Happy New Year's everyone! I'm back now and will hopefully not go on a break that long again. Hope you all had an excellent holiday season and hope you an amazing New Year's! Here's a little late Christmas, Honaku, etc. gift and hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer-I do not own RWBY, which is owned by the late and great Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. Only thing I own is my characters.

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."

7 Sextilis, 3176 PD -C. Astali-

At least the blonde one didn't scream when she saw me, or I think she didn't. I couldn't really tell after she sent me skidding across the ground, luckily still on my feet. If it weren't for the events of today, I wouldn't have had my aura fully up.

Stopping myself by grabbing two students, throwing them to the ground with the force of my stop. Ignoring their curses at me, I readjusted my lopsided helmet and walked towards the two teens.

'I really hope this doesn't become a regular thing in this school, never had to worry about this back at Atlas.'

Then again, Atlas was more like a military complex more than anything. Unlike this more open, less strict complex that Beacon has built itself as.

Ignoring the headache I had gained, I saw Madam Rose making wild hand gestures in my direction and yelling at the blonde, likely explaining that she just punched a teacher. Or saying she just killed the undead. Depends what the medical staff told her and Sir Arc when they dropped me off back at the clinic. Then again, she did wave at me.

The blonde turned towards me, her hair hitting Rose in the face with the sudden movement, and looked at me with a, terrifyingly, joyful expression.

"Sorry about that, teach!" she said cheerfully, sheepishly scratching her head, "You sort of caught me off guard." How was she so cheerful about this? She's acting like this is a common thing. Well, maybe it is to her.

'Now that I think about it, she reminds me of Team FNKI'

Shuddering at the mere thought of Atlas' most garish team, and dispelling the memory of having the pleasure of disciplining them once, I took out a syringe from my pocket and injected it. With my pain now dulling to below minimal and my heart calming down, I put one of my hands behind my back and lightly bowed to the blonde adolescent, "It is quite alright, I have experienced far worse than a punch. If anything, you only gave me a slight headache." It is true, I've had far worse experiences as a hunter and, by extension, soldier.

The blonde woman was bright and cheerful, her lilac eyes, however, showed a slight bit of challenge, likely a side effect of our 'introduction'. What interested me were her bracelets. Though they were well disguised, looking closely at them showed the barrel of a gun in between her knuckles. The only other person I knew that would even think about fighting Grimm and skilled combatants with Aura in hand to hand would be my vulgar teammate Adolf Blass, the man saying he doesn't like using weapons and wanting to 'get to know' his opponent. I'm still perplexed that he became our team leader, much less still alive. Probably him staying close to Layton so much, the two almost as inseparable as conjoined twins.

This girl was different. She had a power that was as powerful as a burning flame, something I had experienced personally. I would need to watch this one closely, especially during the experiment. She could be a hazard if I did her concoction wrong.

"Sooooo, what are you doing over here?" She said, bluntly might I add, having moved closer to me while I was in my thoughts, "I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I'm just wondering why you aren't up there with the other teachers."

"I am simply here to tell Madam Rose that I am well and alive," I said, nodding in Rose's direction. Her response was a bright and relieved smile at me. "And the teachers were told to stay off the stage and monitor the students." I said, noticing the confused look she gave me.

"Then why are there a bunch of people up there?"

I turned towards the stage, and soon felt a rush of anger and embarrassment. Standing on the stage, albit farther in the back, stood the teaching body, some conversing while others watched the crowd. I was, however, looking at someone in particular.

Port was standing there, looking at me with, what I assume was, an amused look. Then he nodded at me. It wasn't something between two random people, but a nod from a friend. And I absolutely hated it. He was gutsy, he gets points for that, but he tricked me. And I don't take kindly to that.

Not. One. Bit.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," I said outloud, noticing some of the students moving away from me, the blonde and Rose looking at me confusingly. I began walking away, but stopped myself from moving forward. I moved back to the blonde quickly, offering my hand to her. "My apologies we were not properly introduced. My name is Cadoc Astali, former colonel, now one of the professors here. Who might you be?" I asked hurriedly.

Seeming to have caught her off guard with my sudden reappearance, she slowly took my hand, "Yang Xiao Long." she said in an almost cautious tone, "What was that about…?"

"No time. Must leave." I released her hand and turned back around, quickly advancing towards the stage.

I don't care how small he may have outwitted me, or bested me, or defeated me. It was the fact that Peter Port was the one who did it. Now I've caused many fights over a lose before, Layton and Adolf saying I was short tempered and a sore loser over everything. My partner didn't participate in these attacks on me, but he really didn't help the situation either. That damn smile of his always infuriated and freaked me out.

My peers will likely see this as an overreaction, but I could ignore them. I've done it before, after all.

As I started climbing the stage, I sighted my prey talking with the tall and lanky man back in the lounge, laughing at something he had said. Or something he himself had said. Or possibly he just laughed because he wanted to. The little I have seen of him made waves with how I viewed this man.

Before I could even start approaching the group, my scroll started vibrating within my pocket. Taking it out and opening it, the caller id was one I had dreaded of seeing when I was hired as the new professor. The caller was Adolf Blass, my team leader and the biggest thorn in my side ever since my enrollment at Haven all those many years ago.

I took off my helmet and answered the call, putting it to my undamaged ear. Immediately, I heard gunfire and what sounded like a muffled explosion over the shouts of multiple men and women. Moving the scroll away from the sudden noises, a pained growl following the movement, before I answered.

"Hello Adolf, what gives me the pleasure of hearing your forever benevolent voice?" I said, every word coming out with a mix of annoyance and sarcasm, "Because I am currently on the way to a very important meeting and you know full well I do not like being interrupted." May as well add in a threat, I don't have time for his talks with me.

"Oh come on Cad, why the snarkiness? I thought we were the bestest friends forever. Besi-" he paused and an audible snap and yell came over the speaker, "Besides, last time I interrupted one of your little 'meetings', I turned your ego into a walkover rug and made your body look like a bad S&M experience. Minus the sex." I heard him shout something inaudible and more gunfire burst forth. He mumbled something about stupid animals and, I think, spit on the ground. It's very hard to tell with just sounds over a speaker.

Choosing to ignore the second part of his response of what he said out of fear of what else he might say, I started massaging my temples, "First, We are teammates. I am forced to be in some form of friendly terms with you for the sake of our team. And second, what are you calling for? You are clearly busy with something else at the moment." I hope he hasn't caused another bar turned gun fight. He is surprisingly good at doing that.

"Just a little raid on the White Fang and all, nothing important. Layton had me join in this one for some reason. I suspect treachery is at hand," You'd think he was being serious to, with how neutral his voice sounded. Adolf had a knack for that. It had gotten him into plenty of fights with everyone, from Faunus to Human to Teammate. Usual twat material, really. "But imagine my surprise when I heard that Cadoc Astali, the Butcher of Mantle and the Savior of the Fifth Battalion, was hired on as one of Beacon's new teachers. I thought you hated Beacon. You already had trouble with Haven, and Gods now how you feel about Shade. By this point, I'm amazed you haven't said 'I hate life and its ever expanding despair'!" his voice gained a bit of angst at the end, before he chuckled to himself. He then exclaimed loudly and cursed, someone yelling a muffled traitor before I heard a soft crunch and a thud. "Now I know how you felt during the Revolution. Did we always do this? The Faunus side I mean."

"All the time. In fact, before Layton took control of your forces they always charged when they were confident they had won."

"Shit, I feel bad now. When I get over there I'll be sure to give you a big kiss in apology."

"Please don't." Then the realization of the first half of his sentence dawned on me, "Wait, what do you mean by 'When I get over there'?"

"Well, with the Vytal Festival coming up and the ever growing emptiness in my life without your every joyful personality," His snideness was like a wall of cement, mixed with some iron and steel. It was always hard to have a serious conversation with him, it was like playing a game of chicken with an actual chicken that had lost its head. "I have decided to come over and be your unofficial assistant until Layton gets here, which should be by the time all the other schools students get here. As with Alistair, He'll probs be dropping by whenever he feels like it, so be ready for that." At the mention of my partner, I realized I hadn't put in my usual defences from his sudden appearances. Those would have to be put in the minute Initiations started.

Groaning from the sheer amount of things I would have to have done, and having forgotten why I was angry, I walked towards the other teachers, "Actually, when you do get here I have some paperwork that needs to be done, so if you wouldn't mind…"

"Stop right there, I am not going to do that. Knowing you, it's probably out the window by this point. Maybe with a desk or two." he chuckled again, this time more heartily than the last time, "Man, that was great. Didn't the desk almost hit the Headmaster?"

Thank the Gods my apparatus covered my face, or else my ever growing blush of embarrassment would be on public display. "Yes, it did. But in my defence, A business should not give out that much paperwork for such a little thing."

"You bought eighteen dust generators and a Gods damned cannon."

"They were important."

"Yeah, to... What was it again?" he paused, although I knew that he knew perfectly well on what I did with the cannon and generators, "Oh! I remember now! Drunk you tried to shoot Alistair to the other side of Remnant! Oh my Gods, that was probably the biggest failure I have ever seen!" his chuckles had dissolved into full on laughter now, making my blush grow a deeper shade of red.

"How was I supposed to know it would blow up like that?!" I shouted in an attempt to save myself, some of my fellow teachers looking at me curiously, "Besides, you didn't make it any better! You tried to throw it out the window!"

It had, sadly, only made his laughing more intense, and I could hear him fall to the ground in his hysterics. "A-at least I tried to do something! You were talking the whole time! Yelling about how you were a badass bitch and calling Layton a sexy mofo!" His laughter had, thankfully dissipated into a string of chuckles again, and was breathing rather hard.

Before I could defend myself on that rather embarrassing story, Ozpin was on stage and walking towards the microphone. "Look, Adolf, I have to go. Ozpin's about to give a speech, I might talk to you later, probably won't though." I said, thankful for Ozpin's timely entrance.

"Sure, Sure. That's what they always say. And I thought our date was going so we-" I cut the line off and, for what felt like the tenth time today, sighed. How I survived this torment for so many years was beyond me, but I had to prepare for probably the biggest challenge since the Revolution now.

All of Team BLAC, together again. May the Gods have mercy on me.

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