From spy to huntsman

by Notrussian

Kaiser had finally given up his role as an unwilling player in a losing game, it was no surprise he accepted a spot at beacon when it was offered. The fragments of his past become too big to ignore, and they once drag him into the world of lies and deception.

17. Rules of Engagement

What else can I say other than this chapter specifically has taken the bulk of my free time for four months? It's also my largest chapter by far clocking in at about 19k words. Unfortunately I have nothing else written down so I'm going to have to start the next chapters from scratch.

This is my magnum opus, like catcher in the rye. The only difference is that catcher in the rye was a good story.

As always reviews are welcome, I will be working on the next chapters for the foreseeable future.

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The recent string of hulking figures is the result of radical faunus hate groups purchasing a dangerous steroid named Hercules. Hercules pumps the user up in physical strength to an insane degree, the only downside being loss of self control in this state. The drug operation here in Vale is headed by a man by the name of Jasper Greene.

Be alert as Greene is armed with weapons and his own variant of Hercules which allows to reap the benefits without losing his self control. He is also a trained assassin, it is best not to get too close.

I will provide a scroll number below to contact Jasper(pretend you're an interested buyer, that's what I did), only do this if you are completely sure of defeating him.

If you are reading this, then I've already been killed in action.

Regards,

Kaiser.

Kaiser had just finished writing down the scroll number in the letter he had been trying to write for the past 30 minutes. He wondered if he should've included some sort of will to choose who would receive everything he owned. After a glance at his dorm, he remembered he didn't really own anything of value except his KA-BAR 5011 fighting knife. Kaiser had already known who that would go to if he died.

Albert Ross would receive the combat knife, preferably stabbed through his hand.

Precautions had to be made, Kaiser knew this. As an avid believer of Murphy's law, the spy knew that everything would go wrong. Probably the worst thing that could go wrong was a small misstep ending with Kaiser getting his neck snapped.

So he wrote a letter with information and instructions should he fail, hopefully he'd be able to rip it up and throw away the scraps later.

Kaiser looked over the four neatly made beds in his dorm, the bitterness over not having a team had gone. He had made such good friends this past semester at Beacon, it felt like the people he had met here were his team.

Kaiser grabbed a nearby vacuum cleaner to suck up the remains of pages from countless notebooks, his study sessions got a bit intense sometimes.

Orderly, clean, and respectable. Kaiser's dorm room was in peak condition.

Classes had ended an hour ago, some of his lessons now devolved into gibberish as Kaiser had been skipping too many sessions. History with Oobleck was still easy, at the very least, Albert Ross had been adamant the boy learn history and basic politics. Gods, Kaiser would give anything to be able to balance his school life.

Unfortunately, fate just wouldn't deal him the right cards.

Kaiser remembered something told to him long ago about being dealt bad cards.

Shoot the dealer, flip the table, take your winnings.

The spy finished off his room by haphazardly shoving his stack of unfinished homework papers into his desk, it's huge amount would have marred the pristine conditions his room appeared to be in.

"Grimm anatomy is such a-" Kaiser was cut off from his homework complaint. A slight chill in the air, Kaiser's eyes darting all over the room.

Someone's approaching!

Immediately Kaiser raced to his desk and strapped Great Escape to his arm, he then pushed his desk all the way to his door. Nobody should've been able to easily get in his room that way, it was good for a last second barricade. Even if his door pushed outwards, the intruder would be forced to awkwardly stumble over the desk to enter.

Except the feeling didn't go away, that was when Kaiser heard soft murmurs from outside his window. The last straw was seeing the red sleeve of someone's arm show up in Kaiser's window.

Like a man possessed, Kaiser dashed towards his window. He leapt while shielding his own face with one arm, glass and wood shattered into shards and splinters. With his right arm, Kaiser had dragged the intruder off the windows ledge.

"Hey!" The intruder yelped.

Kaiser ignored this, instead using Great Escape to attach itself to the wall. Kaiser and the intruder swung from mid-air into a downward arc, ending with the man from the windowsill getting slammed onto the wall.

"What's the big idea!" The intruder screamed, trying to ignore the calm in Kaiser's eyes.

"So which one of you is it this time?" Kaiser jerked his hand, shaking the fear of god into the intruder. "Saturn-3? Saturn-2?" Before he could interrogate further, Kaiser froze at a familiar voice.

"Yo Kaiser chill!" Sun Wukong shouted at the spy who was wildly dangling his partner off the side of the student dormitories.

"You know this guy, Sun?" Kaiser gave one more shake, prompting the person dangling to cut in.

"Yeah he knows me! I'm his partner, Neptune! Please don't drop me!" The boy now identified as Neptune pleaded, a gasp of relief left him as he felt the spy help him up to the windowsill.

"What the hell was that?!" Neptune shouted as he sat on what remained of Kaiser's windowsill.

At the very least Kaiser had the decency to look ashamed, his hands hadn't stopped trembling as he pulled himself up into his room. "Sorry, I've just been going through tough times." Kaiser had been expecting another surprise attack ever since Saturn-4 had shown up in the forge. "I've just been on edge lately, I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I guess we kinda messed up when we were using the ledges to get around." Sun adjusted his footing from the ledge next to Kaiser's window. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know how to get to team RWBY's dorm from outside, would you."

Kaiser let out a small grateful sigh, he wordlessly thanked Sun for changing the subject. "We'll since you're in my dorm right now, you might need to go around the building since team RWBY are across the hall."

"I told you, but you didn't listen!" Neptune complained to his partner.

"Relax, we can fix this, we just gotta crawl around the building." Sun shouted back.

With a frustrated huff, Neptune jumped onto the windowsill, getting onto the ledge.

"It was nice meeting you." Kaiser tried to salvage this situation, he didn't want this to be Neptune's only impression of him.

Neptune avoided looking Kaiser in the eyes, worrying that the spy might just tackle him out the broken window. "Uhhh… sure?" It wasn't long until both Sun and Neptune had gotten out of range on their long trek around the student dormitories.

Kaiser looked at the now broken window, already a headache bloomed. He just couldn't win, couldn't he? One look at his scroll told him it was 5:00 pm, only three hours until he'd meet up with Jasper.

"What a pain." Kaiser slowly muttered to himself, he decided he needed to be in the company of someone else to kill the next three hours. Kaiser closed the curtains of his room to give the illusion of perfection, it was one of his better ideas, he had to admit.

Obviously, that led him three steps down the hall to team RWBY's room,

Three knocks of the door and a minute later, the door had opened.

"Oh… hey Kai. What's up?" Yang had carefully greeted the boy.

"Not much, I'm just out here waiting until I have to leave to do something down in Vale."

"Oh? Is our resident spy going to save the world from some evil maniac?" Yang meant it in jest, but she was partially right.

It was best to play along, Kaiser put a finger to his lips. "Classified, but I was wondering if you wanted to hang out before I go?"

A slight wince from Yang was all Kaiser needed to know right now wasn't a good time.

"Sorry Kai, but I'm a bit busy right now with some team stuff, later though, if that's cool with you." Yang pointed a finger gun in his direction.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Lying came just as easy as breathing Kaiser, his plan to kill time basically fell apart. He waved just as Yang closed the door, then eyed the only other door with people he knew were behind it.

Obviously, that led him three steps back down the hall to team JNPR.

Lie Ren opened the door to a tired looking Kaiser, both friends offered each other a silent yet polite greeting.

"I heard you guys shouting from across the hall, are you holding a party in there?" It was a small thing Kaiser had been hearing since he made it to his room, but he didn't want to make it sound like it was a bad thing.

"No." Ren said in the same flat tone that he did with anything, it was accompanied by a shake of his head. "Nora set up her scroll into a laptop, she wanted us to watch some old boxing matches with her."

"Huh, that's pretty cool. Are you a big fan of boxing?"

"Not really, but Nora used to love catching matches on tv through storefront windows when we were passing through different towns." Ren then opened the door a little wider. "Care to watch with us?"

"I'd like that." Kaiser let Ren lead him back into JNPR's dorm room.

The atmosphere in JNPR's dorm was markedly different from Kaiser's, anyone could tell just by looking at it.

Messy clothes were strewn over beds, pages of finished homework were hastily piled on every desk. Nora's bed in particular had her blankets undone and rumpled toward the end of the mattress.

All of team JNPR sat on the floor, leaning on the bed frame while facing a laptop set up on the adjacent bed. It was an odd way to sit for sure, but they must've needed a single area for them to sit together.

Jaune was the first to notice Ren and his companion, the blond teen raised his arm in greeting. "How's it going?"

"It's going." Kaiser waved back, he took one peek at the laptop. "Are you guys watching live right now?"

"We're just watching some old matches." Nora cut in, excitement rang in her voice. "Hold on, Hank Hammers is gonna come on right now!"

That had immediately snapped Kaiser's attention to the screen.

Sure enough, a balding man with a strongman's build hurried to the ring. Raised fists punctuated by red boxing gloves danced in the air as Hammers went through a couple drills on screen. Most importantly, his face was perfectly fine, this was before Hammers had pinned Kaiser to the floor by his neck. Which resulted in Kaiser pulling a pot of scalding hot oil on top of them, most of it splashing onto Hammers.

While everybody watched the boxing match with building interest, Kaiser watched with silent fascination. The most popular boxer on Remnant, and former heavyweight champion, reduced to someone else's henchmen years down the line.

Team JNPR and Kaiser watched as Hank Hammers overwhelmed his opponent with lightning quick strikes, each one with the velocity of a bullet. Kaiser could see clearly how the boxing champion had utterly demolished the boy in their encounter two years ago.

Kaiser had unconsciously touched his upper lip where it had been torn in half with a single punch. He didn't have to worry about Hammer's anymore, although he wasn't sure what had become of the boxing champion, he knew the likelihood of them crossing paths again were practically nonexistent.

Hands wandered as Kaiser used his arms to prop himself up in a sitting position next to Ren, he liked the way the soft carpet felt under his hands. His fingers bumped into a book that had fallen to the floor and had probably been kicked under the bed.

The title: "Advanced Battle Tactics" Popped out to him from the little book covered in red leather. Memories of study sessions in an IPS training facility came rushing back, this book had provided him with the knowledge of battle that he had been carrying with him all throughout his life.

"Sorry for the mess." Pyrrha had scooted near Kaiser, she reached out for the book, to which it was handed back.

"It's yours?" Kaiser asked.

"Yes." Pyrrha warmly smiled to herself. "My mother gave it to me while I was training for my first tournament."

Suddenly Kaiser felt terrible about casually touching the book, there were many times when it's advice has saved his life. "What's your favorite tactic?"

Pyrrha tapped a finger to her chin, as if in deep thought. "I'd have to say outlasting my opponent's stamina."

Kaiser, in a much quieter tone as to not bother the rest of the team watching the boxing match. "Not discouragement? You do tend to make people back off from fighting you using that telekinesis of yours."

"Telekinesis?" Pyrrha tilted her head.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about." Kaiser pointed a sly smile towards Pyrrha, mirth playing in his eyes. "You make it so nobody can touch you."

"Well…" Pyrrha started. "It's not exactly telekinesis, much more limited than that."

"What?" It couldn't possibly be, Kaiser reviewed almost all of Pyrrha's tournament footage, it had to be telekinesis. Everytime Pyrrha was about to be hit by someone's armored fist, she deflected it without even touching. Come to think of it, Kaiser had also felt a buzzing vibration on Great Escape when he had faced off against Pyrrha in the semester's exhibition match. "Magnetism."

"Polarity." Pyrrha corrected.

"Polarity, like magnets?" Kaiser pondered when Pyrrha answered with a nod. "Can you disable machinery from the parts inside?"

"I'm not sure, I've just been using my semblance to defend myself and locate weapons." Pyrrha trailed off, she had been so busy trying to keep her semblance a secret, she had not considered other ways of using her semblance. "I'll have to try that sometime."

Kaiser nodded, but his attention was suddenly stolen by Nora shouting at the screen. "What's wrong?"

"The judges think Hammers cheated!" Nora hung her head, a soft sigh escaping her as Ren placed a hand on her shoulder.

It was on screen that the means of cheating had been revealed, a small pebble fell out of Hammer's left boxing glove as he unwrapped them. A small pebble is what made all the difference, the speed and power of Hammer's strikes combined with the small bump in Hammer's glove would cut into the other fighter's body. That small pebble became the difference between his career and his disgraced retirement, Hammer's had made his decision, and that would lead to the rest of his life.

"Nora got like this when we first saw this match." Ren explained to the rest of the room's occupants. "Nobody knows what happened to Hammers after this match, he just sort of… disappeared."

Disappeared, yeah, Hammers had certainly done that, then reappeared in the most damndest of places. Hammers would emerge as the hired muscle of a terrorist, which Kaiser had to intervene, resulting in the boy facing off against the world champion of boxing.

An alarm went off, unlike most times it wasn't the alarm of paranoia in Kaiser's head, but rather the alarm of his scroll.

"I've got to go guys." Kaiser stood up and stretched himself out, he should get the knots out his muscles before leaving. "I need to go take care of something."

"Do you need any help with that?" Jaune offered, and the rest of his team looked at the spy. "We're not really doing anything tonight so we can help out with whatever it is you're doing."

There were multiple reasons why that was a bad idea, mostly coming from the uncertainty of what this operation entailed. With the knowledge that Jasper was now employing Capricorn soldiers, Kaiser could very well be walking into a firing squad.

For obvious reasons, Kaiser didn't want to lead team JNPR into a death trap.

Kaiser also couldn't afford to bring too much attention to Jasper's operation to mitigate panic; that wouldn't be possible if he brought Pyrrha or Nora along. Pyrrha would draw a crowd even before they made it to the dockyards, and Nora's weapons were incredibly destructive.

Ren and Jaune could probably be a good option to take on this covert mission, if it wasn't for the trained elephant in the room. Jasper was too powerful with Hercules, both Ren and Jaune had not experienced the terror firsthand, and would likely make a small mistake that would cost them their lives.

And what of Kaiser himself, he wasn't an adequate enough leader to make a plan to strike Jasper's operation. If any of them got hurt, it would be on Kaiser's conscious, no matter how broken that was already. He couldn't let his own failings put JNPR in harm's way, so he did what felt right.

Kaiser politely declined and left the dorm after saying goodbye, he set out for his gear.

/-/

Kaiser hadn't even made it to the dockyards yet and he had already encountered a problem.

Walking through the city streets of Vale, Kaiser felt the familiar chill of paranoia take hold. He had been walking for 20 minutes now, he started feeling uneasy just 30 seconds after stepping off the bullhead.

Kaiser was being followed, or watched, definitely both.

The spy couldn't tell exactly who was following him, his surveillant was most likely hiding in the crowds of people that came out to Vale this evening. Unfortunately, it was the starting weeks of the city's setting up of the Vytal festival, so the general public came out to celebrate. Even worse, there were many tourists that came to Vale to see all the sights and do a copious amount of window-shopping.

Overall the amount of people that should have been out tonight was doubled, that made the job of the surveillant incredibly easy.

Kaiser tried going through the crowds, but it was easier said than done. Kaiser was wearing his long coat, a stark contrast to the bright and stylish clothing the tourists were wearing tonight in celebration. He was easily identifiable as he walked through the streets, his long black coat becoming the outlier in this sea of festivity.

Kaiser would need to think of a surveillance detection route to expose his observer, then he'd at least know where exactly he was being observed from. He at first thought walking through crowded streets would work, but that was just giving more cover for Kaiser's observer.

No, he would need to thin out the number of people surrounding the person tailing him. That would mean leading his tail somewhere where there weren't so many tourists walking around.

Luckily enough, he knew that a couple streets ahead was the entrance to the Vale's financial district. Brokerage firms and the like lined the streets, higher class bars also occupied the streets, offering an after-work retreat for stock brokers coming off a long day of playing the economy.

Once Kaiser had turned the corner and actually entered the financial district, It was a lot more obvious that he was being followed.

Kaiser looked next to him, towards the bigger buildings. Using his peripheral vision, Kaiser spotted just what he was looking for out of the corner of his eye.

Four men rounded the corner, three of them wore fancy suits and held briefcases. That was par for the course, these people were obviously headed to an important meeting. But the fourth man wore a leather jacket and a cap, someone trying too hard not to be noticed.

Kaiser needed to find a way to shake his tail quickly, he didn't want to make it obvious he knew he was being followed, or else there might be a shootout depending on his surveillant's goal.

It was quite simple, Kaiser had just reached a bus station where a city transit was pulling up. Stepping aboard, Kaiser purposefully chose a seat near the rear exit.

All that was left was waiting for his tail to decide to board as well.

The weight of the bus shifted ever so slightly, a figure with a black leather jacket was shown on the bus' camera monitor. The observer had taken a seat in the back of the bus, specifically on the corner. It was a general thing to do when following someone, stay behind and preferably to an angle. Always keep out of sight of your target.

The moment that Kaiser saw that his surveillant had sat down from the monitor, Kaiser stood right up and got off the bus. A slow exhale escaped him as he watched the bus pull away on its predetermined route, Kaiser's observer quickly being whisked away on the public transit.

If the surveillant had followed Kaiser off the bus, it would have let Kaiser know he was being followed. Clearly he already knew he was being followed, but the observer didn't know what Kaiser knew. Kaiser's trick forced the observer to stay on the bus, lest he invalidate his tailing mission.

Kaiser had mindlessly made his way towards the northern dockyards, the smell of the ocean had told him that he had made it.

All that stood in between Kaiser and entering the dockyard was a booth with a security guard letting vehicles pass through.

15 minutes later, a black delivery truck paused at the booth. A quick flash of an ID was enough to let the truck through, the vehicle roamed through the dockyards, before finally parking in a spot next to a couple shipping containers. It was a regular truck that carried regular merchandise ready for exportation…

…that and a spy from the IPS.

Kaiser had jumped onto the truck before it reached the dockyard entrance, then climbed the vehicle and settled himself flat on the roof of the automotive. The spy even went as far as putting his hood on to camouflage himself against the truck's black paint job.

Feeling the rumbling of the truck's engine stop, Kaiser sat up and scanned his surroundings.

Not much was different about the dockyards since the last time he'd been there. Warehouses stationed strategically near shipping containers stacked on top of each other, the odd wooden crate or so scattered about and the big yellow crane in the distance. Curiously, there were some tubular sign posts with what seemed to be speakers on them near every lot of the dockyard.

This was also the place where Kaiser had first found the large shipment container full of Hercules, the real start to his problems. It was poetic, in a way, that this was the chosen battleground.

Leaping off of the truck and onto a shipping container, Kaiser strode through the dockyard. He had kept to the middle of the container's frame, so anyone down below could barely see him should they look up.

It took a while of jumping over stacked containers, but Kaiser had finally been given something to work with. Kaiser had been on a shipping container stacked on a similar container, in front of him was another container that was one level below the spy. On top of the lower level container was a man in a black combat uniform, a soldier's helmet sat on top of his head. He was marching around with an automatic rifle, a silver patch on his arm that looked like the letter n.

A Capricorn soldier…

Just past the containers was a smaller steel container in the middle of the clearing, it's lid was flipped open. A neon orange glow emanated from the box, the Hercules that Jasper was in charge of was out in the open. If Kaiser timed it right, he could drop down onto the soldier and knock him out, then he could secure the Hercules.

Standing at the edge of the shipping container, Kaiser mentally prepared for his attack. He dropped from the ledge, intent on knocking the soldier against the floor.

A shot rang out in the dark, it sharply clanged against the steel of the shipping container.

The soldier turned around with a striking blow before Kaiser collided with him, disorienting the boy.

Kaiser fell to the floor of the container, he rolled out of the way of the soldier about to stomp down on him. Teetering on the edge of falling off, Kaiser fired Great escape to the wall of the container he had jumped from to tether himself, just in time to get kicked in the face.

"Looks like our guest has arrived!" A booming voice crackled to life, it's southern accent had already clued Kaiser into the person's identity. Jasper Greene was nowhere in sight. "It's been a while, Kaiser."

"Jasper!" Kaiser shouted, the boy dodged an incoming swing of the fist, but was caught off guard as a projectile slammed into his shoulder. The momentary pause gave the soldier in front of him the opportunity, and Kaiser recieved a brutal punch to the throat.

"Feeling a little winded?" Jasper's voice cut through in amplified vibrations, where was the voice coming from? "I taught these boys some tricks of the trade."

Kaiser hacked and coughed as he did his best to avoid the soldiers assault, another bullet hit him in the abdomen. Was there a sniper? It was likely.

"Kane would be disappointed at the miserable excuse of a fighter you turned out to be!" Jasper's voice surrounded the dockyard.

Kaiser countered an incoming punch with his own, he sent the soldier stumbling backwards with a satisfying crunch from the soldier's nose.

"Touched a nerve there, didn't I?"

Kaiser leant on the shipping container, desperately trying to soothe his throat. Another bullet got him in the back, a garbled scream escaped him.

"You forgot a couple guys." The taunting voice of Jasper once again laughed at Kaiser.

Two more soldiers ran up to the shipping container carrying automatic rifles, they took aim at the winded spy.

Kaiser leapt from the shipping container and used Great Escape to fire into a nearby crane in the middle of the dockyards. Kaiser swung from one place to another dodging the automatic fire from the two Capricorn soldiers.

Another shot had fired into his upper back mid-swing, leading to Kaiser crashing onto the damp pavement of the dockyards. Kaiser scrambled to his feet, the Capricorn soldier's aim trailed after him. Kaiser scrambled behind a couple wooden crates, a volley of bullets followed.

Wood splintered and bullet shells clattered to the floor, once one soldier stopped firing, the other started providing cover fire.

Kaiser was trapped behind the crate, sooner or later, it would relent and provide the soldiers with their desired target. Feeling around, Kaiser's hand met a rock roughly the size of a fist. The spy chucked the heavy rock over to the Capricorn Soldiers, who could provide his opening.

"Frag!" One of the soldiers shouted, as expected, both men jumped away. Without looking closely, the rock could be misinterpreted as a grenade, but you couldn't afford looking closely if there was any risk that it was an explosive. Their own instilled training became Kaiser's advantage, and the young spy was able to press said advantage.

Kaiser dashed out from behind the crate and approached the nearest soldier, kicking his rifle right out of his hands. The weapon hadn't even reached the ground when Kaiser grabbed the soldier, using him as a shield against the other.

The other Capricorn soldier hesitated to take the shot, he perspired more as Kaiser approached with his partner in his grasp.

Once in striking distance, Kaiser shoved his captive to one side, rushing to the other soldier. Kaiser grasped the other soldier's rifle and pushed until the firearm was pointed up, the soldier let loose a torrent of bullets in the night sky. Once the gun clicked empty, Kaise pulled back and released a devastating strike to the man's temple.

Kaiser instinctively dodged as the soldier he had first pushed aside came in with a sloppy kick, something was beginning to become more clear as Kaiser blocked an attempted liver shot.

"You don't know how to fight!" Kaiser taunted, indeed the way the soldier had telegraphed most of his attacks had been a clear sign. Jasper had taught these soldiers the deadly tactics of a Scorpio assassin, but these soldiers hardly knew how to incorporate them in a fight. Up until now, they've just gotten lucky off the element of surprise, something Kaiser himself was familiar with.

Sidestepping another predictable punch to the throat, Kaiser received his confirmation. The spy simply grabbed the soldier by the back of the head, then he struck out with his elbow. The soldier's body crumpled after that, there was still one left.

The sniper…

A creaking noise was heard, then a sudden snap, Kaiser looked up. A wrecking ball, one that was originally attached to the crane, was rapidly hurtling towards the ground onto Kaiser. His reaction was instant, he threw himself back, just barely avoiding the 1000 pound mass of forged steel.

The glint of metal from the crane had alerted Kaiser to the sniper, the other indication was another bullet slamming him into his chest. The wrecking ball was meant to lure Kaiser away from the base, providing a better shot for the sniper to aim at the spy.

Kaiser hacked and coughed after finding some cover, the spy clutched his chest, he removed the smoking hot sniper round crushed onto his long coat. The spy peeked up from behind a shipping container, another sniper round buried itself on the edge of the shipping container.

That was when Kaiser made his move, climbing onto the shipping container, the spy aimed Great Escape on the sniper's vantage point on the crane. He zipped himself up onto it, just managing to avoid another round affected by the sniper's startlement. A swift kick and the sniper was knocked off his post, he was falling down just as quick as the wrecking ball had.

Unfortunately Kaiser couldn't let the sniper die, his only target was Jasper, so he dove off the sniper's post. Great Escape's hook had attached itself to the arm of the crane, leading Kaiser on a downward arc.

Catching the sniper, Kaiser continued on the descent. His knees bent when he hit the floor, letting go of the already exhausted sniper. A swift kick to the head ensured unconsciousness.

"As they normally say in my hometown." Jasper's voice once again spoke, this time Kaiser knew exactly where it was coming from. Jasper had been talking through a microphone which was connected to multiple poles throughout the dockyards, fixed atop the poles were megaphone speakers. "If you want something done right…"

Kaiser used Great Escape to zip himself up on top of the megaphone pole, he scanned the area from his vantage point. Damp concrete from the sea supported storage containers, a nearby warehouse had its door left open.

"Hmm." Kaiser hummed lowly to himself.

"You do it yourself!" The sound of steel being torn filled Kaiser's ears as he lost balance on the pole, the boy was plummeting towards the floor. His back met the concrete, there was a towering figure wearing a cowboy hat.

"Get up, boy!" Jasper Greene stood over him, the megaphone pole in hand. The bottom end of the steel pole was jagged, Jasper must've torn the pole out using the strength Hercules provided. "The least you could do is die on your feet, like a man!"

Kaiser's breath quickened, his instincts were screaming at him to start moving. Great Escape was once again fired at a nearby wall, launching Kaiser towards it at a blinding speed. The spy launched himself at Jasper with his fist reared back. A sharp crack rang throughout the dockyard, his fist had made contact with Jasper's face.

The Scorpio assassin reeled backwards in shock, the force of the punch was harder than expected. Jasper's cowboy hat was actually knocked off and thrown back a couple feet, a small achievement, but still progress.

"You'll die with your back turned on me if you try to make things fair!" Kaiser stepped back by a couple feet, assessing his situation. Jasper had already activated his dosage of Hercules, everything seemed just that much more impossible.

Kaiser sprang to the side as Jasper charged at him at full running speed. Jasper missed Kaiser by an inch, causing him to run into one of the many wooden crates scattered about.

In a rage, Jasper grabbed the crate and launched it at Kaiser.

The spy rolled out of the way to avoid the crate, he shot it with his hook and used the crate's existing momentum to swing it back at Jasper.

The Scorpio assassin had caught the crate when it landed. There was a sudden creaking noise, and then, the crate exploded into a million splinters.

"Getting scared yet, boy?" The sheer power that Jasper exuded was overwhelming, any other person would be rooted to the floor with fear.

Fear… it was something that every exceptional spy lacked. Most field agents were ready to give their mind, body, and soul to complete their mission. This made fear nothing but a hindrance to spies, the only time they could have legitimate fear was when they feared for those they care about.

"I lack the capacity for fear!" Kaiser sniped back, his frustration allowed for old mannerisms to creep into his speech.

Kaiser's upbringing was one of cold loneliness, making sure that he could not connect with another person. Without a real relationship with another person, Kaiser never had anything to lose.

Nothing was more dangerous than someone with nothing to lose.

Kaiser jumped as Jasper swung the megaphone pole at him, he narrowly avoided the steel pipe. A loud "oomph" escaped the boy when Jasper brutally thrust the pole into Kaiser's chest. The spy tumbled and rolled against the floor, eventually he made it to the sidewalk. His right arm itched for some sort of action, but Kaiser couldn't do anything with it until he was completely sure he had an opening.

More swings of the pole had been avoided, Jasper grew frustrated with each hit he missed.

Kaiser ducked under a sudden thrust, using his right arm, he trapped the pole above his shoulder before it could be pulled back.

It was a mistake, Kaiser was now in striking range. He received a roundhouse kick to the ribs, you could even hear a soft crunching sound under his coat. Even without using the full momentum, Jasper's kick felt like a high speed swing of the bat from a professional baseball player. Kaiser let go of the megaphone pole to clutch his side, Jasper took advantage of this opening to land a front kick on the young spy.

Kaiser fell back on the floor a couple feet away from Jasper, he saw the Scorpio agent tear the megaphone off the pole.

"I thought Kane would've taught you the basics of fighting, always keep your guard in front of you." Jasper twirled the pole in his hands until the jagged end pointed at Kaiser as menacing as an amazon's spear. "Never leave your guard above or below you!" Jasper swung the spear down on the spy.

Kaiser rolled away from the impact of the makeshift spear, he quickly got back to his feet using a kick-up. Kaiser jerked to the side to avoid another thrust of the spear, it grazed his side and was caught on the inside of his coat as he had left it unzipped.

Blood oozed out of the wound inflicted in Kaiser's side, staining the torn white shirt that Kaiser wore under his long coat.

Jasper thrust further with the spear, Kaiser turned to the side slightly to avoid further slicing himself. The Scorpio assassin took advantage of this and crossed the distance, he yanked the boy by the arm.

Kaiser was soaring through the air soon after, wind whipped past his head while his coat flapped in the air. This wouldn't last though as the ground was rapidly approaching, and Kaiser was rapidly approaching a parked taxi. The spy landed on the roof of the car with a loud thunk, Kaiser had bounced off the car and onto sidewalk pavement.

"How far was I thrown?" Kaiser rubbed his already sore head, he was vaguely aware of the footsteps patiently approaching him.

"Not far enough it seems." The sound of metal scraping against the pavement filled both combatant's ears, Jasper was lazily dragging his makeshift spear. "I'll make sure to throw you high enough to reach the high heavens, you'll end up there tonight either way so I might as well."

Kaiser's shoulder caught a vicious thrust of the spear, with the protection from his coat it felt like being hit by a blunt and rusty blade. It still hurt all the same as the skin broke and started to bleed from a wide patch of skin.

Kaiser was sent stumbling backwards off of the curb, he was unwillingly disobeying the most important rule when it came to crossing a street.

Always look both ways.

The young spy was unaware of the high speed truck barreling in his direction, even with aura that could have effortlessly killed him.

Kaiser's eyes widened in shock as he felt himself yanked backwards, his right leg had hit the front grill of the truck. Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes as pain wracked the lower half of his body, his mind was running a million thoughts per second. Kaiser was promptly lifted into the air by scruff of his neck, his face paled in horror at the sight of the demented sneer on the Jasper's face.

"That truck could've been an act of mercy." Two punches that felt like missiles upon impact landed on Kaiser's stomach, all the wind and subsequently, spit and even a bit of blood was knocked out of him. "Too bad I'm not done with ya, spy!" Jasper said as he launched the boy across the street.

Kaiser landed next to a dark alleyway in between two apartment complexes, perfect for using his semblance. Kaiser limped into the alleyway, his semblance darkening the shadows in the moonlight. Kaiser watched from the shadows as the Scorpio assassin strode up to the dirty alleyway.

"No trick works on me twice!" Jasper drew his modified revolver, fire dust rounds were loaded in the gun. "It didn't even work the first time! Why would you even try this again?" Jasper shot off a dust round, it made a violent impact with a cement wall at the end of the alley. The resulting explosion illuminated the entire alleyway in a fiery blaze, there was a small patch of a dark void that persisted amidst the bright light of the fire.

The shadows that the young spy produced with his semblance were unnatural and manipulated, they weren't affected by light unlike natural shade.

Jasper had now figured that out, he could easily locate wherever the boy hid. However, Kaiser was unaware of this aspect of his semblance.

Kaiser had found Jasper's spear slammed down onto his shoulder, putting the boy ever closer to a coma.

Kaiser's patch of shadow had immediately disappeared, he backed away as Jasper strode over to him. In a panic, Kaiser aimed Great Escape towards a wall on the third story apartment. One look at what his hook hit would tell him he hadn't grappled on to a wall, but rather, an air conditioning unit. Kaiser yanked on the cable of his hook anyways, bringing the AC unit crashing down on Jasper.

The assassin was caught off guard for a moment, like a deer about to be run over by a car.

This gave ample opportunity for Kaiser to reach for more AC units from other apartments with his hook, a rain of plastic and metal descended onto the steroid-filled assassin.

Jasper emerged from the wreckage, bloodlust present on his face.

Kaiser had to choose his next words wisely, it would be the difference between victory and defeat. He would probably take a few more brutal beatings, but it would be worth the trouble of enraging Jasper to force him to start making mistakes.

Kaiser eyed the remnants of the air conditioning units, a smirk that betrayed the tiredness in his eyes appeared. "Not a fan?"

Jasper charged at the boy just as Kaiser's steel mask shifted out of its contact lense form, the user interface displayed a scroll call he was receiving from a group chat Yang added him to some time ago.

/-/

Junior's was a dead end to say the least, there had gone an hour wasted and laid to rest.

Yang walked out of Junior's club with Neptune Vasilias in tow, the supposedly suave boy licking his wounds after a swift rejection at the hand of the Malachite twins.

They were supposed to find leads on what exactly Roman Torchwick had been planning, so far, Junior had nothing useful to offer. The pair of students had to look elsewhere for some clue that would help them stop Torchwick doing whatever it was that he was planning.

While she was playing interrogation with Junior, Ruby and Weiss were busy looking over SDC records to see if any dust shipments had been hit. Blake and Sun were attending a White Fang seminar to get an inside look at their plans, undoubtedly the most dangerous job out of the three groups. To infiltrate a group was to pretend to be a part of them, and to risk life if they were found out. This was the type of thing Yang had only seen in spy films.

Spy…

Yang sighed internally, she wanted to ask Kaiser to join them in this little excursion of theirs. She figured this would be the type of thing right up his alley based on the little things he had told her about being an espionage agent.

Ruby had been adamant though, team business only, and Sun and Neptune since they were by the windowsill.

It wasn't all bad, Neptune had been good company, if a little nervous. Yang revved up her bike's engine, Neptune got on and slid his goggles in place. Just then, Yang's scroll started ringing, a call coming from Sun through a shared group chat.

"Big robot! And it's big! Really big! That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!" Sun's voice struggled to come over the static of the scroll.

"Where are you guys?" Yang's question was answered when both Blake and Sun along with Torchwick, piloting an Atlesian Paladin tore through the streets of Vale.

Before speeding off in pursuit, Yang heard an apologetic voice cut through the static.

"Sorry I can't be of any help, I'm dealing with a bit of a situation." The voice was faintly recognized as Kaiser, a roar from another source interrupted the spy.

"I'll drag you to hell, boy!" A southern accent could be heard, along with what sounded like someone punching a brick wall.

None of that mattered now as Yang reached the highway, Torchwick was in everybodies sights. Tonight was the night that team RWBY would put him away with no chance of escape.

/-/

A jacked up leg, bruised ribs, and cut on his side; Kaiser imagined this going so much better in his head. His whole body hurt too much to ignore, but not enough to completely give up.

Now atop the apartment complex, Kaiser scowled at his surroundings looking for anything to use while Jasper clawed his way towards the roof. There wasn't much on the rooftop, save for a water tower and a pigeon cage at max capacity.

By that time Kaiser turned back, Jasper had already crossed the distance between them and delivered a shocking blow to Kaiser's head.

The spy reeled back in pain and shock, his vision blurred, he instantly did what made most sense to him at the time. Kaiser gathered up some aura and repaid Jasper with a punch to the face as well, though Kaiser's was much weaker.

"That all you got, boy?" Jasper grinned under the impact of Kaiser's fist.

Kaiser spun himself in the opposite direction and lowered himself into a crouch, his leg swung out to sweep Jasper's legs.

Jasper was able to put one leg back, but wasn't able to avoid the other leg getting hit. The assassin was brought down one knee as he rubbed the knee that the boy had hit.

Interesting. Kaiser noted that joint areas like the knee were still vulnerable to attacks. The spy charged towards Jasper with killer intent, his fist cocked back to strike the assassin in the head. Jasper caught the punch, he responded with his own punch to Kaiser's mouth.

The boy was sent backwards into the pigeon cage on the rooftop, the wire fence couldn't hold the boy and ended up folding inwards on itself.

The rusted metal fence dug into his neck and back, Kaiser was also painfully aware of the tray of birdseed in the corner of the pigeon cage. He flung the half-empty container at Jasper, covering the professional assassin with seeds. They had gotten in his hair, clothes, and even between cracks of the metal contraption that pumped him full of Hercules.

The first pigeon flew over to Jasper and pecked at the seed on Jasper's eyebrow.

Then the second…

Then the third…

Suddenly, a flock of 20 pigeons fluttered toward their seed, it didn't matter to them that a muscled beast of an assassin was in their way.

When Jasper finally got a clear view, he saw that Kaiser had seemingly disappeared from his last position.

"What! Where did he-"

A pair of arms behind the assassin wrapped around Jasper's hips, one hand clasped down onto the other as they locked themselves around Jasper. A leg hooked around Jasper's, effectively disabling him from moving.

"Get suplexed asshole!" Kaiser grunted as he was halfway to lifting the assassin off his feet. In one quick movement, Kaiser arched his back and turned the other way, the assassin was slammed down onto the concrete roof of the apartment complex.

Jasper was up in an instant and gathering his bearings, Kaiser did not have as much strength to get up immediately.

Deep breaths shuddered throughout the boy as he lay on the cool concrete, a stark contrast to the fire that erupted from the dust round earlier. It took Kaiser a second to get back up in a crouch, he should have gotten up faster, he might have avoided the next kick to the face if he had.

Kaiser clattered to the ground, a gob of blood was spat out of the spy's mouth. He tiredly eyed the assassin as he approached, the makeshift spear was in Jasper's hand.

"You know, I really thought that you were going to be a problem." The spear twirled in Jasper's hand, the jaggedly pointed end was pointed Kaiser's way. "Especially when I read your file with all of our operations you've dismantled."

Kaiser used his hands to prop himself up, his whole body ached as he did so. "Let me tell you what would happen if you tried to stab me with that." Deep breaths left the boy, as he attempted a tactic that Kane had once used on him. "You're going to thrust your spear, I'm going to roll to the side and retaliate with a kick to your knee. Once that happens-" Kaiser couldn't finish his sentence as he was instantly shot with a dust round.

Of course that wouldn't work on Jasper, why would demoralization work on someone who was already trained in psychological warfare?

The spy crashed against one of the wooden support beams that helped hold the water tank. The tank itself was enormous, considering its purpose was to circulate water to an entire apartment housing complex.

With a guttural roar, Jasper ran at Kaiser with a closed fist.

Kaiser ducked under a devastating blow, the wooden beam he leaned against splintered and shattered quite easily. Another idea sparked into the young spy's mind as he kept staring at the broken support beam of the water tank.

"What do you think of that kind of power, boy!"

"I wouldn't know, you're about as slow as a turtle." Kaiser smoothly positioned himself against another wooden beam, flames from the dust round flickered on his coat before going out completely. "About as strong as one too!"

Kaiser sidestepped another earth shattering punch, absolutely decimating the support beam behind him. The young spy front kicked the assassin in the ribs to distract Jasper from the fact that Kaiser was baiting him.

Splinters and rotten wood flew in all directions, the water tank leaned inward with every support beam destroyed.

Kaiser weaved to avoid one last punch from Jasper before leaping towards the final support beam, his hand reaching out for the wooden support to swing himself towards Jasper with more momentum.

The spy collided with Jasper with a flying drop kick, causing the Scorpio assassin to fall backwards by a couple feet. If the assassin were a bit more keen, he wouldn't be so willing to let the boy land that kick. Jasper had missed the way that Kaiser had quickly tied the wire from Great Escape around the support beam.

The kick was merely a distraction, and a way to get Jasper into position for his next move.

The moment Jasper hit the floor, Kaiser ran and dove off the ledge of the apartment complex onto the next rooftop. The spy rolled onto the next building after a six foot gap, he activated Great Escape's retracting function. The compact motor in Kaiser's bracer was whirring hard as the wires severed the wooden support beam in half.

Now with all the support beams broken, the 5000 gallon tank of water toppled over and crashed onto Jasper. Most likely the force of the tank combined with Jasper position would end the nightmare.

Kaiser watched on as the plastic tank popped from impact of the fall, water spilling past the roof ledge and onto the streets below.

"What a crushing defeat." Kaiser softly uttered, he slowly turned around to leave. "Ahh." Kaiser whined, his leg had been aching like hell. In fact, his whole body was wracked with pain and possible internal bleeding. Kaiser wondered if there were any pharmacies nearby, he'd have to stock up on Aspirin.

Kaiser stumbled to the floor before he even made it to the edge of the roof, his jacked up leg finally caught up to him. It didn't matter though, he had all night to get back to his dorm.

The sound of plastic creaking caught his attention, Kaiser's gaze locked onto the roof where he dropped the water tank on Jasper.

Ever so slowly, inch by inch, the tank was rising in the air, a pissed off Jasper was holding the half empty tank.

"What the hell?!" Kaiser barely had any time to scramble before the water tank barreled towards the spy, he just barely managed to avoid it.

The tank crashed down with a resounding thud, water spurting out of the large crack in the side. Kaiser was horrified to find the extent of the strength that Jasper possessed, and to add insult to numerous injuries, Jasper was still alive.

Kaiser slipped when he tried to circle around the tank to get a better view of Jasper, tendrils of crimson slowly mingled with that of the water flowing out of the tank and covering the floor. The sight of the water gave the boy an idea, one that wasn't particularly dignified for an expert fighter such as himself.

I shouldn't act like I still have my dignity.

Kaiser quickly scooped as much water into his mouth as he could, this had to work.

/-/

Jasper looked over at the lower building rooftop, the tank of water that fell on him had emptied out. It was quite possible that he could've been heavily injured, but he had an easy out to that. The assassin stared down at the wreckage he had caused, he hoped that Kaiser was crushed underneath the weight of the tank.

Jasper severely doubted that Kaiser had died down there, the young spy certainly proved why Zodiac had trouble with eliminating him. A running start helped Jasper cross the gap between the buildings, isolating himself with his prey.

"You know, I imagined anybody taught by Kane would face me head on." Jasper had surmised that mentioning Martin Kane would touch a nerve with the spy considering his reaction at the dockyard. "Though, I will admit that I'd be careful to not end up dead like him!" Jasper took a quick peek at one side of the fallen water tank, jutting out was the makeshift spear.

It was fortunate that Jasper grabbed his spear as he did earlier.

Jasper had chucked the spear at the tank to pierce it, causing the tank to lose many gallons, and subsequently, many pounds of force.

The Scorpio assassin plucked the spear embedded into the water tower, it only took two yanks to pry it free. "I'll gut you like a fish, boy."

A soft flutter billowed in the air behind Jasper, followed by small splashes of water from feet pounding against the flooded rooftop.

A forceful thud landed on Jasper's back, making the assassin jump forwards. He turned back around to see Kaiser with his leg extended, Jasper must've been front kicked. Kaiser dashed forwards, he had seen a punch from Jasper coming a mile away.

While Kaiser had seen Jasper's muscles tensing and evaded the strike accordingly, Jasper had failed to notice the puffed up cheeks of the spy quickly approaching.

A jet of water, saliva, and blood sprayed into the eyes of the Scorpio assassin.

Jasper recoiled in shock and disgust, a hard impact crashed into his knee. The assassin was forced onto one leg, left kneeling in front of the deadly spy.

After spitting a torrent of water and kicking Jasper, Kaiser laid a hand on Jasper's shoulder. In one swift maneuver, Kaiser vaulted over Jasper, ending up positioned behind the assassin. The spy's arms wrapped around Jasper in a rear naked choke, Kaiser opted for a cleaner kill.

"Do you feel yourself fading, knowing that you're going to die?" Kaiser softly whispered into Jasper's ear, he hoped to invoke a sense of hopelessness into the assassin. It didn't matter to Kaiser whether Jasper's morale was crushed or not, he just wanted the assassin to know that he had been beaten.

Shaky legs struggled to stand up, but ultimately, the injection of Hercules had assisted Jasper greatly. A raspy groan escaped the assassin as he was able to stand upright, the spy still clinging onto Jasper, desperately hoping the lack of air would knock the assassin out.

Kaiser was denied the victory as Jasper swung the boy by leaning forward at a rapid pace, it didn't take much for the powered assassin to pry the spy off and slam him into the ground.

Kaiser made little noise, it betrayed how hurt he felt in that moment.

"Classy, real classy." Jasper said, he wiped the tainted water off his face.

"Assuming I had any class was your first mista-" Kaiser's angry tirade was replaced with a pained howl as Jasper stomped on the downed spy's rib cage. Something definitely cracked that time, it was getting hard to breathe.

"I reckon only one of these at close range is enough to take you out, permanently." Jasper drew his own dust revolver and took aim between Kaiser's eyes, his finger resting on the trigger ready to be squeezed.

The difference between life and death was merely an ounce of pressure.

"You know…" Kaiser's voice was strained, Jasper kept the boy tightly pinned to the ground. "You've got to be a terrible shot if you have to keep me still, bet your instinctive shooting skills are pretty shit." Kaiser snarkily said, he coughed after his taunt.

"I scored 86% on marksmanship in the shooting range." More pressure was applied to Kaiser's already injured ribs, the low rumblings of a bus stopping was heard below. "I'll allow you to pray to whatever god you believe in before I take your life."

Kaiser only ever questioned the existence of a god, if there was maybe he wouldn't be in this situation. There was no use in praying, but at least he could ignite a threat with the time given to him.

"I've got five snipers situated on different rooftops, you won't be leaving this rooftop alive."Kaiser lied calmly, his left arm was creeping closer to his side.

"When? You wouldn't have been able to call anyone!" Jasper frantically scanned the nearby rooftops for snipers. His attention was snapped back onto the spy when he heard the swish of Kaiser's sleeve move suddenly.

Both assassin and spy locked eyes as they shot their respective weapons.

Jasper fired his revolver at the young boy splayed out on the ground.

Kaiser fired Great Escape at the Scorpio assassin who pinned him to the ground.

A small explosion occurred just where the two weapons met, the resulting blast sent Jasper backwards through recoil. Kaiser was flung towards the edge of the rooftop, he curled up in pain.

It was the spy who was more careful, more precise, and more clever. Kaiser knew that no matter what, if he tried firing at or past Jasper, it would result in Kaiser being shot to death. Instead, Kaiser managed to fire the tiny hook of his weapon into the barrel of Jasper's revolver. The dust round had exploded upon collision with Kaiser's hook, and consequently exploded within the barrel of the gun.

Jasper's gun(or what remained of it) clattered to the ground, the barrel of the gun was blown open. The assassin was stunned for a second and left on the ground.

Kaiser sat up and immediately felt pain shoot through his left hand, glancing at it showed that the impact from hitting the floor had severely scraped the hand. Blood slowly built up on it as crimson drops fell to the floor. The spy activated Great Escape's retracting function, the wire came up burnt at the end and the hook was nowhere in sight.

The resulting blast must've destroyed Great Escape, and now Kaiser couldn't move around his surroundings as easily anymore.

Kaiser clenched his fist as he watched Jasper barely struggle to get up. Kaiser used the edge of the rooftop to lift himself off the ground, he watched out of the corner of his eye as the bus was approaching after leaving its most current stop.

Kaiser needed just a little moment to recover, gaining distance just might do the trick.

"I had my fill of fun for tonight, I think I'll head out." Kaiser gave an empty two fingered salute before getting on the ledge of the building, it took less effort to let himself fall off the building.

A sudden force tugged Kaiser back, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Jasper had grabbed him by the end of his coat. Kaiser's back ended up hitting the wall as Jasper was desperately clinging on to the boy.

"I'm not letting you go that easy!" Jasper roared, his fingers barely managed to snag the hem of Kaiser's coat.

The bus was directly below Kaiser now, he needed to get down quickly. "Fuck off!" Kaiser used his feet to push off the wall, separating himself from Jasper and falling towards the bus.

Jasper had ruined just about everything, his delaying Kaiser's fall had caused the boy to land on the exit hatch of the bus instead of the flat canvas that was the rest of the roof of the bus.

Kaiser landed straight on his shoulder, a thunderous crunching sound happened just as he hit the bus. A cry of anguish escaped the boy as he struggled to move without his right arm hurting, his shoulder was dislocated.

The sharp sound of steel piercing metal caught Kaiser's attention, further down the bus, Jasper had thrown his makeshift spear to skewer the top of the bus. Jasper followed soon after, the metal thump alerted Kaiser that his recovery time was up.

"You're a crazy one, aintcha?" Jasper gripped his spear, it slid out of the piercing hole it made. Jasper stabbed another hole into the bus, likely using the spear to steady himself as the automobile was moving. "Looks like you're having a bit of trouble with your arm there, son!" Jasper spat out tauntingly.

Kaiser couldn't move his shoulder at all, and by extension, his whole right arm. "I always have the other one!" The spy charged at Jasper, he feigned a kick.

The moment Jasper lowered his hand to block the kick, Kaiser snapped the leg back and released a left cross.

Jasper stumbled backwards, his hand reaching up to rub this cheek. It didn't look like it, but Kaiser was a lot stronger than his appearance let on.

Kaiser ducked under a swing of the spear, but was caught off guard by a front kick to the stomach. The spy was sent clattering towards the edge of the speeding bus, Jasper only inched ever closer. It was when Jasper decided to stab downwards at Kaiser did the boy let himself slip from the edge of the bus.

Before Kaiser could become a stain on asphalt, the spy clung onto the bus' window ledge. Being faced with the window gave Kaiser a view inside the bus, it was filled with people uncomfortably wary of the spear stabs on the steel bus roof. One small child had widened his eyes when seeing the bruised and bloody spy desperately clinging to the window ledge, the younger child was getting his mom to look out the window.

Before anyone else took their eyes off the stab marks in the roof, Kaiser was yanked upwards.

"You shouldn't leave when the party just started!" Jasper held Kaiser up by his dislocated arm, Jasper's other arm occupied by keeping himself steady with his spear.

Kaiser felt his stomach turn and bile rise up from the pain, he just wanted to be done with the night. Then he remembered the people on the bus, if Jasper and him continued fighting here, the passengers would likely get caught in the crossfire.

With his left arm, Kaiser grabbed the collar of Jasper's combat uniform. This helped to limit Jasper's head movement, he didn't want the assassin to avoid this. Kaiser crashed against the crown of Jasper's head with his own, hitting the Scorpio assassin with a devastating headbutt.

"Son of a bitch!" Jasper slammed the boy down back onto the bus, waves of pain pounded into his skull.

Kaiser was on his knees, he used one of the holes in the bus as a foothold. "Civilians aren't part of this." Kaiser grabbed the wrist of his injured arm, then he pulled it forward until his shoulder popped back into its socket. Kaiser cursed in pain, he couldn't care less who was around to hear.

With a running start, Kaiser charged towards Jasper, his right fist clenched.

Jasper held his spear in one hand, his eyes trained on Kaiser. With the boy clenching his fist like that, as well as being the shoulder that had just been relocated, the boy was most likely going for a right cross. The running start only indicated that the boy was aiming to jump, leading to the only target he couldn't reach, Jasper's head.

Kaiser jumped a few steps too early, it was fine, his weapon would give a foot of extra reach. His fist pointed straight at Jasper's head, his weapon deployed. A 12 inch blade of pure huntsman-grade alloys launched itself forward, its sharpened pointing ready pierce right through the toughest of armors. The blade was right in the trajectory between Jasper's eyes, leading to a quick and painless death.

At least it would've been, if Jasper hadn't stepped to the side.

Jasper's head had disappeared, in its place was now the Scorpio assassin's shoulder. Jasper's Scorpio uniform was sliced open, a testament to how sharp the blade was.

Kaiser suddenly felt a hand tighten around his throat, Jasper had caught the boy by the neck.

"Dirty tricks, Spy!" Those were the words Jasper yelled before throwing Kaiser into a nearby building.

Kaiser slammed against a brick structure, his entire body jostled from the harrowing experience. His weary eyes were near closing, but widened alarmingly at Jasper throwing his spear at the boy. Kaiser let himself fall from the second story wall he had been thrown into, the spear had almost gotten the boy, but instead pinned the hood of Kaiser's coat to the wall. The spy attempted to pull himself out, but the spear was embedded halfway deep into the wall.

There was no way around it, Kaiser had to finish the fight without his coat.

It had offered a good amount of protection to him thus far, without it, he would have perished the moment he stepped foot into the dockyard.

It took four seconds of wriggling, but Kaiser managed to slip out of his black coat. The spy landed on the sidewalk, a blood-soaked long-sleeved shirt that used to be white adorned the boy. Kaiser watched as the Scorpio assassin approached with an overconfident grin.

"The more you resist, the more painful it's gonna be when I end you!" Jasper leisurely crossed the road as if he was just out for a stroll.

This left Kaiser speechless, especially in a crucial moment when he could have used something infuriatingly clever to say.

Instead, Albert Ross' most advanced secret weapon gave Jasper the bird.

With a nasty snarl, Jasper began rushing at Kaiser.

In an instant, Kaiser grabbed the arm of the running assassin. Using Jasper's momentum, Kaiser was able to throw the assassin over his shoulder and into a nearby glass wall belonging to a sporting goods store.

Glass shattered, and the juiced up assassin hit the store floor.

Kaiser slowly approached the modern looking shop, he was wary of Jasper on the ground.

The assassin's leg suddenly lashed out at Kaiser's, tripping the boy and bringing him down.

Glass shards pricked at the boys unprotected back when he hit the ground, Jasper's strong arms roughly dragged the boy off the floors.

Jasper delivered two punches to Kaiser's face, and hit him with a vicious roundhouse kick.

Kaiser could barely defend against the kick, it had thrown him into a nearby display case.

Jasper descended onto Kaiser the moment the boy crashed into the now shattered glass case. The assassin's arm latched onto Kaiser's neck, his other arm socked Kaiser in the face. Pulling the boy up, Jasper pushed Kaiser into a neatly stacked pyramid of ice chests.

Kaiser brought his hands to his nose, it was spurting blood. Bright red liquid ran down his chin, tired eyes faced up at the ceiling. Kaiser had somehow survived those impacts, they had noticeably less force behind them. Bit by bit, Jasper's punches and kicks had been losing power.

I don't want to drag this more than I need to, boy.

That didn't stop them from hurting like all hell, it wouldn't stop Kaiser from finishing the fight either. The young spy grabbed an aluminum bat from a toppled over rack next to an ice chest.

Jasper dodged the first swing of the bat, he then blocked it with his arm when it came back around. Kaiser decided to swing the bat low to hit Jasper's leg, it left him open to a brutal punch to the face.

Kaiser stumbled backwards, his grip on the bat growing slack, he swung upwards only for Jasper to lean out of the way. Kaiser swung the bat once more for Jasper to block, but the assassin delivered a backfist to Kaiser temple.

The strike forced Kaiser to let go of the bat and threw the boy against another display case.

Jasper had the bat now, and he was keen on using it.

Kaiser ducked out of the way as Jasper swung the bat, he ended up swiping the cash register off the display case. Kaiser noted that there were people inside the shop, fear apparent in their eyes.

"Get out!" The spy shouted as he held up one of the ice chests, Jasper batted the plastic tub out of Kaiser's hands. The spy scrambled for a wooden bat he had seen one of the scared customers roll over to the spy, at least a random shopper had his back more than the IPS did.

Both aluminum and wooden bats clashed, Jasper was just one instant quicker in attacking Kaiser's leg. He had forced the spy onto his knee, he brought down his bat to crack the boy's head open.

Kaiser held out his bat over his head, blocking Jasper's bat from hitting its target. The boy regained his footing just as he felt Jasper smash his bat against Kaiser's back, the boy grunted in pain.

Jasper dodged another lethal swing and returned one of his own, this time Kaiser was able to duck under the bat.

Kaiser risked another blow to the back just to get the chance to take a swing at Jasper's ribs, satisfaction rang as Kaiser heard something crunch.

Unfortunately, it had left the boy with his back turned. Jasper grabbed the boy by the collar and threw him towards the store's pegboard wall.

Helmets, gloves, and bicycle bells rained down on the boy as he hit the wall. He received a punch to the stomach when he stood up, but returned in kind by thrusting the bat into Jasper's face.

Jasper returned with a vengeance with his own bat, his weapon tore into the pegboard wall. The assassin let it hang there before delivering a knee strike through Kaiser's wooden bat and into his stomach.

After throwing Kaiser into the clearance section, Jasper saw fit to grab a bowling ball that was on a rack and chucked the resin ball at him.

Kaiser shielded himself from the bowling ball, the twenty pound ball hit his shoulder. Blood dripped down onto the floor with the rest of the mess that the fight had caused.

Jasper closed in on Kaiser, ready to land a killing blow.

Kaiser denied such pleasure by grabbing a 20 pound iron plate, crashing the weight into Jasper's face. Kaiser spun the other way around to bring the plate crashing into Jasper once again.

Jasper reached for his bat again and was going to bring it down on Kaiser.

Kaiser was quicker in smashing Jasper's knees in with the weight, then he had hit a stunned Jasper in the chin. With a swift front kick, Jasper was pushed away. Kaiser spun around and launched the plate at Jasper as if it was frisbee, a weak groan escaped the assassin.

Regaining composure, Jasper threw his bat at Kaiser in a last ditch attempt to get the upper hand. The spy snatched the bat mid-air, it was probably the worst thing he could've done at that moment.

Jasper tackled Kaiser, ramming the boy into the shop's glass display counters, this particular one was proudly exhibiting hunting knives.

Kaiser had a fraction of a section to react before Jasper wrapped his meaty hand around Kaiser's throat, the spy faced Jasper while his head was being pressed into the display.

"Can't… let… you…" Kaiser weakly managed to choke out, he crashed his left fist downward onto the glass display.

"Can't let you what," Jasper taunted, he chose to take one hand off Kaiser's throat and used to put down the spy's right arm. Now Kaiser wasn't able to use that blade of his.

"You can't kill me!" Kaiser managed to rasp out, his fist finally cracked through the glass, giving the spy access to small hunting knives.

"And why not!" Jasper roared, rage was in his eyes.

"Because!" Kaiser finally had what he needed, he kept Jasper's attention by yelling at him, or at least his form of yelling considering he was getting choked to death. Kaiser's arm rose quickly to plunge one of the hunting knives from the display into Jasper's side.

The knife never reached its target… in fact, Jasper had let go of Kaiser's throat to grab the other wrist.

Kaiser greedily sucked in as much as he could, knowing he might be taking his last.

"You crafty little shit!" Jasper swiftly struck Kaiser in the throat, temporarily stunning Kaiser, allowing Jasper to strike once more at Kaiser's hand.

The hunting knife had clattered across the floor, leaving Kaiser once again defenseless.

Jasper's hands coiled around Kaiser's throat and right wrist once more, this time the spy was too tired to struggle.

Even through the ringing in his ears and the fuzziness in his vision, Kaiser kept talking. "If you kill me like this." Kaiser rasped out, it came as little more than a whisper. "You won't be satisfied with… a kill like this… not an… assassin like you."

It was a little thing to mention, but it was just enough. What was the point of all the advanced Scorpio training if you were just going to choke your target?

That's what distracted Jasper for a fraction of a second, and the grip on Kaiser let up for just a moment.

The glint of a knife slicing the air didn't register to Jasper until he felt the point pierce him in the side.

Legerdemain, or the sleight of hand, had once again proved useful. Kaiser was able to stuff a second hunting knife down his sleeve before Jasper would suspect the foul play.

The shock of actually getting stabbed had frozen Jasper, leaving him susceptible to attack.

Kaiser had forcefully kicked forward, then sprinted towards the assassin. Like a speeding train, Kaiser tackled Jasper through the window and into the streets of vale. Small glass fragments burst outward just as the two fighters collided with the window, a metallic crunch signified that they had hit a parked car outside the store.

Kaiser let out a roar as he landed a couple of punches in the midst of Jasper's confusion.

One punch to the torso had snapped Jasper out of his stupor, and another swing of Kaiser's fist was blocked by Jasper.

With widened eyes, Kaiser tried pulling away. Jasper clutched Kaiser's fist even tighter, preventing the spy from doing so.

"You had one shot!" Spittle flew from Jasper's mouth, Kaiser snarled back.

"And you had one life but you wasted it on-" Kaiser devolved into yelling as he was whipped from one side of the street into the building across from it.

Kaiser let out a ragged breath as he slumped against the wall, he could barely see the street through his glassy eyes. Heavy eyelids tempted the boy into a deep sleep, almost not caring if the assassin killed him in his slumber.

You'd really letting this guy push you around?

He didn't know why, but Kaiser thought of an old conversation he had while training under Kane. Kane was preparing the boy for scenarios in which he found himself against highly skilled assassins.

You learned to defend yourself, we were taught to kill a man unarmed 13 different ways.

"And?" Kaiser murmured to himself, the boy was completely weary, he idly wondered why he hadn't been bothered yet.

Us assassins won't be able to fight for long since direct conflict is supposed to be our last resort, but you fight head on because your life depends on it.

"I need to outlast him." It was like Kane was actually there, that comforted Kaiser.

Now you're getting it, take him on with your own set of assassin skills.

Kaiser had steadily gotten to his feet, wiping the gaze out of his eyes. Jasper was just across the street, the assassin was propping himself with the car that Kaiser him into. Kaiser's own assassin training was diluted since he wasn't taught everything that Kane knew, he decided that sticking with what he knew inside and out would be best.

Spill his guts!

"I'll put you through the street!" Kaiser's shout had gotten the attention of the assassin. It looked as if all tiredness in both combatants had gone away.

"I reckon you'll die trying son." Jasper pulled the knife out of his side, then strapped it to his uniform. "Come and throw your life away, boy."

Kaiser strode forward but backstepped when a car sped past the boy, they were still fighting on a busy street after all.

"Scared?" Jasper's voice had gone venomous. "It gets a little intimidating when you're staring death in the face."

"Tough talk for someone who already lost." Kaiser rushed forward towards Jasper, the memory of an assassin shadowing him. The spy retreated back to his own side after getting a good two strikes at Jasper.

"What the hell are you on?!" Jasper seethed, he almost had the kid in his grip. "You're one foot in the grave while I'm still in top form."

Kaiser saw right through his bluff, determination shone in the crimson eyes of the spy. "You said it yourself, you didn't want to drag this out."

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Jasper shouted from across the road, his muscles flexed in anticipation for the next attack.

"You didn't stop beating me last time because you wanted to." Kaiser smugly stuffed his hands into his pockets, he walked along the two-lane road as cars zoomed past. "You needed to stop because your dosage of Hercules had worn off, didn't you?"

"And what if I did?"

"You wouldn't be able to handle another dosage, or else I'd be the last thing you have to worry about." Kaiser brought his arm up to wipe blood from his mouth. "Normal steroids have this particularly nasty side-effect of causing the user's heart to explode, but Hercules was never normal to begin with. Using more than one dose a day could kill you, right?" Kaiser's voice was like a gentle storm, slowly making its way to Jasper's ears.

"Bullseye, kid, but I don't know how that can help you now." Jasper hawked up a mouthful of what was supposed to be spit, instead he showered the asphalt with a projectile of blood. "I might be out of Hercules, but you're out of aura. On top of that, we're both beaten to shit!" A dirty cackle escaped the assassin, Jasper's eyes regarding Kaiser with disgust.

Jasper made a good point, something that Kaiser reluctantly admitted. His aura had long since given out, every cut and bruise now leaving a permanent reminder on his already scarred body. Continuing to stay conscious was just an invitation for pain to inhabit his body, Kaiser's stomach churned at that.

"We're now in sudden death." Kaiser softly murmured.

Jasper had been cut off from his power enhancing drug, and Kaiser had run out of his life-saving aura. The battle would be decided by adrenaline, instinct, and experience.

Traffic had slowed a considerable degree, most car passengers eyeing the two combatants covered in tattered clothes covered in blood and sweat. Now only killer instinct fueled both assassin and spy.

The first to show weakness would end up dead by morning.

Kaiser made the first move, running at Jasper at full speed. Jasper was ready to attack, only to miss his target as Kaiser ran past the assassin. Kaiser grabbed Jasper from behind and yanked him towards the hood of another car approaching, the car stopped since it had a person slammed onto it. Kaiser was taken aback when Jasper managed to kick the boy in the throat from his position laying down.

Jasper sat up right, eyes locked onto Kaiser, who had stumbled back a few feet. Jasper closed the gap with a flying roundhouse, it was blocked by Kaiser's right arm.

Kaiser leaned back to avoid a swift reverse roundhouse. Jasper hit nothing but air when trying to go for a punch to the face, the boy barely managing to crouch out of the way. Kaiser was forced to dive forward into a roll past Jasper when the assassin tried kicking him

Kaiser continued evading Jasper's attacks with mesmerizing movement akin to a snake. The use of cars to help vault himself over certain attacks only highlighted Kaiser's agility, his speed allowing him to return a couple good strikes of his own. Kaiser clenched his teeth at every movement that aggravated his injured leg, he pushed past the limit of pain to pull off fluid maneuvers to avoid Jasper. An astonishing blend of both nimbleness and strength, he truly was the perfect weapon.

"You don't understand!" Kaiser blocked two strikes, then finished it off by putting the weight of his whole body behind a punch to Jasper's face. "You used Hercules as a crutch, resulting in your skills softening!" Kaiser took a kick to the face, his head whipping to one side. The spy instinctively swept Jasper's leg out from under him, the assassin created distance before Kaiser could move in for the kill. "Sure your rusted skills may work on the average person, but when it comes to operatives like me-"

Jasper drew the hunting knife he had been stabbed with earlier and launched it at Kaiser with pinpoint accuracy; if it hit, it could possibly slice the boy's throat open.

Instead Kaiser managed to catch the knife mid-air, throwing it back at Jasper. The assassin managed to catch it with both hands by the blade, a single moment in time which decided Jasper's fate.

Kaiser crossed the gap between them in an instant and plunged the blade from his arm into Jasper's stomach, its razor sharp edge cutting through the assassin. "You're out of your league." Kaiser softly whispered into Jasper's ear.

The best weapons were those hidden in plain sight.

Kaiser pulled his arm back, his blade came out with it. The shimmering silver was slick with crimson red, the spy glanced down at Jasper's body. Blood was rapidly pooling around his body and flowing out of his mouth, the assassin was dead, most likely.

Kaiser looked up at some of the cars with empty eyes, the drivers sped up in fear of ending up like Jasper.

A slight breeze managed to make Kaiser shiver, he looked down at his shirt. What was once a nice white cotton shirt looked like a rag after the fight, the torn shirt barely covered anything. It left Kaiser's chest sticky with sweat and blood, the blood was both a mix of Jasper's and his own. The spy was tempted to go back into the sporting goods store and buy a jersey to cover himself with.

Blood smeared on the road as the assassin that had warranted many sleepless nights was being dragged to the sidewalk.

Kaiser had activated his contact lenses, shifting into his mask. He activated the hands free call feature, the line connecting him to a particular office in the IPS.

"Ross." The old and gravelly voice of the IPS director cut through the dead silence of the night.

"Send a team of agents here to-" Kaiser glanced at the street signs. "The corner of Seacross and Galloway, bring a medical kit in case the target is still alive. I'm going back to the docks to dispose of the stash of Hercules, Jasper had some buyers willing to take a couple crates."

"Approved, I'll handle the target from there."

"I'll be sending you a record of the events transpired, a couple civilians were witness to the event. You might as well make them sign the non-disclosure agreements since you've been sending them to my classmates as well."

"I will neither confirm nor deny this, Canvas."

Kaiser's teeth clenched, any more and he might've cracked one. He had to calm down, at the very least because he couldn't afford to go to the dentist. "Go send your agents, old man."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Canvas." The arrogance of his old superior was heard through Kaiser's mask.

Kaiser's head hung low in relief, it was almost over. All he had to do was reach the docks and destroy the stash of Hercules; he'd rather not leave it in the hands of Albert Ross.

Ross had a particular habit of confiscating weapons and materials from the aftermath of an operation, then he'd use it for his own operations. This practice was probably illegal, but then again, so was espionage.

Although Albert Ross had amassed a large collection of incredibly dangerous weapons, Hercules was a whole different beast. Destroying what was left of it in Vale would eliminate the opportunity for experimentation in the fie-

"What the hell?!"

Kaiser's head snapped to one side, towards the street corner, to see two figures. One with short golden hair as well as a tail, quickly identified as Sun. The other was that boy from earlier in the morning, Kaiser wracked himself for a name.

Navy… Nadeshiko… Neptune!

Kaiser did an almost half-hearted wave towards his two classmates, Sun ran towards Kaiser while Neptune nervously shuffled forwards.

It was only when Sun noticed the body in Kaiser's that he had stopped in his tracks. "Uhh… whatcha you got there Kaiser?"

"I have…" Kaiser raised his hands, in a shrugging motion, blatantly displaying the blade that had gone through Jasper. "A terrorist."

"You… uhh… need help with that?" Sun asked, pointing to the body.

"No actually, I called for a medic to pick this guy up, no need to worry for him."

Sun breathed out a hefty sigh, unaware that Kaiser was unsure about the fate of the Scorpio assassin.

Sun had liked Kaiser, and the spy wouldn't ruin that relationship by having the faunus boy view him as a murderer.

"This has to do with the stuff people are saying about you, right?" Sun asked.

Sun already knew, how could he not. There was so much that people were gossiping about so close to Kaiser's dorm during the time Sun had spent rooming with him. Sun never directly confronted Kaiser about the rumors, but his nighttime behaviors were getting harder to ignore.

With a solemn nod, Kaiser confirmed Sun's suspicions.

"We'll look, we're headed over to get some food, maybe when you're done with whatever this is." Sun gestured to the unconscious man in the bloodied spy's hands. "You can join us at A Simple Wok-oomph." Sun was elbowed in the side by Neptune, he then stared daggers at his supposedly suave friend. "What was that for?!"

Neptune had kept his tone hushed, but it could be said that he wasn't that quiet.

Kaiser forced himself to look somewhere else when Neptune whispered 'Are you sure about this guy? He's kind of creepy.'

"I'll join you guys if I find the time, I just have to take care of some business at the docks." Kaiser turned around after leaning Jasper's body against the wall of a building.

"We'll wait up, dude. So no rush." Sun waved at Kaiser before the latter went off to search for his coat that was lost in the battle.

Is A Simple Wok the name of the place or a description of the place?

It had taken a couple minutes to retrace his steps to find his coat, all he had to do was follow the broken glass. It had taken a little longer to scale the building where his coat was pinned to, Kaiser's muscles ached with each brick he gripped.

Ten minutes later he had seen the trail of his excursion at the docks.

The bullet holes riddled into the sides of the storage containers…

The shattered wooden crates…

Yet the container that was supposed to be containing Hercules had seemingly disappeared, the docks felt more empty than ever. It was imperative that Kaiser destroy the stash, or else no one else would assume responsibility.

A thunderous roar overtook the docks, one that Kaiser recognized very well.

Frantically, Kaiser scanned the area to look for the source of the noise, his search led him to the edge of the docks where the ocean met the land.

A cargo airship, one loaded with the containers of the manufactured steroid, slowly propelled itself into the air.

"No!" Kaiser shouted, he dashed towards the docks edge just as the airship was a good 30ft above sea level. This didn't deter the young spy, instead he jumped towards the ledge of the storage container to gain height. Jumping from one container to the other, Kaiser was getting ever closer to the airship.

The airship had finally reached 50ft, just as Kaiser jumped off the highest container and towards the cargo ship.

Instinctively, his left arm raised to fire Great Escape. Once the hook attached itself to the airship, Kaiser would get onboard to face the people inside and then secure the steroid.

Except… Nothing but a pathetic line of wire fired into the air, unable to grapple on the open door of the ship.

Time had seemingly stopped for a moment, at the peak of his jump, Kaiser could just make out the people inside the airship through its side doors. Most obviously it was the four Capricorn soldiers he had faced when first entering the docks, their helmets placed on their heads.

One more person stood out, a man heavily scarred, but not in the usual way. Burns covered the complete right side of his face, they were old wounds from what Kaiser could see. The left side of his face was almost completely covered except the area around his left eye, the white of where the burns were made the man look like a waxy caricature of himself. It was a face Kaiser would never forget from then on, the face of the man leering at the spy who had failed to complete his mission.

The very same spy who was plummeting to the dark and murky waters below the docks, the sound that came from Kaiser's impact with the water was comparable to an erupting geyser.

Kaiser had surfaced just a minute later, eyes desperately shutting as the salt water stung his open wounds. His body had flopped onto the damp concrete of the docks, Kaiser's teeth chattering louder every second.

All he could think about was the almost sadistic grin that the burned man had flashed him before the airship flew off.

/-/

Two orders of stir-fry were plopped in front of Sun and Neptune, the wait hadn't been that long.

What was long was the pauses in between the words they spoke to each other. Neptune had attempted to spark a conversation with Sun by asking if team RWBY would be okay.

The atmosphere was still too awkward, Sun shut him down by giving a half-hearted 'probably' and returned to his meal.

"Sooo… are we gonna talk about…" Neptune was soon interrupted by Sun.

"Look he's a good guy, he's just a little, I don't know, misunderstood?"

"More like psychotic." Neptune sprinkled some red pepper flakes over his noodles. "I can't believe you roomed with that guy, are you sure you haven't lost a kidney while you slept?!"

"No! At least I don't think so." Sun unconsciously touched his rib cage, as if making sure he hadn't been dissected before suddenly shaking his head. "No wait no, a lot of people keep assuming the worst of him. Trust me when I say that Kaiser is a cool guy, you just gotta get to know him."

"He stabbed a hole through a guy!" Neptune stressed the word 'stabbed', he took a gulp of soda that came with his meal.

"So? Team RWBY were going after Roman Torchwick! How's that any different?"

"They weren't going to kill him, that's for sure."

"Kaiser said that the guy wasn't dead, I'd take his word for it!"

"Please! The guy was practically spilling blood over the sidewalk." Neptune couldn't tell why Sun was so vehemently defensive of a guy who had slammed him to the wall that very morning.

"Look if you want, you can go ahead and ask Kaiser yourself." Sun poured some soy sauce to mellow out the spicy flavor of his meal, the shopkeeper added red pepper flakes when he had specifically said he didn't want anything spicy in his food. "It's not my place to tell you anything about him."

Neptune had recoiled in shock, he almost knocked over his bowl that was now half-empty. "Are you crazy? He dangled me by the side of the building just because I surprised him. I'm not getting anywhere near that guy!"

"Suit yourself." Sun tucked into his meal after the intense spicy flavor had subsided. Another awkward silence washed over them, the only noise coming from both Shade students enjoying their meals.

It wasn't until they'd finished their food that Neptune spoke up once more.

"You lied to me, you know?"

Sun, his eyes locked onto his partner, was almost shocked at the severity in Neptune's voice. He almost expected a full on shouting match, which made Neptune's next accusation a lot more surprising.

"You told me that my goggles looked lame!" Neptune pointed at Sun and yelled with hurt in his voice. "Why didn't you say shit about his mask?"

A burst of laughter from Sun had flustered Neptune.

"I'm serious here! What is he that I'm not that lets him wear his mask." Neptune received a lighthearted punch to the shoulder.

"We'll he's not a dork for one." Sun managed to say after a fit of laughter.

"That's mean!"

The laughter from the two friends continued late into the night until they retired back to Beacon academy.

/-/

Kaiser trudged into his dorm room at 9:45 pm, a bottle of cheap alcohol in one hand and his scroll in the other.

"It's not my fucking problem anymore." Kaiser slurred to himself, his dorm's door swung shut, but hadn't clicked to lock itself. Kaiser had ended up going back to Beacon, the beat and tired boy made a quick stop at an upperclassman's dorm. He knew that some of the students were planning to bring a lot of alcohol for the upcoming dance, it wasn't so much as espionage as it was unconscious eavesdropping that had acquired that information.

An upperclassman opened the door to find a meek and weary boy covered in bruises and dry blood. The upperclassmen only heard the weak voice of the beat up spy asking for a bottle of vodka, the boy had offered to pay him back for the drink.

It was lucky that the older student pitied Kaiser in his situation.

A half-empty bottle of peach vodka now sat upon Kaiser's drawer as he gathered warm clothes to sleep in, falling in the freezing cold ocean had left the boy a shivering mess.

Splotches of dry blood around broken skin, an angry red bruise wrapping around his neck, and an arm nearly shredded from broken glass, these were the injuries Kaiser had to deal with after his aura had broken.

With tweezers, Kaiser used his left hand to pluck out shards of broken glass that had been embedded in his arm and shoulder.

Each shard made a small clinking noise when they hit the wastebasket beside him. A healthy pouring of hydrogen peroxide had killed off any chance of infection, and wrapping his wounds after a shower would help in keeping them from getting infected.

Kaiser let the warm water pound down onto his body, his heart rate was beginning to slow down to a normal speed. The boy let himself close his eyes as he enjoyed the little reprieve he'd awarded himself with, after that he'd probably need to start a written debrief for Ross.

No, debriefs we're something done by agents of the IPS, Kaiser wasn't Ross' agent.

Kaiser wrapped up the remaining wounds with bandages after he finished up his shower, the open cuts still stung when he tightened them up with gauze bandaging. Tired eyes stared back at him from the newly repaired bathroom mirror, just the sight of his beat torso made the spy want to punch out the mirror again.

It was best not to think about that, so Kaiser decided to hide it. His lean yet slightly muscular body was covered up with a soft and fresh white shirt, a stark contrast to the blood-soaked shirt he had on earlier in the night. The spy rushed himself when putting on gray sweatpants when his nerves started to flare up, he sensed that someone was just outside his door.

Even with exhaustion setting in, Kaiser's heart sped up and his breathing steadied.

There was someone in his dorm, did someone from the docks follow him to Beacon? It was definitely possible, he had been attacked by a Capricorn soldier just the day before.

Already Kaiser's fists were in front of him, his stance shifted.

With a swift strike, the bathroom door swung open, Kaiser was already moving in. Kaiser's leg lashed out in a high roundhouse kick, the alarm in his head continuously ringing.

It was the mop of blonde hair that had stopped him in his tracks, just a little further and he would've made contact.

"Wow Kai, did you miss me that much?" Yang Xiao Long half-heartedly waved at him, she pointedly ignored the leg that was an inch away from hitting her.

A massive wave of relief washed over the boy as he lowered his leg, once more his breathing had gone back to normal. "How did you get in? What are you doing here?"

"You didn't shut the door right, and… I just wanted to get away from my team for a while." Yang's hand lingered toward the neck of the vodka bottle, her eyes settling on his panicked face. "Mind if I have a drink?"

"I didn't promise 40 lien for it to be a talking piece, go ahead."

"You overpaid." Yang upended the bottle into her mouth, soft lips taking in the bitterly sweet drink.

"I was desperate." Kaiser let out a deep sigh, he still felt the coldness of sea on his pale skin.

"Rough night?" Yang offered him the bottle, to which the spy had gratefully accepted.

"Yeah, I think I've taken care of my problem for a while." The problem being a drug peddling assassin, he'd prevented future riots from people on eager power trips.

"Anything you can tell me about it?" Yang asked.

"Not really." Kaiser rubbed at his eye, exposing the cuts and bruises starting at his arm.

"Geez Kai, you sure you ok? We can get you to an infirmary." Yang grabbed Kaiser's arm, her fingers ghosting over the bandaged limb.

"No doctors." Kaiser meekly spouted, his voice weak. The spy felt embarrassed, as if he was scared of being in the hospital. Sure his wounds weren't dressed professionally, but at least they could hold up until his aura recharged. "Please… I'd rather not talk about this right now."

Kaiser would keep the outcome of tonight's activity a secret, such was the nature of a spy.

"Yeah, sorry, I shouldn't push." Yang rubbed her arm.

"What about you, are you alright?" It was instantly recognized that Yang was in a dour mood tonight. She looked closed off, as if she wasn't open to the daily comfort of her friends as she normally was. Her presence was normally like a warm blanket on a rainy day, but now it felt like the blanket had been left out in one of the resulting puddles.

"I don't know if you want to hear it, it feels a little dumb now that I think about it." Yang murmured as she took another swig of vodka.

Kaiser had been trained to read people, it was one of the earlier parts of his training. What he used to employ to discern possible hostile enemies was now used to identify that there was something deeper that bothered Yang. "No, If it was dumb you wouldn't be feeling the way you are. What exactly happened with you guys?"

A long sigh, probably at the prospect at reflecting on her earlier frustration. "Tonight… we went after Torchwick." Yang chose to sit down and lean against one of the beds, Kaiser decided to sit cross legged beside her.

Normally Kaiser would push further, as if interrogating someone. But he couldn't force this, Yang's comfort was more important than Kaiser's convenience. Even buzzed, Kaiser could understand this, he let her continue naturally.

"He was piloting one of the new Atlas Paladins."Yang handed the bottle back over to Kaiser, the boy in question looked like things were starting to connect.

"Big robot, huh." Kaiser almost mumbled to himself. Yang handed the bottle back over to Kaiser, the boy in question looked like things were starting to connect.

"Big robot, huh." Kaiser almost mumbled to himself.

"Yup." Yang ran her hand through her carefully maintained hair. "That big robot. We got him under the highway, I broke his stupid robot apart!"

"You didn't tear him apart?" Kaiser tilted his head.

"I didn't even get to touch him! All because of a pint sized lady who bailed him out." Yang pinched the bridge of her nose. "Her and her stupid umbrella."

"…parasol." Kaiser uttered.

"Hmm?"

"It was a parasol, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Yang suddenly looked over at Kaiser.

"Did it sound like breaking glass when you hit her?"

"Oh god." Yang said in frustration, just now realizing why Kaiser was beaten to shit despite not being around Torchwick the night team RWBY looked for Blake.

"You too then?" Kaiser gulped down more of his drink, it burned as it went down. It was most likely that the two were talking about Neo, the diminutive danger who had forced Kaiser to unlock his semblance.

"Yeah." Yang looked towards the floor, her hand reaching down to the bottle. "I just felt so helpless to stop it, like I didn't even matter, like if I was weak." Her head hung limply as she closed her eyes, tonight's events flashing through her eyes.

"You're… the furthest thing from weak!" Kaiser suddenly blurted out, enough vodka entered his system, his loss of blood had sped up the inebriation process. It wouldn't affect him too badly due to his higher tolerance.

"Hmm?" Yang snapped her gaze to Kaiser, sleepiness present in the boy's position and demeanor.

"Weaks the last thing I'd call you." Kaiser, unaware that he had basically reiterated his statement, had continued with a quiet muffle. His shirt's collar had ridden up to his chin as a result of Kaiser's slumped position. "You're the strongest out of all of us. Every time I see you you're always prepared to face everything life throws at you. Even then you're always trying to make sure everyone's ok, even if that person doesn't want help." A solemn chuckle escaped the boy. "I mean, it's got to be hard putting up with my brooding ass."

"You're right." Yang huffed as she brushed some hair to her side. "It helps that you're pretty to look at."

If anyone had brought it up, Kaiser would blame the sudden redness in his face on the vodka. "I'm being serious here, Yang." A sudden sternness born from embarrassment in his voice had appeared before it had gone soft again. "You are the strongest out of all of us, both physically, and in your determination. Unfortunately, strength isn't always everything, and one day it's not going to matter. It's better to think things through before you go swinging."

"To know that sometimes I just won't be able to punch someone till they scream uncle, it just sucks you know." Yang settled her elbow on Kaiser's bed frame, resting her temple on her fist.

"You won't have to only rely on your strength, you'll always have your team." Kaiser let out a long yawn, his eyes drooped. "You'll always have me."

With a mutter of thanks, Yang fell silent. The melancholy died down, as did their chatter.

Kaiser sensed that Yang was at the very least not in the same state as when she first came in. It was still not enough for him, so Kaiser tried for another angle. "Hey, Yang?"

"Yeah Kai?"

"Do you remember a tech company from Atlas, they were originally the biggest robotics manufacturers in Remnant." Kaiser pondered over his thoughts that were brought up. "I think the name was Redwire Technologies."

"Yeah, I think, didn't they go bankrupt a couple years ago?"

"Correct, I was there for a while before the company shut down. The founder of Redwire was working on a suit of mechanical armor." Kaiser ignored the flashing memories of automatic fire aiming to shred the boy on his very first mission. "He called it his Birthday suit."

At the time, Kaiser didn't understand why it was humorous to everyone else, he still didn't understand why. All he knew was that most people would crack a smile when he mentioned the name of the deadly robotic armor..

Silence seemingly prevailed, then, a snicker. The snicker was followed by a chuckle, until reaching its full blown laughter. Kaiser softly smiled to himself, it was known that Yang had a love for crude humor.

"The founder was also having a romantic relationship with his secretary."

"What does that have to have to do with anything?" Yang's laughter had ceased a bit in order to ask.

"You don't get it Yang." Kaiser made a grand gesture with his arms. "His secretary was an artificial intelligence program confined to his scroll." This was more something that Kaiser had to get off his chest, one of the stranger parts of his career in espionage.

"What the fuck?" Yang sputtered into laughter once more.

"But hey, if you plan on facing a huge robot again, tell me so I can bring some magnets." Yang kept laughing, but Kaiser wasn't doubting the helpfulness of the electromagnets stored in the weapons caches at the IPS. "We can stick the legs together.

Kaiser was glad that he was able to somewhat cheer her up, it was probably the only humorous thing that Kaiser knew.

Martin Kane didn't count, he was never funny no matter how much the assassin believed he was.

Kaiser had turned on some music from his scroll to fill the void of silence, he let the electric guitar and shredded vocals play in the background as he leant back against the bed frame.

"Hey, Kai, What's your plan when you become a huntsman?" Yang asked.

It was a question out of the blue, but not one Kaiser didn't have an answer for. He just wanted to get enough money to buy a nice little home away from any big city. Maybe he could start a vegetable garden to sustain himself, his limited experience with tending to plants from his first semester could come in handy. "Kill some grimm, after that buy a nice little cottage. I just want a bit of peace and quiet away from all the action, I think I've had enough action for one lifetime."

"Yeah, I can see the appeal, I'd rather just travel all over Remnant. See everything it has to offer, just going with the flow, ya know?" Yang closed her eyes, letting out a satisfied sigh. "But if you want a bit of peace and quiet, you could come back to Patch with me for spring break. It's pretty calm there, being a small town and all."

Kaiser pondered over her generous offer, god, just once he'd like to say yes. "I can't."

"Why not?" Yang sat up, she reached over for the vodka bottle, the alcohol making her sleepy.

"No offense, but it might be more trouble than it's worth to travel to Patch. Going to Patch is a lot different from taking the airship to Vale, I'd need a passport to go to an island, and for that I'd need identification papers." Kaiser rubbed the side of his head, bringing up the headache that was Remnant's Transportation Security Administration. "I'd get stopped for hours at the airship terminal, then they'd dig into absolutely everything about me, then they might find some file on me full of redactions. I'd probably get thrown in prison after that, probably see me as a threat. As far as the government is concerned, I'm a living breathing international accident just waiting to be swept under the rug."

"You told me you came from Atlas though, how'd you find your way here then?" Yang had a quizzical look on her face.

"I just snuck on the cargo hold of the airship, it took a week of reconnaissance, I spent most of my time planning in the airport bathroom." Kaiser finished, with him ending his explanation the music could be heard clearly, and that had grated on Yang's ears.

I came into this world an unmarked page, but I've stained the paper with lines that I cannot erase.

"Hey." Yang moved to poke Kaiser on the side of the face, but was stopped when the spy had already placed a hand over her finger. "Think I can change the music?"

"You don't like it?"

"Sorry, not really. It's a little too harsh to listen to when I'm trying to relax."

"Oh." The playlist that Kaiser had been playing was actually Kane's, he had gotten a copy of it right before leaving the IPS, other than the fighting knife it was the only other memento that Kaiser had of the assassin. Personally he was indifferent to metal and hard rock music, but the fact that Kane had shared the music with the boy was the only reason he bothered listening to music at all. Despite this, he handed his scroll over to Yang, who immediately began typing in his search bar. She was shivering, just like him. "Are you cold?"

"A little, things got a little freezing down in Vale." Yang shivered again, it still had not escaped the spy's attention.

"I wouldn't think you'd be cold considering you're still in possession of my other coat." Kaiser walked over to one of his beds, stripping the mattress of its blanket. "You can drop it off on my bed whenever you can."

"You're still hung up on that, huh?" Yang's bright smile was felt from across the room as she picked out a song to her liking. "I'll just hang onto it a little while longer."

Kaiser gave a small disapproving grunt as his only response, he knew Yang wouldn't take him seriously. He sat back down next to her, offering her the blanket.

Yang covered herself with the blanket, grateful for something warm. She leaned over, resting her head on Kaiser's shoulder. "Thanks Kai." They both knew her thanks was for more than the blanket, neither commented on it.

The melody of an upbeat song played in the background as Kaiser rested his head against the side of his bed.

One day I'll focus on the future, Maybe.

The spy gently let himself drift off to sleep, in the company of a close friend. He willed himself to relax, just this once, perhaps the nightmares would let him rest tonight.

/-/

"I finally got it!" In another dorm, in a completely different building meant for transfers, Mercury Black stormed into the room to find Cinder Fall looking over some documents.

"I assume you've brought back something of importance." Cinder flipped through a select few pages of homework shuffled into the mess of student file copies. Among them was the file of one Pyrrha Nikos, certain marks were scribbled on her file.

"Trust me this is gonna blow your mind." Mercury paused for dramatic effect. "Kaiser's a spy."

This had made Cinder turn around in surprise, the papers that had been her main focus suddenly forgotten. "How did you happen to come across this information?"

Mercury suddenly walked over to the dorm window, he shut the window. It was highly unlikely that anyone outside would actually be listening in, but one could never be too sure. "Little bit of student gossip, a little bit of investigation in Vale." That very day, Mercury Black had waited in a cafe outside the offices of the IPS. Kaiser letting its name slip had allowed Mercury to observe it from the outside. Something had tipped him off when employees from the office building had come into the cafe and ordered refreshments. It was the way their clothes and gait had dictated their status, that Mercury knew something was up.

Mercury turned back around to face his leader. "Kaiser told me himself, and he even let slip who he was allied with."

"What does this mean to our operation, do you think he's a threat?" Cinder had tilted her head, captured by the information presented.

"I don't know, I'd say that we should probably dig up some dirt on him to use against if he does try to get in our way." Mercury thought for a moment. "I think we should look into the IPS, they're bound to have something on Kaiser."

"Quite." Cinder turned back to her work. "I'll have Watts look into the company's files. Good work on your part Mercury."

Mercury only nodded at this, he lay down on his bed, silently preparing for the things to come.