A/N Please dont kill me, real life happened and i was not prepared, to anyone still reading, thanks, to new viewers, welcome, please review

Chapter - 4 "Contempt"

Yang was not pleased... no, pleased is what you would call someone who is happy, satisfied or at least content. Yang was not that, she was anything BUT that...

SHE STILL DIDNT GET HER STEAK DAMNIT!

Eyes rolling at her bad fortune, the Capital of Mistral was undergoing meat supply shortages, as cattle farmers have been dealing with Grimm killing their stock. It seemed Salem even here and now mocked her by using her otherworldly demonic creatures to ruin her day, even if it was not intentionally towards the blonde. Still Yang could not help but be worried, she was back, yes, but what if Salem had also returned? She didn't want to think about that possibility.

She mused to herself as she laid on her hotel bed, it felt almost like a log cabin, but a multi-story one, it wasn't too unlike her home in Patch, though admittedly this place was more rustic, not a bad thing, just different, refreshing almost. But the situation as a whole felt awfully familiar, she was alone with no contacts, a fortune on her scroll was at least present to get her around, feed herself and find shelter, but even as the war turned her cold and rather harsh... she was still human, she found herself lonely in the Mistrilian capital, surrounded by many and yet by nobody simultaniously. The fact that most of these poor bastards had died before... or, after? Whatever the term was, she felt like she was in the middle of a ghost town.

But that would not come to pass, would it? She would be able to save them right?

... Right...?

She shook her head and closed her ever glowing crimson eye, the one that she still had left that is... the other was replaced long ago, granted it didnt look bad, it was a functioning cybernetic eye and to anyone not paying close attention it was perfectly normal looking, but a close enough inspection would reveal it to be bio-mechanical... yet another thing she had to thank the late doctor for on a long list of MANY things he had done to save her ravaged body... was she even human anymore? Perhaps not... so many surgeries... so many parts of her that did not naturally get there, wires and gears and servos and fuel lines and belts of ammo hidden in most of her limbs, she had lost them at some point or another, even multiple times, to viscious Grimm, robotic monstrosities or agents of Salem alike, she was more machine at this point, only her torso and head had remained mostly untouched by additions, her limbs where not so fortunate, though most where covered up, such a thought darkened her spirit... she had lost so much...

Thus bringing her to her contempt... was she going to die anyways when all this was done? Fade to nothingness? Would her existence here simply be erased after she had either won or lost? Would she get a happy ending too...? Or was it all hopeless for her future...?

A tear left her uncovered eye. No, that could not be true... the gods where ruthless to their enemies, cold and logical? Certainly, but they where not without mercy, their second chance granted to Ozpin to save human and faunus alike was proof of their willingness to forgive and help those they created, her being here now was proof enough, she would just have to work harder than ever before...

But where to start? Where in this insane world they all lived in was she supposed to start? At first the thought of confronting Lionheart, the pussycat without courage felt like a good idea... but what would happen when Salem realized that one of her henchmen had died and the vault was raided of it's prized possession? She had no idea what that DEMON would do to retaliate, Yang was no stranger to the butterfly effect, she had heard enough about it from books, while time travel felt like a silly concept til yesterday evening she knew damn well that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, the more shit she changes, the more shit will go off course, her knowledge of Salem's plans was her latchkey, her one true advantage, foresight, she knew what could and would happen under the right circumstances, if she changed things so drastically so soon then that advantage becomes worthless, almost everything she knows of Salem's plots would become a moot point because Salem would adapt and change tactics...

But what was the point of such knowledge if she DIDNT use it? If she waited too long? Let too many things slip? Then she fails ANYWAYS...

She could not fail, she would not, her friends where counting on her... a lot... they didn't know it yet but they where and Yang could not slip up, not in the slightest... she would have to take risks... she would have to do bad things... possibly to people that might not deserve it... she would have to kill... a lot... and for once she was not looking forward to it, not in the slightest, granted, she would get much pleasure out of certain kills... but she had been fighting for so long... she once wanted to make a career out of it, to fight Grimm, save people, get paid... and now the only thing she could think about was retiring... somewhere nice, settle down with someone, get away from all the blood and death that has stained her hands and would continue to do so.

Her eye opened again and she sighed, sitting up in bed and throwing her feat over the edge to look out the window, it was still gloomy outside, a big storm was coming, she could feel it, both literally and figuratively, Ruby would soon be accepted into Beacon due to her combat with Roman. How should she handle this? She didn't dare intervene, Ruby was pivotal to the creation of team RWBY.

There was also her younger self to contend with... it would make no sense for her present version to disappear because her future self was in this timeframe, they where different. True they had the same blood, the same looks... for the most part... but she herself was older... wiser... her spirit had darkened... she was not like her bubbly younger counterpart at all. Besides, calling herself Yang didn't feel right, Yang translated to Light, light and fire and hope... there was fire to herself, certainly... but it was not light and pleasantly warm... it was a raging inferno of pain, loss and misery...

So, it only felt appropriate to give herself a new name, and, well she was feeling lazy, why bother with an elaborate and childish codename? Like the red devil? or whatever... no, simple and straightforward would suffice, Yang was a name that belonged to her younger self, until further notice she would be "Yin". it seemed only fitting, the opposite side of the same coin, such irony...

But Ya-, no, Yin could not think about such trivial things right now, she was a woman on a mission, where did she go? What should she do? She had a million and one options and yet she couldn't think of the right one...

She could perhaps make contact with Qrow? Or Ozpin? She was almost thinking about going to her mother... but no, she was a stubborn woman, like mother like daughter, convincing her without help or real proof would be impossible. Qrow was open minded enough but his fatherly instincts would kick in like crazy and she would try to lock her away and keep her safe... same with her actual dad, Taiyang...

Ozpin was... a mixed bag, he was as old as he was unpredictable, the man was a walking talking enigma, she had no doubt she could throw him for a loop here or there and give him a run for his money in certain aspects, but Ozpin was an immortal spirit with the wisdom to match someone of his mental age. He was also incredibly cautious and untrusting of unknown variables, something Yin could certainly be considered. What if he somehow decided she was a threat and tried to imprison her after she confronted him? There was no way the man would be able to beat her alone but he had many allies and she basically had none, she had no connections, nowhere she could safely hide and plan. She didnt belong here, and that was becoming more obvious with every passing moment

She frowned in irritation, her hands coming together as she leaned forward, pulling one of her legs onto the bed and resting her chin on her knee

Thus, she is brought to the same question once more this night... what was she supposed to do? There where so many options that she had no idea how to begin her quest... no calm down Yin... you can sort this out, remember your training and take this one step at a time...

She thought hard on the matter. Ozpin, Qrow, Taiyang, and Ironwood where all out of the picture, she didnt want to contact them unless she had a good reason to, so for now they would have to stay in the dark. She sure as hell couldnt go to her friends, not directly at least as much as she dearly missed all of them... perhaps she could find a way to stay at Beacon another way... no way in hell she could pass as a student but... a Security guard perhaps? Yes that might work, it would let her keep an eye on past self, her sister, her team mates and all her other friends, teachers and classmates at the Academy, be there for them.

But Beacon's next semester was not for some time yet, she had to wait a while before going to the castle, so what else was there? Perhaps she could pay Minagere a visit... Lionheart was a key piece to Salem, a directly controlled henchman that she kept a very close eye on. The white fang however was expendable, they where proxies, and ones she knew that Cinder must have only just recently befriended, their destruction would rid the world of an annoying thorn and save them a lot of trouble. Less terrorists to worry about, and more focus could be put on fighting Grimm.

There was also the matter of the communications network hijack, if the black queen virus sucessfully infiltrated the CCTS then over half the Atlesian military would turn on the other half and kill hundreds of innocent people, if not thousands, that couldnt be allowed to happen. One of the reasons so much had been lost is because Vale, and Beacon had fallen, and it caused a domino effect.

Yes... yes those where all good ideas, first idea, pay Minagere a visit and slaughter the White Fang high command, and secondly she had to find a good hacker of some sort to help her develop a counter-virus to stop the CCTS from being compromised... and then after both of those objectives had been completed she could go to Beacon... her home away from home...

Alright, yeah, she could work with this... she grinned like a cheshire cat beneath the cloth covering most of her face.

"It's all coming together..." She mused, but now onto her second order of business, a change in appearance was in order... she was not looking forward to this but it might be for the best.

She made her way to the bathroom and looked at her recently purchased item, hair dye, glossy black in color, her hair was like a beacon of light, she was too easily noticed with this wild mane and needed to be a bit more subtle and low profile in the future, as much as she hated tampering with her beloved hair. This was required...

And when Yin was finished... her heart froze for a moment as she looked in the mirror... she almost looked like her mother... not quite, the skin color, hair color, and of course the eye where very much the same, only the differing facial features thanks to some of her father made the difference.

Still... the resemblance was uncanny...

She took a deep breath and shook her head, Yin couldn't afford a relapse right now, she had to focus on the mission...

First, a trip to Atlas, developing a solid counter-virus to defend the CCTS was paramount and would take time and money. She had to find the right person for the job, only when that was done and if she had enough time would she decide to go to Menagerie or skip it and head to Vale.

She nodded herself and walked out of the bathroom, grabbing her scroll and throwing out the spent bottle of hair dye. She only needed to stay here overnight, now that a gloomy morning had set in, it was time to leave. She left the hotel after paying her tab, grabbed a quick breakfast and then went straight to the docks, travel by ship took longer than air service but Mistral didn't have much in the way of an air fleet, getting out of atlas via flight would be easy for the most part, they excelled in aviation quite a bit.

As luck would have it, her multi-day trip across the ocean was uneventful, Grimm did exist below the waves but their numbers where scarce and they didn't usually stray into the deeper parts of the ocean besides the biggest and meanest. She quickly left the boat and observed the sight before her, Mantle was the main continent, and Atlas was the floating city above the massive network of slums. Finding a hacker in either part of the Atlesian state would be a bit difficult, asking the wrong people would either get the police on a manhunt for a suspected terrorist or the gangs would decide you had enough money to try and mug you. Granted, she wasn't scared of such assailants, she could avoid or defeat them easily, her problem was that word of people looking for other people got around, if she spooked whoever could help her then finding them would become increasingly more difficult.

She could try to look for Penny's father but... such a thing would bring unwanted attention, the man worked closely with Ironwood and she could not afford exposure, he was a last resort.

So she used her extensive street smarts to blend in, there was a code around these kinds of places, don't stick out, don't talk to anybody unless you where ready for a potential fight, keep track of your surroundings at all times. The ghettos beneath Atlas could be very harsh for the inexperienced. But Yin was no stranger to such environments and they all followed similar guidelines. She just had to keep her head down, acted like she belonged, and do some eavesdropping. That was her goal, so she had to find the seediest, filthiest establishment in the slums first. The kind where the scum of the earth liked to dwell. Most of the people there would be simple thugs and gangsters but technology was everything in Atlas, there was bound to be someone with the skills to work with Atlesian computer systems, enough that they could find the weaknesses in their security and identify ways to fix those faults, and possibly develop the proper software to strengthen the CCTS firewall or at least install a fail-safe that would alert the proper authorities that an intrusion had occurred which would be followed by an intense investigation. If someone with those skills and the means to produce what Yin wanted was not present then there would most certainly be someone there who knew where to find that person.

Sadly however after entering the bar she found it scarce, perhaps the usual occupants had been arrested after a crackdown? Either that or they where "Working" but regardless this was an annoyance, perhaps the bartender knew something?

She walked over to the man currently wiping a beer mug clean, he was bald with some face tattoos, large build, but his clothing said he had some wealth, the uniform he wore was a bit classy for someone working in such a low income area, usually people like that had other means of acquiring currency. She took a seat.

"What do you want?" The man asked as he looked at her with dark brown eyes, he was calm and content.

"Information."

He frowned. "I only talk to paying customers."

"A strawberry sunrise then, no ice, with little umbrella."

He seemed amused by the order but said nothing and made the drink regardless before presenting it to her, she accepted it but didn't drink and slapped the lien on the counter

"This paying customer needs information." Yin affirmed, and the man nodded in response

"What kind of information?"

"I'm looking for someone that can do a job for me." She said, keeping her voice low

"What kinda job?" He asked, and she frowned

"Just so we're clear this is to remain confidential." Yin said as she tapped the counter with one of her gloved fingers

"I wont tell a soul."

"In that case, I'm looking for a guy that knows his way around Atlesian security systems, not cameras and vaults, I'm talking networking, programming, cyber security."

The barkeep nodded "I know a guy, but information isn't free."

"How much?"

"Depends on how much you wanna know lady, 50 lien for a name, 100 for a location, and 100 for any extra bits I've heard."

"I only want to buy if the product is good." Yin replied

"He's the best I know, I don't give my clients bad deals, not good for business."

She tossed 250 Lien on the counter between them, he looked at it and nodded.

"He lives in an abandoned apartment complex on the west side of town, the corner of Straus and Hollen, he usually hangs around in his little penthouse on the top floor, he's jittery and doesn't like surprises but he's the best at the kinda thing you're looking for. His name is Kaz, he's a flight over fight kinda guy so if you spook him he's probably gonna run to find some people he knows and have them introduce themselves to you."

"Any advice?"

"Knock, be patient, and flash your wallet at him." He said with a grin at the last part

She tossed another wad of cash on his counter "Keep the change, I was never here."

She didn't bother looking at the surprised face of the barkeep as she turned around on the stool and sat up, leaving the seedy bar.

The walk to her destination was a trivial affair, keeping to the less traversed areas of town and walking in places she knew Atlesian police would have a higher presence, it was a simple matter of following her Scroll's GPS locator to the specified location. It was a run down and abandoned apartment complex just as her informant had specified, all that she needed to do now was go inside, find his living space, and hopefully not scare him.

She made her way up the stairs and to the top floor, there appeared to be one room that was actually occupied with the door locked and some muffled music could be heard from inside, she knocked on the door, and moments later she heard the music shut off and someone shuffle to the door

"Who's there?"

"A client."

"What do you w"ant?"

"I need a job done, I heard you where my best bet."

A minute or two passed before the various locks placed on the door where removed besides a chain lock and he cracked the door partially open, a blue eye greeted her and looked her over

"Can you pay for my services?"

She pulled out several 100 lien bills and flashed them, waving them in front of him

"Alright..." He opened the door and let Yin inside "Take a seat on the couch and tell me what I can do for you."

"I need someone who can work with Atlesian networks, Cyber Security."

"Yeah that's an area of expertise I have, what's the job?"

"An unofficial security patch for the CCTS."

The man she identified as a canine faunus of some sort had grabbed a pair of beers out of his fridge and started to drink out of one, and this job request made him do a spit-take

"Woah, Woah, Woah… a security patch... for one of the most heavily protected systems in all of Remnant...?" He asked cautiously

"Can you do it?" Yin inquired as the man sat on the other end of the U shaped couch in front of her, a table and laptop between them"Can I? Yeah, no security system is perfect, people like me will always find exploits no matter how hard the programmers might try to improve, there's no such thing as an impenetrable firewall."

"Will you then?"

The man gave her a look "I have a reputation of never turning down a good job, if you have the money and I have enough time, yeah, the only thing i require is a copy of the current firewall's structure so i can mess with it, and that's not something i can get myself."

"So if i where to provide a template you can work with, you can do it?"

The faunus nodded

"Do you have a scroll?"

Another nod, Yin pulled out her own and gestured for him to hold out his, he did so, and after a few swipes and taps, along with entering a password, Yin sent the desired file to him

"Damn... how did you get this...?" He asked after plugging his phone into his laptop and examining the file

"It's part of my job, that's all the information you'll get out of me." Yin responded

"Alright... you have the money, that much is obvious, what's my timeframe?"

"It needs to be in my posession within 3 months time, no later than that, I have a deadline and now so do you."

Kaz nodded. "That should be enough time to plug up most of the loopholes and install a few failsafes... maybe strengthen the base security locks as well but that would mean deconstructing it and putting it together from scratch with my own additions... if you want a top of the line product, it will take me over 2 months so it might be cutting things kinda close."

"Do your best, i'll be back in 2 months time, i expect it to be ready, or almost ready when i return, are we clear?"

"Yeah but i expect payment... at least half of it to start, this is going to take up most of my time and i need to eat."

She tossed 10,000 Lien on the table without a second thought and stood from the couch. "2 months." She said before leaving the room and making her way into town.

To many her decision to leave the faunus with such information and that kind of money without supervision was risky, but taking all things into account, it wasn't, this guy cared about his reputation, that much was obvious, around here you didn't make it by double crossing the people that pay you, you had to have some notoriety, history, you had to be trustworthy and you had to have skill. This man couldn't afford to cross her, both concerning how he would be screwed financially and how she would hunt him down if he tried anything. So it was overall a safe bet to do this.

However after walking for some time to the airport, she couldn't help but noticed she was being followed, she paid closer attention to her surroundings and noticed she was definitely under surveillance. The Atlesian police must have been tipped off somehow, either the bartender was a paid informant, thus the lack of clients at his bar and the nice clothes, or someone else at the bar overheard the conversation and went to the cops, they get paid and the police get a new lead. Given Yin was likely suspected of being involved in cyber crime now they probably would try to apprehend her if she tried to leave the city.

This did not bode well, she didn't have time to deal with nosy cops meddling in her business. She needed to get them off her now, if she confronted them and sprinkled some truth in her lies then perhaps she could get them to let her go, if not she would have to break out... and use force if necessary. There was no way she would be able to evade them, Atlas was a military state, it had law enforcement and military personnel everywhere. Even if it wasn't people. Atlas just loved their AK-130 assault droids, the "Scary" looking robots that the SDC used a lot before the introduction of the nicer looking AK-200 and the Paladin.

She frowned beneath her cloth covering and sighed before turning around, sure enough there where a pair of Atlesian police officers behind her... but there was a third person she did NOT expect to see, at least not for a few months.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting an Atlas Specialist?" She asked the white haired woman, Winter Schnee, she had to admit Weiss's older sister was kinda hot-

No, bad Yin, focus on the mission.

"You have brought this upon yourself, an informant told us that you plan a cyber attack on Atlas property." The specialist accused sternly

"You are mistaken." Yin answered in equal measure

"Then you wont mind us taking you in for a few questions?"

"If you insist."

The 2 police officers grabbed either of her arms and cuffed her bringing her to a police car and taking her to the station with the Schnee in the passenger seat.

Yin inwardly berated herself, she should have been more low-profile with her search... oh well... she could get out of this, she has dealt with far worse in the past...

The trip was short, they took her scroll and did a pat down for weapons, not that it mattered if they took her scroll, it was against Atlesian constitutional law to search people's property without a warrant, even if they could somehow break the encryption she put on most of the files and broke through her BIOS password lock.

Apparently they wanted to get right down to business because Yin was immediately brought to a classic interrogation room, metal chair, metal table, camera, 1-way window, the works.

The elder of the Schnee sisters entered the room

"Approximately 2 hours ago we where informed that you had specifically asked for an expert in code breaking and cyber security that knew Atlesian systems, normally this would not be an issue, people look for help to fix problems with their Scrolls and computers all the time, be it small damages to hardware, software problems, porn viruses and unwanted malware, you name it. But you asked for the best of the best and you did it off grid. You are going to tell me why, here and now."

"Put your boss on the line."

"General Ironwood is a busy man and-" Winter began but was quickly cut off

"You want me to talk? I'll talk to him because only he will understand what I have to say, if I don't talk to him, then I don't talk period, and we both know you can only detain me for a few days, without evidence of wrongdoing I get to go scot free and you are left with nothing. I take it the person I went to wasn't at his apartment when your men showed up or you would already know what I was doing."

The Schnee frowned, obviously irritated "If this is some sort of stupid prank to humiliate me or the General there will be hell to pay." She pulled out her scroll and dialed a number, it rang a few moments before answering.

"Apologies sir, I didn't wish to disturb you but I have reason to believe a suspect is attempting a cyber crime, I brought them in and I am trying to get information out of them but they insist that they will only talk to you... yes sir... yes sir I understand... I'll put her on the line now."

Winter passed the phone to the blonde woman, her hands where cuffed to the table but she could still hold a phone to her head if she leaned down a bit, there was enough slack in the chains of her cuffs to allow it.

"Speak." The obviously irritated voice of general ironwood was crystal clear in her ears.

"Delta-Echo-Alpha-Tango-Hotel, verification number 550108476."

The woman in front of her was just confused, but the deafening silence on the other side of the line said all she needed to hear, she was going to be released in a few moments.

"Put my specialist back on the line..." The man ordered and she complied, offering the scroll to Winter and she put it to her ears.

"Yes sir? Yes... alright... I understand, my apologies, goodbye sir."

Winter sighed after hanging up and pulled a key out of her pocket, releasing Yin from her cuffs, she was lucky, but she didn't think that would work a second time, she would have to be more cautious in the future, lesson learned. She returned Yin's scroll and her money before she was ushered out the door without a word.

"Now... where was I? Ah yes, getting out of this dump..." Yin mused and made her way to the Atlas international airport

So much to do, so little time...

A/N And that's it for this chapter... I made a new years resolution to go back to my writing, here's to 2020!

Please review!