I do not own RWBY or any of the characters.
Intruder
Fox sighed as they walked out of Glynda's class. Pyrrha had completely demolished Cardin and his entire team alone, and then the new guy, Mercury, a boy with silver hair and grey cloths with black leg guards that functioned like Yang's gauntlets, had been stupid enough to challenge her. However, after about three minutes of fighting her, he had quit. Through the entire class, however, and the reason for Fox to currently be worried, Blake had been asleep, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
"Hey, you okay?" Fox asked. "You seem like you haven't been sleeping."
"I'm fine," Blake said. "I just want to stop the White Fang."
"Well, that's going to take time, and for you to be rested," Fox said. "Let's take the weekend off. We can have Wulfe finally check in with his contacts and see what they've learned and then see if it's anything useful. And we can go to the dance."
"You're kidding, right?" Blake asked. "I don't have time for a stupid dance. I thought you of all people would get that."
She turned, walking away and Sun met her from the other direction, only for her to completely ignore him, except for an angry glare, as he tried to ask her to the dance as well. Beside Fox and the others, Yang sighed.
"Don't worry Fox," Yang said. "I'll get her there."
"Good luck," Fox sighed. "She's the most stubborn person I've met. I think she's even more stubborn than Leon."
"Where have your team been, anyway?" Weiss asked. "Why are you always with ours?"
"Wulfe's looking into the White Fang, Leon wants nothing to do to me, and Ava's been really antisocial since we got here-"
"Jealous," Yang corrected. "She clearly likes you."
"And besides that, I've been busy helping you guys deal with the White Fang and Torchwick," Fox said, ignoring Yang.
"Well, we don't need your help," Weiss said. "Go spend time with your own team. You're not a part of ours."
"Weiss," Ruby said.
"No, it's fine," Fox said. "She's right. Sorry for making it seem like I was intruding."
He turned, walking away and headed to his room. As he walked in, he found Ava sitting in her bed with her shoes off, exposing her bird feet. She looked up at him and blushed, quickly shoving her feet under the covers.
"You don't have to hide them from me, Ava," Fox sighed, sitting on his bed and rubbing his eyes. "I'm sorry. I haven't been...I've been an ass. I've been spending more time with them than you guys."
"It's alright," Ava smiled. "You've had good reason."
"But it's still not fair to you," Fox said before sighing again. "You especially. I'm sorry. I never-"
"Fox, it's alright," Ava smiled, standing and walking over, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I know you don't feel the same. And I'm not mad. I don't hold it against you. You can't help who you fall for."
Fox sighed, taking her hand. "If I could, it'd be you. You've always been there for me when I needed you. Whether I liked it or not."
"And I always will be," Ava smiled. "So, how're the others?"
"Leon's not talking to me still," Fox sighed. "Wulfe's still talking to his-"
"I meant Team RWBY," Ava smiled.
"Oh them," Fox said. "They're good. Mostly. Blake's trying to take on the White Fang alone, so she's running herself ragged. Weiss is still rejecting Jaune, who's too blind to see that it's Pyrrha he should be with. Yang's trying to help Blake. And Ruby's...well, Ruby."
Ava laughed. "Yeah, she's pretty unique."
Fox smiled as Leon walked in, stopping and glaring at him before dropping onto his bed.
"Nice to see you too," Fox said. "I sincerely hope you're willing to work together when we start our jobs on Monday."
"Stay away from me," Leon growled, rolling onto his side and facing away from Fox.
"Whatever," Fox sighed. "Sorry we're not the criminals you want us to be."
Just as Leon turned to yell, Wulfe stepped into the room, growling, Leon glaring at him before laying back down.
"Welcome back," Fox said. "So, what'd they say?"
"All of the dust they collect is going to Mountain Glenn," Wulfe said. "I don't know why, but apparently the orders are coming from Adam, not Khan."
"I don't like that," Fox said, staring at his hands. "I'm not sure I agree with Sienna's views, but she's a million times better than Adam. Send her a warning to be careful, and to keep an eye on Adam."
"You think he'd try something?" Wulfe asked. "He can't be that stupid."
"Leon, partnership with humans or destruction?" Fox asked.
"The less humans the better," Leon grunted.
"I don't think it would be as stupid for him to try something as we'd like," Fox said.
Wulfe nodded. "I'll send the message. Want me to use your alias or mine?"
"Mine," Fox said. "She's more likely to listen if it's me. Hey Leon, if the choice were yours, would you rather see Sienna or Adam lead?"
Leon rolled over and stared at him for a moment before rolling away again.
Fox sighed, shifting to lay on his bed and kicking his shoes off. "Oh well. Guess we'll have to wait and see."
Fox adjusted his tie in the mirror, only for Ava to slap his hand away, setting her hands on her hips.
"Do you want me to make you look halfway decent, or not?" Ava asked.
"Sorry," Fox said.
Ava sighed, reaching up and loosening his tie a little before going back to adjusting and de-fuzzing the rest of his suit. Finally, she nodded. "Okay, you can leave now. I have to get ready and Leon and Wulfe are probably there already. Don't bother waiting for me, either. I'll head over when I'm ready."
Fox nodded, grabbing his weapon on the way out and tucking it into his suit jacket's inside pocket before closing the door on his way out. He wasn't sure how she would hide her feet at the dance, but he knew she wasn't proud enough to let them show. He walked outside and headed toward the dance. He felt bad for not taking Ava, especially since she was going alone, but when he had asked, she had flat out refused to let him. So, he headed over alone as well. As he reached the walkway in front of the school, he spotted Blake, wearing a dark purple dress with the strap looping around the back of her neck and leaving her back exposed, aside from a see-through black netting thing on her shoulders and upper arms. The top of the dress reached low enough to show a little cleavage, and the bottom reached to her knees, with a slit on the right side to high on her thigh. She had on a pair of black heels, three-inch-wide black bands around her wrists, her black bow, a black choker, and had a black belt loosely around her waist.
He smiled. She looked beautiful. He opened his mouth to call out to her, but before he could, she walked over to Sun, who wore a black button-up shirt open halfway, a white necktie that hung loosely around his neck, though too tight for his liking, and his usual jeans and yellow shoes. Fox watched as Blake wrapped her arm around Sun's, Sun's smile practically making his face glow, and Blake actually smiling as well. Fox watched as they walked into the gymnasium and sighed, feeling himself deflating somewhat.
"I guess that settles it, then," Fox sighed. "Good for you, Blake. Probably the smarter choice."
Fox sighed, looking toward the school, and Ozpin's office at the top of it, and a feeling that he knew the office began to form. He had never been in there, but as he stared at the glass dome at the top of the tower, he saw an image of it in his mind. He turned, walking to the school, then up the side of it, opening the window at the top and dropping in, looking around. his mental image was perfectly correct, including the location of the one window that opened in the dome. He walked over to Ozpin's desk and sat down, spinning once before stopping as a keyboard appeared, and a screen asking for a password. He stared at it before closing his eyes and letting his mind wander. After a moment, he typed in the word, "Cycle," and the screen changed to show a roster of the school's students. He narrowed his eyes. He shouldn't know that password. He shouldn't know the office. He shouldn't know Ozpin. He began to scroll through the list, not really reading it but blinking as he reached the end. He scrolled back to the top, reading the names then stopping. No Ava. He scrolled down. No Fox. No Leon. No Wulfe. They weren't listed. He minimized the page, then pulled up the grades for all of his classmates and scanned through. Nothing. His team wasn't listed. He closed the grades page and went to the computer's main data access window, searching for his name. Nothing. Ava. Nothing. Wulfe. Leon. Nothing. He and his team weren't registered as a part of the school at all. No grades. No attendance. No proof that they even existed.
He returned to the roster and locked the computer again, leaving through the window. Just as he reached the ground, he saw someone running away from the gymnasium wearing black. He spotted Ruby leaving the gymnasium after the person, and both were heading toward the tower. He walked into the shadows, hiding himself, and watched as the first person, a woman with black hair over her left shoulder and a cat mask over her eyes, snuck into the building after quietly taking out the one guard. He stepped out, walking to the door and inside just as Ruby clumsily slowed to a stop beside him. He slipped his shoes off and slid them over to her and she switched her heels for them, smiling.
"They're a little big but better than those," Ruby said. "Thanks, but what about you?"
"I'll be fine," he said. "I went years without shoes."
Inside, they found four unconscious guards, one with a broken back from having been thrown into the railing of a short staircase. Fox looked to the elevator and growled, his ears standing up.
"She's in there," he growled, running over and extending his weapon's sword blade, driving it into the elevator and levering it open, jumping to the opposite wall. "Come on."
She jumped to him, Fox catching her and pulling her up onto his chest before running up the wall to the bottom of the elevator. Just as he heard the door close, he slashed a hole into the floor, jumping in before pulling Ruby up after him. Then, he forced the doors open and stepped out, Ruby beside him. The woman looked up at him from a computer facing the elevator and he spun his sword into a bow, sending an arrow through the computer, barely missing her, the arrow shattering against the ground.
She flipped, landing on her feet and smirked, swinging a small silver object, several ice crystals forming in front of her in the air before she swung her other arm, sending them flying at them. Ruby spun her scythe, blocking them as Fox switched back to his sword and sprinted forward. The woman's thigh-high stockings and bicep-length gloves all glowed a bright orange as she spun, flames appearing in the air around her. As she stopped, she was holding a pair of scimitar-like blades made of obsidian. Fox slashed at her and she deflected it, slashing at him, only for him to flip over it, slashing again. She blocked the slash and as he landed, she kicked at him. He spun around the kick, slamming his own into her and throwing her. She flipped, landing on top of a desk before leaping at him, spinning and slashing at him like a saw blade. He sidestepped it and slashed at her, her swords both meeting his and shoving it upward, only for his foot to crash into her chest, throwing her backward and making her shout in pain. She flipped and landed on her feet and one hand, glaring at him.
"Downside of having boobs bitch," Fox said. "They're a bit sensitive."
The woman flipped out of the way as Ruby slashed at her then crossed her swords as Fox's arrow crashed into them, shattering them but also dispersing. She flipped, more flames appearing and forming a new pair of swords before she sprinted forward, slashing at him rapidly, Fox blocking the strikes. Finally, he deflected a stab to the side and slashed upward at her. She flipped away but he split the front of her shirt open, making it hang loosely, though not enough to expose anything, since it was still tight.
"You pig!" she snarled.
"Actually, I think you'll find I'm rather foxy," Fox smirked, streaking forward and slashing at her, only for her to flip over it, kicking off his back.
He spun as she flipped, flames forming three obsidian arrows and a string for her swords, which had combined at the base of their hilts into a bow. She fired and Fox flipped out of the way, the arrows exploding into a fireball on the ground. Just then, the elevator door hissed open and Fox glanced back, seeing General Ironwood, the head of the Atlas military that was currently staying in the city, step out of it, pistol aimed at him and Ruby. Fox looked back toward the woman, but she was gone. He stood, sighing as he spun his weapon back into its compact form, putting it away.
"Well, there was an intruder besides us," Fox said, folding his ears flat again. "We'll let you cuff us if you need to."
"No," Ironwood said. "Just...Go back to the dance. Tomorrow morning, you'll tell Ozpin, and myself what happened."
"Okay," Fox nodded, he and Ruby leaving the tower.
They headed back toward the gymnasium, Ruby giving Fox back his shoes on the way, but Fox stopped outside, remembering why he hadn't gone in the first place.
"Is everything alright?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah," Fox said. "You go on ahead. I just...need to rest a little after the fight."
"Were you hurt?" Ruby asked, worriedly.
"No, no, I'm fine," Fox said. "I'm just...look, I just need some time to think, alright?"
Ruby nodded silently and turned, heading into the dance as Fox turned, walking around the building a ways. Finally, he found a balcony that led inside, only Ava being on it. He jumped, easily clearing the railing and landed beside her, Ava looking over at him in surprise. She wore a dress a lot like Blake's, except white with no covering for her shoulders and back and with thigh-high white stocking and knee-high boots to hide her feet.
"Hey," she said. "You're late. Where were you?"
"Someone broke into Beacon Tower," Fox said. "Me and Ruby were trying to deal with them. She got away, though."
Ava nodded. "You alright?"
"I'm fine," Fox nodded. "How's my suit?"
He turned, allowing her to inspect him. She brushed off some dirt from the explosion at the end of the fight, but otherwise cleared him.
"Did you recognize her?" Ava asked.
"No," Fox said. "But she fought with a set of swords that she made out of thin air. Then remade when I broke the first set."
"That's...a really unique ability," Ava said. "Semblance?"
"Maybe," Fox said, looking toward the dance. "Not dancing with Wulfe?"
"Wulfe's embarrassing himself enough as it is," Ava said. "He doesn't need a klutz with bird feet tripping over herself alongside him."
Fox smiled, giving Ava a hug. "You don't need to be ashamed of your feet, Ava."
Ava hugged him back before pulling away. "You should go dance with Blake. Save her from Sun."
Fox smiled, nodding and walked inside, finding himself on a raised section with stairs wrapping along the wall. He stopped just back from the railing where he could hide and looked at the dancers. He could see Neptune, whose dancing was arguably as bad as Wulfe's, dancing beside Weiss. He could see Yang in a white dress watching everyone dance. Jaune, wearing a low-cut white dress and a pair of sneakers was dancing with Pyrrha, who had on a lovely red dress. Ren and Nora were dancing together, Fox secretly hoping they had finally figured out that they were together so that their sort-of-but-not-really routine would stop annoying him. And then there was Blake. Just as he spotted her and Sun, Blake laughed, smiling at Sun, who was dancing almost as bad as Neptune in order to get Blake to smile. Fox's smile dropped off of his face instantly and he felt his shoulder sag a little. He sighed, turning and walking back out onto the balcony, climbing up to sit on the railing.
"Are you okay?" Ava asked.
"Would you let me think you believe it if I said yes?" Fox asked.
"For tonight, yes," Ava nodded.
"Then yes," Fox said. "I'm great."
Ava nodded and remained silent for a while, slipping her hand into his and squeezing lightly, Fox sighing. Ava took her hand back and hugged him, then leaned on the railing beside him in silence.
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