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.

20. Ballroom Blitz

Between summer classes, working, and crying over the terrible critics score the Gray Man received, I've barely had time to write. The time I do write is an absolute disaster ranging from wanting to write specific parts and trudging through the parts I need to write to get there.

I am regretful for the fact that it took me an entire summer to write this chapter, I find it funny that perhaps a year's worth of writing will result in a part of the story being just one very long week.

Anyways, enjoy as always, reviews are welcome. I will proceed to get through the next semester by working on a chapter.

/-/

Mercury Black had danced with death several times under the tutelage of his father, being the son of an assassin had its downsides.

Not that it ever benefited Mercury in the first place, other than the tradecraft taught to him.

Here, dancing with Emerald though, Mercury had little experience. The two had been fumbling against each other, and Mercury found himself wishing that for the second time that night, that his father would've given him a lesson on the waltz rather than a lesson on scouting your target.

It was the lessons that his father had beaten into him that had Mercury's scrutinizing eye discreetly scanning the people in the crowd of the dance floor.

The school dance was probably second in the biggest event throughout the school year, second only to the Vytal tournament of course. Everyone was expected to come, and Mercury had made his rounds to scout just about damn near everybody. It wasn't asked of him, but Mercury made sure the biggest threats to Cinder's operation were present and accounted for.

All except for Kaiser…

Mercury should've expected it at this point, he was even told by Kaiser a couple days ago that he just planned to catch up on homework. Kaiser's word wasn't worth shit anymore, not now that he'd been outed as a spy. You could never trust someone who's entire job required keeping information and telling lies. He was just expecting the call coming from Cinder to say that she had run into trouble running into the spy, as well as the order to come help get rid of the body.

Mercury had done a bit of research on the IPS the very afternoon that Kaiser had uttered their name. He suspected now that their cover as a private security company was a sham, a security company wouldn't train a kid to do the things Kaiser could do.

To be able to even match Mercury by pure skill alone was something that should have garnered him respect for the spy, instead he pitied the boy.

Pitied that the boy could not be truly free by his own roots, Mercury knew. The only reason Mercury knew that was because he himself would never be free from his own past, chains that shackled them to the past. Kaiser thinking that he could become something more than he was trained to be was incredibly asinine, and that just made Mercury's blood boil.

In the end, Mercury put it out of his mind, he could deal with Kaiser when the time came.

/-/

The young crowd of aristocats made a wide pocket in the crowd, they allowed the assassin and the spy space for them to do battle. Fists were raised in excitement, whoops and cheers came from the crowd to their entertainment. Unbeknownst to the drunk partygoers, this was a fight for survival, not a staged production put on for their amusement.

Kaiser closed in on Evon Argent, his fist cracking on the older man's face. With Argent knocked back a few feet, the spy rushed towards him, and swung his fist in a tight crescent. Argent had dodged the first attempt at a punch with expert grace, then ducked under two others.

Kaiser wasn't careful enough and was soon caught in a clinch, where Argent chose to knee him in the stomach three consecutive times. The Scorpio instructor yanked the boy by his shoulders, throwing him towards the crowd.

"Get back in there!" Someone in the crowd barked as they shoved Kaiser back towards Argent.

Argent started with a left haymaker, to which Kaiser blocked and parried. He recoiled when Argent struck at his bicep, shocking Kaiser into stopping his attack.

Kaiser did however manage to feel something crack in Argent's face as he dragged his fist across it.

Argent had somehow retaliated with a strike to the shoulder from his crouched position, as he tried to get up, he received a perfectly aimed roundhouse kick to the neck.

Kaiser swung his right arm outward to swat away a coming attack, then launching another strike with his left.

Both Argent and Kaiser struck in a rhythm only the other could discern, each strike exchange punctuated fluently by the music thumping throughout the nightclub.

It was Argent's experience which won out in the end, managing to push Kaiser away to the other end of the makeshift circle. At the very least it afforded both fighters to catch their breaths.

Evon Argent and Kaiser circled around each other without so much as a word, though they didn't need words as none of this would be resolved by diplomacy. The strobe lights of the nightclub gave both combatants small glimpses of the other's current position.

Kaiser slowed, keeping one specific partygoer in his line of sight, who was sipping whiskey from a heavy glass.

And then, the beat dropped

Kaiser jerked forward, prompting Argent to raise his arms to protect from Kaiser's blows, the spy stopped mid-slide and struck out. Kaiser's fist smashing right through the glass the partygoer had been drinking, and raining tiny glass shards into Argent's face.

Kaiser pressed forward on this little advantage, charging at Argent with the strongest punch he could muster.

Argent grabbed the offending arm, pulling it one way, but Kaiser maneuvered it out of the assassin's grasp. That had earned the boy a swift punch to the face, effectively dropping Kaiser. Argent geared up for a front kick, ready to stomp on the boy, until the younger spy had risen in an instant and clasped onto Argent's loose leg.

With all of his upper-body strength, Kaiser had lifted Argent into the air and ran, throwing the assassin away once more.

Argent had hit the ground relatively hard, his head lolled to the right, his gaze settling on a familiar gleam. His stiletto knife, that's right, he had dropped it earlier when he had been tackled. The older assassin picked up the blade, looking the boy straight in the eye. "Child's play."

Kaiser's hand reached for his holster.

Argent dashed towards Kaiser, his position low enough to pick up the stiletto knife that the boy had knocked out his hands earlier. Once within inches of the boy, Argent slashed upwards.

Steel clashed with steel, Kaiser had jumped backwards and parried with his own knife, a Gerber mark II. He had managed to pull it from his holster when he realized what Argent was going for, he needed to separate the assassin from his knife.

Kaiser used his other hand to grab Argent's knife, quickly swung himself to have his back to Argent's chest. Kaiser pulled the arm in his grasp, throwing Argent over his shoulder with only one hand.

The only problem was that Argent had already seen this coming, he adjusted his feet, landing on his feet while only twisting his arm. To get the much younger boy off of him was a simple matter of hitting his head back, crashing his skull against Kaiser's face.

A loud grunt escaped Kaiser as he scrunched up his face and stumbled back a couple feet, his Gerber clattering to the floor. He narrowly avoided the backslash that Argent had delivered, his nose now in pain.

Kaiser ducked under multiple different slashes of the knife, sometimes receiving wide cuts onto his arms, instinctively dodging a haymaker by stepping back. This had been a mistake as Argent immediately followed that up with charging at the boy, aiming to pierce the boy in the head. He hadn't been able to dodge the blow completely, the knife had managed to break skin at the cheek and sliding a straight line into his skin that reached the ear.

A sharp hiss sounded as blood began oozing out from Kaiser's wound, it was when his body hadn't started repairing himself that he knew what had happened. Martin Kane had mentioned the aura cancellation device earlier that night, and Kaiser was experiencing its effects firsthand.

It had been eight months since Kaiser first awakened his aura, and five months since he had first activated his semblance. This is to say that he had grown comfortable with his aura, it had become second nature. The moment Argent broke skin felt like somebody had dumped a bucket of ice cold water onto him, it was a shock to Kaiser's system that a part of it had been disabled. Kaiser couldn't even activate his semblance and hide in the crowd, he probably could have covered the entire dance floor in shadows if that were the case.

"What the hell," Kaiser said breathlessly. His palm reached for the cut in his cheek, blood stained the hand. He looked around the crowd, some of them recording on their scrolls. At this point, Kaiser couldn't tell who was crazier, the rich aristocrats or Argent.

"You're a rat, you can't even fight without relying on your powers." Argent caught his breath for a moment.

Kaiser grit his teeth, his hand snaking into his pocket. "Sorry, I just don't like hitting the elderly."

"Trying to anger me into a mistake is a sorry tactic, one that suits you very well." Argent brandished his knife again, aiming to get another good slash in.

Kaiser leaned out of the way of a strike, he responded with a front kick.

Argent twisted out of the way, his knife hand cocked, he swung the blade towards the spy.

The crowd cringed as Kaiser caught the knife, his hand trapping the sharp edges of the blade.

Blood dripped onto the dance floor as the crowd remained silent at the pause between assassin and spy.

Argent looked into the crimson eyes of the boy who had interfered, he found the calculating and thoughtful gaze of an intelligent fighter. The assassin tried to pull back his blade, it hadn't budged, no matter how much Argent pulled. He didn't understand, the knife should have sliced the boy's fingers off, the assassin watched with widened eyes as Kaiser yanked the knife out of his hand.

"How did you-"

"Take your blade?" Kaiser held up his hand, the knife stuck to something in the boy's hand. "Who would've thought a magnet would save me?" Kaiser tossed the knife towards the bar, the magnet strongly gripping to the carbon steel stools. "Shall we continue?" His hands raised in a fighting stance, waiting for the next strike, his head starting to swim.

Kaiser never saw when Argent rushed him with a spinning backhand punch, the boy leaned out of it, leaving his leg exposed.

Argent struck at Kaiser's knee, almost breaking it. The boy let out a pained gasp, dropping his guard, allowing for Argent to strike at his abdomen.

The liver more specifically, Kaiser should have known, it was an assassin's favorite move.

Kaiser stumbled backwards, tumbling and rolling onto his side as the crowd erupted into cheers.

"It is clear that you're skilled, but skill alone doesn't win you battles." Evon Argent stalked towards the downed spy, eyes of death trained on the boy. "Experience is the greatest teacher, and it has taught me for decades. For that reason alone, your time has run out."

Kaiser coughed harshly, spittle and a fleck of blood staining the floor. "Time?" His hands fiddled with the dial on his watch until both dials were on the 12. "I have all the time in the world."

Two explosions rocked the bar, shattering all the bottles up on the bar. Luckily the bartenders were nowhere to be seen, most likely getting out of the way of the explosion.

That's when the screaming and panicking started, an army of footsteps followed. The partygoers had finally gotten a clue that this fight wasn't some sort of live show.

Kaiser had instantly used a kick-up, weaving around people to get to a distracted Argent. He aimed a well placed roundhouse towards Argent's side. It landed, and a body fell, except it wasn't Argent.

Damn it!

One of the fleeing party goers had managed to run right in front Kaiser. The boy crouched towards the man, checking if he was severely hurt by the fall.

He wasn't afforded the chance, instead receiving a hard knee to the face.

Argent gripped the Kaiser's white hair, blood dripping out of the miserable boy's nose. "That's enough." He shoved the boy into the ground, a low groan emanating from the boy.

The thinning of the crowd finally allowed for space to breathe, and more importantly, to see. Argent visibly relaxed his muscles for a moment, his body once again tensing when he heard a voice call out to him.

"Sergeant Argent!" Kane smugly saluted the older man who had taught him all his skill.

The playful yet deadly tone of the man Argent had turned to face was one of a ghost, coming right back from the dead.

"Soldato." The music had lowered, the sound technician having also left. None of that mattered to Argent however, not as he stared right at his past.

"You were killed." Argent noticed that Kane had someone in his grasp, it was Goldenrod.

"I got over it." Kane shoved Goldenrod towards an empty bar booth, sitting the man down and preventing him from getting back up again. "My new job has great medical coverage."

"You work for the enemy now, perché Soldato?" Argent's eyebrows furrowed, seeing the depths to which his former student had fallen.

"Why? Well, there are a lot of reasons, like the pension and the insurance along with the raised salary." Kane kicked at Goldenrod, who had thought it would be a good chance to escape.

"Isn't that what you've been telling me, us assassins are only loyal to the money."

"You've betrayed your brethren in Scorpio-"

"Scorpio betrayed me!" Kane's impish facade dropped on a dime, showing a pained expression. "I lagged on one contract! One! You assholes targeted my family, so sorry for switching sides!" His fist clenched, punctuated by a slam on the table. "My fucking brother, god, Sebastian was going to die!"

"Forgive me Soldato, that should've never happened."

"Do you think that makes any of this all better?!" Kane's voice had given off a little quiver, something that only happened once before. "Do you think I'll forgive Scorpio for what they did?"

Unknown to the both of them, Kaiser had woken up to the sounds of their arguing. Trying to keep himself quiet as he lifted himself off the floor, he looked between the two assassins, as if he were an extra in the background of a tragic play.

"No, I do not forgive them either for what they did to you." The assassin grandmaster let out a dry chuckle. "Perhaps if that testa di cazzo hadn't interfered with Scorpio all those years ago, our organization wouldn't be crumbling the way it is now." Argent was unaware that the 'dickhead' he had been referring to was actually the boy he had just batted away earlier. "Do you really think I would still be here after what they have done? Pensare! They kept me on a leash like a dog, putting a gun to my head when I decided to leave."

Kane let go of his clenched fist, reigning in his emotions, he couldn't show weakness that could be exploited. He needed to think about the new information gained from Argent, a sly look took over. "Wasn't it you that always taught me that distractions led to death?"

Kaiser blindsided Argent with a powerful side-kick, the assassin was caught unawares and crashed against what was left of the bar.

Two heavy handed strikes landed on Argent's abdomen, a third strike whipped him in the face. The assassin was unfazed, if the way that he blocked the next attack and parried with a strike to Kaiser's throat was any indication.

Argent's throat strike was quickly followed by another knee to the stomach, further depriving Kaiser of precious air.

Argent had his hand clasped onto Kaiser's shoulder, all to steady the paralyzed spy. A swift front kick sent the boy sliding on his back, he nearly had his back to the centerpiece ice sculpture.

Kaiser groaned to himself, the world around him felt as if it was swaying. He vaguely recognized Argent approaching him, it wasn't telegraphed, but Kaiser just knew that Argent was going to kick him when he got back up.

As Kaiser weakly got back up, he raised his arms and managed to block an incoming roundhouse. His body suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds as he kicked at Argent's leg, forcing the Scorpio instructor into jumping away.

Kaiser had fully stood up just as Argent jumped in with another front kick, Argent was deceptively spry for an old man. Kaiser launched his own attacks against Argent, none of them fazing the assassin, his nonchalance had caused Kaiser to flinch and step back.

"You insult me with this child, Soldato!" Argent shouted as the music in the empty nightclub continued. "I will accept nothing less than a true assassino as my challenge."

"I'm gonna kick your wrinkly old ass back to the retirement home!" Kaiser barked as he closed in, not his best trash talk, but still serviceable.

Argent and Kaiser clashed, fists blocking and striking, neither giving up any sort of leverage. But even as they traded blows, Kaiser could easily tell that Argent was toying with him, like a tiger batting around a mouse.

There was a sudden opening, Argent left his right shoulder exposed! Kaiser's fist shot forward in his most powerful strike, it did little impact.

Argent had ridden the blow, quite expertly to the point of it barely making contact. Instead, Argent whipped back around, hitting Kaiser in the chest with a powerful back kick. Exposing his shoulder was just Argent baiting Kaiser into attacking, then countering while Kaiser was still stuck on attacking.

The kick had launched the boy into the pedestal displaying the ice sculpture of a Nevermore, the mighty grimm wobbled once, before falling forward atop the spy. The sharp features of the large ice sculpture shattered into millions of pieces, large pieces pinned the spy to the floor, while the smaller ones had completely buried the boy beneath the ice. All that was seen was a pile of ice in one section of the nightclub, if there was someone buried in it, nobody could tell.

"It's a shame that a fighter like yourself cannot unleash your true fighting ability." Argent spoke softly, as if the boy buried underneath the ice shards could hear him. "Your latent abilities as an assassin are muddled by your cheap tricks."

"I have to attend to my charge." No sooner had Argent said that he had felt the air in the area shift, a sense that had been honed after a lifetime of combat. "Did you have a connection with this boy, Soldato?"

Martin Kane froze before he even realized he had gotten up and started sprinting at his old mentor, his Ruger already in his hand. But now it was as simple as following a command, even if the instructor had his back turned. "Yeah."

"He was once your target, was he not?" Argent asked, he had been the one to hand Kane the contract to kill Kaiser all those years ago. "I've never met an assassin who has become protective of their target. Perhaps I failed you as a teacher."

Kane only blinked and Argent was already gunning for him, the years that the instructor aged betrayed his own lethal prowess.

Kane jumped to the side, just as Argent rushed past, Kane aimed to strike at the back of Argent's head.

Argent instead launched himself backwards into Kane, further derailing the assassin's plan. Kane crashed against the bar, where he took a hold of one of the empty bottles of wine. He brought the glass crashing down on Argent, who raised his shoulder while ducking to avoid most of the major damage.

Argent grabbed Kane by the collar, pulling the assassin down, allowing Argent to knee him in the stomach. Argent then threw Kane a couple feet away from him, he stared down at his protégé. "There is no honor in using anything other than our own fighting ability, Soldato."

"Was there any honor in sticking a knife to my back?!" Kane yelled.

"Admittedly not. But this is not battle, this is an assassination, it's not my choice. I have to kill my target by any means." Argent spoke just louder than the music, the words carried over to the downed assassin. "Forgive me, but I must complete my objective."

Argent stalked forward to finish off Martin Kane, then he lost his balance.

Struggling to regain control, the assassin instructor slipped as he noticed a sheen of wetness on the floor. As the strobe lights continued to flash, the brilliant white reflected small crystalline chunks among the thin film of water covering the surrounding area.

Kane moved in and kicked at Argent's leg, widening the instructor's stance, purposefully disrupting his balance. "You didn't count on Kaiser being such a sore loser, didn't you?"

"What?!" Argent jumped to another section of the club before nearly crashing as he slipped on the floor.

"Our little double-o-douchebags been throwing the ice you buried him under all around the room!" Kane threw a vicious roundhouse kick at Argent's head, purposefully throwing non-lethal attacks at his old mentor. The combination of the wet floor and Argent's imbalance had sent the instructor sliding a couple feet. "He just needed to let his body heat to help melt the ice." Kane looked over to the shivering wet mess that was Kaiser, his arms and head the only things to be seen from the pile of ice. "You good there?"

Kane only received a tired looking expression from the boy who seemed a lot more pale than normal. The pallor was probably the product of the low temperature covering Kaiser, Kane pressed his advantage on Argent.

Arms lashed out in deadly precision, blocks and counters employed. Argent and Kane were evenly matched, Argent's own teachings were being used against him.

"I probably can't beat you like this! But I don't have to." Kane stepped to the side suddenly, revealing Kaiser joining the fight with a flying front kick. This one had landed squarely in Argent's chest, knocking the man further backwards, overwhelming the master assassin as his student and the boy with white hair rushed him.

The younger boy, was much more easy to deal with, as evident with the single strike Argent had cracked across Kaiser's face.

As Kaiser stumbled back, Kane took the focus off the boy by continuing to trade blows. Each of his strikes aimed at the vital areas that Argent had taught to the ex-Scorpio assassin. Even so, Kane would just barely miss each strike by Argent's evasive maneuvers.

Argent himself was struggling, age and fatigue had caught up with him, the fight with the young boy accompanying Kane had drained him. He was never supposed to continue to work in the field like this, he planned to retire gracefully back in the sandy deserts of Vacuo.

Now he was stuck fighting Martin Kane and his associate, Kaiser.

Speaking of…

A hard kick had landed on his side behind him, no doubt the boy with red eyes. He returned the kindness with a heavy handed strike that Kaiser couldn't block.

This had given Kane a split second to hold his old mentor by the shoulder, a swift kick had swept Argent's legs from under him.

"Now!" Kane barked.

Kaiser had dropped down to the floor along with Argent, this time it was for a reason. Slipping his legs around Argent's arm and elbow, Kaiser coiled around the assassin like a deadly snake. Argent was trapped in an Arm Bar, all that was left to do was to pull.

A cruel snapping sound had reverberated around the room, the sheer desperation of the move had even cut above the loud music.

Ragged gasps escaped Evon Argent as he tried to regain control, he wasn't even allowed to defend against the arm bar. Perpendicular to him, the boy with white hair- Kaiser, lay splayed out as he was struggling to breath.

There seemed to be the spirit of a true assassin under the facade of the trickster spy.

"You alright Kai?" Kane had only noticed the spy starting to sweat profusely when Argent's threat was dealt with. He put a hand to the boy's forehead, only to reel back in shock of the heat coming off his companion. Kane gripped the lapels of Argent's suit and raised him up. "What the hell did you do to him!"

Staring into the face of his student and his defeat, Argent let out a pained sigh. "We are all targets to an unknown assassino, Soldato. I fall prey to the passage of time, I cannot compete with the much younger professionals of today. I take every advantage I can get away with." Argent pointed to the straight slash across Kaiser's cheek, the blood seeping less as his cut faced the ceiling. "I've taken to coating my weapons in strong poisons, you have very little time to save your friend." Argent's words felt more like he was lamenting rather than taunting Kane.

"Shit!" Kane had started dragging Kaiser towards the entrance of the nightclub, away from Goldenrod's aura jammer. It was no use, the doorway and elevator were too far away, and there was no telling how far the range of aura jammers reached.

A blinking white light caught Kane's attention, his gaze immediately followed. It was small and past the walls of the club, he saw the underside of a helicopter in the distance through the skyscraper's windows.

While not as smart as Kaiser, Kane had his own instances of brilliance. He quickly ran up to the window and punched it, only to recoil, it didn't shatter.

Kane ran back to Kaiser and started to drag the boy by his collar, every step was met with groaning. The assassin drew his Ruger, without looking at where he was aiming, Kane perfectly shot out the four corners of the window. Following it up with another five rounds near the center of the window, Kane had kicked at the glass frame. The glass shattered into a shower of clear shards, all flying out into the darkness

"Sorry Kai, this was the best I could think of." Kane spoke softly as the boy in his grasp weakly shook his head, fragile sounds escaped Kaiser's mouth.

Despite the protest, Kane pushed strength into his arms, lifting Kaiser up. He then promptly threw the boy out the window, wind whipped at the assassin as he approached his old mentor lying on the ground…

…Leaving Kaiser to fall down seven stories and into the streets below.

Kane had strolled back, all thoughts of the spy had gone when he faced the man who had inspired his current occupation. He watched as Argent eyed him with begrudging acceptance, acceptance that he would soon meet his end.

"Give yourself up, cooperate with me, and I can get you a new identity. You wanted to retire right? This is your chance." Kane hesitated his next word to his old instructor, as if the time between their last meeting diminished their relationship. "Sir."

"I cannot accept that, Soldato." The strained voice of Argent grievously voiced his thoughts. "If you let me live, I'll stop at nothing to snuff your life out." Argent's pained voice sounded insincere, his words hollow of all meaning, he said it more out of obligation.

"I understand." Kane raised his Ruger and leveled it at Argent's chest, the same way he had been taught. Two shots to the chest, one between the eyes, a triple tap to ensure the target's demise. Instead, Kane blindsided his old instructor with a swift kick to the head, knocking Argent out. "Only an assassin knows the true value of human life, it's a waste to kill you." A small smile stretched across his face. "Not when there's a lot of info rattling around that old noggin. Sit tight teach, I've got to talk to our little captive over there."

Kane stalked over to Goldenrod, who had been too terrified to move.

/-/

The music had once again dipped into a lull to give the students a break while they stopped to get drinks or snacks. The dance had been going strong at 10:00 PM, just a while longer until the party really got started.

For now though, Yang Xiao Long was content with the lull in dancing with her friends. Having just finished a couple songs with Blake, Yang was making rounds at the punch table.

Punch wasn't all that entirely accurate, nobody had coordinated or communicated properly. Resulting in multiple people pouring a bottle of alcohol throughout the night, diluting the drink into a mess of different spirits.

It was bitter, incredibly so, Yang almost had trouble downing the drink. She was only able to handle it by taking small sips while ladling punch from another untouched bowl into the spiked one, no, more like the bowl was spiked with a little bit of punch.

Yang chuckled a little bit, she thought Kaiser would get a kick out of this. If his partiality to cheap alcohol was any indication, that peach vodka they shared a couple nights ago wasn't particularly nice.

Despite the tasteless alcohol, Yang kept thinking back to that night. She had been in a bad state at the time, just having lost Torchwick again and being humiliated by Neo. Yang's perceived inadequacies had been glaring at her, and she didn't want to deal with that in front of her team. So she retreated, looking for anyplace she could find comfort.

Somehow she had ended up in front of Kaiser's dorm room that night.

Yang couldn't exactly say that Kaiser was the most compassionate person around, she fully expected to sit in silence in his room while he was doing whatever it is the spy liked to do. Which is why it took her by surprise that Kaiser had sat her down, and listened to her current problems. She greatly appreciated the support he offered along with the shoulder to lean on.

Yang had seen an entire new side to Kaiser, one that had brought her closer to the boy. Now he was off doing whatever else it was that he needed to do, Yang liked to imagine that Kaiser was basically reenacting an entire spy film, the sharp suit he was wearing earlier had completed that picture. It couldn't be too dangerous, he must've been attending some social event with that suit, she surmised that Kaiser's little outing must've been low risk. Perhaps, if circumstances should allow it, Kaiser would be afforded a small reprieve in the stressful life he led.

/-/

Kaiser violently spit up acid-tasting bile and the like as he rose from the ground, an intense ache reached to his very bones. Every wave of aching had elicited something between a groan and a whimper. His vision was blurred, to the point where the lights from the city street were nothing more than a streak of white running across his sight line.

"Are you okay?" A blur in red cautiously approached the boy who had seemingly fallen out of the sky.

Kaiser's vision had straightened out at slow pace, he was able to distinguish the blur in front of him. It was the doorman to the building, a look of concern etched across his face. Past the blur was a burgundy awning, a corner of the cloth in disarray. Kaiser must've bounced off of it. Then he definitely must have collided with the sidewalk, the connection was made.

"I really shouldn't be, but I'll live." Kaiser gritted out amidst the pain that threatened to put him right back into the arms of unconsciousness. His legs buckled as soon as he managed to stand up right, the doorman caught him. Quite sheepishly, the boy rubbed the back of his own neck. "Can you open the door for me? I fear that I won't be able to open it myself and stay upright."

The doorman only nodded, and dutifully stood at the door, holding it open for Kaiser.

Using the last bit of his strength, Kaiser took off in a half-jog half-limp. He went at a pitiful speed, until a sudden burst of energy had launched his legs further with a lot more vigor than before. The spy had suddenly found himself crashing face first into the elevator door, the pain intensified greatly, his hand snaking around the console to call the elevator.

The elevator had the audacity to ding brightly as Kaiser clumsily stumbled in with legs that felt like they hadn't just slammed into concrete.

The seventh floor button had been pressed and Kaiser had leant his back on the wall, there was ding every 10 seconds. The silence allowed for the boy to contemplate the few minutes before and after he had been thrown out the window.

He shouldn't have survived this, even if he had gone through some of the most dangerous situations anyone could have encountered. Trying to deactivate a bomb while being chased by armed soldiers, difficult, but possible. A desperate fight for survival in the sandy dunes of Vacuo against a double agent, it was a hard fought victory. Even an attempted execution in Mistral had been just barely escaped, but this was just a whole different brand of insanity that Kaiser had escaped.

Falling off the height he did should have left him a stain on the ground, but instead, Kaiser had seemingly defied all logic. Even more astounding, his body was pumping itself full of energy and regenerating at a quick pace.

The elevator dinged once more, opening its door to let Kaiser back to where the assassins had been.

A panicked cry came from above, "I swear, I don't know Roman Torchwick!"

Another voice, obviously Kane's, had risen. "Bullshit, I know you're the only reason he was able to get away with the Paladins!" A shot rang out in the dimly lit room, Kane must have turned off the strobe lights. The blond assassin paused momentarily as he caught sight of the boy. "Oh, Kaiser, you made it."

"You could've killed me!" Kaiser was suddenly regretting having gotten out of bed this morning.

Kane only let another shot pop off, this one shattering one of the hanging light fixtures illuminating the dance floor. As it turns out, Kane had managed to tie Gideon Goldenrod to one of the biggest strobe lights, often showering the man with glass fragments by shooting nearby lights. "I already tried killing you twice, I'm not gonna suddenly accidentally succeed."

"Dick." Kaiser muttered under his breath, then he started thinking. "How did you know that was going to work?"

"I didn't." Kane raised his arms in genuine confusion, the gun in his right hand almost forgotten. "I figured that whatever Goldenrod built has a limited range, so I got you out of that range."

"By trying to kill me?"

"To reiterate, I'm not going to succeed on accident." Kane, without looking, shot off another round. Glass sprayed against Goldenrod, weak whimpers escaped the older man hanging from the ceiling. "Plus it looks like you've just healed up way better than before."

Kaiser felt the slash on his cheek, it had healed without so much as a scratch. Kaiser did a full blood sweep, he found that every single injury had been rapidly healing. A memory came to mind, from when he was still doing the work-study program at Beacon.

Trim the bushes, mow the grass, water the flowers. Those were the duties assigned to Kaiser every morning for his first semester, in that very order. A mishap happened when Kaiser had unknowingly stepped on the rubber hose used to water the flowers. It was too late to notice his mistake when he stepped off and allowed the blockage to release. A jet of water blasted out that it could be compared to a hydro cutter, blasting the entire surrounding area with water meant for the plants.

From that day on, Kaiser was assigned to only trimming the bushes and mowing the lawn.

Kaiser suspected that's how the aura jammer(as Kane had called it) worked, aura would build up but never be allowed to work until he was out of range. After getting out of range, all the aura resulting from the blockage would stream right through Kaiser. By Occam's razor, this should have been the most reasonable solution.

"Yeah, I did." Kaiser strolled up to Kane, watching as the assassin tormented Goldenrod. "You're being too lenient, you could've gotten him to thank you for interrogating him by now."

A quick shrug. "Ross made me take a psych evaluation, says I'm not fit to handle sensitive stuff like direct torture right now. Apparently the doc says I'm likely to go too far." Kane picked up Kaiser's Gerber from the floor, promptly tossing it towards the spy. "Mind taking care of this one for me?"

"I'd rather not have a war crime put on my permanent record." Kaiser adjusted his grip on the knife, nerves finally settling down.

Kane shot Goldenrod's bindings, releasing the man from the ceiling, also dropping the man 12 feet from the floor.

"Yeah well, I'm fairly sure we've probably done worse." Kane gestured Kaiser forward, a dismissive look on his face. "And for less too. But that's not important, what is important is that Goldenrod here is responsible for hiding Torchwick and hiring the Scorpio assassins tonight."

"Yeah…" Kaiser said in a rough voice, it was devoid of any intense feeling, much more clinical sounding than anything.

"I heard about your fight with Torchwick." Kane's voice carried over like a whisper, one that burrowed into the spy's head. "Aren't you itching to stop that guy, the more Goldenrod stays silent the more time Torchwick acts out with all those Paladins."

The knife suddenly felt much lighter in Kaiser's grip, his uncertainty had left as Kaiser went searching for answers at the edge of his blade.

Kaiser's slow stride had quickened exponentially as he drew closer to Goldenrod's desperate body, every step resulting in the older man scuttling back as fast as he could. The tip of Kaiser's Gerber led the charge like a nasty spear as the spy lunged forward, targeting the heart.

The blade barely dug into Goldenrod's suit, blood trickling out of the technician's chest. Despite the non-severity of the surface level wound, the man started shrieking and yelling for help. Kaiser had only known what had stopped him, a hand gripped onto his wrist.

"You're not as in control as I thought you were," Kane mused. The assassin had just stopped Kaiser from outright killing the technician, and the divide between both their skills had become apparent to the young spy.

It was nearly impossible to hear or even sense Martin Kane approaching, only his grip on Kaiser's arm had let him know that Kane was even near at all. Sure, Kaiser could soundlessly move around with nobody noticing him as well, but never in a rushed manner like Kane did. He had to consciously keep himself unnoticed, while Kane was able to do so seemingly in his sleep.

"You might want to hurry up with those answers, Goldenrod. My friend here is pretty pissed and my arm is starting to get tired." Kane directed a snide glare at his current target, he spotted a halfway defiant glare at the assassin.

"No, I don't have anything to tell you." It came out as a low whisper, one that conveyed an iron will.

All Kane did was let his grip on Kaiser's wrist slacken, allowing the boy to push further. More pressure was applied as Kaiser also made the motion of twisting the knife, almost rendering Goldenrod unconscious.

Wiggling around for any room, Kaiser freed his other arm and began brutally striking out at Goldenrod.

This was the final straw however, as Goldenrod shouted out as he cried. "Mountain Glen!"

"That place was abandoned decades ago, Torchwick can't have an operation set up there." Kane locked his arm with Kaiser's, preventing him from striking out.

"No, he can, it'd be the perfect base of operations." Kaiser drew back his fist, shooting a glare to Kane. "It's isolated from society, it has plenty of space, and the grimm that roam around it practically acts as a defense system."

"Is that where the Paladin's are?" Kane observed the mess of a man in front of him blubbered incoherently. The assassin put his hand to his ear, mocking Goldenrod. "What was that again?"

"I said yes!" Goldenrod spouted out, a quivering voice had revealed his fear.

"How many!"

"Eight! One of them was destroyed this week, it was on the news!" Goldenrod spluttered, hoping to dear god that these two agents had believed him.

"He's telling the truth." Kaiser cut in, suddenly remembering a call he had received last Tuesday. "Some of my friends went after Torchwick in that thing."

Kane's head swiveled to Kaiser, eyes narrowing at the spy.

"What?" Kaiser waited for Kane to respond, he asked again, this time more pronounced. "What?"

"We'll circle back around to this later." Kane turned back to Goldenrod. "Now, tell me where that aura-blocking device is!" Kane slapped Goldenrod with the back of his hand, he hardly needed to do that.

"Behind the bar!"

Goldenrod's confession sent Kaiser dashing to the bar, he couldn't stand being this vulnerable after months of using his aura. Rummaging past many glasses and bottles of expensive drink, Kaiser found a small black box. He had set it on the table thinking it was used to collect any cash, but then he heard a beeping noise.

It was probably the device…

Kaiser promptly took the black box and smashed it against the corner of the bar, the sharp corner puncturing the device. He could feel his aura once again returning to circulate throughout his body, he knew it was working now that the box had become a mangled mechanical mess of broken parts.

"Does anybody know about those devices?" Kaiser could hear Kane's interrogation continue.

"I supplied a few to the agency that I hired those bodyguards from." Goldenrod fearfully pointed at Argent's unconscious body laying against a table.

Kane ignored the fact that his mentor and fellow assassin had been compared to a basic bodyguard and fixed Goldenrod with an interrogative glare.

Kaiser strolled up, having popped open a bottle of an extremely expensive bottle of cognac, and was taking eager drinks fueled by the frustration of how the night went. "Are we done here?"

Kane finally let go of Goldenrod, the technician letting out a grunt when hitting the ground. "Yeah, pretty much. I called Ross while you were gone, he's sending some guys over to clean up this mess."

The spiced fruity flavor of the cognac burned down Kaiser's throat, the boy barely flinched. "Let's get out of here before I get accosted by Ross' men."

"Don't be mean," Kane's mirthful smirk mildly irritated Kaiser, "those used to be your coworkers."

Kaiser was already a quarter way through the bottle when he reached the elevator.

It had taken longer than expected for both assassin and spy to get back to the car, Kane had to explain to the arriving force of IPS agents that there were two Scorpio agents stuck in the air vents.

"You want to drive?" Kane offered the keys to Kaiser, enticing the spy to drive the luxury car.

Kaiser stayed silent, he just shook the bottle of alcohol he had almost drunk half of.

"Forget spies and assassins, your liver is fighting a bigger battle right now." Kane popped open his trunk, putting away the shotgun while Kaiser put Great Escape back into his locker. A couple taps of the electronic pad had sent the machine back to Beacon. "Need a ride back to Beacon?"

"Yeah, at the very least I won't be taking the bus home." Kaiser slid in the passenger seat of the car, letting the bottle rest between his legs. He replayed the events of the evening, particularly his involvement in the interrogation. "Bad cop, insane cop?"

"Looks like you didn't forget everything at Beacon." Kane pulled out of the parking lot, he pulled around every corner of the complex until he was finally greeted with the asphalt of the Valean streets. "But you should've held back a little, my arm was getting sore from keeping you away."

It was an interrogation tactic that Kane had strong-armed Kaiser into doing, putting the fear of god into anybody unlucky enough to have important information. It helped that Kaiser looked like an emotionless ghost half the time, at least people would take him seriously.

"Since when did you get-"

"Now what's this shit I hear about you having friends?" Kane interrupted, almost as if trying to avoid the conversation.

Kaiser stumbled a bit, completely dropping his usual demeanor. "Uhh, well… I've made a couple friends here in Vale. They're good to me, we sometimes mess around at Beacon."

"Didn't take you for the kind of person to fool around, Kai." Kane turned up the volume, making the music he had been playing on the radio much more clear.

Deeper, I'm falling

Into the arms of sorrow

"Can we talk about this? About you coming back?" Kaiser gripped his suit pants, he felt that this would be revealed as a dream if he let go.

"Sure, but let's grab a bite first, I don't think I can talk about this on an empty stomach." Kane pulled up to a bar restaurant, he had driven out of the ritzier part of the city and pulled into the more common and affordable part of the nightclub district.

They both stepped out of the parked car, both scanning their immediate surroundings. It was an automatic response, one born from ages of dodging peril from those hidden in the shadows.

It was only after they both nodded at each other that both assassin and spy went into the restaurant. It was loud, tables filled with people out to enjoy Vale's nightlife. Sounds of clinking glasses at the bar enticed Kaiser, until he remembered he still had that bottle of cognac shuffled away in Kane's car. They sat in a booth tucked away in the corner of the bar, providing no space for anyone to come behind the two. It was also a perfect place for both agents to speak comfortably without risking eavesdropping.

"What will you gentlemen be having tonight?" A server came up, dressed in a cowgirl's outfit, complete with a brown cowboy hat.

Kaiser's eyes narrowed in annoyance, it wasn't the server's fault that bad memories had arisen. He had been so caught up thinking about Jasper and his stupid cowboy hat that he didn't register Kane's order to the server.

"I'll take the cattle ranch burger with a side of cowboy fries." Kane rattled off what he saw on the menu that was handed to him, he then gestured to the spy sitting across from him. "You want anything?"

Kaiser gave the plastic menu a once over before he had quickly chosen. "I'll take the garden patch burger."

The server only smiled at the two, leaving them to go pass on the orders.

"You still do that, huh?" Kane put the menu aside, staring straight at his companion. This had given Kaiser a much more unobstructed view of Kane's face than he had ever gotten. Blond bangs framed a healthily tanned face, a tiny scar running down his left eyebrow, weathered brown eyes. Despite all this, Kane was still the infuriatingly impish assassin he had been.

"Do what?" Kaiser looked up from his own menu, showing off the tired face of a boy trying his best to hold it together.

"You're ordering just about the most healthy thing known to mankind."

"What's wrong with that?" Kaiser had gotten defensive all of a sudden, he was too distracted to notice a group of teens in Beacon uniform walk by, too distracted to notice one snapping a photo of him from far away.

"What's wrong with it?" Kane acted as if the answer to the question was obvious. "If your enemies find that you eat like a health freak, they can narrow down the search of all your haunts. I'd say there are about nine restaurants here in Vale that cater to your predictable needs, it'd be easier for a gunman to show up while you're too busy with your chicken salad."

"That's a problem for active spies to deal with, I'm just a regular student at Beacon." Kaiser muttered, the words almost felt insincere. "As far as I know, I'm permanently benched."

The mischievous smirk Kane had fell for a fraction of a second, then he decided to stop beating around the bush. "So, about my deployment."

Kaiser's ears perked up, eager to finally hear what had happened.

"Where do I start?" Kane sighed as he folded his hands under his chin, a slight stubble threatening to the man's face. "I suppose I should start around the time when Ross approached me about the assignment."

"It was in Mistral, right?" Kaiser let his arms down to his sides, knowing nothing could hurt him right now. "That's the only thing that Ross let me know about your op."

"Yeah, I got put in Mistral to infiltrate the ruling criminal organization." Kane brought one hand up to lean his head on, he wistfully stared into the night air while scanning for abnormalities. "You have to understand, these people were so well connected, that they could easily find out who I was. Officially, I had to disappear."

"I suppose that's when you died." Kaiser let his head hang, he had seen some footage near the place that Kane had been "killed." He supposed Ross had manipulated the tape and taken away context to hide Kane's real identity.

"That's the thing, I never died, the plan was foolproof. It was a little too good, the operations security was so good, that I wasn't making any headway at all with how unassuming I was." Kane complained about the well structured operation as if his life didn't really didn't depend on it. "I started slipping up on purpose just so I would get noticed by Mistral's mafia. That way I could get close to the boss, who hadn't been seen in public for over 14 years."

"How'd you figure you would get to the boss?"

"I was purposefully making myself look like I had been through much more than being the grunt they thought I was." Kane made a grand gesture with his hands, as if one were to announce something important. "Once they looked into it, naturally they thought I was going to terminate the gang's leader. I was, but I'd rather they not jump to conclusions, it's a little presumptive."

The server had arrived with Kane's food, Kaiser's was placed on the same tray. "Anything else for you gentleman?"

Kane flashed a disarmingly bright smile, in contrast to the severity of the private conversation. "No thank you."

As the server walked away flustered, Kane turned back over to Kaiser. "Eventually they found me out, only because I let them. Then they put a sack over my head and tried beating as much info out of me as they could."

"How did you get out of that?" Kaiser had bitten into his burger, if it could be called that, it was dry and crumbly.

"I just waited until they put me near the boss, then I broke out of the bindings using a razor. Took me a good while but I managed to take the leader out."

"I would've figured you'd do it quicker."

"It wasn't really my choice when I got ambushed by 12 guards." Kane forked some of his fries into his mouth, it was a monstrosity of spiced beef chili and melted cheese atop a bed of golden crisp fries.

"So that's it then, that was your mission in Mistral."

Kaiser dryly swallowed a mouthful of ground up vegetables.

Kane only gave him an apologetic grin. "Yeah, I'm sorry that they couldn't give you a heads up. Ross said it was important that my closest confidants truly think I died, that means you and my brother in Atlas."

Kaiser's eyes suddenly snapped to the assassin, "God Kane, did you even tell your brother!"

Kane only shrugged, "I'd rather not put him in danger."

A deep sigh from Kaiser, "I suppose that's fair, he has nothing to do with the things that we did."

"I finished the op, then I moved out here to Vale since I heard Ross moved his own division nearby."

Kane took a bite out of his burger, then promptly swallowed. "I can't guess for the life of me, why Ross would move out of his cushy seat in Atlas to move to this place." Kane fixed Kaiser with knowing eyes, turning the focus on to the young spy.

"He just wants to keep me at arms length in case some asshole decides to blow up a chunk of Remnant," Kaiser sarcastically huffed.

"Yeah," Kane responded. "I heard through the grapevine that you've been running a long term op for Ross, sort of an after school activity."

"Jasper Greene, he told me that he was in the same training cell as you." Kaiser gagged a bit at the underwhelming flavor of his food. "Did you know him?"

"I did, he always had a grudge against me, all I know is that he moved on to other projects." Kane waved the server over, she was a bit preoccupied so he had to wait a while. "Heard you fucked him up pretty bad on Tuesday, and while he was on Hercules no less!" Kane's eyebrows seemed to jump at this.

"I just let him tire himself out." Kaiser stared out the window, once again staring out at the night sky.

"Can you get my friend a cattle ranch burger?" Kane pointed toward the spy.

"Of course, anything else I can get you gentlemen," the server chirped. She walked away with the serving tray after being declined for an additional order.

"How'd you even get yourself tied up in that mess?" Kane finished up the last of his fries, he reached for a napkin.

"I broke into the IPS office here in Vale," Kaiser said.

"How'd you manage that? Ross usually keeps his places locked down tight."

"I set fire to a chair in the waiting room." Kaiser snatched the salt shaker from a nearby table, sprinkling it into his burger.

Kane slammed his fist down onto the table, his uproarious laughter caught the attention of other diners. "The more things change, the more they stay the same! Right, Kai?"

This had actually coerced a grin from Kaiser, both were aware of his little solution to most problems. Even in diplomatic situations, Kaiser had sometimes resorted to setting something alight.

"Yeah, I guess they do, how's it been for you since you came to Vale?"

"Ah, it's been a busy couple of days for me." Kane leaned back with his arms spread out to support him, like an idiot, he almost fell. "I did some under-the-table work for an old friend of mine, then I went to have a chat with Ross regarding my standing at the company."

"Ross is letting you go?!" Kaiser couldn't keep the shock out of his voice, Kane had not earned the ire of any of his superiors since joining the IPS.

It was with a wide mischievous grin that Kane displayed which told Kaiser what really had gone down. "I got promoted!"

Kaiser had rolled his eyes at this, things were making more sense. Kane had always been the golden boy since he had joined the IPS, his superior abilities as an assassin helped with a much broader range of operations. It shouldn't have bothered Kaiser too bad, if only he wasn't constantly berated for not being as perfect as the assassin across from him. "What do you do now?"

"I'm now in charge of a special ops paramilitary unit, I even got to name it myself!" Kane had said it just low enough so the people around the two could not hear. "I am now the leader of the Phantom Unit."

"That feels like a little too much responsibility for someone who only did wet work, no?"

"Honestly, I agree, but I'm not going to turn it down, I'm getting ample funding, and access to some resources that I shouldn't reasonably have access to." Kane eyed the server approaching. "Rumor is I'm getting my own airship, can you believe it?!"

Their conversation had halted momentarily when the server arrived. "Here's the cowboy burger that you ordered, and an extra side of spicy pepper poppers, on the house!" The server cheerily passed deep fried peppers over to Kane, giving the assassin a flirty wink.

Kaiser watched as the lady sauntered off with her tray, he looked back to his companion. "Only been a day and you're already using me to pick up women."

"Please. You're too old to play the little brother, and since Sebastian is well into his 20's, I've got to rely on my natural charm." Kane popped one of the peppers in his mouth, the piece was gone instantly. "Besides, I slipped my number in her apron. It's her choice if she wants to call me, if she even notices I put my number there in the first place. Anyways, what have you been up to since you left?"

Kaiser had to think it over, what had he done? "I just spent a couple weeks fighting in an underground circuit until I stumbled upon Ozpin, or rather, he stumbled upon me. He let me apply to his school, and I passed the initiation." A small involuntary smile had brightened the boy's demeanor as he continued. "I made a couple friends, mainly through the initiation. I didn't get put in a team."

"Which must suck for you, you used to stand up during debriefs if you weren't ordered to sit down."

"I don't need orders anymore." Kaiser had grabbed the burger that had been offered to him by Kane, finally taking a bite out of the monstrosity of calories and carbohydrates. It was infinitely better than what he had originally ordered, but the spy gave only a stone face to hide his opinion.

"Sure you don't, tell me about these friends of yours." Kane once again routinely scanned the surrounding area, Kaiser would do it next.

Kaiser didn't really have anything much to say about many of his friends, but he had much to say about the three he had spent the most time with.

"I've been helping this one guy, Jaune." Kaiser had focused on the night sky, allowing his gaze to wander. "I've been helping him with unarmed combat, he's getting better."

"I thought that Beacon kids would have already known that type of stuff."

"He mainly fights with his weapon, I only got asked to help him to improve in other areas." Kaiser conveniently left out the part about Jaune's lack of any formal training. It wasn't his secret to tell, besides, Kaiser had no place judging Jaune faking his way into Beacon when he himself operated under false pretenses. "He helped me beat up a couple guys at a chop shop recently."

"It's only been a couple months and he's already got your back?" Kane posed the question with a mischievous grin. "Makes me wonder what attracts people to you, you're weren't exactly the most agreeable kid around."

"People like me well enough!" Kaiser was immediately on the defensive, he was well liked among his closer classmates and even positively regarded by a few of his upperclassmen. "I am clever, and some people would describe me as humorous."

"Perhaps, but where do you think you got those traits! Three weeks locked in that underground cell with me in Anima did wonders for your social skills, before that, you were like a cold unfeeling robot that couldn't even form an opinion." Kane held a fist to his mouth, trying to prevent the laughter from becoming too boisterous. "I once asked you if you liked the weather, you said it was raining."

"I was a different person back then-"

"I'll say!" Kane began to organize his plate and left a hefty tip. "Let's head out, I got a debrief later."

Kaiser had picked up what was left of his meal and wrapped it up in the parchment paper that came with it.

/-/

"I hope you know that I was thrilled to do this operation with you tonight." Kane stretched out his arms into the cool night air, music faintly thumping in the distance. "It feels just like old times, back when I was defecting and you were underage."

Both agents walked through the garden at Beacon, the wind rustling the leaves of nearby freshly trimmed hedges. Kane stared straight ahead at the strange lighting illuminating the outside of the auditorium, Kaiser just finished off the delectable cognac that he had snatched from the Skyline club.

"I'm honestly shocked that you were able to break away from Ross and his lot." An almost apologetic smile was given, almost, because Martin Kane didn't apologize for shit. "Shame I had to drag you out for another of our little adventures."

"Yeah, shame." Kaiser was truly ecstatic to know that Martin Kane was still alive, but he could not allow the assassin to be encouraged to do this kind of thing again. "I'm in room 307 of the freshman dorms, just so you can show up instead of sending a sniper."

"I don't remember sending a sniper." Kane figured there had been some sort of animosity harbored by Richard Stone, the sharpshooter sent by Kane to go and give Kaiser a quick briefing. "He gave you the briefcase and the instructions, no?"

Kaiser stumbled, a little tipsy from the cognac he had drunk earlier. "Yeah, along with some Creedmoor rounds."

"You lived." The pair of agents had gotten close to the auditorium, some students were leaving with drinks in hand. "Some sort of party you guys are having over there?"

"School dance," Kaiser said briefly. He was a bit more reserved than usual, the alcohol had only deepened his currently melancholic mood. "They're celebrating the upcoming festival."

"Shit, I would've gotten someone else on this op if I knew that you were going to go to the dance!"

"I wasn't." It was blunt, much like how Kaiser always talked with Kane. "We're going to debrief Ozpin."

"You sure, wouldn't you rather go dancing with your friends?" Kane stopped near the door of the auditorium, occasionally taking a peak at the celebration inside. "You helped a ton with Argent, you earned yourself a break."

"I'd rather…" Kaiser had withdrawn in on himself again for a moment, the drink wasn't helping. "I'd rather go with you."

Kane cracked a wide smile, immediately defusing the situation. "Alright, if you insist, can you come closer? Your tie needs fixing."

Looking down to his tie, Kaiser saw the floor swaying beneath his feet, as well as the tie coming loose.

"You can debrief looking as beat up as you want, but I'll be damned if you're not at least dressed impeccably." Kane was busy retightening the tie for Kaiser. "You'll need a nice tie to impress a girl into dancing with you."

"Huh?" Kaiser's eyes narrowed, then suddenly widened as he felt himself jerked and then thrown.

The lights blinded him momentarily, Kaiser was on the ground, somewhere crowded. Looking around, he could see many of his classmates and the transfer students either dancing around him or looking at the new arrival.

Kaiser groaned as he felt a buzzing in his pocket, he tiredly reached for his scroll, reading the message he had received.

We have loads of time to catch up, nights like these don't happen often

Immediately getting up, Kaiser walked over to the door. It was locked, perhaps barricaded, not able to move open. Kane must've locked the damn thing, well that wasn't going to stand.

The beat up looking spy simply stood up, then climbed the stairs placed next to the doorway. Kaiser had to admit, the auditorium had been transformed from a regular multipurpose room to a

castle ballroom. When a student wasn't looking, Kaiser had swiped their newly poured drink as he passed the punch table.

The most direct exit barring the doorway was the balcony, it gave way to a scenic view of the courtyard. An arched stone railing wrapped around the balcony, offering a good ledge to lean on or to hold your drink. Kaiser took in the view, students laughing and roughhousing, the transfer students and the beacon students messing around like old friends rather than strangers.

Kaiser took a deep breath, in one swift motion, he vaulted himself atop the stone railing without spilling his drink. He brought the red plastic cup to his lips, the alcohol burning down his throat. He prepared himself to jump, after which he would roll onto the ground to minimize damage.

It wasn't until two arms wrapped around his waist that Kaiser realized he wasn't alone on the balcony. The powerful set of arms managed to pull him off the ledge and crash him down to the balcony floor, where the boy groaned in both frustration and pain.

Instantly, Kaiser tried for a kick-up, which failed due to his inebriation and ended up bumping his head on the pavement.

"What the hell, Kai." Though the voice was low and in a dark tone, it was warm in a way.

It was pointless now, Kane had probably already gotten to the CCT tower. After he met with Ozpin, the doors would likely have been locked. No point for Kaiser to follow, he was content with lying down on the stone.

The spy was helpless to fight against the hands that gripped at his collar, he got a clear look at the person who had laid him against the railing. Kaiser's breath was caught in his throat, for once, not willing to make a witty remark.

It was Yang, of course, as it always seemed to be whenever he was at the lowest points in his academic career.

The reason for Kaiser's silence was attributed to Yang's appearance, it was a simple dress that could be worn by anybody. But it was Yang who made the dress look stunning, the moonlight gave a dim glow to the white fabric adorning her. The same moonlight which made her hair illuminate slightly, a warm fire that Kaiser could just stare at for hours.

Maybe if he had been just a bit more sober, Kaiser would notice the eyes of the girl who looked extremely upset at him.

"What the hell was that?" Yang had asked once more, she kept a tight grip on Kaiser's shoulders.

Kaiser was still distracted, only one word could be managed by the boy who had just barely broken the threshold of his sobriety. "Huh?"

"The ledge, Kaiser! The ledge!" Yang let out a frustrated cry. "Why the hell were you going to jump off?!"

"To follow my friend." Kaiser emphasized it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He barricaded the door, I can't get out."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

That had at least calmed Yang down by a little bit, she even leaned against the railing next to Kaiser. The spy had eyed Yang as she let out a sigh of relief, she fixed the boy with a serious look.

"Sorry, it's just," Yang sighed again. "This is like the fourth time you come back looking like the undead. Let's be real for a moment, I don't think you got those cuts and bruises from a stage play."

That was the excuse that he had halfheartedly offered to Yang, she had known at once that he was just saying it as a formality. In reality, she knew it was one of his outings for Kaiser's old spy organization.

"I thought that… that maybe you just had enough of the shit that you were going through." Yang had become a little more solemn here. "I thought you were planning to off yourself here."

"No!" Kaiser had immediately hopped up, even that had him swaying on his feet. "Why would you think that I'd do that?"

"I don't know. You just always seem tired, always look stressed. Even when we're hanging out, it looks like you're miles away," Yang said.

Kaiser softened a bit at this. "I'm fine, I'll always be fine. That's how it's always been, I would always come out alright after everything life threw at me."

"If you're sure. I'm sorry about all of this, I was just- I don't know what I'd do if you left like that." Yang tilted her head downwards.

If Kaiser was fully in his own right mind, he would've responded to Yang with a snarky comment. Instead he only looked at her next to him, he decided he would need to change the conversation.

"You did a great job with the dance." It wasn't subtle, far from it, Kaiser was too out of his mind to even come up with a smooth conversation transition.

"Thanks, the set up was tedious, glad I'm done with it now." Yang turned to face Kaiser, who had taken to staring out into the courtyard. The boy had his hands placed carefully on the stone railing, he was expressionless except for the hint of timid loneliness in his eyes. "Think you can tell me what you did tonight?"

"I did a stage production."

"How did you get those bruises on your face? Those cuts on your neck too, must've been one hell of play." Yang only saw the tiredness as Kaiser faced her again, it was the same tiredness As always, like when he had confirmed his secret to her back then.

"…I fell off the stage."

Yang wasn't going to get anywhere with this, Kaiser was a safe that had both a passcode and biometric lock. She hoped for a moment that he would be able to unload his stresses, but ever since the night at Junior's, he rarely said a word about his work. Well, if she couldn't get him to talk about it, she didn't mind distracting his mind from it.

Kaiser had been rather intensely focusing on a pair of people down below, just a boy and a girl. There wasn't anything special about them, perhaps that's what had Kaiser so captivated. They were dancing, the music slowing down with the crowd as it was almost midnight, both participants leaning their heads into each other, the very image of safety and comfortability.

Fingers brushed against the back of Kaiser's neck, he shivered, but didn't recoil away like he did any other times somebody had touched him.

"You haven't tried dating someone, Kai?" Yang smiled at him softly when he turned his head around, her hair gently flowing in the cool night air.

"No." This time the alcohol had not affected his answer, there just wasn't much to be said about Kaiser's dating life.

"Really?"

"Did one of your friends ask you to find out again?"

"Nah, I just wanted to find out for myself." Yang flashed Kaiser a toothy grin.

"Why?"

"I think you'd be good at dating, I mean you're good at most everything else you do." Yang's fingers began to wander into his hair, Kaiser still did not pull back. "I would've failed that foreign languages class if you didn't help me, I don't even remember what language we were studying."

"Northern Mistralian."

"See, you even remember the little things, I'd say that's boyfriend material if I ever saw it." Yang shrugged, finally taking her hand away from roaming his hair.

"It'd never work out." Kaiser had thought about once in his first few weeks after leaving Atlas, he had quickly crushed that train of thought. "Relationships require trust. I can't tell anybody everything, I can't put trust in anybody." His words were slow, measured, trying to be as clear as possible.

"I guess you're right, but you did trust me enough to share your secrets." Yang gave Kaiser's shoulder a quick squeeze. "You just need to find the right person." She let go of his shoulder, standing up from her leaning position completely. "I'm gonna go back inside, I'll see you around." She turned around and made her way to double glass doors.

Kaiser watched her leave, his face suddenly going flush, his hand carefully caressing the areas where Yang had touched him. It took him all his experience to keep his composure, a single thought floating through his alcohol addled mind.

In vino veritas, indeed.

/-/

"What would your students think if they had to pay thousands of lien just because their headmaster embezzled school funds to hire a private contractor?" Kane walked into Ozpin's office, his eyes scanning the wide expanse of the circular room.

"Please refrain from making an accusation like that." Ozpin sat in front of his desk, Goodwitch standing behind him dutifully. "I've paid for your services out of my own accounts."

"Who cares, honestly? We both know that the money is just a formality." Kane shrugged, noticing the blonde lady glaring daggers behind him. "It's true! My boss couldn't care less about the money."

"Shall we get on with it?" There was a very faint tinge of annoyance in the saintly patience that was Ozpin. "I'd like to be briefed on what you have found out."

"We'll to start, our subject: Roman Torchwick, has been in hiding ever since his little stint on VNN with the paladin debacle at the highway." Kane walked up and stood at Ozpin's desk. "His whereabouts unknown until tonight. Our target for tonight, Goldenrod, had admitted to both working with Torchwick and knowing his location. He's currently hiding out in Mountain Glen, the ruined city."

"Hmm. Did he tell you exactly where?"

"Not exactly, but he told me Torchwick was stashing his paladins there. Likely underground or they would've been picked up easily by satellite intelligence, Atlas would've pounced by now." Kane took out his scroll, pulling up a recording from earlier that night. The assassin saw the noticeable twitch in Ozpin's eyebrow.

"I shall have words with your employer, I cannot allow him to coerce my student like this.

"On that we agree on." Kane allowed himself to relax for a moment. "But that was my fault this time around, I asked Kaiser to accompany me. He's an effective operator and I needed him for this job."

"That doesn't excuse you from poaching my student."

"I didn't poach, as you say, I wouldn't have stopped him if he were to leave. I just didn't tell him the full and honest truth." Kane leaned down over the desk. "As we spies are inclined to do, Kaiser probably read between the lines and ignored it altogether. While we're on the subject of Kaiser, he worked through the aura deactivation devices like I thought he would."

"Ah yes, these devices, did you get some sort of grasp on how they work?" Ozpin scribbled down a couple notes in a journal, margin notes adorned the paper.

"It's quite easy, headmaster, just get out of range or break the damn things and your huntsmen have their aura again." Kane lightly slapped his palms on top of the clock face desk. "I believe that our business here has concluded." Kane had stood up, waiting for a response.

"I agree, I'll have the money wired to your account in the morning." Ozpin closed his notebook.

"No, that's not the agreement that you had with the old man." Kane had said in a low voice, almost a silent threat.

"You cannot speak to our esteemed headmaster like this." Glynda had stepped up, angered at the prospect of this hired gun confronting the headmaster. She stopped as Ozpin stayed silent, giving a nonverbal confrontation.

"At this point you should know what the old man wants, money is irrelevant, Kaiser's priceless." Kane slid over a cream colored folder over the desk towards Ozpin.

That's what this was all about, Ozpin had suspected this for a while. The lien amount had been a very little amount for a non-huntsman of Martin Kane's caliber. Instead Ross wanted a favor, he wanted Ozpin to run Kaiser on an operation. The fact that Kaiser had gone on tonight's operation as well made Ozpin complicit, Kane might not have known it, but he had trapped Ozpin with this folder.

Ozpin opened the folder, eyes quickly scanning the reports. "This operation takes place in Vacuo."

"Yeah, Ross' last deal with Kaiser excluded out of kingdom flights, so my boss is trying to get his money's worth, so to speak." Kane gestured towards the folder, brown eyes regarding the headmaster. "In that folder is the information needed for his coming operation, I heard you're going to dispatch freshman teams onto missions, try to disguise the op as one of your huntsman missions. Kaiser won't hate you as much if you do. Parameters are pretty lax, as long as the job gets done."

"Yes, well, I thank you for your time Mr. Kane. I suppose our business is concluded?" Ozpin once again skimmed over the file, it was madness what they were asking him to do. Infiltrate a drug operation? That was insane to do in a foreign country.

"I suppose it is, but I have a little suggestion." Kane had barely taken a step away before he turned around and addressed Ozpin. "You might want to stick Kaiser with one of your more capable huntsmen."

"Any reason why, I was under the impression that Kaiser was capable enough to do this without much help."

"If anything, the problem is that he's too capable."

A heavy silence hung in the air, as if the room itself waited for Kane's explanation. "You see, there are times that Kaiser can't win, not to say that he's weak because the kid is incredible in the field. All of his battle experiences are accredited to his mind over his physical strength, but there are times that he just can't think his way out of some situations. When that happens, he lets go and runs on pure instinct."

"I assure you Mr. Kane, our students are taught to reign in their emotions during battle." Ozpin had handed the folder to Goodwitch, letting her read through the little content in the dossier.

"That's just it, headmaster, can I call you headmaster?" Kane continued after seeing Ozpin give a slight nod. "Kaiser doesn't have emotions when he's like this, he becomes single minded in his objective. A lot of damage gets done and people can get hurt if Kaiser isn't paying attention to anything other than his mission."

"I see…"

"That's why I need you to bring in someone capable of just decking him in the face to stop him from doing something stupid." Kane suddenly appeared at the door. "It might not even happen, but you know, just in case."

"I'll consider it." Ozpin calmly exhaled to the assassin leaving the room. Now left with his thoughts, Ozpin allowed himself to share with Goodwitch who was behind him. "How shall we get Kaiser to accept this operation?"

"Perhaps, you could disguise it." Goodwitch gave a pensive thought, she was deeply ingraining herself into the possible solution. "A grimm extermination assignment, there is a bad infestation problem with grimm in the industrial district of Vacuo. Perhaps if Kaiser is convinced that the drug operation is the source of the attracting the grimm, he can locate the black site for Albert Ross' company.

"Yes, that seems quite reasonable, I can work out the wrinkles in the plans tonight." Ozpin was handed back the folder, a solemn look on his face. "Now all that is left to discuss is who to send with Kaiser."

"I believe that Qrow Branwen is available for this operation, but should we really send him based on the word of a hired mercenary?"

Ozpin interlocked his fingers and put it to his chin, he was locked in to his decision "Qrow would be a good option, and yes, we've seen that this boy will need someone of Branwens abilities. Kaiser is not only a huntsman in training, he is a trained weapon."

/-/

"Yo Kai, I didn't think you had a thing for blondes!" Sun teased as he held his scroll in front of the currently inebriated spy. There was a grainy looking photo on the screen, one taken from afar. Kaiser was sitting behind a window, eating.

Kaiser looked closer at the screen, a tall figure sat in front of Kaiser, their back facing the screen. The camera caught a blond ponytail tied back, the person tucking into his food. Ultimately, Kaiser was a little annoyed from being interrupted trying to work up some courage. "I do, mild contempt."

"You're just mad we caught you ditching the dance to go out with an older lady!" Sun cackled, Neptune stood behind by a couple feet, awkwardly sipping his own drink. "Though, I don't think dates are supposed to be that rough."

Sun pointed out the haggard state that Kaiser had been in, bruises starting to smart over his cheek and eye. His hair disheveled to where he could no longer present the sophisticated look he was supposed to project as his cover.

"Wasn't a date." Kaiser leaned in closer to Sun, whispering something into his ear. It started as a shocked silence among the pounding dance music, it gave birth to a wide grin, then to booming laughter.

"It's not that funny." Kaiser's gaze bore into Sun, who continued laughing while Neptune urged him to leave Kaiser be.

A flash of yellow passed by in the background, catching Kaiser's eye. He had made a choice on the balcony, one that he was sure he wouldn't have made if he was sober, it was only unfortunate that he had drunk a whole bottle of cognac and a couple cups of whatever concoction the students had dumped into the punch bowl.

"I'm going to go now." Kaiser stepped around Sun, hoping to dear god that Neptune would stop shaking around him.

"Alright, I'm gonna try to get a line dance going." It was clear now that Sun was just as inebriated as the rest of the student body. "You need to join once it's all set up, alright?"

Kaiser nodded slowly, not really following, what even was a line dance?

"Ok, now get out there!" Sun playfully shoved Kaiser towards the crowd, not a good idea to do to a ruthless spy, the point only supported by Neptune letting out a light squeak.

Now that he was let go, Kaiser allowed himself to scan the crowd. Most he could see were different groups of students drinking together. All he needed to do was to find the familiar blonde hair.

"Hey, glad you could make it, Kaiser." Jaune waved over, strangely enough, he was wearing a dress.

"Wrong blonde." Kaiser muttered under his breath, though he wasn't too upset. "You know, I think that a dress is a bad way to go about standing out from the rest of the crowd."

Nervous chuckling rose above the music, drawing Kaiser's attention to Jaune. "I lost a bet, I'm just honoring it."

"Fair enough." Kaiser slurred a little bit, vision swimming ever so slightly. "Have you danced with anyone tonight?"

"Yeah, Pyrrha, then my whole team. You should've seen us, probably the best footwork I've done." Jaune scratched the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed of his imagined incompetence.

"No, you're doing fine, you have the rest of the year to catch up." Kaiser clamped his hand down on Jaune's shoulder. "Give yourself a little more credit."

A nod fueled by instilled confidence was directed towards Kaiser, it was cathartic.

"Thanks, are you planning to dance with anyone tonight?" Jaune gave an expectant look, as if he knew exactly what Kaiser was planning to do.

"I don't… know," Kaiser said, he fought off the flush on his face, already having someone in mind.

"You should probably do it soon, Goodwitch can only extend the curfew by so much." Jaune moved away, a little surprised that someone as sure as Kaiser was suddenly nervous about something.

"Yeah, ok sure." Kaiser stepped back just a step, taking a moment to steady himself. "You think I'll actually be able to do this?"

"You beat the hell out of some strangers in a garage, I'm sure you can pull off anything." Jaune waved off with a laugh, leaving Kaiser to his own devices.

"Yeah." Kaiser spoke softly to himself, nobody really heard him, rather the other students up on the mezzanine decided to ignore the spy in favor of dancing with each other. "Alright."

Once again, Kaiser wandered off in no particular direction. Scouting the crowd, only now realizing what he had been missing out on.

Laughter, joy, the pure camaraderie between the students of four nations. The unmistakable peace of mind permeating through the air as these people just had a good time.

Sun, with the help of Jaune and Ren, tried to initiate a synchronized dance by taking one step in any direction. They must've been too deep into the booze to realize that they weren't even dancing to the right music.

Mercury, who was perfectly dancing in tune with Cinder Fall, flashed a smirk at Kaiser.

Even Cardin Winchester was having fun, putting arms around the rest of his team as they swayed comfortably with their eyes closed.

Here was the ultimate spy, so certain of his actions in the heat of lethal operations, now unsure of what he wanted to do at a school dance.

Kaiser's legs moved despite his own reluctance, all this normality, his classmates just being in the moment inspired Kaiser to be more normal.

And what was more normal than asking a girl he liked to dance with him?

That was when he finally caught a glimpse of her, once again in that brilliant white dress.

Yang Xiao Long was chatting animatedly with Weiss and Blake by one of the support pillars of the auditorium. It was Yang who spotted the boy awkwardly making his way towards her.

"I see you've finally come in from the cold, Kaiser."

Yang teased, she waved at Kaiser, who had just gotten closer.

"Good job on the set up for the dance." It came out low and raspy, Kaiser craved for another drink. "You chose a good napkin design, from what I see."

"At least someone has good taste around here, can you believe Xiao Long wanted to go with a bowtie design rather than a pyramid design?!" Weiss laughed condescendingly, she was enjoying her perceived superiority.

"Devastating." Kaiser was focused on other things, not noticing Weiss examining his suit.

"But wealth does not equate to style, this style is out of season, even when it was in seasons, it was bland and generic." Weiss nodded to herself. "Where did you come across a 170,000 lien suit?"

Red eyes snapped open, the suit alone cost more than the total cost of four years at Beacon, and Kaiser could afford neither. He probably should have taken the thing off and hung it in his closet, lest he be on the hook for a fortune. "…It was a business expense."

"What business allows you to wear a suit worth more than a couple houses?" Weiss wasn't as privy to Kaiser's secrets as some people, the boy was uncomfortably squirming under her question.

"Come on Weiss, let's go grab some punch before they run out." Blake grabbed ahold of her teammate's arm, the heiress allowed herself to be dragged away.

"Couldn't stay away from me, could ya, Kai?" Yang could only offer a sly smile towards the spy.

"I… guess." Kaiser took a couple tentative steps forward, each one bringing up a new memory. Eating stale granola bars before things got complicated, ditching class to have fun, then immediately facing the consequences and serving detention together. Too engrossed with his thoughts, Kaiser lost his balance.

"Whoa! Careful there." Yang caught the boy, his head leaning into her shoulder. "You alright?"

"Yeah." Unconsciously, Kaiser wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face deeper into her neck.

Yang noticed this, she softly giggled. "What are you doing?"

Her laugh carried over like a nice summer breeze, refreshing in the suffocating heat of the auditorium.

Kaiser desperately wanted to answer her, to tell her what he was doing was finding the right person. Ultimately, he couldn't find the words to tell her what was on his mind.

"Can we… Can we dance for a while?" It was a low croak, one that Yang had heard fine. She rubbed his back in gentle circles before starting an awkward interpretation of a slow dance.

"Yeah, Kai, I'll dance with you."

/-/

City of Vacuo, Industrial district. 2:17 am.

The IPS agent was stationed in the abandoned factory building for the 8th day now, keeping track of what was to come. For now, the agent sat looking out a busted window out of the fourth story building, scanning the corner of the street. A small figure suddenly appeared under the low lamplight of Vacuo's streets, showing up just as the agent was about to choose another point of surveillance.

Sweat formed on the agent's brow, a bead of salty moisture rolling down to his eye, the agent easily wiped the sweat from his brow. The moment he set eyes on the street corner again, the figure had seemingly vanished under the agent's watchful gaze.

Where had it gone?

It was most likely an illusion produced by the dwindling hours of the early morning, sleep deprivation did that to a person. It was a deficit in the man looking out the window, luckily, he didn't need sight to feel the subtle rumbling in the floor.

In an instant, the agent rushed to the window, a pair of binoculars lay on the windowsill. The agent snapped them up in a fraction of a second, catching sight of his target.

If there ever was a machine that emanated evil, it would be the black transport convoy driving through the humid air of the Vacuoan night. 53 feet in length and covered in armored plating, no cracks in the proverbial armor. If there was a way to take it out from its path, it would have to be from the inside.

The convoy left the immediate line of sight of the window, possibly doing a left turn at the corner. The agent rushed to the next window to follow its path, only to be met with a shock.

The convoy was nowhere to be seen, nothing but gasoline emission going up in smoke. If the convoy hadn't been seen by the agent, he would have believed that it didn't exist in the first place.

The agent rubbed his eyes as the monster haunting Vacuo vanished into the night.

/-/

I'm not even gonna try to make a promise about the next chapter, I am sorry in advance for the months long wait.