Life hit me like a semi-truck. At the very least I'm feeling better mentally. I am truly sorry that I couldn't get this out sooner.
/-/
Kaiser couldn't sleep, plain and simple. Too many thoughts pervaded his mind, he might as well use the time to gather something from a tidbit of information he received from Cardin.
One drop of information had turned into a gushing faucet as Kaiser explored the illegal forums website that belong to Animal Control, he was able to gain access to the site by consulting a computer hacking specialist from the IPS.
It was 4:00 in the morning, Kaiser should've gone to sleep. Instead he was reading excerpts from the most fucked up parts of the Darknet. Murder fantasies were most prevalent on the forum site, then the Murder experiences from people who have never been caught. Kaiser wasn't here to share his experiences with murder, instead he was waiting on a text from a private chat he had set up with one of the forum members.
Kaiser poured over a sketch he had been brainstorming for the past few days, it was a spring loaded mechanism that could be equipped to a bracer. The spy planned to create a second weapon that worked similar to Great Escape, thus keeping his hands free while being armed.
Kaiser Yawned just as his scroll pinged, someone had messaged him.
12:37 PM
I-SPY: Leash the animals.
4:13 AM
Clyde_Crash: LEASH THE ANIMALS! How're ya doing brother?
I-SPY: Good, all things considered.
Clyde_Crash: You interested in joining our little club?
I-SPY: more than interested, I'm surrounded by fucking animals here at school. What do you guys do?
Clyde_Crash: we dismantle faunus riots. I'm sure you saw us on the tv.
I-SPY: Yeah, I saw it on the news. I want to be a part of your group. How do I join?
Clyde_Crash: come over to my garage later today, you have classes right? Come after you're done, we can discuss this later. If I like you enough, I'll let you join my posse.
I-SPY: can you send me the address?
Clyde_Crash: text me when you're done, I'll tell you where to go. I don't want people to have address for long, police crackdowns and all that jazz.
Kaiser blinked at the response, he didn't really think he'd get this far. He was secretly hoping he'd hit a dead end, leaving him with no way to continue his search for Jasper.
Kaiser should've known that what he wanted was an impossibility, nonetheless, he set his alarm for 9:00 am. At the very least he should get some rest before the day ahead.
/-/
"I hope the mission for Exodus software went well." Albert Ross set a glass of bourbon whiskey down onto the table.
Sat across from Ross was Martin Kane, the blond assassin wore a blue bomber jacket. Kane waved off the glass, dismissing it entirely. "I'll take water if you have any."
"Of course." Ross got out another glass and poured from a pitcher of water next to the decanter of bourbon. "I would like to commend you for your work in Argus. I'm sure a year in deep cover couldn't have been ideal for someone like you."
"I did what I could, I'm sure anybody else could've done it." Kane said nonchalantly.
"Perhaps, but nobody else could've adapted to the changes like you did. You've lost a full year of your life, Kane. Most people would rather do desk jobs for ten years than lose one." Ross slid the glass of water over to Kane, to which the assassin appreciated.
"Speaking of change, where's Kaiser? I heard he jumped ship a while back." Kane took a drink of water.
"Quite, our agent renounced his role just around nine months after you went into deep cover." Ross took a swig of whiskey. "I should have had the foresight to tell the boy that you were on a highly discreet assignment, but we needed everybody to believe you were dead."
"So then where is he now?" Kane asked.
"Kaiser," Ross had almost spat the name. "has enrolled himself into Beacon Academy. It makes no sense at all considering he doesn't have the right documents to apply, or any at all for that matter, I believe that his enrollment was something orchestrated by the headmaster. Now the boy has it stuck in his head that he will become a huntsman."
"Huh, well good for him." Kane aimed a questioning look at Ross. "How do you know about all this?"
"I've been keeping surveillance on our agent, I even put him on reserve for any assignment I want. That was the deal we made in return for a weekly stipend. I also offer the boy assistance for a personal project that he is working on." Ross emptied his glass of bourbon.
"So you still have some sort of control over him?" Kane inquired, he wondered if Ross was planning something big that Kaiser would have to take care of. He didn't really blame the spymaster for using Kaiser, he had been an effective operative since the start. The boy would soon become even more extraordinary with training he received from Kane, preparing the young spy with training of an assassin. Despite this, Kane felt pity for the boy he had trained. Not only because he was stuck in a shitty situation, but also because the assassin viewed Kaiser as a friend. As much as he knew using Kaiser was wrong, nobody could ever doubt that he provided great results.
"Yes, a very weak control, but that will soon change when he returns under my employ. You can't very well run from your past forever Mr. Kane, but young Kaiser seems content to just throw himself into it." Ross produced two cream colored folders for Kane to peruse. "Well, that's enough distractions, how about we get to what I called you here for?"
Kane cracked open the first folder, and there were multiple documents on various agents in the IPS.
"Many of the directors of the IPS were highly impressed with your performance in Argus, they have asked that I entrust you with something that our company has been working on for a while."
"What would that be?" Kane flipped through the folder of impressive looking soldiers, each one with years of experience under their belt.
"We want you to lead a task force. This responsibility will come with a higher wage, along with better benefits. You can select the agents who get to be a part of this task force, I suggest a few of the ones in those folders." Ross folded his hands over each other in front of him. "So it just begs the question, do you accept?"
There was nothing to question, Kane hadhis answer already. "I accept."
"Good, you can keep those files to help you make a decision." Ross tapped his finger on the other folder. "This folder here contains a briefing for your next mission. I know this is a bit too soon but the client wants this job done by next Sunday. I'm not keen on letting anybody with a mediocre track record run this operation, so I wanted to have you lead it."
"If you don't mind me asking, who hired us for this job?" Kane asked.
"Funny that you mention that, the person who requested your services is the headmaster of Beacon himself." Ross let out an uncharacteristic smirk, it would make almost any child start tearing up.
"Couldn't he have sent some of his huntsmen? Why does Ozpin need us?" Kane shot a curious look at the spymaster sitting across from him.
"I'll get to that in a minute, but first, I'd like to brief you on your objective."
Inside the folder was a picture of a balding man, he wore wire frame glasses. He had olive skin, brown eyes much like Kane's peered back at him from the photograph.
"This is Gideon Goldenrod, a technician of Atlas' Robotics division." Ross slipped some papers from the folder. What could only be described as a mechanical titan was shown on the paper. "He helped with designs for the Atlesian Paladin-290, these are prototype weapons that Atlas intends to unveil in the coming weeks."
Kane sighed. "I'm guessing that blueprints for them were sold off on the black market?" Black market selling was the norm when it came to super weapons like the mech suit.
"Not quite, the Paladins themselves were plucked right out of the production warehouses." Ross handed another photo of a orange haired man in a bowler hat posing for a mugshot, Kane recognized him from the news. "We have a strong suspicion that Goldenrod is working with Roman Torchwick, and has knowledge of Torchwick's whereabouts."
"Do you think Goldenrod had anything to do with the dust robberies? Maybe to make a couple lien?" Kane thumbed through Torchwick's file.
"Not likely, Goldenrod doesn't hold stock with any dust companies, nor does he have any side business selling any dust or a substitute of any kind. It is unlikely that he has anything to gain from the dust robberies, thus making his involvement a moot point. What I want you to do is find out where Torchwick's current base of operations is, and report back to the client directly."
Kane shrugged, this seemed like too easy of a job. "Simple interrogation, so why do you need me specifically?"
"I need you for this operation because you're the only one capable of handling this." Albert Ross handed the last sheet of paper to Kane, the assassin's eyes widened in shock.
Plastered on the sheet of paper was a photo of an aging man, the greying hair and wrinkling skin did nothing to take away from the sheer danger that the man in the photo exuded.
"Evon Argent." The words passed through Kane's lips as if there was poison in his mouth.
"Quite an astute observation Mr. Kane. Goldenrod has seen fit to hire Scorpio's combat instructor as protection, which could not have come cheap. It seems Scorpio must be desperate for money since our agency has crippled their resources."
Kane thought back to his time in Scorpio, there were always at least 30 assassins active at any given point. Ever since the head of Scorpio was captured the number of assassins on record had significantly dropped to around seven. "And why us instead of Ozpin's huntsmen?"
"Ah yes, well, Goldenrod has recently been working on a device that cancels out one's very aura. Now I'm sure you know what this entails." Ross handed the schematics of the device to Kane, they were unclear with the instructions, a better look at the blueprints might help the technical department replicate the technology.
"So the device stops aura from activating? So I guess huntsmen won't be able to recover from their wounds. Yeah they might be able to fight grimm, but it's much harder to fight a skilled opponent when the one thing you rely on gets jammed. I see why you decided on sending in the big guns. I'm gonna need a partner for this job." Kane tossed the Goldenrod files over to Ross.
"By all means, I do hope that the recommendations from the previous file prove to be adequate to your needs." Ross gestured to the file of IPS agents that were eligible for Kane's task force.
Richard Stone, apparently one of the finest marksmen that Albert Ross had to offer. The file had explained Stone's affinity for certain firearms, as well as his record in the shooting range.
As a perfect marksman himself, Kane wanted to judge Stone's abilities for himself.
Scarlet Skyfang, a bomb specialist, served in the Atlesian army before getting picked up by the IPS branch in Atlas. It was said she could defuse any sort of bomb, then make an even more destructive explosive.
A couple photos of the destruction her explosives had caused later, and Kane was left wondering if she belonged more on a demolition crew.
Aureo Lin, a soldier trained in the art of poison. He had a lab full of exotic plants which he cultivated over the years, Lin would then harvest parts of the plant to make deadly poisons. Not everything was meant for killing, Lin even had a history of using homemade sedatives to use on people during interrogation.
Kane seemed impressed with the varied talents that the three agents held, all that came along with basic combat abilities. But when it came to going against a Scorpio agent, basic wasn't going to cut it. He needed someone with advanced combat skills that could go toe to toe with the most dangerous of people.
Martin Kane had to make a decision soon, after that he had nine days to complete this mission.
Luckily, he already knew which agent he wanted as his backup.
/-/
The chatter of multiple groups filled the Beacon hallway, it was a miracle anybody could actually hear themselves talk within the crowded area.
Kaiser expertly maneuvered his way between students with all the grace of a trained dancer, nobody had to move in any way for Kaiser to traverse the halls. The spy had accounted for everyone in his immediate area, all due to their jerky movements.
Under his rigorous tutelage with the IPS, Kaiser was trained to fixate on minuscule movements and body language. Almost all the students in the hall were unsure of their movements, or did not have enough space to move more smoothly. Kaiser was aware of almost every student in the hallway.
There was a girl throwing her hands up in celebration of her weekend plans with her team.
There was Coco leaning against a locker while Velvet snapped a couple photos, likely posing for a picture for her fashion blog. From the few times he had seen the blog, Kaiser had to admit that Coco really knew what outfits worked.
There was a couple fervently making out against a classroom door, along with Goodwitch angrily stomping over to separate the couple.
What Kaiser hadn't noticed was the figure that was following behind him, one that weaved through the crowds just as gracefully as the spy had done.
It wasn't until a boy with gray hair had gotten too close to the one with white hair. A faint but distinct whirring noise cut through the usual sounds of the hallway, bringing Kaiser's gaze to what could be the source of the sound.
"Mercury!" Kaiser instantly recognized the haven student. "You gave me a bit of a fright." Kaiser was surprised to be snuck up on so easily, the only times he was caught off guard was when he lacked too much sleep. Somebody normal like Mercury shouldn't have been able to get near Kaiser without being detected.
The grey haired boy raised his hands up in surrender. "Sorry about that, dude. Just saw you were headed off to the library, thought you might want someone to join you."
Kaiser nodded in acknowledgement, he tried to make conversation since Mercury went through the trouble of approaching him. "Are you and your team participating in the Vytal tournament?"
"Not participating, winning." A sly smile appeared over Mercury, he seemed completely confident in his team's abilities. "You?"
Kaiser turned away, half in embarrassment, the other half was him scanning a hallway which had appeared on the wall beside the two boys. The spy missed the fact that Mercury was doing the same, making sure nobody could listen in on their conversation. "Actually, I was banned from the tournament for something I did last semester. I'd rather not talk about that."
"Ah well, we all have secrets we'd rather not talk about." Mercury got close enough to whisper in Kaiser's ear. "I mean, I put laxatives in headmaster Lionheart's coffee when I was in Haven." Mercury said with a wink, a small gesture to hammer the little lie home.
Mercury was given orders to find out why exactly had Kaiser's transcripts been empty; to do that, he'd have to befriend the white-haired boy. Little by little, Mercury would gain Kaiser's trust by revealing certain details that would in turn convince Kaiser into opening up about his past.
While Emerald was busy building a rapport with team RWBY, Mercury had the interesting challenge of making sure that Kaiser wouldn't be an obstacle. It'd be easy enough, considering Marcus Black had taught his son the ways of espionage as part of his assassination training. Mercury would get his target to trust him, it was only a matter of time.
"Did you ever get caught?" Kaiser was shocked that anyone could get the drop on a headmaster.
"Hell no! I even managed to pin it on one of my classmates!" Mercury guffawed, his hand slapping his leg above the knee. Mercury was careful to not accidentally hit the prosthetics as he didn't want anyone knowing the secret to his legs. "I got away scot-free."
"So how did you even sneak the laxatives in?" Kaiser asked, he'd thought that the teachers lounge was well guarded.
"It seems Mercury here has made a new friend." Two other students in Haven uniforms approached them, One of them focused on Kaiser with a seductive gaze.
Wavy black hair cascaded over a golden yellow eye, a nice smell of embers emanated from one of the girls.
"Oh, Dude, this is my team leader Cinder." Mercury gestured towards the raven haired girl, Cinder was waiting expectantly for Mercury to introduce him to her. Instead Mercury leaned inwards and whispered loudly. "She takes two hours to do her hair."
"Pardon?" Cinder shot a look at Mercury.
"I mean, this is Kaiser!" Mercury hurriedly grabbed Kaiser's hand and made it shake Cinder's well manicured hand. "He's been helping me navigate around Beacon."
"It's nice to meet you." Kaiser said politely.
"Likewise." A sultry smile graced Cinder's lips, she eyed Kaiser with an analytical gaze.
"I didn't even know Mercury could make friends!" A girl sporting green hair in a bob cut and the Haven uniform snickered at Mercury. She stuck out hand for Kaiser to shake, he kindly shook it. "I'm Emerald."
"Pleased to meet you." Kaiser flashed a friendly smile, or at least his own variation of one. It came out more of a brief acknowledgement than anything.
"You seem to be quite the fighter, even with your aura drained, you kept up with Pyrrha Nikos." Cinder praised in a sultry tone, her golden eyes locked onto Kaiser's crimson ones. "You move gracefully as if the battlefield were your second home."
"I still couldn't get the win." Kaiser backtracked as he felt he might've been rude to Cinder, his hand nervously scratched at his neck. "Regardless, thank you for the compliment."
"You don't have to thank me, I can recognize greatness when I see it." Cinder was laying it on thick, that much, Kaiser could easily tell.
"Well, I imagine that you're just as capable as everyone else here." Kaiser commented.
"We are, but we'd be a lot more capable with a little edge over our opponents." Cinder said with a sly wink and a quick flick of her hair. "Wouldn't you agree?"
So their aim was to get information on the other students before the Vytal tournament. It was clear to Kaiser that Cinder's team was gathering information on the other students. Mercury had asked him about the semblances of the other students, Kaiser had managed to avoid that.
Even in his sleep deprived mind, Kaiser was always keen on giving people the most ambiguous answer. It was a habit of his, if he gave everyone direct answers to any secret, then he might've not made that far as a spy.
Kaiser had been carefully examining the semblances of some of his classmates, even teams RWBY and JNPR. Every single person had a weakness just waiting to be exploited, and Kaiser needed all that he could get against those who had more experience with aura over him. Overall, he had perhaps nine people's semblance recorded. Unfortunately he didn't need those notes anymore, not since he was banned from the Vytal tournament.
Still, he wasn't keen on exposing his classmates the way Cinder wanted him to.
"I'm sure you're just as great as any other student here." Kaiser said, slightly uncomfortably.
"Well, that's a shame." Cinder ran a finger down Kaiser's arm, an action supposed to garner all of his attention. "I guess we'll just have to make do."
Kaiser was barely paying attention though, his interest was more on the hand discreetly approaching his back pocket. He had the vague sense that someone was trying to steal from him, which was why he hadn't paid attention to Cinder.
His hand shot out to snatch the wrist of the person fishing for where he had set his wallet.
"Hey!" Emerald yelped as she felt Kaiser's hand enclose around her wrist.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kaiser curtly asked, his crimson eyes locking with emerald's. A tense silence passed over the two, his grip never going slack. The tension ended when Mercury cut in.
"Geez Emmy, if you wanted a piece of him, I'm sure all you had to do was ask!" Mercury sputtered out in laughter, all tension seeming to dissipate.
"That wasn't what I was doing!" Emerald shot back, a blush apparent on her face. The only thing rivaling her embarrassment was Kaiser's.
"Then what were you doing, hmm?" Cinder asked with a raised eyebrow, she hid her frustration of her subordinates' impulsive action.
"I wasn't- I mean- ahh!" Emerald buried her face in her hands, she was gently pulled towards Cinder.
"Sorry bout that dude, we'll be taking her away from you for now." Mercury and Cinder had dragged Emerald off towards the exchange student dorms, leaving Kaiser to his own devices.
"What were you thinking?!" Mercury had snapped at Emerald in a hushed tone, his joking nature replaced with a dangerous tone.
"I was thinking I could take his wallet, check for anything useful like an ID, and make your job go faster!" The trio of Haven students were alone in the courtyard, very few students milled about as most of them were headed to Vale.
"This job isn't something that can be rushed, you have to slowly warm up to your target." Mercury shot daggers at Emerald. "Your little stunt could've cost me Kaiser's trust, then what would I do? It's a good thing his wallet was in his back pocket, or else I couldn't have been able to accuse you of playing grab ass! Just stick to your job with Red and her team, and leave me to mine."
Emerald ground her team in frustration, "You're taking too long, we need to know if he's a threat now."
"While I admire your attitude towards retrieving information…", Cinder started. Emerald looked hopeful, wondering if she was about to be praised by the Raven haired woman. "But it is important that we don't do anything to rouse suspicion in any of the students."
Emerald only looked forward, embarrassed that Cinder had scolded her. She had been acting impulsively, the stress of the mission was getting to her. "I'm sorry, Cinder."
"It is alright Emerald, small mistakes this early on can be easily rectified." Cinder flicked her hair once more, a bright golden eye focused on an assassin's son she recruited many months ago. "I'd like to commend you Mercury, for coming up with a believable excuse to cover up our little slip-up."
"Our?" Mercury asked, a snort aimed at Emerald to let her know his position on the situation.
"Yes, our. Because when one of us messes up, all of us will feel the consequences. So we must all work our hardest to cover each other's weaknesses, for now, we can continue as we are until we get a hold of something substantial. Oh, and Emerald?"
"Yes, Cinder?" Emerald referred to the woman she owed her life to.
"Please refrain from touching the backsides of the other students." A slight joking tone appeared with the smirk on Cinder Fall's face. "It might be tempting to do so, but it is unbecoming of a lady such as yourself."
"...Yes Cinder." Emerald awkwardly rubbed her arm.
/-/
Kaiser made it to the back of the library where he found just the person he was looking for. The spy confidently walked past a couple tables, he had managed to stroll by Yang and Blake playing a card game without garnering their attention. The spy took relaxed steps, none of them ever made any noise.
"Hmm?" Jaune simply turned around, wondering who wanted his attention. "What's up Kaiser?"
Kaiser was confused that Jaune didn't react violently at what could be a potential attacker.
Kaiser had to remind himself that his friends weren't people who had to watch their backs 24/7, they had no reason to be paranoid. A stark contrast to the people he knew in the IPS, beacon students didn't sleep with their guns under their pillows, rather in their lockers.
"Hey Jaune, keeping up with your training?" Kaiser looked over Jaune's shoulder, a textbook on combat techniques was cracked open to the sixth lesson.
"Pyrrha wakes me up at five every morning for unarmed combat practice." Jaune said with a smile, then immediately added more. "That's not to say that I don't miss training with you, but you don't really show up anymore to help me. I only see you during classes and maybe the line for dinner."
"Sorry about that, I've just been busy these past few weeks with a really tough assignment." Kaiser rubbed the back of his neck. "Which is kinda why I wanted to ask you a favor."
"Favor?"
"Yeah, I was wondering if you could join me somewhere in Vale today." Kaiser took a look at his scroll, it was a quarter past five in the afternoon. "Won't take more than two or three hours."
"Uhh, sure, but what are we going to be doing?" Jaune shut his textbook, glad to have a distraction from his schoolwork.
"It'll be easier if I explain on the way. Meet me at the bullhead station in half an hour, take your hoodie instead of your school uniform. We can't have anyone identifying us as Beacon students."
Jaune was more unsure now, "We're not doing something illegal, are we?"
Kaiser paused for a moment, trying to recall if he was going to break a law. "If it comes down to it."
"I don't know, I'd rather not get in trouble with the police."
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you, I also doubt that they'll call the cops." Mr. Clyde wouldn't have the cops come in on his illegal chop shop, so Kaiser was pretty sure they were secure when it came to the authorities. "Plus, I decided that you should be put in your first real combat scenario."
"Are you sure about doing that?" Jaune asked, doubt tinged his question. "I'm getting better, but I don't think I could do something on the level you're talking about."
Kaiser nonchalantly waved his hand, "You'll do decently, I'm only planning to see a couple street thugs. Look, if you don't want to go, that's fine. Think it over first, and if you agree, then meet me at the station." Kaiser walked away to let Jaune think over the offer, once again, he passed by Yang's table.
"Damn it!" Huffed Yang, cards slightly jumped into the air as she banged her fist against the table. Across from her was a bored looking Blake, likely coming off a winning campaign of Remnant: The Game.
Kaiser surveyed the board, taking in every card and territory at play. The spy had read the guidebook to the game mistaking it as a military strategy textbook during one of his sleep deprived study sessions. It was only when the clock struck 2:00 in the morning when Kaiser was done with the book, thus retaining a good amount of information.
Yang was close to losing a weakened Atlas, adding more forces to it. This left her stake in Mistral more open to attack from Vale and Vacuo, Blake was taking advantage of Yang's rationing of her military forces.
"Give up on Atlas, it's a lost cause." Kaiser flatly said, he surprised himself by interjecting in Yang's losing campaign. "Focus all your forces onto the Mistral border, set up a line of defense before Blake's forces reach the capitol."
Kaiser dismissed Blake's silent muttering of "Backseat players."
"How do you know it'll work?" Yang reread her cards, hoping for an effect to save Mistral's border.
"It will. Just reroute your army to Mistral." This was just like any sort of military operation, sacrifices were made to attain certain victories. If some people were sacrificed in order for the operation, then their deaths weren't in vain.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of one. Kaiser reminded himself of Albert Ross' spoken words regarding the young spy.
Yang did as Kaiser suggested, resulting in Mistral being taken over. Yang's face soured at that, she pouted at the boy who had led her to lose a kingdom. "Now what?"
"Well Atlas has been taken over, but the forces Blake sent to Mistral were defeated. You now control a good portion of her armed forces, have fun with that." Kaiser knew that it was always better to strategically lose if it would greatly contribute to your victory in the long run.
"Later, Kai." Yang called out as Kaiser left the library. She received a wave of his hand in return.
/-/
"I underestimated my enemy, for that, I ended up knocked out in a random alleyway until the morning." Kaiser recalled the night he had his encounter with Jasper, painful memories flashed in his mind. It was ironic, really, Kaiser's career as a spy was carried by everyone's underestimation of him.
Nobody suspected a teenager to be a secret agent, after all.
"I think that this group; Animal Control as they happen to be called…" Kaiser gazed at the shelves of the weapons shop he was buying from, Jaune patiently listening to the other boy's words. "They have a link to this guy I'm looking for, if I can use their link to get in contact with him, then I can set up a meeting and ambush the guy." Kaiser had purposefully avoided giving specifics of his operation to Jaune; he didn't want his friend to be involved in Kaiser's own problems.
"This guy, he isn't from your old life, is he?" Jaune asked, he watched as Kaiser flagged down an attendant to unlock the glass casing of a sizable chunk of metal. The price of the metal alloy that Kaiser had chosen made Jaune's eyes pop.
Money wasn't an issue, not anymore at least. A semester of trimming hedges at Beacon and all the money Kaiser saved up from his weekly stipend courtesy of Albert Ross, Kaiser finally had enough money to buy parts for a decent weapon.
"Yeah… he is. I relied too much on my aura, thinking that I was fighting just another guy." Kaiser wasn't sure what more to describe Jasper as without alarming Jaune, so he was nothing more than a guy. Well… a guy with vicious assassination techniques backed by strength enhancing drug of godly proportions.
"What will you do when you find him?" Jaune asked.
"I will detain him." Kaiser's answer came out smoothly, perhaps because that was the answer he fooled himself with ever since he came to terms with losing to Jasper. Kaiser had no idea if he could defeat Jasper without killing him, holding back against the assassin would result in Kaiser's own death.
If it came down to it, Kaiser would most definitely kill the Scorpio assassin. He wouldn't want to alarm Jaune with his intent, so he left that fact to himself.
"Thank you." Kaiser said to the attendant as he was handed the chunk of alloy, he had one of two big components of his new weapon.
The two boys had gotten to the counter, the other component was locked in the glass display behind the shop owner. Kaiser asked the shop owner for a light blue crystal that had gone up in price.
100% pure Hardlight dust.
Kaiser's total came out to just over 2000 lien, almost all of his savings.
The money he earned from his work-study program by trimming hedges…
Albert Ross' weekly stipend…
The gig he had as Coco Adel's model for a couple of outfits she designed…
Buying two components for his weapon had wiped out an entire semester's worth of hard earned money, and the dust crystal had been at least 75% of that. The dust heist that Roman Torchwick had been pulling off had depleted the majority of Vale's supply of the crystal. Dust prices had gone up exponentially, and all of Vale's had felt the effects of supply and demand.
Kaiser handed over the money, it took a while for the cashier to inspect and count all the lien. It would've helped if he had the money in a credit card, but Kaiser couldn't even apply for a bank account. Lack of documentation of his existence was a real pain, his punishment for that was major inconveniences in everyday life.
Soon, both boys exited the weapons shop, Kaiser's purchases stuffed in a cheap backpack he had won in a raffle at school.
"You know." Kaiser softly chuckled to himself. "I figured you of all people would want to know more about the stuff I went through as a spy."
"What do you mean by that?"
"A lot of the comic books you read have some sort of action hero, I've seen some of them stuffed into the textbooks Pyrrha makes you read." Kaiser looked thoughtful for a minute, then continued softly. "I don't know, I guess I just expected to deal with a lot more questions that I can't really answer."
"To be fair, it's kind of nerve wracking to ask questions after they made us sign papers to keep quiet about you." Jaune scratched his cheek, he didn't notice Kaiser's gaze immediately snapped to the blond boy.
"What papers?!" Kaiser asked, dread bubbled up in his stomach.
Jaune fidgeted under the scrutiny of the boy who was training him. "Last semester, after you left for Vale, a bunch of guys in suits came in and made everyone sign documents."
"Shit." Kaiser muttered to himself, then asked Jaune about the documents. "Did the papers have any sort of specification?"
"They were signed by some guy named Ross."
Kaiser's eyes widened, though really, he should've been expecting this. To contain the IPS' secret use of an underage operative, Albert Ross often issued documents forbidding people from going to the public to reveal his pet project. The moment the papers were signed, the person signing was contractually obligated to never speak up about the secret that Albert Ross hid.
Kaiser imagined that the students of Beacon didn't take the document too seriously, as most still huddled up and whispered whenever he was near.
Albert Ross must've been putting Kaiser under surveillance even within the walls of Beacon, which irritated Kaiser to no end. When would the day come that the boy could live free without looking over his shoulder? Now he had to be wary of security cameras and staff members in the same area where he ate and slept.
Kaiser let out a soft exhale, he wouldn't let this information get in the way of his current objective.
"This is the place." Kaiser looked up at a run down looking building, paint chipped and peeled off of the outside spilling onto the pavement. Outside the garage was an old sports car, the frame rusted to greenish brown. "Nice car.", Kaiser said sarcastically.
"So… Do we just knock on the doorbell?" Jaune asked.
"Yeah, but first we have to perform a little reconnaissance." Kaiser shifted his contact lenses into its steel mask form, he noticed a look of shock and awe from Jaune.
"What the hell is that?" Jaune, very reasonably, pointed at the steel mask laying on Kaiser's face.
"Mostly nanomachines." Kaiser regarded his sharp-edged domino mask, and how much it has been with him. It truly was a technical marvel, able to link with his scroll along with its other functionalities. "The technical specialist told me that they could only program the nanomachines with two forms, so it's either a mask, or a pair of contact lenses."
"Cool…" Jaune whispered in an awestruck manner. "What does it do?"
"Well…" Kaiser activated the thermal vision, the whole world turned into a mess of infrared radiation. Three figures represented in red danced around behind the front door of the garage. "It helps me see better." Kaiser took off his backpack and tossed it beside a dumpster in an alleyway. The spy didn't worry if anyone were to steal his backpack, it was so rundown that it looked like he was meant to throw it into the dumpster. "Remember, this is a training exercise for you, so no aura."
A hollow clanging rang through the air as Kaiser knocked his fist against the metal garage door.
A grating noise of rusted metal on being moved alerted the boys that someone was opening the garage door.
"I-SPY?"
A fake smile adorned Kaiser's face, he lightly nodded. "Clyde Crash?"
"Get on in here boys, I'm glad to meet ya!" Clyde almost didn't sound like bigoted racist, but everyone wore mask to cover their true identity.
"I thought only Yang could call you I-SPY." Jaune was lightly jabbed in the arm, Kaiser didn't want any personal information to be said around these people.
"Welcome to my auto shop, if either of you boys need any repairs, you're more than welcome to stop by for an inspection." Clyde gestured towards a couple cars that were in the midst of being repaired.
"Can't drive." Kaiser admitted he was trying to shut down this part of the conversation, the sooner they could get to the matter at hand the better.
"That's a damn shame, don't ya think?" Clyde crossed his arms.
"Yeah, I promise to bring a car if I ever get one. I came here today to discuss the things we talked about online." Kaiser stated, his voice unwavering, the same way it always was when he had been on an operation.
"Straight to the point, I like it." Clyde called out to the two mechanics, a burly man with grey hair tucked under a bandana strolled forward. The large man was followed closely behind by a thin man, he was so skinny that he looked like he could've been split in half at any second. "These are my associates Tiny and Twig, they help me set up little activities our group does together."
"Yeah I imagine, last time was at that faunus rally in front of city hall, right?" Kaiser asked.
"Correct, only it was a riot, don't believe what the news wants you to hear." Clyde began pacing around the floor of the garage. "So you boys want in?"
Kaiser seemed to pause for a second, he could potentially go undercover with Animal Control. He could gather their secrets and find their contacts to Gemini from the inside. Kaiser would have to cut ties with them the moment he had all he'd need. The only problem was he'd have to sacrifice his life at school to do something of this scale. Undercover work was best used with a long term time constraint, and hunting Jasper was anything but long term.
If it was up to Albert Ross, Kaiser would shave his head and join the ranks of Animal Control for a couple months before exploiting them. No, this was up to Kaiser, he was the one that got to choose.
"I'd like to discuss that a little later, if you wouldn't mind. What interest me the most is how you got some of those people in the crowd of the rally-"
"Riot." Clyde corrected.
"Riot, sorry, how did you get some of those people to do the things they did." Kaiser's voice dripped with morbid curiosity, Jaune stepped back as he had never heard the other boy so tastelessly find interest in the situation.
Everybody had seen the news report of the botched faunus rally. 17 injured and five in critical condition, of those five, three had died.
"I'm sure that you can't naturally become the size of a pickup truck, those guys were lifting pillars twice their size!" Kaiser excitedly said. "So that begs the question, how did you manage to do that?"
A dry chuckle escaped Clyde, he was beginning to feel a bit apprehensive. "Well we have a friend of ours that supplies us with anything we need."
Kaiser didn't doubt that this "friend" was Jasper that was supplying Hercules for Animal Control.
"Do you think you could get me in touch with him?" Kaiser looked almost hopeful, obviously another award winning performance from the young spy.
"He only caters to clientele higher up on our food chain."
He. Jasper was also a man, cementing Kaiser's suspicions on where these people were getting Hercules. "You've left me no options, Jaune, get ready." Kaiser would've bribed Clyde, but he didn't have enough lien, or any for that matter. This fight would be on Roman Torchwick's head since he was the one who drove the prices of dust up.
Immediately Clyde grabbed an aluminum baseball bat, it hung lazily in the air for a minute before it knocked a crowbar over to Tiny. The burly man clutched the crowbar with one hand.
"What about me, boss?" Twig complained.
"Shut up! You boys ain't who you say you are, ain't ya?" The metal bat was pointed over to the pair of boys in combat stance.
"Very astute, we're actually heads of the faunus rights club in our school. Ironic that a couple humans would hold that position." Kaiser held his ready stance, he sensed Jaune's doubt from beside him.
"Do you think we can take these guys? How would we win this, they have weapons!" A hushed tone was kept so the others in the garage could not hear.
Jaune's questions were ignored by the boy who was more concerned with getting a way to contact Jasper.
"The best way to win a fight is to avoid it altogether." Kaiser eyed Tiny and Twig, one had a crowbar, and the other was heavily underprepared for this. He could take them, but the question was: Could Jaune? "But, this is how you gain real experience!"
Kaiser shoved Jaune at Clyde. Jaune immediately blocked a bat that swung in his direction.
Kaiser meanwhile pushed away Tiny with a front kick to the stomach, he was immediately grabbed by Twig. Kaiser slithered out of the hold, the spy punched Twig in the face once he had escaped.
Tiny swung his crowbar at the seemingly unsuspecting boy, Kaiser ducked under the swing. Tiny tried swinging his crowbar into the boy's ribs, it made a brutal contact with the spy.
A pained grunt escaped Kaiser before he trapped the crowbar under his arm, a roundhouse kick landed in Tiny's stomach. Kaiser immediately snapped his leg back to hit an approaching Twig with a back-kick, all without ever letting go of the crowbar. Kaiser forced Tiny to bend forward and trapped the man under his leg, the crowbar was yanked out of Tiny's hand and into Kaiser's.
Kaiser approached Twig and unleashed a devastating reverse swing into the skinny man's face, Twig crumpled to the floor right after. The spy promptly dropped the crowbar on the unconscious man's body.
Kaiser walked towards Jaune and Clyde, the spy kicked Tiny's head to the side as he approached the blond teen.
Jaune hit Clyde with an elbow strike, the chop shop owner fell backwards and hit his head against the wall.
"Dude, I needed him!"
"How was I supposed to know! You just threw me at him!" Jaune immediately got defensive, he was a little taken aback when Kaiser yelled at him.
"Yeah, because I thought you wouldn't be able to knock him out like that!" Kaiser began patting down Mr. Clyde for a scroll.
"What are you doing?" Jaune asked
"Finding anything useful. Hopefully Clyde here was just about to place an order on some enhancements, he might have a scroll stashed on him." Kaiser felt the telltale object outline of a scroll, he fished Clyde's scroll out of his back pocket.
"Not password protected, how careless." Kaiser scrolled through each contact available in Clyde's scroll.
"That's his wife? She's definitely cheating on him…"
"Son looks nothing like him, backs up my theory on her cheating…"
"There's literally nobody else on his phone, he couldn't have used this scroll to make the order."
"You know, a lot of people on crime shows use prepaid scrolls to contact their dealers." Jaune offered.
"You're right." Kaiser snapped his fingers. Nobody would be stupid enough to make shady deals under a public scroll number. "It's probably in his office if it isn't on him."
Kaiser made his way into the corner desk that separated the auto body shop from Clyde's office. The boy rummaged through the shelves behind Clyde's desk, nothing but car manuals were found.
"This ones locked." Jaune shook the handle of a desk drawer that just wouldn't open.
"You're going the right way if things suddenly get harder." Kaiser quickly scoped out Clyde's desk for something, that something quickly turned out to be a small jar of paperclips.
"Can you get me a flathead screwdriver? It's easier to get the paper clip to my liking if I have a sharp edge."
Jaune rushed out of the room while Kaiser shuffled a couple of the papers atop Clyde's desk. Nothing out of the ordinary for an auto body shop that used stolen cars. The spy shook nervously as he imagined what could be inside the drawer, he'd have no excuse to give up if what he was looking for was inside. His mood had soured the moment Jaune dutifully returned with the screwdriver.
Kaiser lined up one of the paperclips and pressed the flat edge against plastic wire, it was ready for lock-picking. He carefully inserted the bent paperclip into the keyhole, his mind focusing on the soft clicks from the lock's tumblers. Finally, the lock gave out and Kaiser effortlessly pulled the drawer open to find a burner scroll.
"No rest for the wicked." Kaiser inwardly sighed. He quickly activated the scroll, it was also not password protected. "The rocket lockers have better security than this, Jaune."
Kaiser spotted one specific number on the scroll, it really could have been anyone. The boy clicked on the number and held the scroll close to his ear.
"Mr. Crash, calling so soon?"
The southern accent belonging to Jasper cut clearly through the scroll line.
Kaiser nervously gulped before handing Jaune the scroll while the spy scribbled down some notes on a nearby notepad. He held the notepad displaying clear instructions, at the end was a postscript saying that Kaiser was going to check on the unconscious bodies in the main garage.
"Uhh… Mr. Crash isn't here right now, but he asked me to place an order." Jaune read the notes as he watched Kaiser kick Clyde's head to the side. "He's dealing with some clients of his own business."
"How much will you be requiring?" Jasper's gruff voice asked.
"Just a crate full, we have an attack on the White Fang planned." Jaune gathered a bit more confidence now that he felt secure in talking on the phone.
"It is none of my business what you do with my merchandise, just be ready to pay when I say so." Jasper said.
"Yes, sir."
"Have your boss meet me at the northern dockyard in five days, 8:00 pm, don't be late." Even with no threat made, Jaune felt somewhat intimidated by the speaker's tone. Relief washed over him when the scroll clicked to signify Jasper hanging up.
"Did you get anything?" Kaiser asked.
"He wants to meet on Wednesday at 8:00 pm."
"Where."
"The northern dockyard." Jaune finished, he handed Kaiser the scroll, not knowing what to do next.
Kaiser simply ejected the SIM card from the scroll and crushed both beneath his shoe. "Thanks for taking the call, I can't take any risk with the supplier recognizing my voice."
"Yeah that's fine, just don't put me through that again." Jaune nervously muttered.
"Deal, but we might have to get out because the guys are waking up again."
As if on cue, a flying crowbar clanged against the wall after Kaiser dodged the projectile. He yanked Jaune by the collar and led him outside. Both boys ran past the alleyway next to the auto body shop, Kaiser scooped up his bag on the way. The spy removed his coat and stuffed it in the bag, he fished out a baseball cap he bought earlier to wear.
"Turn your hoodie inside out, before they catch up!" The two hurried onto a busy street where foot traffic was abundant. Cars and trucks filed behind each other waiting for
"Got it." Jaune had just turned his hoodie from the outside, leaving him with a neon orange garment.
"Walk with the crowd." Both boys slowed their pace to match those of the people bustling on this crowded street.
Multiple pairs of footsteps came rushing towards the same street, the crowd from the car shop must've caught up.
"Where the hell are they?! They couldn't have gotten far!" Screamed Clyde, his other two cohorts just looked around. They neglected to even acknowledge one boy with an orange hoodie and another wearing a baseball cap and a white T-shirt.
"It's the little things, Jaune." Kaiser adjusted his cap, his bag by his side. "Make a significant wardrobe adjustment and you're practically invisible."
Hiding in plain sight was truly the most effective evasionary tactic in espionage.
"Are we safe?" Jaune asked. They turned the corner to a less busy street where the group from the auto shop were nowhere to be seen.
Kaiser let out a soft exhale, "Yeah, we are, we're done here." Kaiser softly bumped his fist on Jaune's shoulder, an action Kane would always perform on the young spy. "You did good though."
Kaiser dreaded the thought of facing off with Jasper again, but there wasn't anyone with the proper knowledge willing to do it. The boy mulled over the information that he'd managed to get from the auto shop, it was probably the first thing that had gone right in a long time.
Small victories were good, small victories were better than none after all.
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Kaiser thrashed wildly around in his bed, his sheets crumpled and fell to the floor. Kaiser soon followed and hit the ground with a large thud, his eyes snapped open in that instant. The nightmares had persisted, and Kaiser had woken up again in a cold sweat.
A tired groan emanated from the now alert boy, bleary eyes scanned his dorm room. He was presented with only the sight of his area illuminated by the moonlight, his curtains swept to the sides giving anybody on the roof a perfect view of the inside of his dorm.
Chills ran down Kaiser's spine, he felt horribly exposed. The spy walked over to his window, fully intent on shutting the world out. The moment he neared the window, the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. This feeling of extreme paranoia, it had happened many times before.
He was being watched, perhaps for observation or something worse.
There was no way to tell what kind of person was watching him, it could be a student, or someone from his old life. With the security that Beacon had in place, he doubted it was the latter. Either way, he felt far from safe.
Walking over to his dresser, Kaiser noticed it had barely struck 2:00 in the morning. There was no way he was getting back to sleep, and that uncomfortable feeling never left him. He'd feel more secure if he had a weapon on him, this led to him grabbing his scroll and heading towards his locker.
A brisk walk to the locker room later and Kaiser had opened his locker to find what he was looking for.
Below on the floor of the locker next to the bracer that held Great Escape, was his backpack full of the supplies he had bought while he was in Vale.
Kaiser scooped up the supplies and headed down to the forge, an area where the students of Beacon academy went to improve or make their own weapons.
There were loads of machinery that Kaiser could use to craft the ultimate weapon, but he didn't want anything super elaborate for his needs. He needed a weapon that would blend with his fighting style, not one where he would have to adjust his style to the weapon. Something subtle, but just enough of an improvement to justify adding it to his arsenal.
Kaiser took out the chunk of metal that he bought at the weapons shop earlier that day. He grabbed a blowtorch and a handle from a pile of assorted scrap metal pieces that students left for others to use. The spy took the blowtorch to both pieces to metal, he jammed the melted handle to one end of the cylindrical piece of metal. Now that he had welded both pieces together, Kaiser looked around to see a hole in the wall letting out scorching heat.
The furnace.
Kaiser took hold of the handle and inserted the metal into the furnace. He already had the idea of what he wanted in his mind, though there were a couple things he wasn't an expert on. The spy would definitely need to consult those more knowledgeable than him on how to build his weapon.
For now though, Kaiser sat back and appreciated the pretty flames that licked at what would be his ultimate weapon.
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"This is the good shit!" A random student chugged down his fourth beer, he leaned on his bed frame. Strewn throughout his dorm room were four other beer cans. He drank with one other person in the dorm, as his teammates abandoned him to go party in Vale. His teammates mentioned something about him not being "cool enough" to hang out with them.
It was his luck that a certain gray-haired boy from mistral had approached him with two six-packs of beer. The only thing the gray-haired boy asked was for a place to crash since he was apparently kicked out of his dorm room.
Now he was downing a can every minute, meanwhile Mercury had barely touched his second can.
"Trust me, Mistralian beer taste a lot better than Valean."
"Where'd you get this?"
"I have a friend who gets drinks imported from all over the kingdom, I sometimes help him out with his business in Vale." Mercury implied that the beer was a gift, but really he just swiped some of Junior's supplies from the bar. For the last hour he had been trading stories with a freshman student of Beacon, hoping that maybe this was someone who held information on what he needed to know.
When Kaiser let slip that he was banned from the Vytal tournament, Mercury had stored away the fact that the reason was never revealed. Assuming Kaiser had already faced the consequences of the action, it was something he had been caught. If at least one student witnessed what happened, then it would have spread all over the school. So all Mercury needed to do was find one vulnerable student, what luck that he overheard this student whining about his teammates leaving him.
One quick stop to his dorm later, and he had a way to convince the student to hang out.
The night grew progressively raucous, as both boys told more outrageous stories to each other. Each one punctuated by the hiss of another can of beer opening.
Mercury, who still had the wit to remember his mission, looked up at his companion. The other student looked absolutely hammered, very nearly close to passing out.
"Hey." Mercury tested, he heard a slow slurring from the other student. "What about that dude Kaiser, did he ever do anything crazy? He doesn't seem the type to."
"Oh fuck that guy!" He suddenly yelled out, the beer in his can sloshed around violently. "It always feels like he thinks he's above everybody else. Ignoring people in the hallways, I don't get why people like him!"
"Mmm." Mercury hummed, anything to get the other boy to keep rambling on.
"Then he sometimes leaves and returns with a shit ton of bruises and cuts and stuff. All the girls in our year fawn over that type of thing, he's gotta be doing it for attention!" Another chug of the beer can. "It's happened at least three times now! I can't even get my crush to notice me because Kaiser went and got himself beat up!"
There was no sound but the student's ragged breath from his rant about Kaiser the attention-seeker.
"He used to be approachable at least, during the first few weeks." The student's eyes went to one side. "That was until…"
Mercury's eyes snapped to the student he'd gotten drunk, the other boy looked to be passing out.
"Shit!" Mercury scrambled over to the other student, briefly slapping the boy in the face with rapid succession.
"Wus happening?" The near comatose boy asked.
"You were about to tell me something stupid that Kaiser did."
"Oh yeah…" the other student propped himself up with his hands, he already reached for another beer. "He beat the shit out of Cardin Winchester and his team in the middle of the entire cafeteria."
"Geez, he snapped from getting bullied too often?" Mercury had struck gold with this bit of information, still he pressed on. "What happened?"
"I don't know much, it started when Kaiser sat down with team CRDL. Cardin got mad because Kaiser was trying to separate him and Jaune, then he started screaming."
"Kaiser?" Mercury asked.
"No." The student corrected, he slurped at the now room temperature beer. "Cardin was the one shouting."
"What did he say?" Mercury refrained from showing too much eagerness, he had to stay aloof or else he'd come off as suspicious and the student would probably tell Kaiser that Mercury had been asking around after him.
Then, Mercury heard the last thing he expected to hear about the white-haired boy.
"Cardin said that Kaiser was a spy."
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I think I might make character playlist for this fic, is that cringe?