Author's Notes: I've done some thinking since the last chapter regarding the rating of the work. In the past, I've used an M rating simply to be on the safe side, since I never have a clear picture of what's going to happen as the story goes along, and I don't want to hamper my writing by trying to force it into a T rating. However, between having a clear outline this time around and seeing what T rated works can get away with, I feel that an M rating for this work is overkill, so I'm dropping it down to a T.

In other news, my managers announced that they're trimming my department – not firing anybody, but reducing the number of technicians on staff through relocations and letting people retire. What this means for me is far more overtime than I'd care to suffer through, since without those extra people on hand, anytime anyone takes a vacation or calls in sick, we have to pull overtime to cover it. I'd easily be working 1,000 hours of overtime annually, many of those late into the night. Though I would have liked to stay with this job longer, I'm looking for a new one, and if it gets really bad, I'll straight-up quit. I'm not the only one planning to leave either. Whether or not management is trying to alleviate the situation, fact is they had months to come up with a plan to prevent this problem and did absolutely nothing. So, yeah, I'm salty about it. For now, I'm still keeping up with my writing, and I hope to do so going forward.

On to the comments on reviews.

To AxDevilMan, I'm glad you verified what I'm going for with this version of Cardin – one true to his personality on the show while having much more depth. I personally don't like how the show used Cardin – he shows up for a couple episodes to flesh out a side character, and then he's unceremoniously chucked into the garbage bin.

To Hellbreaker, you pretty much hit the nail on the head for Cardin's little speech belittling Blake's ideology. I thought it'd be fun to try using political views to generate conflict between characters.

Alright, that's it out of me. Enjoy the all new T-rated chapter.

Chapter Three: Private Studies

The evening hours trickled by like pine sap, slow and sour, as Cardin grappled with page after page of Oobleck's assigned reading on the Color Wars. Staring at line after line left his eyelids drooping and his legs twitching. With a yawn, he tossed his scroll onto his nightstand, leaned forward on his bed, and stretched.

"All this reading's killing me. You guys up for some real combat training?"

Russell perked up, while Sky retreated further into his scroll. Dove grunted sourly and set down his pen. "Are we going off campus for this one?"

"Not this time," Cardin said. "I want Oz to see this."

After a quick stop at their equipment lockers, Cardin picked out a training room on the academy's lower levels. The circular room had padded walls and floors, two stone pillars, and a Dust-powered light set into the ceiling.

The door latched shut behind them and fit seamlessly into the wall. Cardin strode to the center of the room and hefted his mace. Sky went behind one pillar, while Dove and Russell took positions on either side of him.

"Can we use bullets?" Dove asked.

"Sure," Cardin said, "But no Dust, no Semblances and don't hit the light. Whenever you're ready."

Dove lowered his sword and fired two shots. Cardin raised his arm and blocked them with his gauntlet. Russell raced forward, daggers twirling in his hands. Using the haft of his mace, Cardin swept him aside and rushed towards Dove. The swordsman darted left while firing another shot, and Sky jabbed his halberd from behind the pillar. Cardin grabbed it in his left hand, hauled him forward, and elbowed him in the face.

"Are you guys even trying?" Cardin waved his mace. "I haven't even used the chain yet."

Russell and Dove charged in. Cardin ducked under the sword swipe and caught one dagger with his left arm, but the other bit into his Aura at his chest. He brought his knee up and caught Russell in the side, whirled, and kicked at Dove, who parried with his free arm.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sky hunched behind a pillar, aiming down the barrel of his trident. Feigning a swipe at Russell, Cardin pressed a button on the hilt of his mace. With a pop and a long, rasping hiss, the mace's ball flew in a wide arc at the end of a chain. The chain caught on the pillar, but the spiked ball kept going. It caught Sky in the shoulder as he pulled the trigger. The shot buried itself in a wall.

The chain hissed as it retracted, and the ball, tugged around the pillar, shot in a wild arc towards Cardin's hand. As Russell closed in, the ball knocked a dagger out of his hand. He stumbled back and hissed in pain. Dove charged, forcing the point of his sword past Cardin's guard. The sword wedged into Cardin's armor and gouged at his Aura. Cardin twisted, swept a leg out, and kicked at the back of Dove's knee. He stayed upright, but his arms flailed and the sword retreated.

Sky fired another shot, this one slamming into Cardin's back. He felt a stinging tingle as his Aura dropped. Cardin rushed at him, and Sky yelped as the mace swung towards his head.

Russell sprang off a pillar, spun through the air, and kicked at Cardin's arm. Cardin spun with the motion, let the chain loose, and whirled his mace around the pillar. Sky leapt out of the way, but the ball spun full circle and caught Russell on the side of the head. He sprawled out on the floor, groaning and rubbing at his temple.

Cardin had the chain retract, but the ball stuck on the pillar. Sky scrambled and grabbed the ball with both arms. "I got it! Get him Dove!"

Slash after slash hammered at Cardin's hilt as he wove his way around the pillar. Once he made it over to Sky, he kicked at a hand and yanked. The ball shot out of Sky's grasp and slammed home in the hilt. He brought his weapon around, knocked the sword aside, and pushed Dove back with one hand. The mace swung low, sweeping Dove's legs out from under him.

Sky lunged, scoring a hit in Cardin's shoulder. Cardin reached for the halberd, but Sky swung it aside and caught Cardin in the side of the face with the haft. Ducking with the blow, Cardin pivoted and swung the mace at Sky's knees. Sky leapt back and braced himself against a pillar. With a yell, he sprang forward, halberd aimed at Cardin's neck. Cardin knelt, and the points of the halberd grazed his hair. He rose and swung the mace in an uppercut that caught Sky in the gut. Sky toppled to the floor, groaned, and rolled away.

Cardin turned and put his back against the pillar. Russell, having recovered his dagger, crept forward with both weapons held in a cross-guard. Dove circled around as he reloaded his sword, and Sky propped himself up with his halberd.

"Ready to take this seriously?" Cardin asked.

Russell grinned and twirled his daggers. Dove flinched, and a few bullets fell from his fingers. Sky grimaced and hurried behind Russell.

With a flick, Cardin unwound the chain and sent the ball flying towards Dove. He sidestepped and tripped on a fallen bullet. Cardin whipped his wrist, and the ball plummeted into Dove's bronze breastplate.

Russell sprinted forward. Cardin wove his hand in a circle, and the chain looped itself around both of Russell's hands. Sky rushed in, relying on the tangled chain to get close, but Cardin whipped Russell into the path of Sky's halberd. Sky wrenched his halberd aside, shied away, and fell to the side.

Russell dropped both daggers, pressed his hands together, and wriggled free. He rolled, grabbed a dagger, and jabbed at Cardin's inner thigh. Cardin shuffled his feet and took the blade on the guard above his knee. The chain retracted, and Cardin swung the mace in a swift uppercut that glanced off Russell's shoulder. As he fell back, Dove caught him and fired a shot from his sword. Cardin knocked it aside with his mace and stepped back.

"What are your Auras at?" Cardin asked.

His three teammates answered somewhere at the halfway point, with Dove around seventy. Cardin took a deep breath and guessed around a third from the tension in his chest.

"We could bring our scrolls along," Dove said. "Doesn't matter so long as we don't check them in battle, right?"

Cardin shook his head. "Just having it on you would make you want to look at them. Plus, if we leave them on the floor, someone might step on them." He stretched his shoulders. "You guys up for some more?"

"Maybe we shouldn't," Sky said, "I think it's getting late.

Cardin remembered the meeting with Blake and swore to himself. "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's call it here and check our scrolls."

He walked up to the door and said, "Command prompt, open."

The door beeped and swung open. Cardin schooled himself to a leisurely pace as they returned their weapons and went back to their room. He checked his scroll and found to his relief that it was only half past nine.

"We could've gone another hour," Cardin said.

Sky shrugged and looked away. "I just wanted to make sure we didn't miss curfew."

"Doesn't the room kick you out at eleven?" Dove asked as he settled into his bed. Russell answered, but Dove didn't seem to hear as he brought a book up on his scroll.

Russell fidgeted with his scroll before setting it down. "I thought you wanted to keep the chain thing a secret. Don't they have cameras in there?"

Cardin smiled. "They do. The Headmaster won't let that secret slip to the students – it would deprive them of a valuable lesson. Also, people who think they've figured out your secret won't look for more."

Russell returned the grin. "I can't wait to see the look on their faces when you get serious in the tournament."

It took a minute for the scrolls to reacquire the signal from their Auras, but the results verified their estimates. As his teammates chatted about homework, the dust robberies, and the latest viral video, Cardin mulled over what he would offer as an excuse. He flipped through his scroll, looking at what he wanted to have read, and his legs again itched to move.

Cardin snapped his scroll shut. "I'm going for a run."

Dove looked up from his reading. "Seriously?" he asked. "After a fight like that?"

Russell stretched and flipped through his scroll with one hand. He gave Cardin a meaningful look. "You really should get some homework done. Your dad wouldn't be happy if you fell behind."

"I'll read after I'm done running," Cardin said. "It's easier after a workout. Anyone want to come with?"

Dove hastily retreated to his scroll, and Sky threw his covers over himself. Russell thought it over and said, "I'm not in the mood."

"Suit yourself." Cardin strolled out of the room, but once he was in the hallway, he briskly walked to the dorm's gym room. Past a glass door, the room held six treadmills, two benches next to racks of weights, a weight machine, padded mats, and two punching bags.

Two students shared the room, a guy with pink highlights doing stretches, and a wiry redhead benching half the weights in the room at once. Even under all that weight, she maintained a constant stream of chatter, while the guy had his eyes shut and rarely said a word. Cardin recognized them from Team JNPR's files as Ren and Nora, Jaune's teammates.

With a deep breath, he unlocked the room with his scroll. Ren kept his eyes closed through his stretches, but Nora glanced at him from under five-hundred pounds of iron. Her eyes blazed, but she stayed on the bench.

"Hey, think I can hit him from here?" Nora whispered as Cardin got on the farthest treadmill. Her eyes gleamed, and the weights bounced in her arms. "He might break his legs if he trips."

"You really shouldn't," Ren said. "You would be liable for any damages to both Cardin and the equipment he is using. Also, I think he can hear you."

Cardin had, at first, dismissed Nora's constant threats to break his legs as part of the girl's eccentricities, but after her hammer 'slipped' out of her hands and slammed into his knee during one of Professor Goodwitch's combat studies, he made sure to keep at least two people between them. Without slowing his run, he took his scroll out of his pocket and had it recording.

"How could he hear me?" Nora asked. "I'm whispering. Ooh, should we use a secret signal? You could make a sound like a sloth when he gets off the treadmill."

"Sloths don't have a sound."

"We've been over this Ren! They sound like this." Nora made a half-gurgle, half-growling sound. "Try it."

Ren sighed and imitated the sound. Nora's eyes lit up, and she sprang forward.

"The signal! I got it Ren!"

Ren's eyes snapped open, and he tumbled back on the mat. "No, wait, Nora!"

Nora hefted the dumbbell like a javelin and tossed it across the room. It hit the floor just behind Cardin's treadmill and slid into the wall with a solid thunk. Cardin stumbled forward, grabbed at the handles on either side, and hauled himself off the spinning tread. He mashed the power button and stepped around the dumbbell.

"Aww, Ren, you were supposed to do that when he got off. I missed!"

Ren twisted and stood up on the mat. "Nora, I told you not to do that."

"Then why did you do the sloth call?"

"Because-" Ren held his hand up to his eyes and shook his head. With a grimace, he walked up to Cardin and offered his hand. "I hope you can accept my apology," Ren said to him. "Nora can be a bit enthusiastic sometimes."

Cardin hit the playback button on his recorder. Ren and Nora's voices were audible, but their words were lost under the whir and rhythmic thumping of the treadmill.

"You would've been a lot more sorry if I got a good recording," Cardin said with a straight face. He took the hand and shook it. He considered telling Professor Goodwitch anyways, but there was always the risk that Ozpin would remove any evidence he had. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again, and I won't tell anyone about this little accident."

Ren gave a relieved sigh. "I appreciate that. Let's go Nora, and no pancakes for you tomorrow."

"What!" Nora's eyes widened, and drool trailed down the corner of his mouth. "But Ren, you promised!"

"That was before you threw a dumbbell at another student, even if it was Cardin. Perhaps this will make you consider the consequences of your actions."

Nora gestured wildly at him. "But it's Cardin! If anything, Goodwitch would be grateful we put him in the hospital."

"He may be an ass, but that's no excuse to break his legs." Ren looked at Cardin and nodded. "No offense."

Cardin tapped at his scroll. "I think I can get a better recording now that the treadmill's off."

"Right," Ren said. "As I was saying, Cardin is a valued member of the student body and should not be harmed by anyone. Now, Nora, please apologize."

"But Ren!"

"Apologize, or no pancakes for two weeks."

Nora groaned and mumbled an apology at Cardin's shoes. He checked the time on his scroll. It was still fifteen minutes to ten, but Nora's presence would make a good excuse for leaving early. "I better get going. Have fun getting the scuff marks off the floor."

Ren looked at the long scratches Cardin had pointed out and sighed. With a grin, Nora said her hammer would smash them out, and Ren had to bodily drag her away from the door. Cardin watched them from the corner of his eye as he turned towards the stairs.

Three flights up, a small metal door led up to the roof. Cardin tried it and found the door unlocked. The door led out onto the middle of the roof. A set of walls flanked the stairway door and the tiled roof above the stair sloped down to the back wall. Blake was sitting against a wall next to the door, reading a book. She snapped it shut when the door opened and slid it into her backpack.

Cardin sauntered out onto the roof and looked up at the crescent moon. Blake appeared out of the shadows and stood behind him.

"You're early," she said.

Cardin turned and faced her. Blake's yellow eyes glowed in the moonlight, and her hair cast a waving shadow over her face. "You're even earlier. Next time, come when I tell you. I'm not stupid enough to have us both coming here at the same time."

Blake's eyes narrowed. She stepped back, drew Gambol Shroud, and pointed the barrel at him. "I am not letting you blackmail me. If you want to live, promise me you won't say a word, and you'll delete that picture you took right now."

A shiver ran down Cardin's spine and a sudden spike of adrenaline made every muscle stiffen, but he grinned and spread out his arms. "You're not going to kill me."

The weapon wavered in Blake's hands. "Why not? You think I'm scared?"

"You should be. My room is right below this one, and all my teammates are in bed studying. If they heard a gunshot from the roof, one of them might check it out."

"I'd be gone before they made it up the stairs."

Cardin walked over to the edge of the building. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He knelt over the edge to hide the act of wiping it away. When he stood, he whispered, "They could come up through the window, but even if you got away, there's still the message on my scroll."

Blake bristled, bounded forward, and pressed Gambol Shroud's blade against his throat. The edge forced him to lean back over the edge. "What message?"

The blade drew an icy line over his jugular. Cardin strangled the urge to cry out. "I set an alarm for midnight on my scroll, which I had left in my room. It has a message with a password to unlock a file on my scroll." He held his fingers up behind his head and wiggled them. "I think you know what's in that file."

The blade pressed harder, and Cardin's aura flared up. "I'll just sneak in there and take it. You think I can't?"

"You probably could, given the scores on your Hunter's exam," Cardin said. Blake's eyes widened, but he gave her no time to process that tidbit. "Supposing that you could kill me right here before I made a sound, and assuming that you managed to sneak into my room with my team present and steal my scroll before midnight, you still have three problems."

"Keep talking," Blake growled.

"First, there are cameras everywhere in this school. There's even one in the stairway right above that door." He glanced around the building. A few trees reached up near the windows, but none cleared the roof. "Unless you flew up here, Ozpin has evidence that you were the only other person with me."

Blake withdrew her weapon, split it apart, and twirled it by its ribbon. "I have my way of flying," she said.

"Which brings you to your second problem. That's a very distinctive weapon, and the school has detailed records of it, down to the slash pattern and bullet caliber. No other weapon on campus uses the same rounds, owing to the fact that yours was made in Mistral." He paused for a moment. "Well, except Ren, but he has an alibi."

"And the third problem?"

Cardin took a deep breath and put his hands in his pockets. His fingers brushed against his scroll. With a few movements of his fingers, he could have Russell through the window, but instead, he shoved the scroll deeper into his pocket.

"It'd make you no better than the White Fang you left behind."

Blake blanched, and Gambol Shroud slipped from her grasp. "How the hell do you know that?"

Cardin shrugged with an air of nonchalance betrayed by a squeamish grin. "I do now."

Her mouth worked silently as she bent to pick up her weapon. She sheathed it and pressed herself against the door. "You just guessed?"

"To be fair, I had plenty of clues to work with. Atlas keeps thorough records on all its Faunus and greatly restricts travel to foreign nations. Also, despite your supposed Altesian nationality, you possess a unique and expensive weapon of Mistraltan design, where the White Fang has a strong underground presence. One might guess that, after intercepting a load of dust destined to Vale, you decided to leave the White Fang and use the fake passport they gave you to sign up for a Hunter's exam, enroll at Beacon, and start a new life. Did I get that right?"

Blake sagged to the ground. She hugged at her chest, and her bow flattened itself forward. "Fine. You win. I'll do whatever you want, just don't tell anyone my secret."

Cardin let out the breath he had been holding and approached her. His shadow swallowed her up.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, it's time that you start doing as I say."

Blake closed her eyes and nodded.

"Good. Take out your scroll."

Her fingers trembled as she reached into her bag. Cardin caught a glimpse of the book before she zipped the bag shut, but he couldn't read the title in the dim lighting.

Blake held up the scroll. "Now what?"

"I think we'll start with the reading Oobleck assigned for tomorrow morning."

"Wait, what? You just want me to read?"

Cardin leaned down and stared into her eyes. "Were you expecting something worse, like posing for nude photos?"

Blake reddened and looked away. Her feline ears twitched and nearly worked loose of the ribbon. "I – you wouldn't –"

With a chuckle, Cardin drew away. "Relax, I'm not going to ask you to do anything like that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Who would want to see a dirty Faunus naked?"

Shock turned into rage in the blink of an eye. Her bow quivered, and she bounded up on her feet. With a hand on his collar, she hissed in his face, "You're such a pig."

"You're the only animal up here. Now start reading. Quietly, so my teammates don't hear."

With a toss of her head, she sat back down and opened her scroll. She whispered the words at first, stammering over a few lines and shooting him the occasional sour look, but as the night grew darker, her voice rose to a murmur and she read with eloquent speed. Ten minutes into the chapter, Cardin sat a few paces away from her and listened with his head against the stairwell's wall.

Once she had made her way through an overview of the Faunus Revolution, Cardin glanced over her shoulder at the time on the scroll.

"Alright, that's enough. Wait here another ten minutes before returning to your room."

Blake gave him a sullen stare and nodded. He paused at the door.

"Give me your scroll number. If I text you, come here at nine PM that night."

"What will you text me?"

"I'll pretend to be some friend of yours from Atlas," Cardin said. "Tell your teammates whatever you want if they get curious."

Blake said her scroll number, and Cardin had her repeat it until he could recite it from memory. He went to the door. With a grin, he put his hand in his pocket and brought out his scroll. Blake's number went in his contacts under a false name, and he sent her a quick message.

"Seriously?" she asked. "You were lying about that file?"

"Maybe I was, and maybe I wasn't." He tossed his scroll in the air and watched her eyes follow it. "Who knows?"

From the roof, he went straight back to his room. His teammates were still up, reading on their scrolls. Russell nodded to him as he sat down.

"Hey, how'd it go?"

Cardin sighed and slammed his head into his pillow. "I got just enough done to last a few days. Also ran into Nora in the gym."

Russell laughed. "Did she do anything?"

"Nah, nothing. Her boyfriend kept a tight leash on her."

Cardin's scroll rang. His heart sank into his shoes when he saw the contact's name.

Russell noted the change in his expression. "It's him?"

Cardin nodded and answered the phone.

"Hello father."

"Cardin, it's good to hear from you," said the stern, stony voice. "I trust that you have been studying?"

Ice cold fear made his arms tense. Struggling to keep his features calm, Cardin thought through everything he had done since contacting Blake. Had Russell been listening at the door? Even so, there's no way his father could know everything.

"I am currently up to date with my studying," Cardin said. "Reading is coming along with some effort."

"Good. I had hoped that you would learn to overcome that difficulty." He cleared his throat. "I had also hoped to speak with you sooner and learn how you have been doing, but between all the Council meetings and preparations for the Vytal Festival, I've had precious little time on my hands."

"I quite understand. I have little difficulty with my classmates, and I am considered above average in combat."

"Only above average? I imagine Miss Nikos might have something to do with that."

"Not her alone, but none of my classmates can come close to beating her."

"I quite understand how frustrating that can be." Cardin's father paused, and a muted ruffle of papers came through the line. "Some fellow Councilors are also frustrated with her presence, since she is a clear favorite for winning the Festival. She'd tarnish any victory on Vale's part."

"That would be unfortunate," Cardin said. "It would certainly be more fair for Headmaster Ozpin to give the students from Vale a chance to represent their country."

"My thoughts exactly. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am afraid that is all the time I had. Have a good night Cardin."

"You too father."

Cardin waited for his father to hang up. Once the line went dead, Cardin dropped his scroll and fell back on his pillow.

"Well?" Sky asked. "What's the word?"

Russell went to the door, opened it a crack, and checked the hallway. He nodded and sat down on his bed, propping himself against the headboard.

"We're getting Pyrrha to drop out of the Vytal Festival."