AN: Enjoy.
Junior poured the trio of them drinks, settling into his office as The Club was back to business as usual down below. The twins had been there enjoying themselves before Junior had called them up. It wasn't the first time he had cut their night short but the first time he had pulled them away from a fantastic pair of dance partners. They had waved goodbye, promising to find them later.
"You two still doing this?"
"Miss us already?" Melanie sipped her drink and frowned. "I thought you had stronger stuff than this Junior?"
"This is business Melanie. Can't have you passing out on us."
"Alright, what's got you so scared that you forgot what I like to drink?"
"Your team leader."
"He's a scary guy." Melanie shrugged. "Better to have him on our side than try and fight him."
"Well, there's people asking about him. Tends to happen when people just vanish and don't pop up somewhere else."
"And." Melanie shrugged again, snatching her sister's drink and taking a sip. "Atlas likes to try and keep tabs on him, it was only matter of time before they started asking questions when he stopped doing his little missions."
"The guy just kicked our asses Mel, take this a little more serious." Miltiades didn't try to get her drink back. "Are you sure it's Atlas asking about him?"
"Yeah. Them and a few others."
Neither of the twins mentioned how that didn't make any sense. Not with Winter Schnee at the school. Not with Penny on their team. They had 24/7 eyes on him and weren't using it, paying who knows what for useless information.
Neither would mention it to Junior. Not yet. Not when it would only create new questions, questions they still wouldn't have any of the answers to.
"Show him what we got then."
Melanie slouched back in her chair, keeping her stolen drink as Miltiades pulled out her scroll.
"Neither of our partners are normal," her scroll projected a video of the pair's fight, recorded by the pins in either of the twins' hair. "Adam's a powerhouse just like you told us but Penny has loads more firepower than we thought."
Junior saw red and green clash and tried to wet his suddenly dry throat with his drink. Anyone throwing around attacks like they were, was always bad news. Always. He stood up and grabbed a stronger bottle from the shelves behind them before retaking his seat, refilling his glass.
"I didn't expect that place to be normal but this is crazy."
"She's not completely human." Miltiades zoomed in on Adam's final blow, showed the wires and metal in Penny's maimed hands. "She's a cyborg just like General Ironwood."
"They're modifying kids now?" Junior's face changed from shock to disgust. "That's low, even for Atlas."
"Hey we still don't know how much they did." Miltiades brought up a screen to show some of the few files they had been able to find on the PENNY Project. "My guess is that the kid got hurt in some lab accident and this was the only way they could save her life."
"I'll pass it back to your mom, see what she can find out."
"Let's leave our mom out of this." Melanie made her voice heard again, shaking her empty glass for Junior to refill.
"Whatever you say." Junior obliged her. "Anything else."
"Nothing really special from that Rose girl. Ran off after Penny after her and Adam's fight. She's good but nowhere near Adam's or Pyrrha's level."
"We haven't seen everything from her though. Used her Semblance to keep us and her team safe from their attacks."
"I'll pass it on." He drummed his fingers on his chair as he skimmed through the report the twins had thrown together on the flight over. They were truly their mother's daughters. Their information gathering skills had to run in the family. He doubted any of their targets knew just how much info the twins were getting on them. "Here's something to keep your team leader on your side."
He sent them a few photos. Photos that they knew they could use for their deal with Adam.
Adam's former lieutenant meeting with various members of Vale's underworld.
"He met the Hounds?" Melanie whistled. "What's he trying to get?"
"Don't know yet. But whatever it is, the president has his right-hand man working on it."
"Must be serious."
"I'll keep digging, use it and see if you can figure out some more about the guy." His finger tapped the White Fang member in the picture showing him and Roman ducking inside one of the thief's safehouses. "I got a bad feeling about him. White Fang had calmed down once Adam got here and now he's got them robbing every Dust store in town with Roman while he's out making deals with the Hounds."
"Crazy Roman is back to robbing Dust stores." Melanie narrowed her eyes.
"Yeah I don't believe it either." Junior's tone let them know he thought there was a lot more to it than it looked like. What did the White Fang have on Roman to press him into robbing Dust stores again. He had graduated from that stuff years ago. And he had Neo. There was a reason the smaller of the pair was the enforcer and muscle. And that he kept her happy with free drinks whenever she came in. "And it's our job to find out why they're working together."
"You offering a bonus if we find out?" Melanie perked up at her sister's mention of extra lien.
"Depends on what you find out."
They were interrupted when the door was thrown open, one of Junior's men running in, panting and out of breath. Melanie and Miltiades had already moved, Melanie taking out his feet and Miltiades landing on top of him and holding the tips of one of her claws to his throat.
"You better have a damn good reason for not knocking." Junior added from his desk, a pistol now in his hand.
"A really good one." Melanie was standing back up and tapped her foot, the bladed heels right next to his head.
He nodded, eyes pleading with Miltiades to get off of him so he could breathe again and speak.
Melanie grabbed her sister's raised hand and pulled her back to her feet, the twins urging him to stand up and speak.
"Roman and Neo got in a fight with Taurus and his partner."
"When?"
"About an hour ago."
"Anybody dead?"
"No. But Taurus seemed really pissed seeing the White Fang with Roman. Whole place went up too. Dust must've started going off."
"Like he doesn't even know what's going on." Junior spoke to himself but they all heard. He dug around in a drawer and tossed a stack of lien to the man. "Treat yourself and keep quiet."
"Got it boss." He smiled as closed the door and left, even if he walked out with a slight limp from Melanie's attack.
Junior sat back down, wishing he had something a lot stronger for the coming storm.
"Put finding everything you can about this dude at the top of your list. I want to be on Adam's good side when this blows up."
"When what blows up?" Melanie asked.
"Whatever's going on with the White Fang. This has power grab all over it. If we're lucky Adam stops playing student and just kills him."
"And if we're unlucky."
"They split in two and Atlas tries to swoop in."
"That still doesn't sound so bad."
"And then Sienna Khan shows up. A pissed off Sienna Khan looking for blood because her right hand man is dead or captured."
"Now that sounds bad."
"That lady already leaves a bloody trail everywhere she goes."
"A very bloody trail."
"Now imagine her on a warpath out for her pound of flesh. There's a reason the old leader put an entire ocean between her and him." Junior left before he could say more, a message from one of his guys saying that they needed him downstairs for a meeting.
Melanie kept sipping her drink, stood up and snatched the bottle from Junior's desk. Careful not to meet her sister's eyes.
"You already said it."
"Told you so." she glanced at her sister, hoping she was smirking but found her face as blank as her own.
"Give me a break. You knew about Sienna Khan too, and you didn't say anything."
"I shouldn't have to Mel."
"Whatever." She waved off her sister's concern, surprised when her hand was grabbed and she was forced to face her sister.
"Don't." Miltiades squeezed her wrist. "I need to know that you're gonna play this smart."
"I am." Melanie ripped her hand away, tossing the drink to the ground. "Fuck Mil, I'm scared too. I thought we'd use him to get strong enough to kick that blonde bitch's teeth in. Now we gotta worry about some White Fang civil war. I'd rather get beat by that blonde a hundred more times than put us in this kind of danger."
Miltiades placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, her lips forming a familiar smirk.
"Okay. Lets do this."
"Do what?"
"Out scheme all of them. We're Malachites, Melanie. It's what we do."
Melanie smirked back, laying her hand on top of her sister's.
"We'll leave 'em in the dust."
"But first." Miltiades pulled her to her feet. "We're going back on that dance floor and finding those guys again."
They made a stop at the DJ, changing the music before they were back on the dance floor, snatching their former partners back from their new ones.
There was still plenty of the night left. They'd deal with Adam in the morning.
His partner sipped from her wine glass as always during their weekly meeting. The stunning woman taking her time as she went over Bane's report, a few questions for him when the glass wasn't at her lips.
"Roman told me that he ran into a complication."
"What kind?"
"Adam Taurus."
"Shit." The swear left his mouth before he could stop himself. "Sorry." He apologized at her look. "I thought he might be a problem."
"Something you never informed me of Commander." She picked up her scroll from the table. "Neither did you tell me that he and Blake Belladonna were at Beacon Academy."
"I didn't know where they had gone. I honestly thought he took her back to Menagerie and was waiting for some of my men to spot them. Her loyalty has always been questioned by the others. Thought she finally snapped and ran back home."
"Because of her father." Bane only nodded. "Why do you think they went to Beacon then?"
"Blake's easy. She's trying to get out, be a Huntsman and put the White Fang behind her. She's really her father's daughter. Shocked she lasted this long."
"Sienna Khan won't like that."
"No, she won't. When she finds out," Bane chuckled. "I'll pray she'll leave a body at least. The High Leader hates traitors more than she hates the Schnee's."
"I've heard some of the stories."
"The stories don't do her justice." Cinder put down her wine. "Her and Adam, the things I've seen them do, I can't unsee it. The pair of them are monsters."
"I'm sure I've seen worse."
"You haven't. Adam's a ticking bomb at that school. Maybe the Headmaster could stop him, a few of the teachers on their best day. I can't imagine what he's there for. Can't be for recruitment, he'd have better luck finding someone out in the frontier and just training them up."
"Why not recruit at the school? Surely there's likeminded Faunus there. With Huntsman level skills already."
"Not really. Not in Vale at least. Mistral or Atlas would be better. Especially Mistral. A lot of them see Haven as a shining light, a Faunus for a headmaster and all, and can't handle it when things barely get better for them. I've heard Ozpin keeps a tight leash on his professors, Lionheart, not so much. He's got some real pieces of work working for him, they have to hate that they answer to a Faunus and take it out on the students when they can."
"I've never heard of Haven being a pipeline for the White Fang either."
"Lionheart is more anti-White Fang than anyone in Atlas. Stamps out anything and everything to do with it in his school. Last I heard, Faunus can't even form clubs for themselves. Not without having him watching everything they do."
"I'm impressed, doesn't that make him a target for you and Khan?"
"Sienna Khan doesn't like killing other Faunus, unless they've betrayed her. It's part of whatever code that lets her do everything she does and somehow still sleep at night. Not without giving them a chance to change at least. I don't know why she hasn't gone after Lionheart yet, but he should pray that the day never comes where she forces him to make a choice."
"Interesting. I could get you some help, people that excel at dealing with people like Adam. And any problems his death might cause with Sienna."
"Dealing with him is too much of a risk right now, even if you think they could kill him. Sienna Khan would be out for blood if anything happened to him. Besides. I think I know a better way to handle him." Bane would remember her offer, just in case things got out of hand with the bull Faunus. "I'll make a call and bring someone in that will be able to help us with Adam. She won't stop him, but it'll buy us more than enough time to finish our plans. When we're ready, we can get him to charge the first thing he sees."
"Just like a bull?"
"Just like a bull." Bane agreed. "I've got a meeting with the Hounds coming up soon. It's the bulk of what I need so I'm afraid Torchwick won't have any squads for few days, gives us time to sort everything and get it in place."
"It's fine. I'll tell him to take a break. Let the Dust stores restock before he robs them again."
"Thank you."
Bane stood and took his leave, an untouched glass of wine left behind.
Cinder waited for him to leave before she looked to Emerald, the girl had been hidden from Bane and had been a silent observer to their meeting.
"Tell Mercury to follow him."
"I already did."
"Good job Emerald." The mint haired girl glowed at the praise from the older woman. "Now go get some rest, it couldn't have been easy to keep your Semblance up for so long."
"I'm fine." The girl quickly told her. "I can do anything else you need."
"Get some rest Emerald." Cinder set a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I need you well-rested and prepared for tomorrow."
She nodded, leaving Cinder alone with her thoughts. Thoughts that were focused on the White Fang and their 'partnership'.
Bane didn't know all her plans but he was being vague with his own. Besides the assurance of chaos, he hadn't given her much and she hadn't pushed him for more information. She didn't need much to know that Bane was afraid of Adam and Sienna ruining them somehow. She just needed him to cause enough chaos before they came after him, then their partnership would be brought to a swift end.
With the power she wielded, even if it was just a fraction of it, at her fingertips, it wouldn't be difficult to deal with Adam or Sienna. The infamous pair would stand no chance against her once she unleashed her might on them. But she doubted such a display of power wouldn't put her on Ozpin's radar. Anonymity was her greatest ally currently, it allowed her to move right under the Headmaster's gaze.
She glanced out of the window, saw Beacon Tower's light shining bright even during the night.
Ozpin's gaze wasn't all knowing, but the man wasn't stupid. That had been drilled into her head before she had been sent after the Maiden. Before she had assembled her team. The man had spent lifetimes uncovering her Mistress' plans and ruining them, rarely involving himself, choosing to use one or two of the many pawns he had collected. He would uncover her own plans if she wasn't careful. Once Bane had his weapons, things would be different. The damage the White Fang had planned would make the council cry for his help. Let him struggle with their demands for security and the upcoming Vytal Festival.
The man wouldn't crack under the pressure but it would give her and her plans more than enough time without his gaze looking for them.
Cinder just had to trust in her plans and if they began to falter, to trust in her own strength.