Chapter 12

Adam stretched and leaned back in his chair. He let out a contented sigh and gathered up his finally finished homework. It wasn't easy writing with his blindfold on, but he preferred to deal with the slight annoyance over taking the risk of someone seeing him without it.

The new term had started a couple of weeks back and life had been going well, all things considered. He was doing well in classes, despite his lack of previous formal education. He had learnt through one on one conversation or through battle, so his academic skills had been a little behind.

His team helped him whenever he had trouble, Weiss, especially, had been a great help. Guess the SDC's money had been good for something.

Outside of classes he'd been spending a lot of time training with Pyrrha and Jaune, his team, even by himself. He was always striving to improve.

The most surprising activity had been his newfound... relationship with Weiss. He'd hesitate to call it a friendship, as they both still disagreed on several philosophical points, but they were cordial with one another. Their interactions covered a wide array of topics. From Faunus and the SDC, to discussing their experiences. While he never told her everything, particularly about his scar, he did talk a lot on how the White Fang had become violent.

She told him of her own troubles. Being pushed towards business and only being rewarded for perfection. All that's before you even consider several people that she knew were killed, kidnapped and ransomed just for having worked at the SDC. He had always thought her life was easy, but it had been a bit of a wake-up call.

Overall, life was pretty good.

Of course, it wasn't all good. Despite using every weekend to hunt down the White Fang, they had yet to gain any new leads on White Fang bases nor the location of Blake and Torchwick.

It was frustrating. But Adam still wasn't sure if he could muster the will to fight his beloved, let alone win.

Then there was Cardin. The boy had proved to be a pain even when he wasn't bullying overtly. Recently, he had become bolder, more willing to mess with Adam in little ways. Interrupting him in class, slowing Adam down to make him late and otherwise trying to get Adam in trouble with the teachers. Thankfully he got what was coming to him in the form of Jaune.

Combat classes had of course returned and Jaune was usually paired with Cardin. That used to lead to Jaune getting his ass handed to him, but with the work he and Pyrrha had put in Jaune had improved leaps and bounds beyond what he was before. The memory of Cardin's face when Jaune had deflected his mace and bashed him out of the ring was one he would cherish for many years to come.

Adam smiled to himself as he finished packing his homework and left the library. There was something satisfying about Jaune beating Cardin. It could have just been a racist getting beaten, but Adam liked to think it was pride in how far his student had come. Gone was the weak boy who had snuck into Beacon, replaced with a true Huntsman-in-training.

Leaving the White Fang really was the best decision.

"You just activated my trap card! Giant Nevermore!" Yang yelled as she brought doom upon Ruby's armies. Ruby herself cried in despair as her forces were completely obliterated.

The game circled round to Weiss, who didn't really seem to understand what's going on. Yang was all too willing to take advantage of Weiss' ignorance and give her faulty advice resulting in an unfortunate end to all of Weiss' soldiers.

Adam smiled. It was his time to shine! He chuckled as he played one of his own cards. "I play Faunus Revolution! The Faunus population of Vacuo have had enough of your villainous leadership, Yang Xiao-Long! Prepare to face the might of the White Fang!"

He placed a few of his own pieces in Yang's territory and attacked with some of his own Valean forces. After taking some choice territory on the border he ended his turn.

Who knew board games would be so fun? The sisters had brought it back after their week-long holiday home. This was their first time playing it but while Weiss struggled, Adam had found his footing quite quickly. Now if only I could have played as Menagerie. Sadly the Faunus island was little more than decoration.

"Damn you, King Taurus! This revolution shall be put down swiftly, then I shall come for your head!" Yang said, waving a clenched fist.

They all shared a laugh as the turns continued. Ruby rebuilding her forces, Weiss failing to understand anything, Yang relentlessly attacking everyone. It was fun. More fun than he had had in a while.

"Hey, guys!" Sun called as he got closer. "Oooooo playing Remnant huh? Who's winning?"

"Yang." They all chorused.

"Ouch. Well, I wanted you guys to meet Neptune! He's on my team." Sun pointed to the blue-haired guy next to him.

"Hey." He said, trying far too hard to be 'cool' and 'suave'. Adam ignored them as Neptune and Weiss, of all people, started to flirt.

Soon enough Sun and his teammate sat down nearby and the game resumed. It took Adam and Ruby teaming up to destroy Yang's growing empire. Of course, he needed more resources to fund his army and he had to annex Weiss to get them. It was a terrible sacrifice for Adam, but one he was willing to make.

Ruby wasn't happy about getting rid of her best friend of course. Besides that, she really should have expected his betrayal after they had defeated the other two. He had been stockpiling any card related to the Faunus, which led to quite a large uprising within Mistral.

When all was said and done Adam stood in control of the entire world of Remnant. "We've created a monster…" Yang whispered. Ruby whimpered. Weiss flipped through the rule book, probably trying to figure out how to do better.

"I must thank you for introducing me to this game! It's a lot of fun." Adam said a satisfied smile on his face.

"We should never have asked him to play…." Ruby whined.

"We should have asked Jaune, I doubt he's good at the game." Yang replied.

"Hey!" Jaune whined from behind his poorly hidden X-ray and Vav comic. Pyrrha sighed and took it from him, replacing it with a textbook.

"So, another game?" Adam asked. The competitiveness within each of his teammates flared and they all agreed.

They reset the board and played once again.

"Hey Cardin, you sure about this?" Russel asked, voice filled with worry.

"Of course!"

"But didn't you agree to Jaune's deal? About how we won't do anything to him and his friends?" Sky questioned.

Cardin simply smiled. "But Sky, we have to make a choice here. Is that deal more important than protecting our good friends on team JNPR from the monster in their midst?"

"I just feel like this is going to backfire on us, Cardin." Sky continued, folding his arms.

"I understand your concerns Sky. You can sit out if you want. I can't promise he won't come for you if we fail though." Cardin turned from his team and continued his work. He was almost ready.

He heard Sky sigh. "Alright, Cardin. We're with you. Let's take that monster down."

"Good." Cardin nodded.

"I do wonder why the teachers would ever let someone like that into Beacon?" Russel asked.

"Probably some kind of pet project. See if they can 'fix' it or something." Sky replied.

"Maybe they don't know?" Dove spoke up from his bed where he was cleaning his sword.

Sky laughed. "We found out, so I doubt the teachers don't know."

"And even if they don't, that just goes to show why we have to don't this." Cardin said, standing with the box in hand. "If even the teachers can't see the monster for what it is, then it's up to us."

He turned back to his team, a smirk adorning his face.

"Let's do this."

A/N: A very short chapter today. Some breathing room in a way, keeping it from being just action and big plot points. Adam has picked up a new hobby though, board games. Especially tactical ones. And Cardin is still around and is plotting something.

Hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!