Kind of a busy week this week, between meetings and a dentists' appointment. At least I have the whole next week off, so there's something to help me power through this week.

Lot of good reviews this time around, and because of them, I decided to go back and tweak a few things.

To Heartmachine782, I've decided to clarify the reason Cardin went for the scalpel, mainly, that he didn't want to go down with the ship. I didn't change too much, so suffice it to say that Cardin didn't want to kill Weiss and anger Jacques, but didn't want to die right then and there even more.

To lordoftheknight97, I've been wondering for a while if perhaps Cardin had seemed too intelligent at the silver eyes reveal. After all, the information he has had to work with could only give him suspicions, not facts. I've revised Cardin's pressure on Ozpin to seem more a desperate gamble on his suspicions rather than an outright reveal of the truth. I can tell that the premise of this story does not appeal to you, but I thank you all the same for your thoughts and comments. As for Jaune's sword, well, that'll come up pretty soon.

To Your Midnight Scribe, good point about the mystery of the Scrolls all turning off at the same time. I added a minor detail to show how this sorcery had happened, but otherwise left it the same. There'll be a bit more on that not in this chapter, but the next one. I also hope that making Cardin less of a Sherlock Holmes level of inductive genius will make his lack of awareness on the topic easier to swallow. I might also point out that nothing has yet to come up about the CCT being attacked.

In short, the following changes were made to the chapters below:

Chapter 40, Interview with a Seer Survivor – the elevator doors get stuck for a moment after Ironwood walks in.

Chapter 43, Consequences – added details that made Cardin's pressure on Ozpin less brilliant deduction and more desperate gamble.

Chapter 44, Silver Eyes – clarified Cardin's reasoning for trying to stab Weiss, which wasn't a brilliant ploy to activate Ruby's powers, but to try to keep Weiss from bringing down the entire ship.

Those details will be tacked onto a changelog at the bottom of the chapter.

Chapter Forty-Five: Left to Stew

Cardin had thought that navigating Ozpin's and Ironwood's numerous questions and requests would be difficult. He had thought that explaining everything to Jacques Schnee, the Scarabs, Doctor Watts, and the 'White Fang' kidnapping, including why he had tried to jab a scalpel through Weiss' skull, all the while with the Headmaster and the General behind each shoulder, listening in on his every word, would be difficult. He had thought that the visit back home to explain his involvement in the Schnee kidnapping and his punishment at the soup kitchen, with Ozpin listening in, forced to leave out anything about the Scarabs or Ruby's silver eyes, deflecting his father's persistent questions away from dangerous topics, would be difficult. He had thought that getting strapped down to a chair, suffering the unpleasant memories it brought, to go under the scalpel of Junior's back-alley doctor to get his nose fixed, would be difficult.

None of that had anything on keeping a smile welded onto his face as he ladled some thin, watery stew into a haggard Faunus man's Styrofoam bowl. Just one Faunus made him mildly uncomfortable, like wearing an itchy wool sweater, but carefully avoiding every pair of eyes crammed into the community center felt like he was wading through a pool of ice-cold needles.

When they had arrived at the community center half an hour before they were scheduled to open the doors, Cardin had taken one look at the blocks-long line waiting at the doors and wondered how far Ozpin's lien would carry them. Going off the empty stoves in the back kitchen and the crowd milling outside the doors, they wouldn't make it through half the shift.

Two pots down, Blake watched him out of the corner of his eye, grinning in delight at each discomfited twitch on his face. Though they had been told only one ladle per person, she always dipped the spoon back in to top off their bowls. Blake already had nine empty pots behind her, and judging by the scraping sounds she made fishing deep in the bowl, she'd soon empty her tenth.

Blake's next patron lacked any distinctive Faunus traits. He stealthily watched Blake, wondering how she'd treat him. To his surprise, the human also got an extra helping. Cardin peered down his own line, hoping to see another normal face in the crowd, but felt a surge of uneasiness at all the inhuman ears bobbing, swaying, and twitching like a living carpet.

When the Faunus he had just served shuffled on, another came up, holding a bowl in each hand. He gave Cardin a piteous look and said in a hoarse, wheezing voice, "My daughter's too weak to come in. Could you fill one up for her?"

"One bowl per person," Cardin dutifully said. "We aren't allowed to give any more than that."

"But my daughter," the man protested as Cardin gave him a single ladle.

"I can't help you. Please move, there's more people waiting."

Blake scowled and scraped up the last bit of stew in her pot. Before the man could turn away, she plopped it in the bowl. The Faunus thanked her prodigiously and scurried out.

"How could you be so heartless?" she asked coldly.

"How could you be so short-sighted," he shot back. "You do realize someone's not going to eat because of that."

"He had a daughter!"

"Really? Are you sure he wasn't lying just to get an extra portion?"

Blake called for an extra pot, but Velvet shook her head from the kitchen. "We're out. Could you help me clean up?"

Blake stared back at the empty pots with an outraged expression. "Is that it? That's all Ozpin's giving them?"

"I'm surprised he's even doing this," Cardin said. "Beacon has enough expenses to deal with, never mind the political backlash he'll get for arranging this."

Blake scowled at him and pointed at the people outside the door. "All those people need our help, and you think he shouldn't bother?"

"It's not like it'll change anything." As Cardin ladled soup for an elderly couple, he wondered if he should start giving out half-ladles, make what little they had left last. But then, that would stretch out the amount of time he'd have to stay. Perhaps Blake was on to something by giving out extra.

Another twenty Faunus later, Cardin's pot ran empty, and he joined Blake in the kitchens. Being one of the last in, he had his pick of washing next to Blake, whom he had too much value for his life to go anywhere near, Velvet, which would likely prove fatal once Coco came into the kitchen, or Weiss. Upon hearing that Ruby and Blake were signing up for the soup kitchen, Weiss had seemed hesitant to join in their punishment, at least until Ruby mentioned that Cardin would also be there. He had half-expected an uproar from the Faunus when they saw a Schnee serving them, but most who came there took their soup without looking at her.

With a deep, resigned breath, he went next to Weiss and buried himself in a pot. Thankfully, she seemed too absorbed in scrubbing out a crust of blackened sludge at the bottom of hers.

Not long later, he heard Coco Adel shouting in the front room, shooing the crowd out the door. She came in a moment later, six dirty pots dangling from her hands and tucked under her arms, glasses and beret askew. She sighed and walked over to Velvet, setting the pots in a jumble on the counter.

"Whew, took a while getting them out. Do they really think we're hiding extra food in the back?"

Velvet glanced nervously at her teammate. "They're just desperate. They don't have anywhere else to go."

Coco tossed a pot in the sink, splashing water against the wall. "I know. It's just frustrating."

Over in another corner of the kitchen, Sun scrubbed pots next to Jaune. They kept their conversation down to whispers, but once in a while, Jaune sputtered and said something like "We haven't done anything like that!"

"So," Weiss said, looking around the kitchen. "I feel like I learned a lot today. I never realized how rough the Faunus have it."

"There's plenty of regular people who aren't well off either."

"I suppose." She looked uneasily at him and went back to the pots. With a bit more scrubbing, she had the last of hers clean. "You wouldn't do this if they hadn't told you to, would you?"

"Not in a million years."

"I get it." Weiss looked at him and trailed her fingers through the murky, brown water. "It's hard, being around so many of them. I know it's wrong to feel the way I do, but I get so nervous."

"You don't have to do this."

"I don't, but I want to." She looked out at the empty community hall, at the scattered bowls and plastic spoons strewn about the floor. "I want to help them, someday. I want to undo the damage the SDC has done. If I can't help one little soup kitchen, how am I supposed to help all the Faunus and their families hurt by SDC employment practices and labor conditions?"

Cardin didn't know how to answer that, so he went back to scrubbing a pot that was already clean. Weiss silently regarded him for a moment before gathering up her pots and putting them back in the cabinets alongside the other clean ones. She grabbed a broom and dustpan and went out sweeping the main room with Sun and Jaune.

After Cardin put his pots away, Professor Goodwitch came into the kitchen from the back room. She stared at the empty stoves in surprise. "Are you done already?"

"We ran out of meat and potatoes," Velvet said. "There's still carrots and onions left, but not enough to make soup. I have them in the fridge for tomorrow."

Goodwitch looked out at the empty common room and asked, "How many did we serve?"

Coco brought up the tally on her Scroll. "A bit under nine-hundred."

Velvet winced. "That few? I thought we had the funding for twice that at least."

"I thought so too," Goodwitch grumbled, "But then I saw the taxes Ozpin paid."

Blake dropped one of her pots. She stalked over, ears twitching under her new bow. "What do you mean, taxes? Isn't this a charity?"

"Well yes," Goodwitch said, "But Ozpin can't count it as a school deduction since it's not on Beacon grounds, so the standard taxes apply."

Cardin's ears perked up at that, but he kept silent as Blake ranted about the evils of the racist Council regime. Weiss came up next to him and whispered, "Do you have any ideas, Cardin? I don't know anything about Vale's laws, but there should be tax breaks on charities."

Cardin shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not an accountant."

Weiss' face fell. "Oh. Um, alright then. Thanks anyways."

As Goodwitch tried to calm Blake down, Cardin wondered if helping the charity would lower Ozpin's suspicions. The Headmaster had watched him like a hawk since he uncovered Ruby's secret, making sure he couldn't divulge any other information. Perhaps Ozpin had sent him to the charity as a test.

He walked up to Goodwitch and held out his hand. "May I see the charity's I9-62 form? I'd like to see which exemptions this charity is filed under."

Goodwitch regarded him with surprise, but she handed him her Scroll. A wall of text and numbers greeted him, and he struggled not to move or look around as he plowed through the densely packed information. The struggle must have shown on his face, as Weiss came over and asked, "Can you see it clearly enough?"

"I'm fine," Cardin growled. "Give me a minute."

Halfway through the document, he found the charity's tax breaks, or rather, the lack of them. He let out a bemused laugh. "Wow, they're really gouging you! The flat thirty percent tax rate, no deductions for public service or community assistance, and they're even taxing you on the community center rent. I don't think I've ever seen it this bad."

Professor Goodwitch frowned at the parts of the form he showed her. "The accountant told us he got all the deductions he could."

"The Commerce Committee's accountant, correct?" When Goodwitch nodded, he smirked. "Of course they'd tell you that. They're trying to make this charity tank."

"Well, what can we do?"

"Honestly, there's nothing you can do," he said as he brought out his own Scroll and opened his contact list, "But I know someone in that Committee. I might be able to get the deductions you need."

Blake scowled at him, not liking the casual tone of his voice. "You're not going to, are you? This is all some big joke to you, isn't it? You just want to watch us fail, watch all those people out there starve–"

"There's only so much I can do," Cardin said, cutting her off. "If the charity suddenly took off, people are going to take a close look at the charity's expenses and tax records. If they find out I had the deductions put on there, they'll remove them and fire my contact, and you'll be back to square one."

Goodwitch adjusted her glasses. "So, you're saying we should still turn people away."

"Right. But instead of turning away thousands, just turning away a few hundred should be enough."

"You can't be serious," Blake said. "You want us to not feed people, so you don't get in trouble?"

"Do you want me to help this charity or not?" Cardin gestured at Goodwitch's Scroll and said, "I'm not touching those tax forms until I know you're not going to do something stupid with the extra money."

Blake was readying a retort, but Sun came forward and put himself in between her and Cardin. "Hey, here's an idea. The charity only has to look like it's failing, right?"

Cardin considered him for a moment. "As long as the press gets to put in a quick segment on how Beacon's failing soup kitchen is inciting Faunus protest, or something, it should be fine."

"Then, if we have extra food, why don't we just sneak it out to those who didn't get any?" Sun grinned at him and said, "That way, everyone wins, right?"

"You'd have to be careful not to get caught. If the Dukes catch wind that the Faunus are getting plenty from you guys, they'll check the charity's records."

Sun's grin grew, and he asked, "What if the White Fang are taking it?"

At almost the same time, both Cardin and Goodwitch said, "Terrible idea." They glanced at each other, and Goodwitch continued, "The city's at the boiling point as is. If White Fang go around handing food out to the poor, it could incite a riot, regardless of our intentions. That, or it could invite a hostile police response in the area."

Sun shrugged. "I didn't want to put the mask back on anyways. So, if we can't get caught and can't disguise ourselves, how are we going to do it?"

Coco went to the back door of the kitchen. She came back a moment later and pointed at the back alleyway.

"The dumpster's pretty clean," Coco said. "We could put the pots in there and spread the word for the latecomers to get them later."

Cardin went and looked for himself. The alley was well-protected from view, obscured by the two buildings that loomed up on either side and the trees that sprang up at either open end.

"No one should see anything. If it's just a couple Faunus coming in and out of there, no one's going to look out for them."

Blake ground her teeth, looking out at the alley. "Are we really going to make them dig their food out of a garbage can?"

"It's that, or let them starve," Cardin said bluntly.

"There has to be a better way."

"There isn't." He held up his Scroll towards Goodwitch and said, "I'll need a copy of the tax records. I'll have it changed tomorrow morning."

With a few taps of her finger, Goodwitch sent over the forms. Cardin tucked them away in an encrypted folder in his Scroll and went out the door. They had almost two hours left before the end of the volunteer period, but Goodwitch didn't try to keep him. He passed Jaune and Weiss sweeping the common area together and went out the door.

As he rounded the corner, he heard a set of footsteps quickly approach him. He turned, half-expecting to see Weiss, and flinched when he found Blake instead.

"What is it?"

Blake fell in next to him, watching him with a bitter expression and Cardin reflexively drifted a few inches away.

"Why are you suddenly helping?" she asked.

"Because I would like to stay on Ozpin's good side." He smiled at Blake's growing irritation. "What, did you really think I'd help because I'm such a good person?"

"I wasn't expecting it," Blake growled, "But that's just cold. And is the whole dumpster thing really necessary?"

"If you have any better ideas, I'm all ears."

Blake's ears flattened, and she looked out at the quiet streets. "Why do they want the charity to fail?" Blake asked. "It's not like it's hurting them."

"It can, actually. If everything goes well, Ozpin can point to it as an example of what the city should be doing. The lower-class votes for the Council of Commons would go wherever Ozpin points, and he'd control which laws enter the Council of Lords. It wouldn't be enough on its own to stop them, but they'd have to spend a lot more to get the laws they want introduced."

"So, it's all politics?" she asked with disgust.

"Exactly." Cardin spotted a crumpled piece of paper on the sidewalk and kicked it into a gutter. "If we're playing twenty questions, I've got one for you. Why are you mad? You're getting exactly what you want – food for all your Faunus friends. I mean, sure, they'll have to dig it out of a dumpster, but it's better than nothing, right?"

"It's not enough. Nothing's going to change because we're handing out more soup." Her expression became troubled. "I mean, it helps, and it's good to know Ozpin cares, but unless the people in power start treating everyone equally, there's always going to be poverty and discrimination." She gave Cardin a sidelong look and said, "It would be so easy for them to fix all those problems, but they don't, because it would be inconvenient for them."

"Inconvenient?" Cardin asked, voice mild. "What do you think would happen to that contact I mentioned if I made all your problems disappear?"

Blake thought for a moment and frowned. "He would be fired."

"Fired and blacklisted. He'd be lucky to get a job flipping burgers after that. What do you think my other contacts would do once they see what happened to this person? They'll either abandon my family or sell us out to the highest bidder. So, Blake, what do you think happens to a Duke whose political contacts have all abandoned ship?"

"They lose their power?"

"Worse than that. If any laws come into the Council that would hurt any industries that family runs, like for example, a raised tax on all lumber goods and heightened restrictions on logging, that family's income would be ruined. Without the political contacts to call in favors and sabotage one's opposition, that family would be powerless to stop those laws from being passed. Without the money those affected businesses bring in, that family wouldn't have the money required to invest in new businesses, maintain their household, bribe new contacts, or hire security personnel. Within a generation, the family would be on the brink of collapse, and there'd be five others waiting to claim their titles and seats on the Council of Lords."

"So, what? You're saying that helping one little charity is enough to completely ruin you? Doesn't that seem a bit over the top?"

"It's not about the charity. It's leverage. Anyone who wanted to bring down my family will take anything they can get their hands on. Every move I make, every person I talk to, every goal I have is watched, examined, and judged. If I make a big enough mistake, my enemies will make me pay for it."

"If it's that risky, then why are you doing it at all?"

Cardin smiled and tucked his hands in his pockets. "That's a good question. I think I'm about ten questions behind you, so why don't I ask another? Why did you give that human as much soup as the Faunus?"

Blake looked at him as if he had sprouted wings. "Because it's the right thing to do."

"You might've been able to feed another Faunus if you hadn't."

"It's that kind of thinking that's the problem with the White Fang. Faunus have it hard, but some humans are also not treated fairly. If we just focus on fixing things for the Faunus, the problems that held us back in the first place aren't going to go away. We have to make things fair for everyone, so no one ever treats anyone inferior ever again."

"Is that why you left the White Fang?"

Blake glanced around nervously, but the nearest person was a couple blocks ahead of them. Still, she kept her voice low as she said, "Adam – the person who ran an operation I worked for, was planning on killing a train full of innocent people. I uncoupled the freight from the passenger cars, leaving him and the others behind. They got the goods they wanted, but the people on board were safe."

"And since you turned on them, you couldn't go back."

Blake nodded. "I didn't have anywhere to go. No money, just a forged ID, my weapons and the clothes I had on under the White Fang robes. I went to Vale first, hoping I'd find some kind of job there, but nobody would hire some Faunus off the streets. I thought about sneaking aboard a freighter to Menagerie when I heard about Beacon's practical exams.

"Why didn't you go to Menagerie?" Cardin asked. "You wouldn't have to hide there."

Blake's hands went up to her bow. "I'd rather not go back."

"You're from Menagerie?"

Blake scowled at him. "Why are you so curious?"

"Why are you?"

"I'm still trying to figure out whether or not you're going to stab us in the back."

"Same to you. I heard from Russell that you tried telling my teammates to ditch me."

"Because you're blackmailing them!"

He debated correcting her, but instead, he said, "Shouldn't you be walking back with Jaune?"

Blake gave a guilty start and looked back the way they had come. "You have a point. I just hope Sun won't be around."

"Has he been giving you a hard time?"

"No, it's just that, I know he's interested, but I'm already with Jaune, so it's weird being around him. I wish Jaune could take a hint and stop talking with him."

His attention snapped onto that little detail. Jaune had been kicked out of the competition, but Sun was still in the running. If Jaune was cooking something up for Sun, say, something with his Semblance, he might give Sun an edge.

"We're they talking about the Festival?" Cardin asked. He hoped the question was subtle enough to slip past Blake's guard.

Blake eyed him warily, but she answered, "A bit. They talked about their match. Sun thought Jaune would've won if it wasn't for his weapon, and Jaune seemed to take it hard."

"What's their thoughts on the next round?"

"You're just trying to find out what Sun's planning," Blake said.

"Tell me what they're up to, and I won't tell Jaune."

Blake tensed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Cardin stared down at her with a raised eyebrow. "How is Jaune going to help Sun win the tournament?"

Blake chewed her lip and said, "Jaune's not like that. They're not going to cheat to win the tournament. With a sour growl, she added, "Not like you."

He watched her for a moment, and though she looked away, she didn't twitch or shy away from his observation. He let the silence linger a moment longer before saying, "I'll take your word for it then."

Blake backed away and looked down the street, towards the community center. "I'm leaving."

The docks back to Beacon were empty, and he ended up having to wait for everyone else to arrive, which made for an awkward reunion with Blake. Sun and Jaune were still chatting, to Blake's annoyance, and to Cardin's, Weiss stood by his shoulder, hand dangling to the side as if inviting him to take it. As much as he wanted to tell her off, he needed the proximity to Weiss to keep her father's support and resources. So, he let her stand there, offering the hand he could never take.

In the morning, just after the Commerce Committee started its business hours, Cardin called his contact. It took every ounce of his willpower to modulate his voice with the right amount of cordial superiority, affable outrage at the taxes on the charity he was organizing, and mild gratitude at the small favor done for him by the stooge on the other end of the line.

When he hung up, Russell regarded him with a somber expression. "I don't think your dad's going to like that."

"I don't have any other choice," Cardin said grimly. "Ever since I blew the whistle on Ruby's eyes, Ozpin hasn't trusted me, and I don't think he can until he has as much power over me as I have over him."

"And if Ozpin doesn't trust you, what?" Russell asked. "Do you really think he's going to have one of his students killed?"

"He made it very clear he wants to keep Ruby's secret at any costs. He might have us all killed just to be on the safe side."

He had meant those words to be theatric, as a way of driving home the necessity of his actions and prevent him and his other teammates from informing his dad of the potentially fatal support for a pro-Faunus charity, but as he said it, he couldn't help but wonder how far Ozpin might go for a student that could save all of Remnant.