed, Professor Goodwitch." Ironwood said carefully, "That's why we need answers, but so far Sanguine isn't talking, despite the considerable efforts of the intelligence officers. However, some of his underlings and associates from other Red Fang cells who were captured by Task Force Omega have only given out vague details hinting to such unlawful experiments, but it's clear they're ignorant about the process or how many they are, and even the ones who were hybrids don't seem to know much."

"And where are these hybrid Faunus, currently?" Councilman Henry asked, "You can't exactly put them with common criminals."

"Due to their uncooperative behavior, they've all been imprisoned at our maximum-security penitentiary facility, the Ice Box." Ironwood replied as he looked at the Valean Councilman, "Drago will be joining them soon, only after the interrogators from the intelligence branch have cracked him open and find out what other useful information he still has."

Henry gave a nod of acknowledgement; he knew about the facility, said to be the most heavily guarded and remote prison on Remnant. Situated at a classified location unknown to all but the highest individuals within the Atlesian military forces and Council, it was the logical place to house the most dangerous of prisoners indefinitely, and protected by both unpredictable weather patterns and the most advanced security systems the Kingdom of Atlas had ever produced. Life expectancy there wasn't high, and the chances of escape were negligible.

"I figured Callows wasn't the only one, given the other weird Aura signatures I sensed at the abandoned Vacuoan air base." Qrow remarked with a grunt.

"Just do what you can, keep searching and tracking those Aura signatures Qrow. If you find something of interest or have trouble pinpointing them, you can request assistance from Headmistress Aria and the Vacuo Rangers. I have already informed her that those individuals you are searching for are wanted criminals for the Haven City incident and also in league with the enemy. She has already pledged her full support and will readily assist in whatever capacity she can."

"I'll keep it in mind, Oz." Qrow voiced grudgingly.

"Besides the existence of Callows and the Faunus Hybrids, what else have you found so far?" Ironwood asked him.

There was a pause as they heard Qrow took a sip from his flask, and then his voice came on again, "I've been tracking down enemy agents, and it's clear they are planning a strike on Vacuo. For the past couple of weeks, the Vacuo Rangers have reported robberies of large quantities of Dust and crystals from a number of scattered storehouses and cargo ships around the western continent, and the scattered Red Fang cells in have gone dark."

Ozpin and Glynda shared a glance before the former asked, "An attack seems likely, but Luna and the council of Vacuo have been preparing for one ever since the Vytal Festival. Hopefully you can find out something about their plans before they can put them into action. Now James, before this meeting began you informed us of a murder of a mid-level S.D.C. employee in Haven. I assume that's why President Schnee is present?"

"It is indeed, Headmaster." The head of the Schnee Dust Company addressed. A picture of the employee in question was brought up from the holocom table, with a report on his death written by the Mistralian law-enforcement, pictures of the charred corpses and the bloody message left behind appearing in the air above the holographic table while similar images of them appearing on the screen of Qrow's personal scroll, "Charles Meredith wasn't exactly a noticeable name in the company itself, but I vaguely remember encountering him once or twice during my inspection visits to our Haven manufacturing facility."

"Well then, have the police made any progress in uncovering who was behind his murder?" Ozpin asked, while knowing from the disturbing image of the blood message that it was undoubtedly Salem who had ordered his death but choosing to remain silent as that couldn't become public knowledge.

"No official statements as of now, but the high-ranking officers have their suspicions that our enemy is the one behind it, but they aren't sure who at the moment. They've done their best to keep the blood-written warning out of the papers, but somehow word got out about it. We don't exactly know how, but perhaps some officers have loose lips and if the reporters get wind of it, then it would be a safe bet that criminals would do so as well. The official version given to the reporters is that it's an act of arson by "unhappy and unscrupulous individuals", and the police are pursuing a number of promising leads to capture those responsible." Chamberlain explained, and then added, "However, even unconfirmed news like this still travels fast in the criminal underworld, with varying consequences."

"And did Meredith have a criminal past?" Councilman Henry inquired as he glanced at Willow Schnee, wondering if the president of the S.D.C. would see some implication in his query. The Schnee elder instead remained silent and stoic, his own eyes fixed upon the images.

"I'll let Winter explain the specifics of what she has found." The white-bearded man replied, and his hologram nodded to that of his daughter.

"Thank you, sir. I'm currently at the S.D.C. Haven headquarters, and I arrived as soon as I was given jurisdiction by the Mistralian authorities to enter the Kingdom and assist with the investigation. The content of the message in question obviously means that there's a connection to the enemies we've been fighting against, and because of my knowledge of the enemy and my relation to the company I was assigned this job. As far as we can tell, Mr. Meredith had a clean record. He's not a family man but his partner has informed us that he can't remember anything about any shady dealings. So he may not be a criminal, but all is not as it seems." Winter elaborated before bringing up some files in her hands, "His secretary discovered a folder was left in his desk drawer and when we searched his office she noticed that a number of files were missing from his cabinets as well. This peculiarity led me to dig a little further through his computer database logs, and I found something that caught my attention."

She brought up holographic scans of the documents with several highlighted parts, as well as screenshots of computer record logs that were showing certain segments empty as well, "Going by these documents and data, a little over a year ago Mr. Meredith made contact with an anonymous 'business associate' working for a small Dust company who had offered a generous commission to him. So he began to transfer a meager five percent of the Dust from the S.D.C.'s Haven branch to that unknown receiver, and marking the aforementioned transfer as 'miscellaneous' so as not to look suspicious. And from the looks of things, it worked."

"So he was secretly transferring Dust to the enemy, but the question remains; why?" The Valean Councilman put the question to the others present.

"I don't think it was done willingly. The documents left in the folder within his desk drawer links the Dust sales to two locations, and to accounts I discovered were once owned by CraftTech as well. More to the point, the factory address given to Meredith was once the headquarters of Haven's former crime boss, Damien Ante, and the other location was an abandoned warehouse which was registered under a fake Dust supplier who was found to be working for the crime lord." Winter reported as she filled in the missing pieces of the puzzle, "It's possible that Mr. Meredith kept copies of the transactions and also collected information on them to make sure that he'd have something to bargain with should anything go awry for him."

"To think my company unwittingly supplied these terrorists." Willow Schnee muttered darkly as his facial expression turned brooding for a few moments.

"So we know that being faced by such deadly criminals that he was most likely being coerced into supplying them, but why would they order his death?" Henry posed the next question.

"He left us another clue that is a likely answer to that, Councilman. According to the company records, the supply of Dust sent to the unknown receiver under 'miscellaneous' slowly but surely decreased over the months that followed. Apparently Mr. Meredith thought that with Ante out of town, he could subtly decease the Dust supply as time went by without being noticed. Unfortunately our enemy apparently took offense at this, given the gruesome message left behind after his horrific murder, there's a high possibility that his death was used to send a clear warning to the rest of their underlings that trying to back out of a deal will result in a horrific death." Winter finished, and after a few moments the majority of the holograms vanished as well.

"It occurred to me that there's also the possibility that our enemy has found other ways of getting their Dust supplies," Chamberlain spoke up, "Or they've already gotten enough Dust for whatever they're planning."

"Those are all plausible." Ozpin replied from his hologram, "But the main question we should be asking is that what are they planning to so with all that Dust this time?"

"Unfortunately, I doubt we have the answer to that." Qrow remarked, "And Ante is likely to be here in Vacuo along with his Enforcers, and if the Red Fang is joining up with them it means they've got additional support as well… possibly preparing for something big. Maybe if I can find him, I can get a full confession out of him to confirm his dealings with Meredith, not to mention what kind of plan they're putting into action."

"That would help a great deal, as it would wrap up this murder case quickly if the confession matches the circumstances of Mr. Meredith's death." Winter agreed with a nod, "However the final question still remains, who ultimately killed him?"

"Was there any security footage retrieved from the warehouse that survived the blast?" Ozpin inquired.

"I'm afraid not, and even if the warehouse hadn't been destroyed it seems that Meredith had used his access codes to disable the security cameras. Clearly he, or whoever instructed him to go there, didn't want to risk leaving any evidence to chance." Winter related to them.

"And yet a message was still left behind. Curious." Ozpin mused.

"Well, it's good to know that our 'Guardians' are doing their best to be on top of things." Willow Schnee began, he pointed at the holographic version of the blood-inked message floating atop the holocom table, "But I have a question to ask, who is this Dark Queen the warning mentions?"

The various members of the Guardians of Remnant exchanged quick glances before General Ironwood simply stated, "Mr. Schnee, the enemy has given certain… titles for certain individuals who make up their leadership. We aren't exactly sure why they call her the Dark Queen, but it could be a superficial name she has chosen for herself."

"I see." The president of the SDC raised an eyebrow, "The leader of the enemy must have quite an ego to choose a name like that for herself ."

Winter decided to cut off that particular train of thought before hazardous knowledge was accidentally revealed, "My apologies father, but specifics on our enemy is on a strictly need to know basis."

Undeterred, Willow opened his mouth again, "Is it that Cinder Fall woman? That Rose girl has bested her twice, so she can't be powerful enou-"

"Let's just say that Cinder Fall answers to someone who is far more powerful and influential than she can ever be. That is who this Dark Queen is, Mr. Schnee. Let me assure you, you don't want to burden yourself with certain things this group has become privy to." Ozpin told the hologram of the S.D.C. president, who returned his look gravely and then relented, solemnly nodding his head.

"I see, Headmaster. In the meantime, I'll have my most trustworthy employees from across all our facilities around Remnant to look into this, and see if anyone else is being forced to supply terrorists with Dust or if they are being bought out and bribed. You have my word that this incident will not go unchecked." Willow Schnee mentioned in a voice that all but stated his intentions.

"That's reassuring to hear, Mr. Schnee. If you manage to find anything of importance, please report to us as soon as you can." Chamberlain replied with gratitude.

The hard-faced elder Schnee nodded and said, "Now, if you don't mind… would it be any trouble if I can speak to Specialist Schnee in private?"

Ironwood turned to regard Winter who gave a nod, and then he focused his blue eyes on Willow, "Be our guest. We don't have much else to discuss for now, so you're dismissed Specialist Schnee."

Winter saluted him, "Thank you, sir. I will keep digging into the recovered files to see if there's anything else Meredith left behind that may be of further use to us. Specialist Schnee, out."

She gave a passing glance in the direction of Central's hologram, and noticed that cyan-blue eyes flicked a faction towards her for a miniscule second before those of her father and herself vanished from both the meeting room in Beacon and Ironwood's office at Atlas Military Headquarters, while her hologram remained in her father's personal study at the enormous Schnee Mansion and his projection in the office where she resided at the S.D.C. Haven branch's main building.

"How have you been holding up? We haven't spoken in nearly two weeks." The Schnee senior said to his elder daughter.

Despite the schism that had formed between them when her father abandoned her and declared her a traitor when Weiss and her friends freed Penny to stop the brainwashed Ironwood's insane plan, it had slowly healed in the past six months after Winter has discovered how far Willow was willing to go to improve himself and become a better person, albeit one who deserved the love and respect of his daughters. After finding out that he had implemented slightly better working conditions and benefits for the S.D.C. employees, they had slowly began to open up to one another once more despite Winter being initially apprehensive at first, but eventually made the effort to reconnect with her father at Weiss's insistence. It was slow going, but at least they were on speaking terms for now.

"I'm doing fine, father. The life of a Atlas military specialist is rarely a dull one." She told him.

"The same cannot be said for me, though I have long since learned to live with the tedium the family company can bring. Whenever I look at you and Weiss, I always see your brave and adventurous sides from your mother. She was always one for thrills." Willow spoke in a slightly melancholic voice as he reflected on his late wife.

"Father..." Winter began but he raised a hand, his gaze looking past her as though at something only he could see.

"What do you suppose she would think of me now?" He asked her softly.

His elder daughter carefully considered the question before answering, "You became cold and distant after she died, father. And I cannot lie that there are times where I think you would have driven her to drink or sometimes even openly fight with her over matters of how to manage the company and family. But given your actions now I have come to realize that you are indeed doing your best to change for the better, and trying to make amends with me rather than simply ignoring your mistakes." She paused and looked at him directly, "I'm sure that she would be very happy to see that you're changing for the better."

Willow nodded, "I suppose you're right. Despite some of the morally questionable things I have done over the years, I always told myself that the reason I did some of them was because I was afraid of losing you and Weiss. I was afraid of losing you like I lost Gwyneth… and dying alone and unloved."

His elder daughter's face flickered with emotions of amazement and sadness by this sudden admission from him, but she recovered quickly and managed to say, "That won't happen, father. Neither Weiss nor I would allow it."

"I know you won't, but then the rift between us was so large because of what I did to you, and what I said to you when you defied me and joined the military's Special Operatives Unit. I couldn't help but feel that my fear was becoming closer to reality than ever before, and in the end I had no one to blame but myself." he added with a heavy heart.

Winter's hologram looked at him in the eyes and said, "We're family, father… and we won't let you be alone or unloved. Despite our strained relationship, I cannot deny that I care about you as well.

The father of Weiss and Winter smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Winter."

She managed a smile and changed the subject of their conversation, "Perhaps when I have the time, maybe for one weekend, Weiss and I can come and visit you. Perhaps we can go on a walk through the garden grounds together and catch up on some much-needed family conversations?"

Willow thought about it for a few moments and nodded, "I would like that very much. Just send me the date and time, and I will clear my schedule. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to review a memo to be sent out to all branches of the S.D.C. for their individual managers to check for any signs of possible Dust siphoning from the company."

Winter gave a nod of agreement, "Notify me right away if your personnel find anything of interest at all."

"I will be sure to do that. Oh, and Winter… I know this is a somewhat sensitive matter, but I can't help but notice the way you look at Commander Central during the meeting earlier. I am pretty sure I heard of him during your time in the Atlas Academy, but this was the first time I've seen him in person and without a helmet, or at least a hologram of him after quite a number of years. Is there some sort of connection between you and him that I'm not aware of?"

Winter's hologram stiffened visibly at his words even though she had forced herself to remain calm. She wouldn't exactly call her association with Commander Central something so simple as a 'connection'. For all intents and purposes, it was quite an understatement if she ever heard of one. During her time in Atlas Academy after she had defied the wishes of her father, she and the male student who eventually became Commander Central had been assigned to the same team, studying and training jointly while enduring the various gruelling challenges put to them by the said academy. Then came their recruitment into the Atlesian military's Special Operatives Unit after their graduation, where they underwent the harshest of drills and toughest of missions, shedding both blood and sweat (and rare tears) together during those trials. And there was even once when he willingly took the blame and the punishment that went with it for one of Winter's mistakes during a simulation combat operation which would have easily seen her discharged from the Specialist Training Course in a heartbeat.

'Connection' doesn't even cover it, 'complicated association' would be a far more believable answer.

She breathed deeply and composed herself before saying, "Commander Central and I know each other as we were in the same Team during our time at Atlas Academy, as well as the same training unit in the Atlesian military. I might have introduced him to you at the Specialists' graduation ceremony, but your attention was probably occupied by the dignitaries present at the time. While we have undertaken some missions together when circumstances allow, let's just say that some things didn't work out and we aren't exactly on friendly terms at the moment."

"I see." Willow noted and added, "Well, I believe that some strained relationships can still be mended. Look at us."

"Not this one." Winter shook her head, "I have to get back to my investigations to see if I can find any other leads. Good night, father."

"Goodnight, Winter." He bid her as Winter's hologram disappeared from his personal study, while his own vanished from the requisitioned office Winter was presently in.

Winter leaned back on her chair, rubbing her tired face with the gloved fingers of her right hand, and sighed to herself. Seeing Central again triggered a number of emotions within her, despite her normally cold and dignified exterior. As Winter became a subordinate to Ironwood upon graduation from the Specialist program, so did the rest of her team who were assigned to various branches of the Atlesian military. Due to his exceptional leadership qualities and fighting capabilities, the masculine Specialist was assigned to the command of Captain White of the Atlas First Fleet, swiftly rising up through the ranks like she did until he was eventually given command of an elite covert operations team which was both feared and respected among the Specialists themselves.

While she respected his excellent fighting skills and leadership in leading Task Force Omega on its many successful missions of both high-priority target extractions and various counter-offensive operations, Winter knew that it was already far too late to repair whatever remained of her 'complicated association' with Central. Time and their duties had gradually drawn them apart, the distance lengthening till the point that a yawning gulf had opened up between them.

And besides, it's not as if she could easily find it within her heart to forgive him for what had transpired so long ago… even though it still cut her as deeply as the supposedly betrayal of trust from her own father. But even she could not deny that no matter how frayed her association with Central had become, there was still a tiny fragment of the trust and friendship they had once shared during their time at the academy.

Winter shook her head and dismissed those thoughts, focusing on her assigned task at hand. She looked up as the secretary of the Haven SDC branch entered her office with another thick stack of files and documents scrounged up from the archives, placing it hurriedly on the table in a neat pile. The Atlesian Specialist nodded her thanks, and began to sift through those folders for any other clues that could yield any useful information.

---

Meanwhile, the meeting went on without them, as the remaining individuals conversed about a report that Ironwood had received from Admiral Nemo earlier that day.

"According to Admiral Nemo's reports and the sightings that had been reported by the fleet, several different pirate gangs in the northern seas have been sighted to be unusually inactive, with the number of raids dropping. So far they have only restricted their activities to regrouping, with some ships of different gangs moving unusually close before vanishing to places unknown." Chamberlain summarized as he brought up a hologram of Nemo's report.

"Perhaps Admiral Nemo's measures against them have been more effective than she realized, forcing them to go to ground." Glynda speculated with a hand on her chin, "However, given her strong-armed tactics it could be only a matter of time before they were forced to unite by discussing possible alliances."

"A sound theory, but even the Roaring Sharks and the Bloody Sail gangs are reported to be sailing near each other, and those two gangs have notorious bad blood between them. While pirate activity has hit an unusual low for now, their peculiar activities correspond with the admiral's suspicions that something is happening." Chamberlain pointed out.

"As do I. I have already informed the Atlesian border fleets to put in extra patrols around the Kingdom's coastal towns just in case some bloodthirsty pirate leader aspiring to be a legend decides to take charge of all the pirate gangs and launch an invasion on Atlesian soil." Ironwood mentioned.

"It says here that Admiral Nemo thinks they are all converging around the Shipwreck Rocks formation. Due to the unpredictable weather patterns and choppy waves there, only the most experienced or foolish sailors are brave enough to venture into that place other than the pirate gangs themselves." Central remarked, gesturing with his gauntleted fingers at the highlighted hologram of the map showing the aforementioned location.

"Is there anything of value there?" Glynda inquired.

"Depends on who you ask. To most sailors, it's a huge graveyard made up of over a couple hundred wrecked ships from the past few centuries. However, rumors speak of some sort of hidden sanctuary for the pirate gangs which they use to hide when the law is on their backs, aided by more experienced pirates who have made the scrapheap their home. The entire place is crawling with enough weapons and firepower to repel any sort of air and sea assault, with enough resources to last them for years should a siege happen." The Atlesian army colonel recounted to them.

"I personally don't doubt that." Qrow quipped, "The sheer fact that even the Mistralian navy gives the Shipwreck Rocks an unusually wide berth already speaks of how dangerous the place is."

"Then I suppose that placing additional reinforcements around the coasts of Atlas would be a shrewd choice, just to maintain safety on that particular front." Ozpin mentioned to Ironwood who nodded in agreement.

"I'll be sure to do so, and inform Admiral Nemo to help organize the best crews she has among her fleet to man them." Ironwood replied as the headmaster of Beacon Academy turned his head to look at Commander Central.

"Commander Central, I understand that a new android has joined your team, one which our mutual friend Dr Polendina helped to create." Ozpin began, at which the commander of Task Force Omega nodded.

"Indeed, headmaster Ozpin. He goes by the designation N1CK3L, and he did a commendable job on his first mission." Central said with clear gratitude in his voice, "My team might not have been able to capture Drago Sanguine without his assistance."

"Yes, your mission report on him shows much promise. May we speak with him?" Ironwood requested in a voice full of command.

"He's waiting outside the briefing room. Excuse me for a moment." Central said, briefly disappearing for a minute or so before returning with the stoic form of N1CK3L, his hologram blinking into existence alongside the Task Force commander, encased in a blue-black suit of heavily customized combat armour similar to that worn by the rest of the covert operations team, "Here he is, our Enhanced Tactical Android."

"So that's the new little war machine?" Qrow voice asked from his I.D. image.

"Thank you, Commander Central. Huntsman Branwen, I find the term 'war machine' a tad distasteful, as I identify myself as an Enhanced Tactical Android, not a drone like the AK-200 and 300 series. I may be primarily designated as a combat unit, but I also have other uses outside of warfare." N1CK3L said as he smartly saluted General Ironwood and the others present, his reinforced helmet's panels retracting to show the life-like synthetic skin underneath and bright blue electronic eyes, "It's good to see you again, General Ironwood, and you as well Colonel Chamberlain."

"A machine programmed to kiss butt." Qrow was probably rolling his eyes by now, "Whatever would your scientists dream of next, Jimmy? Now I have seen everything." The Atlesian general simply choose to ignore that sarcastic jab thrown in his direction by remaining silent.

"At ease, N1CK3L." Ironwood told him, and the android obediently dropped his gauntleted hand to his side and shifted his stance into a more comfortable position, "Headmaster Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch, Councilman Henry, Qrow; this is N1CK3L, our latest step forward in android foot soldiers and advanced combat technology. He's slightly more advanced than Penny in terms of combat capabilities, though he does lack some of the additional touches Dr. Polendina had created especially for her. However, he is also quite formidable in his own right due to the next-generation programming implemented into his core processors by the Special Research Robotics Branch during his development. The mission against the Red Fang cell was his first non-simulated mission out in the field, and by all accounts that appears to be a resounding success."

N1CK3L's gaze focused on Ironwood at the mention of his sister, before looking to the holograms of the other individuals present and said, "Pleased to meet your acquaintance, and I look forward to assisting in whatever capacity I can in the battle against the enemy however possible."

"Well if you perform as well as you did out there, I'm sure we'll be working together for a long time." Central told the android who nodded.

"It would be an honor, Commander. I feel quite at home with my leader's team within Task Force Omega, and while I am aware that some personnel among the Atlesian military are indeed wary of me, I have come to the conclusion that such negative feelings would eventually phase out after they have seen how effectively I have worked with Central's team." N1CK3L elaborated.

"That would be an acceptable solution, N1CK3L" Ironwood answered, "As long as you stay true to your programmed parameters and function at peak efficiency, working together with your assigned team will definitely help in establishing good relations with other personnel within the military."

"Acknowledged." N1CK3L replied, pausing for a few seconds before asking, "General Ironwood, may make a small request?"

"As long as it's within reason, you may." Ironwood permitted, his eyebrow raising a little.

"If it's not too much trouble, I would like a chance to meet my 'sister' Penny." N1CK3L requested, "You see, Dr. Polendina was a great help in my creation and the overall development of my programmed personality so that I wouldn't be an unfeeling drone, and during my maintenance sessions he would often tell me of his 'daughter' Penny who has been sent to Beacon Academy. He has told me that we were kind of siblings in a way, so I would like to actually meet her personally."

Ozpin and Glynda shared a glance with each other, the silver-haired headmaster had a faintly amused smile at the thought of the excitable female android finding out she technically had a brother.

Ironwood carefully considered the request and slowly nodded, "I don't see any trouble in a visit like that. If the Task Force doesn't have anything that requires immediate attention, I can perhaps arrange a visit for you to meet Penny this weekend. I think she would be thrilled to know that there's someone else like her, a brother no less."

"Thank you, sir." N1CK3L inclined his head a little, "Do you require anything else from me?"

"Not at the moment, so the two of you are dismissed for the time being. Commander Central, if our analysts manage to find out anything from the large amount of data your team recovered from the Red Fang computers' database, we will notify you. Dismissed." Ironwood said to the task force's leader and advanced android.

"Thank you sir, and good night you." Central replied and saluted, with N1CK3L performing the same gesture before the holograms of them both dissipated.

Ironwood and Chamberlain looked to the holograms of Ozpin, Glynda and Henry, as well as Qrow's I.D. picture, returning to the matter at hand.

"Do you honestly think Salem is planning something with these pirates?" Chamberlain asked.

"She has involved herself with people from varying levels of society, from the highest echelons down to the lowest scum, as long as they are useful to her plans. I wouldn't rule it out, so it's best to keep a watchful eye on your Kingdom's coast." Glynda advised.

"Agreed." Ironwood said with a nod, "All these Dust robberies with connections to our enemy. I doubt it's a coincidence."

"As do I. From what we have been able to piece together, plus information Qrow has obtained in his investigations and from the Vacuo Rangers, it's likely they are planning some sort of attack on the western Kingdom. We will need to be extremely careful and be prepared for whatever they throw our way." Ozpin stated, and that earned nods from the others, "At least until we know more about what their plan of attack is."

"And going by that logical route, Team Beacon would be the best choice to counter the enemy since they have experience in dealing with the Grimm as well as enemy agents, hence they'll be able to strike back against them effectively." Councilor Henry remarked.

"On that note, I am happy to announce that the Hyperion One is finally finished." Ironwood announced as he brought up a small hologram of a large, advanced looking airship

"Excellent. I will send Mr. Ross over to inspect it tomorrow. He will be one of the pilots after all." Ozpin replied.

"I hope he'll get along with his co-pilot." Ironwood remarked before saying "Our engineers from both the Atlas military and the S.D.C. research and development division have seen to it that the Hyperion One is outfitted with the best cutting-edge technology from the Kingdom, and I can assure you it will fit the team's needs comfortably. Though, hopefully they won't be forced to use it in any full-scale battles anytime soon."

"Indeed, that new airship would be quite a boon to Team Beacon's future operations." Henry agreed as he looked at the hologram with clear interest in his eyes, "And I'm sure they will be more than happy with it."

"Speaking of airships and flying, I'm gonna get rested up since the trip over here has tired me out completely, so I'm going to need some sleep if I run into either Callows or Ante." Qrow spoke up.

"In that case, do get some rest. Good night, old friend." Ozpin told the Huntsman.

"My pleasure, see you guys later." Qrow remarked before ending the call. He deactivated the scrambler and shoved his scroll into his pocket, turning to look out into the view of Vacuo's capital at night. He briefly considered flying out and continuing his search, since criminals tend to be more active at night, but ultimately decided against it as the flight across the desert had left him winded, and it was an incredibly bad idea to track dangerous people like Tyrian Callows when exhausted.

Qrow shapeshifted into his bird form and flew down to an abandoned alley before switching back to human form once more, making his way to the nearest motel to get a refill for his drinking flask and some much needed rest. Tonight he would sort out all the information he had collected so far in his investigations and those he had obtained from the Rangers, and see if he could piece together any leads to where Ante might possibly be hiding in Vacuo.

Tomorrow, his hunt would begin again.

---

A meeting took place early the next morning, so early that the sun had yet to rise near the place known as Shipwreck Rocks. Located roughly sixty miles southeast from the coast of Atlas, it was a place that only the most experienced or insane seafarers dared to venture due to the terrible weather conditions and terrifying sea-based Grimm creatures that were said to populate those waters.

Several dozen pirate ships gathered around the inner area of the island's natural cove within Shipwreck Rocks, spreading themselves out in a loose semi-circle to form a perimeter about the floating, but stationary, graveyard of wrecked ships. Each pirate ship was parked in their designated location within the cove, and their crew kept to themselves while sentries were watching each other warily as though expecting an attack to come at any time. Small boats carefully traversed the complex maze of jagged rocks to reach the makeshift docks that led into the heavily-fortified fortress of Remnant's ocean criminals.

Pirates of many different races and skin colors, humans and Faunus, infamous and those who hadn't made names for themselves yet, had come to gather around the main meeting room which was fashioned out of the remains of an Atlesian ocean liner that had been torn asunder by the treacherous rocks when a hurricane had slammed the unfortunate ship into them, killing everyone aboard. It was actually the main dining room of the liner in which the summit was being held in, and it had more than enough room to accommodate the varied pirate gangs that called Shipwreck Rocks their sanctuary.

The captains of the pirate gangs all sat around a large marble table draped with withered silks on an upraised platform that was supposedly used for performances during the liner's better days, their individual swords stabbed into its cold, hard and pitted surface upon which was an old map of Remnant and its seas, and their first mates standing silently by their side. The rest of their crew all stood or sat on rickety chairs a respectable distance behind their captains, chattering and discussing whatever that was on their minds while the captains themselves eyed each other with a wide variety of emotions across their faces. The light from thousands of hastily mounted electric light-bulbs and flickering candles shone down from above and around the ballroom, bathing the assembled pirates in a dull yellow glow despite the gentle sun rays which barely peeked in from the slightly open roof high overhead.

A large scarred man with a long silver beard and sporting dull-grey robotic limbs on his right side surveyed the fellow sea rogues who answered Captain Skarnage's summons and hence came to attend the summit. He recognized most of them, and among those he knew some who he was on good terms with, some who he could build potential alliances with, and finally those he wanted dead. The petty rivalries between the pirate gangs could wait for now as he heard whispers that this was some sort of alliance proposition. There hadn't been such a massive gathering of pirates from all over Remnant like this for some time, and all had come to bear witness to something. What exactly that was he didn't know, and so projected a mask of cold indifference on his brutal features as he waited along with the other pirate captains.

Eventually, he decided to break the ice by asking in an almost bored tone, "So, any of you lot know what this is about? Why Skarnage called all of us here?"

"Apparently Skarnage threw his hat in with the terrorist group that's have been giving the Kingdoms significant trouble, or so I heard." An exotic-looking female captain sitting two chairs from his right by the name of Lizbetha remarked, "Maybe he wants our help?"

"To get out of trouble or into bigger trouble?" A gruff voice emanated from a pirate by the name of Stephenson, leader of the Bloody Sails, who possessed wild beard of orange hair and was well-known for his deadly temper.

"Maybe it has something to do with that Alesian witch Nemo." This reply came from a warthog Faunus captain known as Yunthao, who had enough scars to rival the silver-bearded man and captain of the Roaring Sharks. He glared long and hard at his long time rival across the table, which the other pirate leader deliberately ignored.

"You're not far off, mates." The deep voice of Captain Skarnage announced as the sharply-dressed Panther Faunus emerged from the large metal and glass doors framing the huge open doorway and walked down the aisle that led to the upraised stage and the meeting table, his footsteps echoing through the enormous ballroom as the many other pirates began to quiet down when they saw the two men walking a couple of steps behind him.

One of the new arrivals was a heavily-built, tanned man dressed in a dark green outfit with a serious look on his face while the other was a smartly-dressed middle-aged man with a slim build and slightly tanned skin, with short black and grey hair. The former could easily passed as a brawler, while the other man with the mustache gave off an aura of intelligence and education about him as he walked slowly and leisurely as though out for a stroll. Both of them were unconcerned that they were surrounded by dangerous pirates at the moment.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Fortune, fellow sea rogues, and, if you're not too proud to admit it, pirates alike. Welcome, and thank you all for agreeing to answer my summons and come to this little meeting of ours." Skarnage greeted after stabbing his sword onto the table and slammed a large iron orb a couple of times for silence, "I'm sure all of you have some questions."

"You can start by telling us who are those two men are," The silver-haired pirate commented dismally, "They look awfully outta place among us." Murmurs of agreement came from the other pirate captains seated around the large table.

"I'm glad you asked that, Captain Silvers, as it allows us to cut to the chase. These two fine men are Dr. Arthur Watts and Hazel Rainhart." The Panther Faunus gestured towards his guests.

Stephenson burst out laughing, "Hazel?! Ain't that a girl's name? Ha ha!" A number of other pirates behind him and around the room guffawed as well at the bearded pirate captain's jibe.

Hazel narrowed his eyes and glared at him while Skarnage continued, "Anyway, they're associates of… let's just say they represent people I have allied myself with."

"We've heard, attacking cargo ships from Atlas and Mistral, and hijacking their Dust supplies." Lizbetha noted while checking her nails, "You even tried to take on the S.D.C.'s airships a number of times."

"That I have, but the white-haired bastard amped up security considerably after the first few attempts. That still didn't deter my gang though, but further details can wait. Anyway, I've made dealings with these men and the people they represent, and they have an interesting proposition for us which I am sure you lot would be very interested in it." Skarnage told them calmly as he placed his fingers on the severely weathered-down stone table, a glint appearing in his purple eyes.

"What're they suggestin'?" A captain further down the table piped up.

"And what sorta contract you got with these bilge-rats?" Stephenson inquired.

"Dust supply. I steal Dust and they pay me handsomely, simple as that. But my crew and I aren't enough for what they want us to do. That's why I put the word out to all the pirate captains to convene at this summit, to see if any of you are interested in such… heists." Skarnage explained

"I'd like to know exactly what they want us to do before anything is officially decided." Silvers voiced, and getting calls of agreement from his fellow pirate captains across the length of the table.

Skarnage looked to Watts who nodded and stepped forward, "Well it's rather simple and straightforward. You're all pirates, or ladies and gentlemen of fortune, if you prefer to sound more professional. But in the end despite what you call yourselves you are still criminals of the oceans, and all you wish to do is to sail the seas in search of adventure and riches to plunder. Come to think of it, I am pretty sure that for those of you who operate around the Kingdom of Atlas and the northern parts of Remnant, a certain female commanding Admiral has been making life harder for you in the last several years, correct?"

"Yeah, I lost some of my own men to her." Yunthao voiced.

"And an old friend of mine was killed when that bitch Nemo sank her ship." Lizbetha added icily.

"She makes it difficult for any of us to make a living in this line of work!" A captain shouted towards the back raising his fist in the air.

"She's a snag in our seafaring plans as well." Watts mentioned, "So what if we were to tell you that our plan for you involve disposing of her and crippling the Atlas naval fleet?"

There was silence for several moments as the various pirate captains looked to each other, and there were hushed words traded between some of them before they all looked up to the two men at the end of the table and nodded their heads. "We're listening." Silvers said.

"Very good. By now most of you have no doubt heard the rumours of a Dark Mistress of Grimm from the old legends, masterminding the Fall of Beacon and other such incidents in the last year or so. Whispers of human-grimm hybrids, the old tale of the seasonal Maidens, criminals pledging allegiance to some dark higher power. Well, those whispers are all true." Watts spoke casually as though he was talking about the weather, "Our Mistress, better known as Salem, Queen of the Grimm, is planning to strike at the Kingdom of Atlas and to do so we will need the aid of the pirate fleets. This attack on the northern Kingdom will not only damage their military might and their wealth, it's also to draw the eyes the other Kingdoms elsewhere while our forces make an important move against our opponents. There's no need for any of you to know the details of this plan we are setting into motion, simply what your part in it will be. We get what we want, and you all get to kill your most hated enemy, demolish the Atlesian Navy, and take whatever you want from them. "

The faces of the various pirate captains grew from skeptical to interested as the Atlesian doctor dropped some rather surprising information onto them. Hazel, on the other hand, remained silent and alert while keeping his eyes strictly forward. "It's the best deal you're going to get." Watts finished.

"So, the old tales are true… that's not surprising after all that's happened. Hell, we got word of some message being left by some 'Dark Queen' in Haven the other day." Silvers commented, his flesh fingers tapping on the arm of his chair.

"Yes, that would be the work of one of our dark warriors. It was his first mission and he did splendidly." Watts stated before Hazel spoke up.

"And that warning also goes to all of you, should any of you try and double-cross us. Mistress Salem does not take kindly to that, and you would beg for death if you so much as displease her." The muscular middle-aged man warned, his voice calm but the implied threat hidden within his words, which most of the pirate captains caught.

Most.

"I don't buy this crap," Stephenson barked as he rose, spittle flying across the table from his lips, "Where's your proof that what you're saying is true? Sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me! If any one of you want to follow Skarnage willingly to your deaths, I don't care. Even if we do move against Nemo and her navy, what's to say it'll actually work? What'll it get us in the end other than smashed ships, dead crews, and our blades as that bitch's personal trophies to hang in her room? Even if we do survive, we won't get much reward in the end! I won't throw me and my crew into some mysterious crusade, only to get thrown meagre table scraps while some dark queen and her lackies reap the benefits for themselves."

Hazel slowly turned his dark-brown haired head to glare at him, and said softly, "You will all be generously rewarded for the part you play, if you survive."

"The benefits outweigh the risks huh? None of us got where we are now by being fools! Good, strong ships have went up against Nemo and her navy, and now they're all at the bottom of the oceans, their crews fish food!" Stephenson ranted angrily.

Silver rose up and cut Stephenson off with a chopping motion with his robotic arm, "Before I make my choice, I've two questions for you. One; Stephenson's got a point, how exactly will we lowly pirates take on the massive and heavily armed navy, let alone its flagship? We might be powerful when working together, but they will eventually wear us down and take us out with their superior numbers and weaponry. And two; you mentioned human-grimm hybrids, that true?"

"I am glad you asked, Captain Silvers, was it?" Watts inquired, and the Captain of the Bloody Hook nodded, "Well, we can answer both your questions right now." He looked back to the open door and called, "Mavis? Come in my dear."

A hush fell through the gathered pirates as a young, skinny and frail-looking, and rather wet teenage girl entered the room wearing a cloak, covered with sinister-looking red sigils, tied at the waist as if it were a skirt, while her body was covered by a black elastic swimsuit, her soaking wet black hair leaving a dripping trail behind her as she approached the gathered pirates, she wore no shoes, allowing them to see her webbed feet. Her nervous-looking red eyes gave away her uneasiness at being in a room with so many pirates.

"Um...arrgh, ahoy maties?" She greeted shyly, which caused the assembled pirates to stare at her.

"What the hell is this?" Lizbetha rose from her seat, a dumbfounded look on her face.

"This is our aquatic Grimm Commander, Mavis. She's young but she's good at leading the aquatic Grimm and is also an excellent swimmer, even before Mistress Salem… changed her. We found her three years ago after a pirate ship attacked the cruiser her family was sailing on. Someone who might be among you." Watts elaborated, before looking at Mavis, "Well, my child? It's an off chance, but the captain of the pirate ship that attacked you could be here."

Mavis stepped forward and surveyed the entire room, then she looked at the assembled pirate captains carefully, before her eyes finally settled on Stephenson and began to glow red, "Him… that's him." She answered with a dark voice and pointed at Stephenson.

The orange-bearded captain grew uneasy as he shook his head, "That doesn't prove anything. This could be some pale whore from a brothel for all we kn-"

"I remember how you laughed as you killed my father and mother. I punched you, and as punishment you tied me to their bodies and tossed us all into the ocean. I remember how you laughed as you forced my parents to beg for their lives. I remember how you were going to sell me into slavery before I punched you." Mavis said sternly as she glared at Stephenson, and the atmosphere in the room grew uneasy rapidly. Stephenson reached for his sword in front of him as Hazel took a step in his direction.

"Look, even if she can control Grimm fish and even if this Grimm Queen bitch does exist, I ain't interested. So count me out!" Stephenson bellowed as he stood up.

"I understand." Hazel said solemnly, glancing at Skarnage, "I thought you would be smart enough not to invite the weaklings."

There was a brief silence as Silver and the other captains observed a seething Stephenson who withdrew his sword, his first mate doing likewise but the rest of his crew looking quite uncomfortable themselves.

Yunthao carefully spoke up, "Stephenson, I might dislike you, but I didn't know you would go so far to break the pirate code of selling children off as slaves..."

Murmurs of anger and disgust came from the other pirate captains seated around the table, and they glared daggers at the foul-tempered captain of the Bloody Sails.

"No way in hell I'm letting some fool with a girl's name insult me like that!" The captain roared as he pivoted about and charged at Hazel, only to be abruptly surprised as the large muscular man sidestepped and punched his arm hard enough to force Stephenson to drop his sword, and then pick him up by the neck.

Stephenson struggled in Hazel's iron grip, kicking, punching and wheezing in pain, but the larger man didn't even flinch as he placed his other hand on Stephenson's neck and began to squeeze down tightly. "Captain!" The first mate of the Bloody Sails charged forward but found a long length of silver metal resting on his neck, Yunthao's sword preventing him from doing anything further as he watched his captain being slowly strangled by Hazel.

"Perhaps your second-in-command will be more open-minded." Hazel remarked before he glanced over to Mavis, whose face had been infected with sorrow as she remembered being tied to her dead parents and thrown into the churning ocean waves.

She wiped her eyes and nodded.

Hazel squeezed down harder and harder, making Stephenson's face turn blue rapidly even as he continued to struggle and kick against the larger man, and then just as he was about to suffocate Hazel slammed his body downwards, head first, into the unyielding marble floor with a sickening crunch of flesh, bone and shattered marble, killing him instantly.

Everyone else was silent, although some pirates were grasping their guns and swords, but no one, not even Stephenson's own men made a move as Hazel reached down and pulled Stephenson's corpse roughly out of the hole in the ground. His face was now bloody and covered with shards of broken marble and metal stabbing into his face, red blood pouring out of those wounds in a spreading pool beneath him. Mavis shuddered slightly as she stared at the man who took her family from her.

"Justice has been served, just as Salem promised you." Hazel told her before he tossed the dead pirate captain onto the table, making the corpse slide down the surface. He walked forward and added, "Make no mistake, if any of you even consider turning on us or giving information to the authorities or our opponents, you'll wish you had shared his fate."

Careful nods met his words, and Hazel continued, "Anyone who doesn't want any part is this is free to back out now and leave, and live out the rest of your existence in the oceans because once you heard of our plan I'm afraid, if you'll pardon the expression, that ship will have has sailed. However, if you cooperate with us, you will enjoy the benefits that come with it. So make your decisions."

Watts smirked and remarked dryly, "You're quite the motivational speaker, Mr. Rainhart. Now, discuss this amongst yourselves and make your final decision. And please choose carefully."

"And while you're deliberating, we will dispose of Captain Stephenson's body. Dump 'im." Skarnage said, snapping his fingers and having his crew members seize the dead captain's body and giving the order to dispose of it.

"You killed one of my greatest enemies or me, for this I will join you." Yunthao said, bowing his head a little, "Just allow me to watch him sink into the depths of the ocean."

"Smart move, and I don't see the harm in letting you watch." Skarnage permitted before looking over to Stephenson's first mate and saying, "Well, will you and your crew stand by your late captain's stubbornness or will you join us willingly?"

The first mate of the Bloody Sails swallowed visibly and quickly said, "We're with you."

The other pirate captains scattered around the table also gave their agreements one by one.

"Good to know that people can still learn from the mistakes of others." Watts quipped as he twirled his mustache.

"You haven't answered my second question. So, can she truly control Grimm?" Silvers asked as Yunthao helped Skarnage's men carry Stephenson's body out of the room and onto the deck at the far end, overlooking the rocks.

"Ah yes, that. Mavis, would you please give the honored captains a demonstration?" Watts asked her gently, and the Grimm Commander nodded meekly as she turned and walked towards the deck, with the various pirate captains and their crew following behind her along with Hazel and Watts.

She suddenly turned her head back and looked at pirate captains, warning them, "Uh, you might want to warn your ships and tell them not to shoot. You'll only make it angry."

The assembled captains looked to each other, but each made the call to their crews not to open fire while Skarnage's men got ready to pitch Stephenson's corpse. Once everything was ready Mavis reached out, eyes glowing red as she drew upon her own dark powers.

All of a sudden from the rough churning waters surrounding the Shipwreck Rocks, rose the long slender scaled neck and body of a Grimm Sea Feilong, its short arms clutched to its chest while stretching its expansive wet wings and letting loose a blood-chilling roar that echoed throughout the cove. It eyes blazed bright yellow while red gills glowed down each side of its neck.

The pirates all took wild steps backward while some of their crews rushed back into the safety of the ballroom while Hazel, Watts and Skarnage remained calm. Silvers, with wide eyes, instead stepped forward in amazement at the sight of the usually terrifying beast remaining calm and steady as it lowered its head a large part of its body towards the mass of shipwrecks.

"It's… it's not attacking us..." Lizbetha noted with shock in her voice.

"No, because she is controlling it." Watts told her, an amused smirk on his lips.

"Magnificent." Yunthao remarked in awe.

"Throw him." Mavis spoke up, making the warthog Faunus captain look to her with a puzzled look. Mavis's glowing red eyes teared up as she looked to him, "Toss him into the ocean, just like he did to me and my parents!"

He nodded and gestured to the crewmen. He looked down at Stephenson's bearded face and smirked. "Bon Voyage, shithead."

With that Stephenson's body was thrown over the edge, his body crashing through the surface of the churning salt water with a mighty splash.

His face was still looking up, his dead eyes remaining open as his face was quickly submerged in seawater.

Mavis jerked her and all of a sudden the Sea Feilong darted down into the water and shot forward like a rocket loosed from its launcher, expertly avoiding the sharp rocks and ducking its head underwater to snatch the dead captain's body up, swallowing it in one mouthful. Its incredibly long neck came up to the decks of the makeshift docks, making Yunthao and Skarnage's men scramble away from it as Mavis approached.

She let out a heavy sigh and managed a smile as she placed her left hand on the Grimm dragon's snout. It obediently lowered its head and she climbed up and sat on the top of its mouth and smiled at the gawking looks of the pirates as they came closer, small plumes of water vapour and steam coming out of the Feilong's mouth as it lifted its head slightly.

Watts came to the head of the crowd and said, "You see, with the combined forces of all of your pirate ships and the aquatic Grimm controlled by young Mavis, we have a good chance of pulling this off."

Silvers smirked and said, "One last thing, Dr. Watts. I heard that a team from Haven has given you a lot trouble in the past, SSSN."

Watts stroke his chin in thought and nodded, "Ah yes, they have given our group problems before."

"I understand Scarlett David is on that team. I knew him, his parents were part of my crew, and they led a mutiny against me. I came out on top in the end but they…" Silvers gestured to his robotic hand and leg, "They got me good and their son escaped me."

"I see," Watts nodded, "I think something can be arranged."

"Well then, sign me up! " Silvers declared, followed by shouts of agreement from others pirate captains who haven't made their decision, but after seeing Mavis tame the Sea Feilong all of their doubts have vanished.

"Nemo's tactics have made life all the harder on our kind, so if your plan will allow us to destroy her once and for all, I will join you." Lizbetha agreed, and looked at Dr. Watts, "Only when this is done I will hold you to what you have promised us. Only one thing I do demand however."

Watts raised an eyebrow, "Let me take a wild guess...the head of Admiral Nemo?"

Lizbetha nodded, "On a spike. With regards to everything else, you can do as you wish."

"Excellent." Watts smiled and nodded to Mavis, who mirrored the gesture and looked down at Hazel who had crossed his arms and acknowledged her with a nod.

A while later, after all the pirate captains had signed the agreement to form an attack fleet together and unite against the Atlas Navy, and Mavis had sent the Sea Feilong away back into the ocean, things went more or less back to normal. Captain Skarnage stood with Watts, Hazel and Mavis at a balcony located at the highest point of the haphazardly-welded together shipwrecks that made up the pirate's sanctuary, the individual ships spread out in front of them stretching across one end of the island to the other.

"We're making it clear to all of our crews the conditions of this arrangement and making the punishment for betrayal even more clear to them all." Skarnage told them before looking out to the sea as the sun began to rise. "I think with all these ships allied together, we would have a decent chance of pulling this off. Hopefully you'll need us for more than a few attacks."

"Oh we will, Captain." Watts assured him as he turned to face the Panther Faunus, "There is something in Atlesian Ocean that we need, and we may need your help retrieving it. We don't know its exact location yet, but that will soon change."

"And when the time comes, we will do our best to serve you and the Dark Queen to the best of our abilities." Skarnage told them with a smile on his face.

"Make sure of that." Hazel remarked as a portal back to Salem's palace opened up at the far end of the balcony, which the three of them went through, the vortex promptly closing behind them.

Skarnage looked off at the rising sun, and saw a bit of red in the sky. The old saying 'red sky at morning, sailors take warning' echoed in his mind for a brief moment. 'Well, the Navy should heed it too, because soon the sea will be red with their blood.' He thought to himself.

Meanwhile at Salem's palace, Watts went off to inform Salem of their successful recruitment mission while Hazel began to walk off in the direction of his quarters.

"Uh, Mr. Hazel?" Mavis called quietly behind him.

He stopped and turned to look back at her, the small teen swallowed as she managed to continue, "Thank you for making him pay. I...I hated him but...I don't think I would have been able to kill him. I know I'll have to, but I don't really want to kill anybody."

Hazel looked at her silently before saying, "That may be a weakness, but there are weaknesses that one shouldn't be ashamed of. I think you still have your humanity, but the same cannot be said for some of us."

She looked at him in silence, and then understood what he meant. "Still, at least you have meted out justice, and gave your parents' killer what he deserves. I still haven't gotten justice for my sister." He told her gravely before spinning on his heels and walking off, his thudding footsteps echoing through the empty corridors of the castle.

Mavis watched as he left her behind, before she decided to retire for the day and get some much needed rest.

As she untied the arms of cloak from her waist, letting it drop, and got into a small wading pool that served as her bed in which she settled down into, letting the cooling water enter her gills, Mavis closed her eyes as small tears streamed out and fell into the cooling water around her.

She may have become a monster to do it, but now with her parents' killer gone, their spirits could finally rest in peace.

However, a small thought echoed in the back of her mind, asking her 'But at what cost?'

She didn't want the answer to that, and so simply went to sleep.

---

Ilia Amitola, adopting a calm demeanour, carefully made her way through the stone-carved and statue-lined walls of Shade Academy, thankful that no one had noticed her as being out of place. She wore a more casual outfit that consisted of a navy-black jacket and an inner plum-colored shirt, dark brown pants that ended at her knees and dark leather boots, while black fingerless gloves covered her hands. She had freed her hair from its ponytail, and adopted a single, complicated-looking braid which hung down to her shoulders and allowed her bangs to frame her tanned complexion. She couldn't do away with the darker spots on her face and limbs, since they were the reminder of the fact that she was still a Faunus, despite the choice she had made to become a hybrid.

She easily blended in with the rest of the students, and was secretly glad that Shade was one of the few academies that didn't have a dress code. Her grey eyes flicked around, taking in the details of her surroundings and mentally comparing them to the map of the Vacuoan Huntsman Academy she had memorized back at the Red Fang's secret staging area. Ante had shown her the secret underground passage that led to the academy's deepest sub-basement, and after making her way through the darkness she was relieved to discover that it did come out underneath Shade as promised, although it had been a tight fit to carefully work her way past the detritus of various stored crates of discarded items which have seemingly been left there to block the forgotten secret entrance for years. Fortunately, no one came down to the basement anymore, hence no security cameras or guards coming down to inspect anything, and so Ilia went undiscovered.

Speaking of Ante, the crime lord had the nerve to joke that she should go naked into Shade since she could easily camouflage herself into the colour of the stone blocks that made up the school, joking that her chest was flat enough to blend in, which was enough to make up Ilia's mind about him; he was just as messed up as Tyrian, had laughed like a nutcase at Ante's suggestion, much to her displeasure and anger. The female Fusion-Faunus felt her fists clench instinctively and resolved to stay out of either Ante or Tyrian's path whenever and wherever she can.

Still, she had a Maiden to seek out and spy on.

It was pretty easy to locate a service corridor in the labyrinth-like sub-basements as the Red Fang operative was in possession of a map provided by Ante's contact within Shade, one which told her the various places with the least amount of security and little-used corridors that she could take certain shortcuts, hide whenever necessary, and to get around relatively unnoticed. After producing her scroll to check the map on its screen once more, she produced the small note which was little more than a piece of paper which told her what the name of the Summer Maiden apparently was, as well as a basic description of what the Maiden looked like, so all Ilia had to do was find this 'Heliosia' woman and try and confirm if this woman had any hint of Maiden powers about herself.

She had used the first half of the school day to fully acquaint herself with its layout, using her now enhanced Semblance and talented stealth skills to hide herself without much difficulty from detection and evade the security cameras placed at every major intersection of halls. Ilia herself had activated her own Semblance of camouflage and color change at a young age, but with the modified version of the Chameleon DNA that had been placed inside of her by Dr. West and the other scientists working for Salem, she could now become totally invisible whenever she needed to do so at will.

It was currently the lunch hour and break period, and as Ilia walked through the busy halls she couldn't help but noticed the sheer number of Faunus students attending Shade. It was no surprise that the Kingdom of Vacuo had a significantly larger Faunus population than the others, so it had been slightly more open to their kind, but it still nevertheless surprised her to see how many teams were made up of both Faunus and Human students.

While the majority of Teams she saw were made up of both races, there were others which were mostly human with one Faunus, or mostly Faunus with one human, or an equal number of humans and Faunus, and a small number of Teams that were made up of fully human or fully Faunus members.

It honestly amazed her to see such diverse teams within Shade, as compared to what things were like back in Atlas. But she had to keep in mind that this was Vacuo, a Kingdom with a heavy Faunus population which made it more tolerant towards them for ages, but while she was aware of teams of humans and Faunus in the other Kingdoms it didn't mean that the segregation and prejudice wasn't there. All the Teams Blake was aligned with only had one Faunus in them after all, so they were still in the minority.

Nonetheless, Ilia couldn't deny how much better things looked in Vacuo. She glanced over to a long series of benches in front of a sunny window, and spotted a couple lunching together. The girl of the duo had long, black-tipped Lynx ears while the boy appeared to be completely human, and they were interacting happily with each other. Then again, since she was able to pass as human most of the time so that didn't actually mean anything, so he could have possessed some hidden animal trait like she did.

Though she couldn't lie to herself that the boys sitting at the tables scattered around in the cafeteria eating, messing around with each other lightheartedly, and laughing together were all human or Faunus, there was an obvious mix of both races.

'This is Vacuo,' She thought a little bitterly to herself, 'The day that happens in Atlas is the day I'll admit Blake won.'

Despite the fact that it had been a year-and-a-half since their last encounter, Ilia couldn't help but think about Blake in her heart, especially about the time they shared a heartfelt talk on the roof, the subject of which regarding the reasons they each joined the White Fang. That had been a long time ago, and apparently their motivations and mindsets had changed as well, seeing what Blake did to take down the White Fang and Adam. As she walked across the length of the cavernous cafeteria, the girl knew that sooner or later there would be a reckoning between them, and she would want the answer as to why Blake turned her back on the White Fang.

As she looked around her, Ilia could see an academy where Faunus of every species were seen as equals to humans and got along just fine with the rest of them, and that was the realization of the original goals of the White Fang before Adam took over from Claudandus. It was a dream that White Fang recruits like Blake and herself aspired to make reality, and here it was… more or less.

Still, not everything was as it seemed, she suspected that some of the human students yet harbored resentment and prejudice against the Faunus race, they simply hid it so as not to draw attention to themselves and get punished. Ilia distinctly remembered a particular conversation she had shared with Adam before on one occasion, in which he had taught her the evils that humans were capable of hiding, though she couldn't deny that in the end Adam had been swallowed up by that hatred as well, which allowed it to twist him into the monster he became in the end.

But that didn't mean that Adam was wrong about everything, as Ilia herself had experienced the cruelty of humans firsthand. She recalled when she was very young, growing up in the mining community in Mantle before moving to Atlas to attend Atlas Academy. Despite being forced to hide her Faunus heritage by her parents, she enjoyed blending in with the human students there and even spoke badly of the Faunus just to gain the acceptance of her human friends.

However, it all changed one day when she and her classmates received news of a large explosion which caused a cave-in within the mines, resulting in the deaths of many Faunus workers. The very same friends who she studied and laughed with, instead of showing shock and concern, simply snickered about it and at that point in time she could not contain her emotions. As she cried her heart out, her spots became more obvious and when her so-called friends asked her what was wrong she lashed out at them, growling and her friends became afraid of her. Then the bullying came, when she was punched and kicked by assaulters just to see her change colour. She remembered how bratty and self-centered human girls called her ugly, and she did not take it lying down.

She assaulted them, broke noses and knocked out teeth.

Ilia was suddenly ripped out of her memories and thoughts when she heard the sounds of an intense fight, as well as the voices of a bunch of rowdy students coming from the main corridor outside the cafeteria. Many other students were making their way towards the sounds of battle, while others were calling their friends to come and watch the spectacle unfolding in the adjacent combat arenas.

Her curiosity, and the slight fear that it was perhaps something to do with race, eventually got the best of her and she ran to catch up with several students out of the cafeteria doors and over to the expansive courtyard outside, where the combat arenas were located and surrounded by invisible energy fields to prevent any spectators getting injured by projectiles or other objects from the arenas.

What she heard from the other academy students running beside and hurriedly past her simply made Ilia want to see what was exactly happening judging from the near-constant sounds of clashing of weapons and slamming of bodies coming from the largest combat arena in the courtyards right in front of her.

The chameleon and cheetah-hybrid girl pushed her way through the crowds of students and managed to get close to the handrail surrounding the training area, before finally settling down into a spot where she can see the entire battle without anyone accidentally blocking her view. Her eyes widened slightly when she spotted a strong and rather attractive-looking young woman with long brunette hair and tanned skin who appeared at first glance to be slightly older than the rest of the other students, and she was currently fighting a team made up of four humans by herself.

Ilia turned to look at the electronic screen which was placed beside the combat arena, and was informed that the team that was fighting against the brown-haired woman was Team BRNZ, and the aura monitor beside their headshots was displaying different numerical values of their aura levels. Their opponent still had more or less the entirety of her aura intact, while for Team BRNZ they were steadily being pushed into the orange range at the moment.

She glanced over and recognized that she was standing right next to one of the teams representing Shade from the Vytal Festival, Team NDGO to be precise. After a brief moment of recollection she remembered they were the all-girl team who had lost to Team SSSN during the festival. While the Red Fang agent knew that she had more important things to do than to watch an combat arena match, she was also aware of the fact that if she did not blend in with the student body the Vacuo Rangers security guards would inevitably find her behavior peculiar, if not outright suspicious. And since there were so many students gathering to watch the match, her target might be hidden among. Besides, it couldn't hurt to watch a little action.

"Hey, what's going on?" She asked the girl closest to her innocently, one who sported dark blonde hair and violet eyes, and clothed in a sleeveless green dress, with what seemed to be golden-scale armor covering her chest, neck and left arm, while a lighter green sash was tied around her hips in addition to a small golden pauldron on her right arm.

"Huh? Oh, well… Team BRNZ challenged Adara Aenia to a fight after they saw her take out an entire squadron of training bots in the gym this morning. Or that's the story we were told anyway." The girl explained over the sounds of other students cheering at each move and countermove happening before their very eyes.

"They've been doing pretty good since the school year began, and Adara has become kind of a role model for us Huntresses-in-training." Said another girl brick-red hair, olive green eyes and her turquoise and brown outfit, "She even gave us some good advice a week ago."

"Is she a student here?" Ilia inquired as she watched the woman identified as Adara easily evade a few sharp jabs from Nolan Porfirio's cattle prod weapon, turning aside the latest strike and delivering first a elbow jab and then a swift roundhouse kick that sent him skidding across the arena's hard surface.

A girl with indigo hair brushed over her left side and olive eyes glanced at her and said, "No, we heard that she's some friend of Headmistress Luna and she's been living here for a couple of months. She tends to keep to herself, but she's nice enough. May I ask who you are?"

She had anticipated this and thus responded without difficulty, "My name is Lilyanna, my team and I are from Sandstone Academy in the Southwest of Vacuo. We were on a mission and since our Bullhead is under repairs at the moment we decided to stay here at Shade Academy for the time being. The rest of my team are resting up but I was bored and decided to take a walk around to see if there's anything interesting."

The leader of Team NDGO nodded and replied, "Well, it's nice to meet you Lilyanna. I'm Nebula, and here are my teammates Dew, Octavia, and Gwen." She said, gesturing to an olive-skinned girl with curly black hair pulled back from her face into ringlets and brown eyes, wearing a black and grey corset dress as well as a pair of armour tassets filled with throwing knives connected by a belt around her waist, who was watching the match carefully.

"Pleased to meet you." Ilia gave a fake smile and directed her head towards the battle taking place behind the force fields, "So, did Adara fight anyone else besides Team BRNZ?"

"Oh yeah, but you aren't here to witness those matches." Nebula mentioned, and began to tick off her fingers, "She beat Team HVST in pugil stick matches, dominated Team KAKI in hand-to-hand combat, and even defeated Team SHDW in a four-versus-one showdown like this one."

"Wow, that's… impressive." Ilia answered.

"Quite down girls, I want to watch this." Gwen chirped as her eyes were glued to the fight.

Nebula smiled and shook her head, while Ilia stood beside them and watched the hard-fought match, cheering whenever any of the combatants performed a particularly impressive move, so as to keep up appearances. As she watched the new girl fight all four members of Team BRNZ, the Fusion Faunus couldn't help but notice that this 'Adara Aenia' matched the description of the Summer Maiden she was given by the spy.

'Adara' back-flipped high into the air, managing to avoid the simultaneous attacks from Brawnz Ni, Nolan Porfirio, and Roy Stallion, whose weapons; a clawed gauntlet, electric cattle prod and an arm-mounted buzzsaw respectively, but they all met empty air as she spun through the air in a perfect somersault.

She landed behind them and drew her weapon, a staff and kusarigama hybrid named Flameguard, to strike at them while it was in staff form. The long stick extended to its fullest length within a couple of seconds and she jabbed at Brawnz's exposed back several times in quick succession before sweeping him off his feet with her weapon and then kicking him into Nolan, knocking the both of them down and resulting in Brawnz getting an electric shock from his teammate's prod. Then as though somehow forewarned, she bent over backwards just as Roy slashed horizontally towards her, the humming saw blades passing just bare centimeters from her chest and chin, and then struck back with her staff and whacking him across the cheek, momentarily disorientating the young man.

Before 'Adara' could press her attack, she sidestepped quickly just as May Zedong fired off a shot from her sniper rifle, the shot missing but buying her fellow team members some breathing space. The lightly-tanned, grey-blue eyed girl with dusky-rose hair speedily chambered another round into her weapon for another go at their powerful opponent, changing position where she could snipe without being hit by Flameguard.

Roy dashed forward again, furiously slashing at her with his sawblades, making 'Adara' bob and weave away from them until she pressed the side of Flameguard, which activated its kusarigama ability. A metallic circle with sharp edges like a sun ejected out from the tip which was connected to the staff by a strong, thin metallic chain. Timing her actions just as Roy brought his arm back for another slash, she wrapped the end of the chain around Roy's arms like a whip in one swift and well placed motion, careful to make sure the sharp parts of the metallic circle didn't cut him.

Roy had a brief look of shock when she yanked him forward, and so he jumped up and attempted to kick her, only for 'Adara' to step back unexpectedly and resulting in him nearly slamming into the section of the energy shield that was erected to protect spectators. Spinning around he managed to somehow free his hands him Flameguard's chains and sprinted towards her, throwing up his arms upwards in a downwards strike. Whipping the chains back into her staff, 'Adara' dived underneath Roy and used her momentum to come up behind him, kicking out his legs and throwing him down face-first onto the floor. The sound of a shot cracked through the air, and she ducked just in time to avoid May's second shot, rolling away to find cover.

The sniper rushed forward, taking shots at the Huntress whenever she could. When she closed within striking distance, May speedily snapped her sniper rifle apart and reconfigured it to form a shotgun in its secondary form, an addition she had added after the Battle of Haven for any situations that involve close-quarters combat.

'Adara' shot towards her in a sprint, and dodged a low-impact shot from May's shotgun configuration. May reloaded and fired again, catching her opponent in mid-sprint and sent her sprawling on her back, but the Huntress rolled out of the way immediately to avoid getting blasted again. 'Adara' quickly got up to her knees and felt another presence coming up behind her, and turned just in time to see Nolan bringing up his prod for a strike.

Before Nolan could jam his weapon into her shoulder he felt 'Adara' grabbing his arm, gracefully sidestepping him, and threw him directly into May who cried out as she let the third shot go off, blasting Nolan right before the prod collided into her and sent electricity coursing through her body. A number of spectators watching the battle winced slightly at the sight while others cheered and offered shouts of encouragement.

She was about to run forward to separate them when two chimes on the aura monitor notified her and the watching students that Nolan's aura was depleted to the red zone, while May was even lower as she was clearly twitching a little on the ground with a look of painful disbelief on her normally stoic face. Hearing the humming buzz of saws once more she leaned back instinctively as Roy thrusted his arms outwards to cut her again, and that earned him a couple of quick chops to his side and a series of rapid-fire punches to his chest and face that sent him promptly collapsing onto the firm ground.

As Roy thudded to the ground 'Adara' spun around just in time to catch Brawnz charging her, his claw gauntlets flicking out and aiming to slash at her. He delivered a flurry of kicks which she managed to deflect just as quickly, and then went on the defensive by using Flameguard to block his claws as they strained against each other.

"I gotta admit, you're really good." Brawnz grunted as he struggled against her.

"So I've been told, I'm not one to brag." She replied before she kicked him in the stomach which sent him stumbling backwards, and threw Flameguard's staff form up into the air. Sprinting forwards she delivered a number of precise punches to his upper body and then kicked Brawnz in the knees to knock him down, finally delivering the finishing move to deplete his aura by allowing Flameguard to come down so she could use it as a distraction to whack him on the side of the head and the leader of Team BRNZ collapsed sideways, effectively winning the match as another chime signaled his aura depletion.

The gathered crowds of students cheered and applauded loudly for both sides for the good match as Roy pushed himself up from the hardened floor of the arena, rubbing his face where it was subtly swelling. 'Adara' walked over to each member of Team BRNZ and helped them up to their feet, making sure each of them weren't seriously hurt, which they luckily weren't, and she also gave them a genuine smile of recognition before turning to bow politely at the cheering crowds who whooped and shouted their appreciation loudly for such a spectacular match.

"Hey, thanks for the match. Maybe you could teach us a few of your moves next time." The leader of Team BRNZ said as he held the side of his head where Flameguard's haft knocked into him.

"I would be delighted to." 'Adara' replied as she smiled warmly, "My apologies if I went overboard, since I am not used to fighting those younger than me."

"I would say that was obvious, but still a victory is a victory, Miss Aenia." The voice of Headmistress Luna Aria spoke as she appeared from the crowds of gathered students with her assistant secretary Cedric standing behind her, the latter pressing a button on a nearby control panel to deactivate the shields surrounding the main combat arena.

The headmistress of Shade Academy was tall and dignified, a woman in her early forties with long smooth hair as black as night and dark blue eyes. She wore a flowing blue and green-colored brocade dress embroidered with elaborate flora patterns that were repeated hundreds of times over the silken cloth, and footwear that resembled a mix between ornate desert boots and sandals with golden filigree. She had two long hair braids at each side of her shrewd face, and a symbol of the moon with four small yellow stars was painted on her forehead. A long sleek scimitar and a khopesh sword, both with beautifully-crafted hilts, dangled on either side of her waist attached by their ends to a brown belt. Her fingers were covered with signet rings in a wide variety of patterns, and bracelets of gold and silver covered her forearms in swirling patterns that resembled the sand dunes of Vacuo.

As if her appearance was just being noticed, all the students present in the crowds surrounding the main combat arena quickly straightened up and quieted down as the Headmistress walked forward. They all liked and respected her as she was compassionate and caring towards her students, but would not hesitate to take serious actions should anything wrong come to her attention.

Ilia, upon seeing the headmistress, slowly and subtly shifted behind Team NDGO and a couple of other students, just to make sure that Luna wouldn't notice her. If anyone were to know the face of every single student within their Huntsman Academy and easily identify anyone out-of-place, it would undoubtedly be the headmistress herself.

"Well, don't let me spoil the fun then," She said with a faint smile, "There's nothing against the rules about a friendly match, even if it is four against one."

"Sorry Headmistress." Team BRNZ said together as they bowed a little.

"No harm done, students." She assured them before turning to the crowds around the main combat arena, "Break time is almost over, so I would suggest that you rest up befor your next class. Team BRNZ." Turning to 'Adara', she gestured for the young woman to follow her, "Adara, walk with me."

'Adara' nodded and shook hands with the four members of Team BRNZ, "It was nice to meet you all, perhaps I can show you a few of my techniques some other time. You did your best, so there's no shame in that, for now just keep learning and training and I'm sure you will all improve very quickly." She then gave them a small bow which the other team returned, smoothly slipping Flameguard in its retracted form back into its holster on her lower back, and acknowledged Team NDGO with a smile and a nod before leaping over the elevated handrail and joining the headmistress in walking back into the interiors of Shade.

Ilia silently observed them as they walked into the least populated hall leading to the courtyard with the headmistress's assistant secretary trailing a few steps behind them. She easily slipped through the crowds of academy students who were dispersing in all directions and talking excitedly among themselves about the match, and she did it so quietly that Team NDGO didn't even notice her absence until it she was away.

The secret Red Fang operative stealthily snuck around the corners of the hall, listening in on the conversation taking place between 'Adara' and the headmistress.

"You should have asked me for permission before you went ahead and fought them." Luna gently reprimanded as she crossed her arms and looked down at 'Adara' who returned her look with piercing maroon eyes.

"Well, it would have looked strange, don't you think? Having to go to the headmistress every single time just to arrange a simple match?" 'Adara' argued as she gestured with her hands.

"Point taken, but it still means your bodyguards will be getting on my case over this match." Luna sighed as she faced forward.

"I personally think they're used to it by now." 'Adara' remarked with a small laugh.

Ilia's eyes narrowed as she hid behind a nearby pillar, sticking to the shadows as she thought 'Bodyguards? Why would a visitor need bodyguards? Unless she's some form of VIP related to the Vacuoan Council, which is a distinct possibility. She's definitely Maiden-like, with incredible beauty and strength, and the presence of bodyguards and what Team NDGO had told me means that there's something definitely going on with her.'

As they turned a corner into a length of hallway with tall open windows that offered a breathtaking view of the landscape and the desert and scattered trees and rocks behind the city, Ilia silently slipped in and out of the pool of shadows along the way, relying on her camouflage abilities to stay out of the view of the security cameras.

"We're in an empty wing, is that correct?" Luna slowly turned and asked Cedric.

"Yes, Ma'am. No students are present in this wing at the moment and all of the faculty members are also on break. I even made sure that the main security bureau had deactivated the cameras just in case anyone in the offices may be watching." Cedric reported.

"Thank you for your diligence." Luna told him before saying to 'Adara', "As we don't know how much longer you will be staying here, I don't think it would be productive to make too many friends since there's a possibility you won't be seeing them again."

"I know, but those Teams, especially BRNZ and NDGO, show a lot of promise in regards to their team dynamics and fighting methods. I wouldn't mind teaching them a few things, since it would probably greatly help them in future when they graduate as fully-fledged Hunters." 'Adara' commented.

"We'll go over it with your protectors, but right now please continue to limit your interactions with the student body as much as you can. I'm sorry, but if any of them discover who you really are things might rapidly get complicated and I seriously don't want to impose a stricter curfew on your comings and goings, Adara." Luna informed the young woman who nodded in response.

"I'll remember that, Headmistress." 'Adara' answered almost instantly.

Well, that settled it. There was obviously more to this 'Adara Aenia' than it initially appeared. It made sense for her to be using an alias if she was the Summer Maiden, but Ilia wondered why the spy within Shade didn't use it in the note passed on to her. Maybe the spy was not a hundred-percent sure if Luna's guest was actually the Summer Maiden, or maybe the agent didn't want to be too complicit.

Ilia kept following them discreetly until they approached another open courtyard that had an extensive garden with multi-coloured flowers and tall green trees grown within it along with the presence of a rather large fountain. At the far end of the courtyard was another large building built out of sun-bleached sandstone with a tall tower at its very roof. A pair of large doors at the front facing the garden opened up and led to a grand-looking staircase beyond the threshold. A group of Vacuo Rangers stood at the many terraces and rafters of the surrounding buildings that framed the large courtyard, their weapons all at the ready and alert.

Slipping into the shadows at a darkened corner of a long eastern-facing corridor which allowed her a view of the headmistress and the young woman, Ilia heard Luna speak again, "Some members of the council have suggested that I should keep you locked in the guest tower, like some princess from a fairy tale, but I know how much you value your freedom, so I refused."

"And how did they take it?" 'Adara' raised an quizzical eyebrow.

"They aren't happy, but I managed to make them appreciate your choice." Luna continued, shaking her head a little, "Besides, with your exceptional combat skills I'm sure you can more than handle yourself should anything happens, and while I've sworn an oath in the past to protect you to the best of my abilities I shall do so without precariously compromising the goodwill we have with each other."

"I know all of these precautions are for my safety, Headmistress, so don't worry about it. I'm already used to it, and I'm sure my bodyguards can also share the burden of protecting me should something happen. Still, it wouldn't hurt to help the students of Shade Academy hone their skills further, would it?" 'Adara' reasoned as she placed her hands on her hips.

"I'll speak to Fire Walker, and see what he thinks of what you have told me. Until then, have a good day, Adara." Luna gently patted the brown-haired woman on the shoulder and Cedric bowed politely before they turned and left through the courtyard again, while the latter feminine figure returned her courtesies before disappearing up the marble staircase as the large doors grinded shut behind her.

Ilia automatically shrunk back into the small and shadowy alcove she had chosen to hide in, using her skin colour-changing Semblance and the shadows to hide herself and held her breath from the view of Shade Academy's headmistress and her assistant secretary as they both walked by.

Once they were gone she opened her scroll once more to check the map to see which tower building 'Adara' had entered, and nodded to herself when she saw that it was the building that was used to house guests from other Kingdoms and exchange students, but it seems this particular one had been set aside for the exclusive use of 'Adara'. Curiouser and curiouser.

She had her suspicions from the various clues she had gathered around Shade Academy and from the conversation between Luna and the young woman who was being guarded far too seriously for a simple V.I.P.. Making a mental note to wait until nightfall to confirm if 'Adara' was really the Summer Maiden they were looking for, Ilia vanished into the shadows once more without leaving a trace.

---

Classes had ended at Beacon Academy for the day, but the various training halls within the school were still busy. While their studies were over for the day, their personal training were never quite done, and many knew this all too well.

Ruby cried out as she landed on her rear back on the padded floor of the training hall, sweat running down her cream-colored skin. She shook her head and blinked as she gazed up at the harsh lights of ceiling, just as Yang and Penny entered her sight and looked down at her.

"Sorry about the trip, Rubes, but you gotta be prepared for anything coming your way. Keep in mind that a lot of opponents are gonna fight dirty." Yang advised as she offered her flesh-and-blood hand to her sister.

Ruby accepted it and was hauled up to her feet, "It's all right, Yang. I should've paid attention to more than trying to dodge your fists."

Team RWBY, along with Penny, were currently in Beacon's expansive training hall, getting to work on improving Ruby's hand-to-hand combat skills as Argentius had suggested. Thus far, the silver-eyed girl had done reasonably well, but there was still a clear need for improvement. On another separate exercise mat not far away from them, Weiss and Blake were having a practice duel, trading soft blows, strikes and parries with each other, their movements swift and deft as they sparred.

All four girls and one female android were wearing their own individual gym uniforms as per regulation; a red t-shirt with black sweatpants for Ruby, black gym shorts and a yellow tank-top for Yang, a white t-shirt with silver-grey pants for Weiss, a black tank-top with white sweatpants cut off at the knees for Blake, and a beige t-shirt with green lines running down its short sleeves and black shorts combo for Penny.

After checking Ruby over for any unseen injuries, Yang gave her younger sister a nod who then walked over to stand at the center of the sparring mat and said towards the robot girl, "Okay Penny, you're up. Come at me."

"I will try my best, Ruby!" Penny promised as she approached her friend and took up a combat stance. Once she was right opposite of Ruby, the black and red-haired Huntress whipped around and let fly a punch that the android blocked easily before sidestepping another punch which flew past her face, shot out her hands to grab onto Ruby's arm and spinning her around.

"Don't hold back Ruby! Penny can take it!" Yang coached as her sister struggled in the android's grip.

Ruby managed to knee Penny in the gut, causing the android girl to jerk forward but she still kept her grip on Ruby's left arm. She the darted behind Ruby and attempted to hit her in the back but Ruby spun quickly and blocked the blow with an elbow jab before kicking out and forcing Penny to let go of her, managing to free herself from Penny's grasp.

The two approached one another once more, and Ruby managed to duck under Penny's attempt to get her into a headlock by side-stepping and throwing a left cross which was turned aside by Penny, who returned by striking again with several punches, with Ruby barely managing to defend herself by protecting her head with both forearms placed horizontally in front of her. As Penny launched another punch Ruby used her left hand to grab it and her right arm to attempt a retaliation, which Penny grabbed with her free hand and twisted slightly, making Ruby yelp as she was put into an arm-lock.

"Friend Ruby, are you in pain?" Penny asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah! Mind letting me go now?" Ruby turned over her shoulder to look at Penny who immediately let go with an apologetic look on her face.

"My apologies, friend Ruby."

"It's all right." Ruby assured her.

"Okay, you are doing good on defense but you gotta work on your offense." Yang drilled carefully as she observed them, and when Penny let her younger sister go she shot forward and began her attack. She then knocked Ruby back with a swift kick, and landed some light hits on the team leader's shoulder and chin when the latter moved her arms to block the brawler's sudden leg thrust, then grabbed Ruby by the back of her neck and forced her down while holding her arms upright, and finally finishing off by knocking Ruby off her feet with a sweeping kick.

"Ow! What gives?!" Ruby demanded as she sat up, rubbing her head.

"Always be prepared in case you're outnumbered," Yang told her as she watched Ruby push herself to her feet once more, and beckoned, "Come at me, sis!"

Ruby huffed before charging, and thanks to her Semblance she shot forward like a bullet, managing to land an opening blow on Yang's chest which nearly knocked the blonde fighter back. She threw out another admittedly impressive punch that Yang managed to dodge by moving her head aside at the right moment. Ruby then struck with her feet next, landing a blow on Yang's right shin and avoiding her elder sister's return kick, before lifting her leg high and hitting Yang on her left shoulder.

"That's more like it!" The blonde brawler complimented before Ruby struck again, but Yang grabbed the incoming fist and attempted to strike back with her free hand, only for Ruby to block it with her forearm. Yang smiled before using her grip on Ruby's left hand to twist her younger sister around, grab her midsection, and finally throw Ruby onto the mat again with a suplex move.

"Oh man, uncle!" Ruby whined as Yang helped her up again.

"Sorry, Uncle Qrow's not here." Yang quipped with a smirk.

Ruby rolled her eyes before Penny tilted her head and quietly suggested, "Perhaps we could quit for today, if you would like."

The scythe-wielding Huntress shook her head stubbornly and said, "Not yet, I'm not quitting until I manage to win at least one match. Come at me again, Penny!"

"That's the spirit!" Weiss called over positively while Blake raised an eyebrow. They had finished with their sword-sparring, and were now observing the close-range combat training. The Schnee heiress gave her partner an encouraging look, and Ruby returned it with a bright smile.

Ruby braced herself as Penny came forward, her body set in another fighting stance. She blocked and grabbed the first punch the android girl threw, forcing it down just as Penny landed a sharp slap on the side of her head. Momentarily disoriented, Ruby threw a clumsy punch Penny effortlessly dodged, and then moved under Ruby's extended arm and throwing a fist into her chest, causing Ruby to be pushed back a few steps. She then jumped over a sweeping leg before coming up again, wrapping her arms around Ruby's right arm, turning to slowly twist her friend down to the ground. Ruby was clearly struggling against the android's considerable strength, but wasn't about to give up just yet.

The silver-eyed girl speedily turned on her side and used her legs to push herself away, narrowly avoiding and blocking the elbow jab Penny tried to land on her shoulder. She twisted clear out of Penny's grip and in one swift motion delivered a fast kick which knocked the robotic girl's head back and then leaped forward and slammed into Penny's midriff, bringing her sparring opponent onto the exercise mats with a loud thud.

Ruby grunted as she brought her forearm underneath Penny's chin while using her other hand to keep the other robotic girl's other limbs from protecting herself, "Gotcha!"

Penny smiled and said, "Well done, Ruby! I yield."

Ruby returned the smile before letting herself fall over beside Penny onto the exercise mats, taking in deep breaths and faintly hearing the applause coming from both Weiss and Blake. Ruby jokingly flexed her limbs where she lay and said, "Oh yeah, who's the girl?"

Yang came over to her, knelt down and grinned, "You remind me of me when I first started training with dad."

"Yeah, but did you ever fight against a robot girl when you were training?" Ruby asked as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Nope, but there's always a first time. I'm sure I could easily lift Penny if I tried." Yang boasted as she looked over to Penny, who remained on the floor, smiling.

"I am sure the chances of that happening are quite high, and I would be more than happy to help you with your training, friend Yang." Penny offered.

Yang nodded as she helped Ruby up again, and smirked before adding, "I would do that, but I'll do this instead!"

Suddenly, she rammed straight into a stunned Ruby and suplexed her down onto the ground, then dropped on top of her younger sister and began to wrestle her.

"Oh, come on!" Ruby whined as she struggled to fight back. The wrestling sisters moved ahead on the mat, as Ruby managed to get her legs up and around Yang's head before using all her strength to tumble them around. Yang promptly freed herself from Ruby's head-scissors move, jumping upwards only to see the younger sibling throw an attempted karate chop at Yang's shoulder. She weaved side and managed to grab the extended limb, accidentally leaving her other side open and allowing Ruby to use both of her legs to kick Yang in the gut and knocking the elder sibling off the younger one.

Yang rolled away and recovered, jumping back up and smiling at Ruby, "You're improving pretty fast. That's my little sister!" She praised, "By the way, where did you learn all of these new tricks from?"

"Argentius taught me a couple of new fighting skills during our meeting." Ruby replied, shaking her hands to get the blood flowing once more, "I'm still trying to find a chance to practice what he taught me."

"Well, I'm sure you can find some way." Yang nodded her head, "So we keep going until you win one match against me?"

"No problem." Ruby said confidently, tilting her head in both directions and stopped when no noise came from the action, saying, "Uh… how do I make the knuckle-cracking sound with my neck?"

"Not important, sis. Stay focused." Yang snapped before she charged at Ruby again.

Ruby dug in her feet before she used her Semblance to launch herself at Yang again. The sisters collided and Ruby reached up to grab Yang by the head, careful not to be too rough on her sister's hair, and then used her weight to bring them both crashing into the ground. As second passed it was clear that her elder sister was gaining an advantage.

Ruby struggled under Yang for a brief moment, but when a couple of strands of Yang's long blonde hair obscured her vision for a brief moment, she got an impromptu idea; one that was unfortunately a tad too mean, but one that could win her the match.

Her knee jabbed sharply into Yang's midriff, briefly knocking the wind out of her older sister and giving Ruby the opportunity to tumble Yang around and scramble up her large body, and grab hold of Yang's precious locks of blonde hair.

Ruby smirked and asked, "Do you give up?"

Yang looked at her little sister in shock and stuttered, "Y-you wouldn't…" Weiss and Blake were both equally surprised Ruby would go as far as to threaten Yang's hair, of all things, to win the fight.

"I can play dirty too, if I have to. Plus, a good fighter pays attention to their opponents, and their weaknesses." Ruby said with a victorious grin.

Yang closed her eyes, let out a deep breath and said, "Okay, I give up. You beat me, sis."

Ruby smiled and released her sister's precious hair before falling backwards, breathing in and out as she relaxed on the floor.

Weiss and Blake came over to help them up, with the cat Faunus smiling at her partner while she gingerly stroked her yellow locks. She looked over to her leader and said, "That was a good strategy Ruby, one I didn't expect from you but it worked nonetheless."

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, I don't think I really would have done it. I would've only taken one little strand of hair, at most." Ruby said as she sat up, accepting the towel Weiss handed her to wipe off her sweat.

"Even one little strand of hair is one is too many." Yang pouted before smiling, "Still, gotta give you props, that was pretty smart and sneaky."

"I don't know about sneaky, but I hope I'm getting smarter." Ruby answered.

Weiss patted her on the shoulder and said, "Trust me, you most definitely are."

Ruby smiled at her as Penny came over, and the robotic girl asked, "So, would you like to go for another round?"

"No way!" Ruby cried, shaking her head and bringing up her hands, "Enough is enough for today!"

The others laughed as Ruby rolled her eyes, but once it died down she said, "Still, I'd say I improved a bit more than before, but what do you think?"

Yang nodded, "I think so too, but you're not an ace at it yet, so we'll keep going and see how much better you can get."

"How about a tag team match next time?" Weiss suggested evenly, "Ruby and I against you and Blake, Penny can be the referee and observe us all, telling us what we can improve on."

The rest of Team RWBY all considered it and nodded, "That's a pretty good idea, Weiss." Blake agreed.

"I'm up for it." Yang said.

"Count me in!" Ruby replied happily.

"I am more than happy to observe how the four of you can fight in a tag match." Penny added with a grin on her face as she adopted a sitting pose, "It would be so exciting!"

"I'm sure we can do it some other day, because right now I need a good long rest." Ruby said, letting herself fall back to the exercise mats to emphasize how tired she was, making Yang laugh while Blake smiled and shook her head.

"In that case, let's get you back to the dorm room." Weiss said as she and Penny lifted Ruby up, helping her towards the exit while Yang and Blake walked over to the benches to collect their stuff.

"I am so glad to have friends like you." Ruby remarked tiredly as she let them take her away.

---

Ilia knelt on a rooftop of one of the highest buildings surrounding the massive academy, this one being some sort of factory complex churning out refined minerals that had been mined from the various sites scattered around Sanus. She hid amongst the long metallic pipes that led to the water towers that populate the various roofs, while being surrounded on both sides by tall vent shafts and spinning turbine vents, knowing that their generated heat would mask her heat signature easily while she stuck to the shadows.

She had slipped out of Shade Academy the way she came in, changing into her stealth bodysuit and the specialized horned mask she was currently wearing, which helped her to blend in quite well with her surroundings. She scaled the walls of the darkened back-alleyways pretty quickly once she identified the factory complex which would have a perfect view of the tower 'Adara' was presently living in, and leaped onto the roof after she had reached the top. After finding a comfortable and practical spot to hide she kept to the darkness surrounding her, her skin easily turning charcoal-black with nothing but a thought. After making sure that she didn't accidentally attract any unwelcome attention, Ilia took out the pair of high-tech night vision binoculars that Ante had given her from one of her pouches and aimed them up at the tower.

She made cursory sweeps to the places she had identified and memorized on the map to make sure that she wasn't spotted by any of the sentries which had been posted along the academy's ramparts, checking out the small activities and security patrols happening around the school at night. The landing platforms which were connected by a direct path that led to the transport terminal were empty save for a couple of Vacuo Ranger Bullheads, and very few students were still out as the majority were already heading back to their dorms for the night.

Everything was progressing along well so far, and she was well under the radar for any of the patrolling Vacuo Ranger security guards with her choice of hiding places. Of course there was also the possibility of her being spotted by any unseen guards, but so far no alarm was raised within the Academy and her Faunus senses also told her that nothing was currently moving stealthily towards her on the rooftops at the moment. Nevertheless, she readied her whip just in case.

From what she had observed earlier of 'Adara's' activities, there was nothing out of ordinary with regards to her reading quite a number of books and watching the television screen. A thought crossed Ilia's mind that there was a chance that this girl wasn't a Maiden, but simply the daughter related to any of the members of Vacuo's Council, or someone like a well-connected old friend or politician with very close ties to Aria herself who requested for 'Adara' to stay within Shade Academy for an extended period of time as something of a personal favor, and hence she was nothing too special.

That would probably explain why she was so proficient in defending herself, but a nagging thought that Ilia couldn't shake told her that it was somewhat strange that a young woman like her would have such a weapon and would be skilled enough that she could easily defeat four Hunters-in-training and only being slightly winded after the match.

Adding to the fact that Ante's contacts hadn't been able to dig up any record of an 'Adara Aenia' made it unlikely that the young woman was connected to anyone within the Kingdom of Vacuo unless those records were so deeply buried and sealed behind countless layers of security that even undercover agents were unable to get to them. Ilia frowned as she considered the possibility, but promptly discarded it since the clues surrounding the girl she witnessed fighting Team BRNZ made her quite suspicious, and most importantly she had a gut feeling she was on the right track.

There was still one other thing she needed to confirm, and that was the secretive bodyguards that hadn't yet been seen. Perhaps if she continued to keep watch, she might just catch a glimpse of these 'bodyguards' Aria had mentioned, perhaps they were the key to proving that she was the Summer Maiden they were looking for.

She shook her head and looked back at the tower once more, trying to return her focus to her assigned mission, only to see that 'Adara' was out of sight, and cursed herself for allowing her thoughts to distract her. Her skin briefly flared pinkish-red for few moments, before shifting back into a darkened black hue once more as she gained control of her emotions.

It took a few minutes of quick searching around the various lit windows of the tower before Ilia managed to find where out where 'Adara' was again. She reappeared a couple of floors down, and when the Red Fang agent adjusted the binoculars and looked closer, the latter realized that 'Adara' looked as though she was ready for a workout as she strode into the fully-stocked exercise chamber.

Despite herself, the Fusion Faunus was thankful for the horned mask that she was wearing as she felt a brief surge of warmth within her chest as her heart pounded slightly faster than usual. As her cheeks blushed a bright red, so did her whole skin, at the sight of the how 'Adara' looked in her workout wear, practically an exercise bikini.

'Adara' was currently wearing a tight orange sports-bra with curved blue patterns around the shoulders, in addition to a tight pair of black and orange shorts, leaving her feet bare. She filled it out nicely, as it accentuated her naturally tanned skin, which spoke of many hours spent sparring and training. With so much of her skin showing, it served to only heighten her beauty. If she thought Blake once looked stunning in her White Fang uniform, then what she was looking at now was practically near-perfection crafted into the very form of a strong feminine figure. There was little to no fat compared to the slightly larger amount of muscle mass she possessed, the difference so skewed that it seemed as though there were only layer after layer of toned, rippling muscle moving underneath the moderately-tanned feminine skin. 'Adara' had apparently loosened the brown braids of her hair, allowing them to flow all the way past her shoulders before tying her hair up into a long ponytail of sorts with a red hair-tie, adjusting it a few times so that no wayward strands would inconvenience her during her exercise session.

Ilia bit her lower lip; Oum above this girl was delightfully attractive, with long and strong-looking legs, a deep cleavage that hinted at a plentiful pair of breasts contained in the sports-bar, a near-perfect blend of eye-catching curves and well-built muscles from head to toe, and lastly a gorgeous face that would probably have other women question their sexual-orientation. Ilia realized it was no surprise why many of the spectators witnessing the matches were boys, who wouldn't want to see such a powerful beauty fight?

She watched as 'Adara' stretched and exercised her body, going through the motions by bending over and unknowingly giving Ilia quite a show as she performed her yoga routine. Most humans would have lots of difficulty adopting any of the poses that she was performing one after another, but it seemed as though 'Adara' was going through a complex dance of sorts.

"If I didn't know better I would say I was… Oh, if only you were a Faunus..." Ilia murmured to herself as she entertained a brief fantasy, before shaking her head and focusing back on her mission by continue to look at her target through the night vision binoculars.

'Adara' was now standing on one leg while holding the other in her hand, a natarajasana pose, the Fusion Faunus recognized, and after quite a few other different yet balanced poses, she slipped naturally back to a normal stance, and with ease and grace she launched herself into an exercise regime she must have done many times before, given how her lean and firmly-muscled body moved about effortlessly.

With the conclusion of her first training routine, 'Adara' walked over to a wooden rack of long hanbo staffs and selected one that she weighed in her hands before giving it a few experimental spins. Walking over to a control lectern set in at the right hand side of the exercise chambers even as she continued spinning the staff between her agile fingers, she tapped a couple of buttons on the blue screen of the control panel which summoned half a dozen training robots from the tall metallic lockers stacked vertically in a row against the far side of the chambers.

She closed her eyes and breathed slowly and steadily as the training robots each produced metallic staffs from their forearms and took up a variety of combat stances as they surrounded 'Adara' with an equal amount of space between her and each other. There was a few seconds of calm and silence, before the first training robot shot forward like a lightning bolt, launching an overhead strike aimed at her head with its staff.

It hit only empty air as its target sidestepped before tripping it with a sweeping kick, while blocking another strike from the training robot behind her in a blink of an eye. Spinning around, she launched a series of sharp jabs into the other machine's face, chest and shoulders, loud metallic thunks echoed as the training robot's face snapped back sharply. With a sharp whack across its torso she sent it skidding across the training mats, several dents in its armor plates.

Leaning back as another staff whistled past a hair's breadth from her face, 'Adara' backflipped from the sharp thrusts coming from two other training bots, landing behind them with all the grace of a feline as she spun her hanbo staff to block off their continuous strikes. Her strikes were careful when warding blows away from her face, body and limbs, but were relentless when she went of the offensive, delivering multiple sharp blows that would have either incapacitated or outright knocked out several human or Faunus opponents in short order. The sheer sight of the training robots, probably programmed to fight at their highest setting, were evidently having trouble keeping up with the girl spoke volumes about the kind of rigorous training she must have received somewhere, possibly from different martial arts masters since Ilia identified a few of the defensive and offensive techniques displayed throughout the fight.

Clangs rang regularly throughout the training chambers in a steady rhythm, speedily and methodically hitting each training robot as they all fought against her, moving from one end to the other and back again. The whole training session was so intense that Ilia was completely engrossed by how 'Adara' moved so fluidly, weaving in and out of the machines' rapid strikes and blows while returning them just as quickly. One by one each training robot received its share of hits and deactivated themselves as per training protocol, the last one almost hitting 'Adara' with a straight thrust which she dodged with ease and finished off with twin strikes to the shoulders and a sharp blow to the face that caused the training robot's face to cave in. Ilia winced visibly at that, as if that robot had been a person it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

The Faunus felt her eyes widen when she realized that 'Adara' had only dispatched the robots with only a number of dents to their overall body structures, while managing to not knock over or damage anything in the entire training chambers which was filled to the brim with every kind of exercise equipment imaginable, besting them all quite swiftly. The last training robot slumped to its knees and smoked visibly, its servos pushed into overdrive to keep up with the fighting speed of the human girl standing before her as its metallic staff dropped from seized fingers and rolled across the matted floor. The other five humanoid machines were not in good shape either, each sporting several dents on their silver plating which would probably need replacing.

'Adara' saluted with her hanbo staff at the motionless machines as a courtesy and walked over to pick up a towel from a stack near the windows, running it over her wet face to wipe away the sweat. Ilia adjusted the binoculars again, zooming in close to the other girl's face just in time to catch a tiny flash of red glow around her irises. It was there, only for a split second, but the power that dwelled within 'Adara' herself revealed itself momentarily, and the Red Fang agent felt herself gasp as she realized her suspicions were correct.

Suddenly 'Adara' jerked around as the large doors leading into the chambers began to open. The brunette girl reached for a violet-red bathrobe hanging nearby and put it on to cover her body as someone slightly larger than her approached.

While slightly disappointed that her eye candy was gone, Ilia watched curiously as 'Adara' turned towards the opening doors which swung open to reveal a tall figure clad in an elaborate silver-colored with red trim suit of armor with an equally complicated looking helmet, tiny runic script running down the surface of those shiny armour plates. The cloak the armored warrior wore was grey and brown, and it flowed from his shoulders all the way down to near his equally thick metallic boots. The sight of such a powerful warrior immediately raised alarms in Ilia's head.

'Dear Oum, that armour looks way too advanced for any Vacuo Ranger or a simple bodyguard. So if what Tyrian and Hui had both told me are true, then there's no doubt about it; that's indeed a Remnant Knight.' Ilia thought to herself as she observed the Maiden talk to the large armoured figure casually, making gestures as though to prove some point to him, 'Then there's the flash of ethereal red in her eyes… and that can only mean 'Adara Aenia' is the Summer Maiden they are looking for.'

After a few moments of conversation the Remnant Knight lifted his hand and pointed to the tall open windows, which made 'Adara Aenia' look back also, the two of them staring in Ilia's general direction, and Ilia's heart skipped a beat for a terrifying moment as she dreaded the possibility that she had been spotted, and so she lowered herself until she was prone on the rooftop. A few seconds later she exhaled, her panic vanishing as the Maiden nonchalantly approached the tall long windows and tapped a control, which immediately caused the silken curtains on either side to close over the windows as she continued to chat with the knight.

Ilia resisted the urge to wipe her brow, and brought up her binoculars just in time to see the last sight of the knight currently engaged in some sort of animated conversation with the Maiden for having the windows of the training chambers open and allowing anyone to peer in from afar, probably exposing herself in the process, or at least that's what's it looked like to her.

With the curtains closed that means she could no longer observe the Maiden, but Ilia had the information her superiors needed. She quickly drew back into the shadows, making her way to a nearby gantry and descended quickly down the steel steps, going over the information she had collected after successfully infiltrating Shade and spying on 'Adara Aenia', the latter of which she was very sure was the Summer Maiden Heliosia. There was no doubt about it, the armored figure was a Remnant Knight, and if there was one, there was bound to be more hidden elsewhere within and around Shade, vigilantly guarding the girl, which obviously meant that she was without a doubt the real Maiden.

Ilia silently made her way to lower ground, jumping from the fire escape of the factory building and going across the other buildings across long leaking pipes and rusted walkways until she eventually made it to the back streets. She felt a brief twinge of guilt within her heart when she realized what she was doing, as it was obvious that the Summer Maiden would most likely have to die for Salem's plans...

Blake's former friend shook that thought from her head and reasoned with herself that if these Maidens were really so kind and pure of heart, where were they when the Faunus were suffering throughout the history of Remnant? If they were so powerful, why not step in and help the Faunus in their times of need? The anger still burned in her despite the death of Adam, and with Blake's betrayal it had grown into a flaring hatred which sometimes kept her up at night. There would be a reckoning between her and Blake, of that Ilia was sure.

Ilia sighed and forced herself to control her rising anger, her face grimacing as she decided that she could think about that another time, right now she needed to get back to Ante's hideout and report to him and the deranged assassin about what she had discovered.

This chapter was co-written by Relentless Crusader