The Commission

by CV12Hornet

RWBY AU. At the flip of a coin, good can become evil... Right can become wrong... Light can turn to dark... And the mightiest of heroes... can become the greatest of villains... (Discontinued)

8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Team CFVY were all third-year students at Beacon. They had gone on well over a dozen missions over the course of their schooling, ranging from search and destroy to combing through ancient ruins bristling with traps and Grimm. Theoretically, none of them had any viable reasons to have pre-mission jitters for a relatively straightforward information-gathering mission that wouldn't take them outside Vale.

Apparently Velvet, who was doing her best to wear a groove in the floor of their dorm room as she waited for the rest of the group to show up, had not received the memo on the subject.

"Where are they?" she hissed anxiously under her breath, tapping the small brown box she had strapped to her side by its handle.

"Velvet, we've still got-" Coco turned on her Scroll and checked the clock. "Ten minutes until the time we agreed to. Don't worry, they'll get here before long."

"Hopefully before your pacing drives us all mad." Coco snapped her head around to give Fox a dirty look, prompting him to hastily amend his statement. "I mean, before it drives me mad." The second his leader looked away, he adopted a shit-eating smirk. "After all, I'm sure that miss Fashionable Firepower over there could watch your ass move for hours."

As a deathly chill fell over the room, Fox had the chance to think one last thought:

'Worth it.'

Ten seconds later, he retracted that thought. With gusto.

~o~

"Whee!" Nora squealed as she dashed to and fro along the hall. "This is gonna be so much fun! We can go get ice cream and compare weapons and see who's killed more Grimm, and then, if we're really lucky, we get to go bash someone's face in! Oh, this is gonna be such a good day!"

"Uh, Ren?" Jaune said, his head practically on a swivel as he tried to keep track of Nora. "No offense, but how is this making sure she doesn't do anything to him?"

"Jaune," Ren stated with all the Zen of a Mistralian monk. "This is tame compared to the last time she got fixated on a guy."

Jaune tried to imagine Nora being even more hyperactively possessive. His brain immediately shut down that line of thought to keep his sanity intact. "I'll, uh, take your word for it." He suddenly jerked back as a manically grinning Nora popped up not two inches in front of his face.

"Hey, we're here!" Nora said cheerfully, pointing to the door. "I wonder if we got here first?"

"Nora, personal space," Ren stated, gently tugging her away from Jaune, still babbling.

"Right, that happened," Jaune muttered. Pyrrha's steady hand landing on his shoulder helped calm his nerves, and he grasped the door handle, opening the door.

And came upon the scene of Yatsuhashi holding someone out the window by their ankle, with Coco seemingly trying to coax a closet.

Pyhrra stared at the scene for a moment before sighing and dropping her face into her hand. "Do I even want to ask?" she groaned.

"Coco's been trying to get Velvet to come out of the closet!" Fox's all-too-amused voice filtered in through the window.

An embarrassed wail came out of the closet in question, prompting Coco to spin on her heel and snarl at the window, her fury making it hard to determine whether the blood in her cheeks was from anger or... something else. But before she could say anything...

"Figuratively as well as literally?" Ren cocked an eyebrow at the horrified looks Jaune and Pyrrha were shooting him. "What? I'm curious."

"Lie Ren, I swear to god I will-!"

"Buddy, she's been trying for about as long as she's known her."

"I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE AND DIP YOU IN SALT, YOU BLIND SON OF A-!"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Coco spun around, her face an interesting mix of white and deep red, like she couldn't decide whether to go ashen or blush furiously. "I-I, um, uh- t-t-this isn't-!"

Neptune's serious expression cracked into an amused smile and a few chuckles as he took in the scene. "Man, Sun wasn't exaggerating when he said you guys were fun."

"Told ya so!" the faunus in question called from the window where he was hanging from a branch and looking down at Fox. "Please tell me you got photos."

"Uh, of course I got photos," Fox said, sounding insulted at the idea Sun even needed to ask. "And they're set up to go live across the Kingdoms from backups in case someone deletes the originals. By the way." Fox tilted his body and eyed Sun suspiciously. "Do you usually hang outside of dorm windows where teenage girls live and change clothes?"

"Only since they stopped letting me in the front door."

Fox snorted. "Can't argue with that logic," he said with an upside down shrug. "Oh, uh, Yatsu, would you mind letting me in now? The blood's rushing to my head and it's making me dizzy."

"DON'T YOU DARE, YATSUHASHI! DON'T YOU FUCKING-"

"Hey, is that the time?" Neptune hollered, checking his wrist with an exaggerated motion and expression. "Man, we'd better get going or else-!"

The closet doors burst open, a blur of brown slamming into Coco and then making a beeline out the door, dragging the fashionista along with it.

"Hey, wasn't Velvet's partner in this little expedition supposed to be me?" Sun asked innocently.

"We... can probably get oriented in the Bullheads. I... guess we'd better follow them. For the sake of the plan, of course," Jaune replied, smiling indulgently.

The eight students filed out after their wayward teammates, Fox still trying to get his circulation back in his legs as Yatsuhashi hauled him back inside.

~o~

"That was awful," Coco moaned as she and Ren walked to Vale's CCT tower. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

It had taken five minutes to corral Velvet and pry her off Coco, and the whole time she had been unable to get herself out of the faunus' iron grip. Coupled with her previous actions regarding Velvet and closets…

"No, probably not," Ren deadpanned.

"Oh God," she groaned, dropping her head in her hands. "I really, really hope my mother doesn't find out about this. That's a conversation I'd really rather avoid."

Ren quirked an eyebrow at that. "Is she really that bad?"

"I... don't want to talk about this," she replied with a sigh. "Let's just say she's a passive-aggressive bitch and leave it at that, okay? And now…" Her trademark grin returned full force. "Emergency change of subject! I saw Nora raise her hand when Fox asked if you guys knew anyone else important." She adjusted her glasses, allowing them to catch the sunlight and glint for a second. "So? Who is it?"

"Uh, can it wait a few minutes?" Ren said. "I only say that because… we're here."

Sure enough, at the top of one more flight of stairs stood the CCT tower, the city's hub for inter-Kingdom wireless communications. It was the tallest building in Vale, and indeed, they were only kept from being the tallest in all the Kingdoms by the Schnee Dust Company's main headquarters, roundly criticized as a 'vanity project' on the part of the previous CEO by the papers. And some other nicknames not to be repeated in polite company.

"Huh. So we are," Coco noted in surprise. "Was I that out of it?"

Ren nodded an affirmative.

"Ah, jeez," Coco groaned. "I gotta get my act together. Okay, give me one second." Taking a deep breath, Coco slapped her cheeks and exhaled. Done, she once more looked like the fun-loving, controlled Huntress Ren was more familiar with. "Let's go."

The two entered the building and made their way into the elevator on the far side of the lobby, going past the central spire with its few monitors.

"Welcome to the CCT," came the voice of the operator. "How may I help you?"

"Communications center, please," Coco answered tersely, holding her Scroll before the panel. For a moment, the two stood in silence before the operator's voice returned.

"Perfect! Thank you, Miss Adel."

Coco rolled her eyes as the elevator started to ascend. "If I ever find the big wig who got that bit incorporated..." Swapping tracks, she shot a grin at Ren. "Anyways, you didn't actually answer my question."

"That wasn't my intention," Ren assured her. "What do you know about the Dust Devils?"

Coco blinked at the apparent non-sequitur, but decided to play along. "They're one of the largest private military organizations in Remnant, and easily in the top ten strongest, though rumors say that they're moving to the top of both lists fast. Led by General Yang 'Burning Gold' Xiao Long, they take in veteran soldiers, Hunter dropouts, and green volunteers who they train into soldiers, which is an impressive feat. And, thanks to their close relationship with the SDC, they're very well equipped." She narrowed her eyes at Ren. "Don't tell me you guys-"

"When Nora and I were at Signal," Ren interrupted. "We were given a mission to clean out a nest of King Taijitu alongside a sizeable force of Dust Devils hired for the job. General Xiao Long was among them, and apparently she has a long memory. When we met Weiss Schnee, she remembered Nora by name. And…" He grimaced. "Nora kind of… idolizes her."

Coco let out a low whistle of awe. "On good terms with both one of the richest and one of the most militarily-influential people on the planet. Now that is impressive."

"While all you get is a personal grudge against the official public enemy number one?" Ren asked innocently.

"Touché..."

Both fell into the usual awkward silence of elevator rides, studiously looking anywhere but at each other. As usual, the elevator ride seemed agonizingly long, and the relief when the elevator stopped at the floor they wanted was palpable.

"I swear, the wait gets longer every time I ride that elevator," Coco grumbled as she walked up to the help desk. The holographic form of the help clerk, transmitted from wherever she sat, fuzzed into existence as she got closer.

"Welcome to the Cross Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?"

"I'd like to place a call to Adel Inc. Global Headquarters in Mistral."

"Absolutely." The clerk tapped a few commands into her computer before looking up again. "If you could head over to terminal 12 I can patch you through."

"Thank you," Coco said. Beckoning Ren to follow, the two made their way over to the aforementioned terminal.

"So, are you calling one of your family?" Ren asked as Coco sat down at the terminal.

"God, no," Coco shuddered, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "I mentioned my mother, right? Well, the rest of my family is only marginally better. I have a friend who works in Comms, covering all communications with Vale. Hopefully I can get this information without anyone in my family finding out."

"Isn't my daughter a wonderful girl, Mister Lie?"

Coco's jaw tensed shut with a click as the image on the screen resolved not into the bespectacled face of her friend in Comms, but into the stern face of her mother, framed by brown hair streaked with grey and extensive frown lines. "Hello, mother."

"I have to wonder what you are calling about, my dear, considering the only reason you've bothered to call me in the past three years has been to request advances on your allowance."

The Adel matriarch folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, staring down her nose at her daughter. "In fact, what was it you said to me as you departed for Beacon? Oh, yes, it was 'Don't call me, just send money.' Such a wonderful, wonderful daughter."

Coco was faintly aware of the fact that she seemed to be grinding her teeth. "Where's Connie?"

"What, do you think I did something to her?" The woman's voice took on a barely passable tone of hurt. "I just told her to take an unscheduled break. I'm not like one of those Schnee fellows."

Coco forced herself to take a deep breath and try and calm down. A show of weakness, perhaps, but frankly she didn't care. "Okay. In that case, I need as much of the tracking data for weapons shipments in the last six months or so as I can."

"Hmm. Is my darling daughter planning to start a revolution? Or prevent one?" Coco's mother swiftly shrugged and waved her hand carelessly. "Well, regardless, I'll get you that information. It's so nice to see my daughter finally take an interest in the family business."

This time, Coco couldn't help the outburst, slamming her palms on the table furiously. "Excuse me?! I've had an interest in it my whole life! I know the guns, I know the specs, what more do you want?!"

"So superficial." The woman somehow had the gall to sound disappointed. "I'll send you the information within the week. You'll have to tell me all about what you do with it. I sense quite the story there."

"Goodbye," Coco ground out through gritted teeth, reaching out to end the call.

"Oh, and do remember to tell me when you've finally bedded that faunus teammate you've been lusting over like a-!"

SMASH!

Ren was jerked out of his awe at the conversation by Coco putting her fist through the computer screen, her face a rictus of both apoplectic fury and embarrassment.

"So..." he finally managed to get out. "That was your-?"

"Demon queen who provided the egg from which I was born?" Coco asked frigidly as she jerked her forearm out of the devastated terminal. "Yes, it was." She slowly turned her head to stare at him, her expression pointedly blank. "If you ever mention that to anyone..."

"Graymatter over a ten mile radius?"

"As a start."

"My lips are sealed."

Sighing, Coco stood up out of the chair, shaking her hand. "Let's get outta here. I have some misplaced aggression I need to work off."

Nodding, Ren followed her as they headed back to the elevators, Coco pointedly ignoring the clerk when she said goodbye to them. Ren was only able to give her an apologetic smile before he had to rush to enter the elevator before the doors closed.

The ride down was spent in another awkward silence. At several points Ren silently debated whether to bring up what he had just seen - but seeing Coco fiddling with her handbag silenced those thoughts in a hurry every time.

"What's got you so tense?" Coco finally asked after almost a minute of the cycle.

This time, Ren decided to go for broke. She was the one asking, after all, she couldn't hold it against him! Hopefully... "I was just giving you some space after that... well, that." He braced himself for a possible outburst.

To his profound relief, Coco merely cocked her head and gave him a dumbfounded look. "Why would I need space for that?"

"Uh... because that was one of the worst parent-child fights I've ever seen?"

Coco blinked beneath her sunglasses before shrugging and looking forwards. "Oh, that. Psh, please. Believe it or not, that was one of the most civil conversations I've had with my mother in years." Seeing the disbelieving look on his face, she heaved a put-upon sigh. "And yes, I know how fucked up that is. The rest of my teammates have told me enough stories about their families to teach me that. Believe me, though, it could be worse. You do not want to see what a conversation between her and dad looks like."

Ren hastily caught himself from contemplating what that verbal warzone would look like with a shiver. "Noted..."

Meanwhile, Coco's lips had fallen into a frown as she stared at nothing. "No, the reason I'm tense is... well, call it a gut feeling."

"Is that why you keep tapping your bag?" Ren asked as the elevator reached the ground floor, the doors opening.

"What?" Coco yelped, glancing down at her hand before gritting her teeth. "Oh, shit, I am." She promptly strode out of the elevator at a pace that would be more recognizable in a jog. "That's not good, not good at all. If I'm this tense, then shit is really about to hit the fan..."

Coco's scroll chose that exact moment to start ringing, the old pop hit 'Cottontail Rabbit' blaring from the speakers.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that that's Velvet calling," Ren deadpanned, grinning.

Coco snapped her fingers and pointed at him as she fished the device out. "Graymatter! Ten mile radius!" Ren raised his hands in innocent surrender as she finally pulled it out, hitting the answer button and putting it up to her ear.

"Velvet? What's u-?"

"Coco! We need help! We got there, and Tukson was getting dragged out of the store by a bunch of White Fang soldiers and then he was knocked into a van by some sort of blur and then his store exploded and the van is driving off and-"

"Velvet, breathe!" Coco barked into the device as she took the stairs two at a time. "Now, slow down and tell me, calmly and carefully, what's going on."

Suddenly, the ding of another Scroll getting a text message caught her attention. She looked around to see a puzzled Ren fishing his Scroll out of his pocket. Turning on the screen, his eyes suddenly widened and he stopped dead in his tracks as he read the message.

"Velvet, are you in imminent danger right now?" Coco asked, frowning.

"Uh, no? Wait, Coco, don't-"

"I'll only be a few seconds, just need to check with Ren on something," the fashionista assured her friend. "Ren, who's it from?"

"It's from Nora," he answered. "It's- You should just see it."

Taking the Scroll from his outstretched hand, Coco took in the message. And felt her eyes widen, too.

Hey, Ren, just wanted to let ya know that we're gonna go help Fox and Yatsuhashi.

They said something about a sniper and drones everywhere.

Wish me luck! ;)

"Okay…" Coco said faintly. "Good call, gut."

~o~

"Miss Schnee will see you now, Miss Nikos."

Nodding, Pyrrha and Jaune got up from where they were sitting and headed over to the elevators. Pressing the button for the top floor, they settled in for a quick elevator ride.

"So, uh, Jaune, I don't believe you told me where you got your weapon," Pyrrha began.

"Oh, Crocea Mors?" He tapped the sheathed sword at his hip. "It was my grandfather's, back when he was an active Hunter. I… kinda nicked it from where it was stored when I went to Beacon." He chuckled nervously. "My parents are gonna kill me when they find out..."

"Did they know you were planning this, or…?"

"Oh heck no! They would've grounded me so fast my head would still be spinning," he frantically denied, waving his hands. "Besides, they didn't want me to be a Hunter. Not with seven older sisters all training to be or already are Huntresses themselves."

"Well..." Pyrrha cocked an eyebrow questioningly. "What did they want you to be? A farmer or something?"

The two stared at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.

"Ha! A farmer!" Jaune laughed. "Can you picture me as a farmer?"

"Actually, I think the look fits you surprisingly well," Pyrrha replied, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Please don't mention that to my parents if you ever meet them. It might give them ideas," Jaune pleaded in mock anguish. "But yeah. They never told me, but probably something in the 'or else' category."

Pyrrha's response was interrupted before it could begin by the ding of the elevator announcing that they had arrived. Pyrrha gulped, suddenly nervous, and stepped out of the elevator into the sumptuous waiting room, Jaune following behind her. The room was little changed from their last visit, aside from Cinder Fall sitting behind the reception desk doing paperwork of some kind.

"Good, you're early," the raven-haired woman said as they walked in, not even looking up from the sheafs of paper she was examining. "Miss Schnee is in a meeting with another client, so if you could sit down and wait for a few-"

The door to Weiss' office burst open, a man in a suit a size too small for him and with a face the approximate shade of a ripe tomato stormed out.

"This won't be the last you'll hear of me, Schnee!" he called over his shoulder as he swept past Pyrrha and Jaune.

"And I'm sure it'll go just as well as this time, Mr. Erie!" came the reply, just as he got in the elevator. His curses were mostly muffled by the doors, and after a few seconds were gone entirely.

"Correction. Miss Schnee will see you now," Cinder amended, going back to her paperwork. "Feel free to go in now."

"Pyrrha! So good to see you again," Weiss said as they entered the office. "I'm so sorry you had to see that, some people in the world of business can be such sore losers." She directed a smile at the other Hunter in training. "And hello to you as well, Jaune. I'm glad to see that you're travelling in pairs, considering who you're investigating. I certainly wouldn't want you to fall prey to any White Fang assassins."

Pyrrha's eyes widened in shock. "How did you-"

"Please, darling, I know everything," Weiss drawled, projecting an air of mystery.

"Also, I told her what a friend of mine in the Vale PD told me."

"Thank you, Miss Fall, that will be all!" Weiss bit out with a glare before redirecting a beatific expression at Pyrrha. "Besides, I also got the insider scoop on that whole mess on the docks last week. I have to thank you and your team for helping stop the White Fang before they made off with my entire shipment."

"Uh, t-thank you, Weiss."

"See, I knew I'd get you on first-name basis with me," Weiss said cheerfully. Reaching under her desk, she pulled out a rather thick folder filled with documents and a small thumb drive. "I took the liberty of preparing as much relevant material as I could. Just make sure the computer you hook the drive up to isn't connected to any networks. The White Fang have a fairly strong cyberwarfare team, and it'd be just like them to monitor the whole network for any information leaks."

"I'll… keep that in mind," Pyrrha said uneasily, taking the proffered documents.

"Now, if you don't mind me asking, how do you plan to take them down, exactly?" Weiss said, leaning forward and clasping her hands together.

"We were planning to find wherever their main headquarters is, and then call in the authorities," Pyrrha stated. "I don't think any of us really expect to be able to take down the White Fang on our own."

Weiss nodded, leaning back in her chair. "Good, good. That's not only safer, but I want justice against them, not revenge." She glanced over to Jaune, whose eyes were narrowed in thought. "Something to add, Mr. Arc?"

Jaune jerked out of his thoughts, shaking his head. "Uh, just a little surprised. Given what the White Fang have done to your family…"

Weiss sighed and raised a hand, cutting Jaune off in the process. "Mr. Arc, I saw what labor conditions were like in my father's mines. I completely understand why the White Fang have a grudge against my company and my family." She scowled, fingering the hilt of her sword. "I don't condone it, and I very much want to drag them into a courthouse and smack them with the full power of the law, but I do understand it. What my immediate family did to them was deplorable. All I can do is hope to stop the cycle of revenge with me."

Weiss schooled her expression back into a friendly smile as Jaune and Pyrrha glanced uneasily at each other. "Well. That got maudlin in a hurry, didn't it? Let's talk about something a little lighter. Tell me about this other team I heard you were working with…"

"Actually, I was the one who heard it."

"THANK YOU, Miss Fall!"

~o~

"Well, I'd say that went well," Jaune said as he and Pyrrha exited the SDC building, the young champion leafing through their prize eagerly. "So what's in the folder, anyway?"

"Jaune, you wouldn't believe it!" Pyrrha answered breathlessly, not looking up from the documents. "These are dossiers on the senior White Fang members! And it includes their combat abilities!"

Jaune whistled in admiration as he contemplated the implications. "Man, Coco's gonna love that, huh? What does it say on that bird-feather lady?"

"Well, for starters, she's some sort of logistics officer, and-" The redhead suddenly stiffened as something pinged her combat instincts. "We're being watched."

"What are you-" Jaune stiffened, too, as his own, still developing, combat instincts announced themselves, too. "Wow, that's weird. Can you tell where it's coming from?"

Pyrrha scanned the street. A few cars parked, a few pedestrians. A few suited businessmen, a woman in running clothes jogging down the other sidewalk, a quartet of teenage guys ogling her, a blond woman in expensive designer clothes-

Who was subtly beckoning them towards a nearby alleyway.

"Do you think we should follow her?" Jaune asked in a low voice.

"Hmm… I think so. She certainly doesn't fit the profile of either the Fang or the Thorns." She turned and smiled at Jaune. "I'm impressed you caught that."

"Well, y'know, seven sisters and all. You learn to read the body language. It's either that or have the wrong unspoken conversation fly right over your head. Then you wind up dripping with... eurgh..."

The two followed the blond woman as she ducked into the alley, then through a bewildering series of turns between the buildings before finally coming out on another street. The woman entered a nearby cafe, and Jaune and Pyrrha only hesitated a second before doing the same.

They entered to find the woman seated at the back of the cafe, looking over a menu. The two headed over to the table and sat down, not touching the menus.

The woman hummed behind the menu before pulling it down to see them. "Do you mind Jasmine tea? I don't know your tastes, so…" Pyrrha tensed minutely at the voice, her eyes sweeping up and down the woman as she attempted to affirm something.

"Jasmine is fine," Jaune replied.

"I'll have water, thanks," Pyrrha replied in a frosty tone, prompting Jaune to glance at her in puzzlement. "What do you want from us?"

"Straight to the point, I see," the blond woman chuckled. "I can see why my sister likes you." Reaching up, she grasped her hair and pulled it off, revealing it to be a wig. Underneath was a familiar shock of white hair, pulled into a flat bun.

"My name is Winter Schnee," she said. "And you need to stay away from my sister if you want to live."

Pyrrha stayed seated, scowling, for but a moment before abruptly standing up from her chair and turning towards the door. "We're done here, Jaune."

"Wait!" Winter snapped, rising to her feet with a scowl. "You don't know-!"

"I know enough." Pyrrha countered in a tone frosty enough to freeze a giant Nevermore.

"Uh, Pyrrha-?" Jaune started, reaching up to stop her.

"Jaune, whatever this woman has to say, it's not worth it," Pyrrha ground out as she glared over her shoulder at the elder Schnee.

"I have done nothing to earn this degree of enmity!" Winter hissed furiously.

The young championess spun around and stared Winter straight in the eye, revulsion burning in her expression. "Wunderland," she spat venomously.

Winter instantly bristled, her face coloring with rage. "My involvement with... with that travesty," she snarled. "Was blown entirely out of proportion by- by the media, and the authorities, and-and-and that little hellion of a-!"

CLICK!

She cut herself off instantly as she stared down the barrel of the gun held a few inches from her face.

"Finish that sentence." Pyrrha ordered flatly, her hand trembling slightly from the sheer intensity of her grip on Milo. "Give. Me. A reason."

Pyrrha flinched as a hand alighted onto her shoulder, gripping with surprising force. "Pyrrha, put it down. Now." There was a hard edge to Jaune's voice, unfamiliar and unwelcome.

"But-!"

"Now."

Pyrrha looked into his eyes, icy cold. It was completely unlike any side of Jaune she'd seen, and slowly, almost against her will, she complied, lowering her rifle and removing her finger from the trigger.

"Ah, thank you, Mr. Arc," Winter said, going back to her original placid calm. "Now, if you could sit down, we can all talk like civilized-"

"Yeah, no, not unless you give us a very good reason," Jaune countered, interrupting her. "Because while I really don't want guns stuck in anyone's faces today, Pyrrha's right. You really haven't given us any reason to listen to you, and if she doesn't trust you, then I don't trust you, so..."

Winter scowled, her face falling into a dark fury. Pulling up her handbag, she fished out a tablet and turned it on, mashing a few buttons, and then handed it to Jaune, who took it without a word.

The screen was showing some sort of camera feed, and the image on it was a familiar one. Well, mostly familiar.

"Jaune, isn't that where Winter found us?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, it is." He gulped. "The vans and the guys in the grey-and-red hoodies are new."

Jaune had just finished his sentence when an armored semi-truck with a pitch-black trailer moved into the camera view, slowly easing into a parking spot next to the sidewalk. One of the men in hoodies went up to the back of the trailer and presumably opened it, but on account of the camera's angle, none of the observers were able to get a look at what was inside.

They did, however, watch with no small amount of trepidation as the trailer shuddered and tilted, it's weight shifting as something heavy went from the back of the trailer to the opening. The man in the hoodie, on the other hand, had a clear view, and was obviously terrified by whatever he saw, if the way he was quaking in his boots was anything to go by.

"W-what's in there?" Jaune asked nervously.

"I don't know..." Pyrrha swallowed, cold sweat trickling down her neck.

His question was answered when a black blur shot out from the trailer, grabbing the hapless thug's head and dragging him inside. A few seconds later, the man was tossed back out onto the street, scrambling away as best as he could with an arm and a leg that were clearly broken, if the bones poking out of his skin were any indication.

"Well you obviously don't want to find out." Winter sneered, watching as the Thorns hastily piled into their vans and tore off, the semi following them.

She then returned the tablet to her purse before looking at half of team JNPR in disdain. "So. Since I saved you from a terrible fate at the hands of that… thing, why don't you sit down so we can have a conversation like civilized human beings." Her tone of voice suggested it wasn't even remotely a request.

A glance passed between the two Hunters-in-training, and they both sat down, still pale from what they had seen. While Jaune had a carefully neutral expression, Pyrrha was outright scowling at the other woman.

"So, what do you want to talk to us about that's so important?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, that can wait one moment," Winter replied as a waiter walked up to their table. "A pot of jasmine with three cups, please, and one of your vanilla tarts. Thank you!" She sighed wistfully as the waiter departed with her order. "Ah, I do so love their vanilla tarts here. Terrible for my waistline, but everyone should have an indulgence they feed from time to time."

"What. Do you. Want." Pyrrha ground out.

"I'm sure it can wait until the tea arrives." At the look on Pyrrha's face, Winter hastily backpedaled. "Fine, I suppose we might as well start now. Basically? I strongly recommend you stop associating with my sister. If you have any interest in your continued health, anyways."

There was a brief second in which no one dared move, before Pyrrha's glare towards Winter redoubled. "Explain, now," she snarled. "Or else Milo comes back out."

"Pyrrha!"

"I won't kill her. But she won't walk again, either."

"One moment. The tea is here." The waiter from before placed the pot in the middle of the table, and cups in front of each seat, as well as the vanilla tart, before walking away. Winter took the pot and poured herself a cup, and took a sip, sighing in contentment. "Ah, so good." She glanced at her two guests and indicated the teapot. "Would you like any?"

"Get. On. With it."

"Fine, fine. So impatient," Winter tittered, taking another sip. "Has Weiss ever told how she took control of the company?"

"Yes, she has," Pyrrha stated flatly. "I imagine it wasn't difficult for her to convince the board to oust your father after the Wunderland scandal."

"Father did completely bungle that particular crisis," Winter agreed, her face twisting into a disgusted grimace. "He deserved some sort of retribution for that, on that we can agree. But being fired as CEO? The old board never would have stood for it." She smirked as she saw Pyrrha's eyes widen. "Yes, old board. Longtime friends of the family, the descendants of the original investors that got the Schnee Dust Company on the map."

Winter scowled, her hands clenching furiously on her cup. "And Weiss callously stamped on their loyalty by removing all of them and installing a new board in their place. One composed of outsiders-" And here she spat the word as if the act of saying it left a bad taste in her mouth. "Quite willing to vote father out of the CEO position to get their 'White Queen' on top. Now there isn't so much a 'board' as there is a group of yes-men.

"My sister sees people as tools." Winter stopped to primly sip her tea before continuing. "They are useful only as long as they work towards her end goal. You, my dear," and here she pointed at Pyrrha. "Are nothing more than a feel-good publicity stunt."

To the surprise of both Jaune and Winter, Pyrrha didn't erupt into anger this time. "You're wrong," she stated simply, looking at Winter with - was that pity? "That's how you think. And you're so close-minded that you think everyone else is that way, too."

Now it was Winter's turn to glare daggers at the other woman at the table. "I doubt that. But if that won't convince you, perhaps this will." Reaching into her bag again, she pulled out a glossy photograph, sliding it over to Pyrrha. The red-head glanced at it with disdain... before her eyes widened in shock, snatching the picture from Winter's hands.

"T-this..." Pyrrha shuddered heavily. "This is..."

"The truth." Winter drawled frigidly. "Plain and unvarnished."

Jaune looked over Pyrrha's shoulder at the image and promptly hissed in a breath. The picture had obviously been taken in one of the Schnee Dust mines, from the crystals poking out of the walls and the Schnee sigils festooned on every piece of equipment. But that wasn't what caught his attention. No, it was the quartet of faunus, dirty and gaunt in ragged clothing, one with a poorly applied blood-stained bandage wrapped around his head. Not to mention those wall supports were pretty clearly not up to code.

Scrawled on the bottom of the photograph was a handwritten note that read 'Shangri-La', plus a date. A very recent date.

"I took that photograph a month ago, during an inspection of the Shangri-La mine in Atlas." Winter shrugged as she swirled her tea. "My sister might have my father and I under virtual house arrest, but she is far from my keeper, and my name does still bear weight."

"This- This can't- she wouldn't-"

"Ah, yes, denial. That's stage one, isn't it? I wonder how long it will take her to reach anger."

Jaune snapped a look at the elder Schnee sibling. "Hey, that's-!"

"Mayhaps it will be sooner if I remind her that my..." Winter sneered as though she tasted something vile. "Dear sister intended for the two of you to be ambushed by the Thorns and then either beaten within an inch of your life or killed, hm?"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Pyrrha roared, sending her seat clattering away as she snapped to her feet and slammed her palms on the table.

"Ah, there it is." Winter smiled frostily.

"Those men..." Pyrrha snarled. "Were a coincidence. Weiss has been helping us. She gave us information on the White Fang, she's our ally-!"

"Oh, is she now? May I?" Winter didn't wait for a response before snatching the dossier from Pyrrha and flicking it open, eagerly scanning the contents."

"Hey, wait a-!" Jaune made to snatch the folder back...

"Dead."

Before being frozen by Winter's voice. "...wha?" he asked intelligently.

"This man's dead," Winter clarified, pointing at a page. "Gunned down by Vacuan police, oh, a year ago?" She flipped to another page. "Dead, dead, life sentence, dead, dead, suffocated on a banana, crippled, dead, in a coma, arrested for public indecency last week, though it's being kept quiet... Oh, now this looks valid!" Winter smiled as she pulled her Scroll out and snapped a few pictures of the document in question. "Should be worth something to the Vale Council, with any luck... anyways, dead, de- HEY!" She cried as Pyrrha ripped the dossier out of her hands.

"What the hell are you trying to prove?" the young gladiator growled.

Winter glared at her for a second before sniffing and carving out a bite of tart. "My point. As I said, my sister set you up. She provided you with useless intelligence while touting it as critical intel on the Fang. In response, the Thorns attempted to attack you and steal the information back with whatever that thing was, and would no doubt have shown their hand in the process. In a sentence, my darling?" The tart crumbled in Winter's suddenly iron grip. "My sister used you as bait."

For a moment, silence descended onto the table, broken only by Winter taking another sip of her tea.

"Are you done?" Jaune asked frostily.

"Mm, yes, that's all I have," Winter replied, primly wiping bits of tart off her hands.

"Then we'll be going," Jaune said, his voice getting a dangerous edge to it. "Before I lose my temper myself."

Winter smirked as the two stood up to leave. "Don't worry, you're free to leave. Hopefully you'll have come to your senses when next we meet. Oh, and don't worry about the tab, I'll handle it."

Jaune paused as they started to leave, and sent one final comment over his shoulder. "I can see why Weiss was appointed as CEO instead of you." And with that parting shot, he followed Pyrrha out the front door.

Winter was still scowling when the Maitre'd came up to her table. "Pardon my impudence Madam Schnee, but... what, exactly, did that accomplish?"

The scowl fell away, replaced by a smug, victorious smile as she tipped back another sip from her cup. "The red-head, Pyrrha, was it? She took the photograph with her."

~o~

The two Hunters-in-training walked down the sidewalk in something of a daze, still trying to process the conversation they'd just been in. In fact, Jaune noticed with some concern, Pyrrha was still staring at the photograph Winter had given them.

"Uh, Pyrrha? Are you alright?"

"No I'm not, Jaune," she sniffed, her voice sounding wet and heavy. "You know how important Weiss is to me. That she could be- could be-" She let out another loud sniffle, clearly seconds away from crying.

Jaune, for his part, had little idea of what to do. His sisters had always been the one comforting him, not the other way around. He glanced at the photo again. Maybe…

"Don't worry, Pyrrha," he said, with more certainty than he felt. "We'll figure this out. Maybe the photo is a fake or something. And we still have that thumbdrive Weiss gave us. That'll probably have better information. So don't worry about it, okay?"

Pyrrha gave one more sniff, then wiped her eyes. "Thanks, Jaune."

"Hey, no problem! I-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by his Scroll ringing. Puzzled, he fished it out of his pocket. It was from Coco. Curiosity now thoroughly sparked, he hit the answer button. "Hey, Coco. What's up?"

"Jaune, we've got a crisis on our hands!" The sound of Coco's voice was almost drowned out by the wind whistling in the speaker. "I need you and Pyrrha to meet us at… Damn it, Ren, where are they-? The old Schnee factory on Vale and 22nd!"

"Wait, Coco, what's going-"

"No- agh!" The sound of gunfire rang out over the connection. "Not in a position to explain! I'll call you back when I get the chance! Just be ready for a fight, these bastards are cra- SONNUVA-!" An explosion rang out right before the call dropped.

"Coco!" Jaune stared at his Scroll in disbelief. "We need to go!"

Pyrrha didn't waste a second wondering what was going on. "Where to?"

"Coco said Vale and 22nd," he replied, taking a deep breath to brace himself. "I know where that is. Follow me."

~o~

"No, we're not lost, Yatsuhashi."

The man in question raised an eyebrow and glanced skeptically at the industrial wasteland around them.

"I know, I know!" Fox snapped in exasperation. "I don't know why he had to put his club here, either. But it's here, and it's right around the corner."

Sure enough, as the pair turned the next corner there was - a rather nondescript multi-use building. Well, aside from the rather out-of-place sliding glass doors where a storefront would normally be.

The strobing lights and thudding electronic beat spilling out the windows was another giveaway.

"See, told you I knew where it was," Fox said cheerfully, clapping Yatsuhashi on the back. "Now, follow me and look intimidating."

The glass doors slid open in front of them as they entered the club, exposing a very large room dominated by the dance floor in the middle. A suited DJ wearing a large bear mask was at the turntable, fiddling with the controls in time to the changes in the music. This time of day there were only a few patrons sitting at the bar set into the left wall; most of the people present were men in black and red suits with sunglasses that practically screamed 'gangster'.

Fox immediately went for the bar, walking up to a bearded, black-haired man in another suit, talking to a pair of identical twins in frilly dresses, one red, one white. The bearded man seemed to finish up his conversation and glanced in their direction, his face lighting up as he saw them.

"Fox!" he cried out, striding over to them and sweeping up the dark-skinned man in a hug. "Finally decided to drop in, ya bastard?!"

"Yeah, well, saving the world's a full-time job, y'know?" Breaking the hug, Fox took a step back and concentrated. "Huh, did you remodel the place? It feels different, not to mention the acoustics."

"Yup, changed the front, too. Much less gaudy now." His face fell into a frown. "So, while I'd like to think this is a social call, you'd have just visited my apartment for that. What do you need?"

"Perceptive as ever, Hei," Fox chuckled. "I'm actually here for information."

Hei cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Oh yeah? Who on? Fifty-sixth Graybacks? Steelheads?" He adopted a scowl. "Please don't say Barnaby's men, man. Those bastards are crazy."

Fox sighed and shook his head. "Nothing that easy, man. I need it on the Crimson Thorns. And you know I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't serious, so cough it up."

If Hei Xiong, alias Junior, had been serious before, now he was downright grim. "Follow me," he said, turning towards the bar. Scanning the stools, he found a spot a good ways away from the few patrons, and also signalled the DJ to turn up the music.

"Okay," he said once he was sure they wouldn't be overheard. "Most of what I know, you already know. These guys are very secretive, and will not hesitate to murder anyone who digs too deeply, so it's hard to get info on them. That said, I do have three pieces of information for you, and one piece of advice."

"First. The Thorns, or rather Roman Torchwick, hired some of my boys for a job, and I haven't heard back from them. And I haven't asked, either. That's a good way to get the Bloody Rose on your ass."

Fox nodded. "I think I know what happened to them. They're in the morgue, Torchwick torched them himself."

Hei nodded, and slumped into his stool with a sigh. "Yeah... kinda figured. Always knew he was a ruthless bastard." At some unspoken signal, the bartender dropped a glass in his outstretched hand, Hei immediately downing the liquor. "Ah well, nothing I can do about it. Anyways, second. I assume you know of the alliance between the Thorns and the White Fang?" He paused, then grimaced. "Of course you do, you were at that fight on the docks last week. Anyway, both groups are moving lots of men and stuff… somewhere. Can't tell you where, sorry. But they're definitely planning something big."

"Third. And don't spread around that I said this, alright?" At the nods from Fox and Yatsuhashi, he pressed on. "If you're going to keep digging into the Thorns, you will need to know this. I've learned the Bloody Rose's fighting style. The basics of it, at least. She's a gunscythe user."

Yatsuhashi's eyes immediately widened in shock. "That's-"

"You know what that means, huh?" Hei mused, swirling the ice in his glass. "Good. Because here's the advice: drop it."

Hei's eyes zeroed in on Fox, the focus completely at odds with the liquor he'd just drunk. "I'm serious. Forget the Thorns and move on with your life. Maybe go challenge a Goliath to a one-on-one match; you'll live longer."

"Why?" Fox pressed, staring right back. "Look, if you found out the Bloody Rose's fighting style, you have to know more. Give me that, and I promise I'll drop this."

"I can't do that," Hei countered. "If I tell you any more, Ruby will-!"

Suddenly, there was a flash as something hit Hei right in the forehead, knocking him ass over teakettle in a spray of blood. Microseconds later, the sound of shattering glass filled the room, sending everyone in the club scrambling for cover.

"Sniper!" Fox hissed. Running over to Hei's side, Fox pressed his fingers against the man's neck, and heaved a sigh of relief to find that he was still alive.

"Fox?" he groaned from where he was lying.

"Hei, don't speak. I think you've just got a concussion. Make sure you stay down, the bastard's still out there and he could take a shot."

"Might as well kill me now..." Junior huffed darkly, slowly bringing a hand to his bleeding forehead. "I'm a dead man walking anyways..."

Fox blinked in confusion. "The hell are you-?"

A trio of additional shots cut him off, causing him to curse and duck under the bar.

"Dammit, we need to go on the counterattack," he muttered to himself before turning his attention back to his friend. "Hei, get your guys to- HEY!" He managed to catch sight of the twins he'd seen earlier dragging Hei into a hidden panel in the floor before it sealed shut behind them. "Damn it... Yatsu! Take point, we're going out the front!"

His partner nodded, and jumped out from under the bar, arms held in front of his body, and began sprinting for the front doors. Fox followed in his wake, hopefully shielded from further shots. The rest of Junior's goons had long since scattered.

They were about two feet away from the glass doors when Fox heard the rumble of an engine, heading right towards them.

"Yatsu, right!" he yelled. His partner just managed to jump out of the way before the armored grille of a semi-truck smashed into and through the front of the building, coming to a rest with the cab and half of the trailer inside.

The two tensed, waiting for something to happen. A panel opened up in the roof of the trailer, and a quartet of what appeared to be small flying drones lifted up out of it. Small flying drones with missiles and-

"Are those lasers?" Fox asked weakly.

The underslung weapons lit up with a whine and a slowly mounting light before disgorging beams of coherent light that hit where the pair had been standing before they'd managed to dodge to the sides.

"Yes, yes they- ohshitlookout!" was all Fox was able to get out before being forced to frantically evade a homing missile that smashed into the abandoned DJ table and blew it sky-high.

Fox hit the ground and rolled, cursing his lack of ranged options. Running up to one of the drones, he took a swing at it with his blades. As expected, the drone simply drifted a little higher.

Yatsuhashi didn't seem to be doing any better. Less agile than Fox, he had already taken a few laser hits, and though it only barely affected his Aura levels, the damage would add up.

'Think, Fox! What are my options? Melee doesn't work, no ranged attacks, and- wait, what's Yatsu doing? Is that a stool?'

Indeed, the swordsman had picked up one of the barstools and was in the process of hurling it at the nearest drone. It hit, the drone falling out of the sky, smoking and sparking.

"Alright!" Fox cheered. His joy was short-lived as another four drones flew out of the trailer, making their way to the downed drone as the remaining three combat drones pressed the attack. The new drones sprouted some sort of wire… tentacle… things, that grasped the fallen machine and carried it back to the trailer.

"Aw, geez, that's just not fair," Fox muttered to himself. "How many of these things are there?"

The light hum of the engines turned into a droning buzz as nearly a dozen more combat drones lifted out of the trailer, brandishing their weapons.

"I take it back," Fox gulped. "That's not fair." He then twitched slightly as his ears picked up on something before dodging as another window shattered and the floor gained an array of holes. "And that's fucking worse! YATSU!" he hollered. "Cover me, I'm calling for backup!"

Yatsu grunted in agreement as he swung fiercely at the swarm that was trying to surround him, occasionally ducking behind his blade in response to another blast from the sniper.

Fox ducked behind the bar and ripped his Scroll out of his pocket, speed-dialing Nora as fast as he could. "C'mon, c'mon, pick up pick up pick up!"

Thankfully, he heard the connection establish. "Hello?"

"Nora, we need backup! Me and Yatsu are pinned down! A sniper's got us pinned and there's drones everywhere and-!"

SHINK!

Fox stared in horror at the metal tentacle that had impaled his Scroll before slowly looking up at the drone hovering above him. "Clever girl..." he muttered.

The drone responded by opening up with its laser. Fox felt the coherent light burn a line along his Aura, but at this range he was fast enough to plant one of his daggers right through the middle of the damn thing. It fell to the ground, sparking.

'One down'. He readied himself as three missile-armed drones took aim at him. 'Waaay too many to go.'

~o~

"So, what's in the box?" Sun asked as he and Velvet walked down the street.

"This?" Velvet said, holding up the object in question. "It's my weapon. I've been working on it since I got to Beacon."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Sun replied, snapping his fingers. "I mean, you didn't have it at the docks when everyone else brought their weapons." He hummed as a thought occurred to him. "So, wait, it took you over two years to finish it?"

Velvet flushed in embarrassment. Most students at Signal finished their weapons in a matter of months. "It's a little more complex than what students usually use. And, it's, uh..." She looked away, the blush spreading further across her face. "It'snotfinishedyet."

"Really?" Sun said in surprise, glancing at the box again. "Since you were bringing it with you, I assumed it was done."

"It's mostly done," she amended, still blushing. "I still haven't worked out the ranged weapons suite, and it has this stupid noise problem in its pistons I haven't been able to lick." She grimaced. "Trust me, if we get in a fight you'll find out what I mean."

"Heh," Sun smirked as he crossed his arms behind his head. "I'll hold you to that."

The two fell into an easy silence as they continued down the street, Velvet just slightly ahead of Sun. The rabbit faunus occasionally paused to glance at street signs or storefronts, each time nodding to herself and continuing.

As they turned a corner, Sun almost couldn't stop himself from running into Velvet, who had halted dead in her tracks. Hard not to blame her, honestly, what with the wrecked bookstore dead ahead, with a black van parked in front of it and an armored semi-truck further down the street.

Perhaps the most shocking part was the dozen-odd faunus in black and white outfits manhandling a large, well-built man with some impressive mutton chops and claws on each finger. Claws that he was using to try and shred his attackers with some success.

"Tukson!" Velvet cried out, charging straight at the knot of men. Cursing, Sun took off after her, pulling his quarterstaff out from where he kept it strapped to his waist. They barely made it two steps before a grey blur slammed into Tukson, lifting him off his feet and all the way into the van, before hopping up and over the roof of the van and then back onto the street before speeding into the semi, vanishing from sight as the trailer's door slid shut behind it.

Without missing a beat, Velvet pivoted on her heels and redirected her charge towards the van, currently busy trying to load up the White Fang soldiers. However, even as she ran at full speed, she knew one thing.

'I'm not going to make it in time!'

Growling, she hit a button on the handle of the box, causing it to start to unfold. Metal scaffolding attached itself to the back of her uniform, bracing snaking around her sides. Smooth armor plates began covering the skeletal metal, even as the scaffolding built upwards, starting to branch out to the sides.

The last White Fang mook dove bodily into the van, the vehicle starting up its engine and beginning to accelerate, but Velvet knew she was close enough. Her weapon was almost done assembling itself, and then she could-

Suddenly, the bookstore exploded in a massive ball of fire and flying glass, the shockwave knocking both faunus off their feet but only rocking the far heavier van.

Despite their Aura absorbing most of the damage, it took a few moments for Velvet and Sun to stagger back to their feet, by which point the van and semi were almost out of sight.

"Damn it!" Velvet spat, slamming her elbow back into her weapon and forcing it to snap back into its box.

"Well, crap. I'm guessing that was Tukson those guys just dragged off?" Sun asked shakily.

"Yeah, it was. Damn it! Those bastards!" Velvet snarled, slamming her heel into the pavement.

"No use just worrying about it! C'mon, they're only in trucks! Let's go get them!" Running up to a nearby lamppost, Sun jumped up, grabbed the crossbar, and flipped on top, jumping onto the roof.

"Uh, are you sure we can keep up with them?" Velvet asked uneasily.

"Please, I race trucks all the time back in Mistral," Sun scoffed with a grin. "And you kept up with me, so hell yes we can keep up with them. Now, are you coming or not?"

In lieu of answering, Velvet ran into a nearby alley and jumped up and onto the wall, pushing off to land on the rooftop. "Let's go."

As they set out in pursuit of the two vehicles, Velvet reached into her pocket and pulled out her Scroll, hastily dialing Coco's number.

'C'mon, c'mon, pick up, Coco!' she chanted in her head as she listened to the ringing. Finally, she heard the click of Coco answering.

"Velvet? What's u-?"

"Coco!" she gasped desperately into the receiver. "We need help! We got there, and Tukson was getting dragged out of the store by a bunch of White Fang soldiers and then he was knocked into a van by some sort of blur and then his store exploded and the van is driving off and-"

"Velvet, breathe! Now, slow down and tell me, calmly and carefully, what's going on."

Slowly, carefully, Velvet focused on her breathing and running, letting the rhythm soothe her mind. She was calm, ready to respond to Coco. She could-

"Velvet, are you in imminent danger right now?"

"Uh, no?" Velvet replied, wondering at the apparent non-sequitur. Her eyes widened as she realized what was going on. "Wait, Coco, don't-"

"I'll only be a few seconds, just need to check with Ren on something." And with that, the line went quiet except for muffled conversation. Only the fact that Coco hadn't technically hung up on her prevented Velvet from swearing hard enough to make a sailor blush.

Finally, after what felt like hours but what was probably only a minute or two, Coco came back on the line. "Okay, here's the situation as I know it. Fox and Yatsuhashi are pinned, with Nora and Neptune going to help them. Jaune and Pyrrha are still meeting with Weiss Schnee, as far as I know. And you two are in pursuit of your contact, who was kidnapped by the White Fang. I'm assuming you're calling me because you need my and Ren's help to cut them off, right?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right," Velvet said, a little awed. "How did you-"

"Velvet, I know you were sick during the classes on chases, but I thought we went over this."

The rabbit faunus blushed again. "Shut up, that was last year."

"I smell a study session in the near future!"

"Coco, could you please focus?" Velvet complained, vaulting over a gap between two buildings.

"Right, sorry. What street are you guys on?"

Velvet glanced down at the street, trying to make out the street signs. Luckily, she passed a familiar movie theater as she did so, making the street signs redundant. "Heading down Vale Street. Just passed that movie theater I like to go to."

"Okay, Vale Street, movie theater… Okay, I'll call up Jaune and Pyrrha, we'll all meet up at Vale and 22nd. There's an old Schnee factory there, nice and deserted. Then we can- SHITFUCKGODDAMMIT!"

Velvet's eyes widened as she heard the sound of an explosion on the other end. "Coco?! Coco, what's going on?!"

"Where'd those bastards get all those rockets?!" There was another explosion on the other end, accompanied by a surprised yelp. "Velvet, I need to hang up now, okay? Meet you there!"

After the click, Velvet simply stared at her Scroll for a moment, as if she wasn't sure what she had just heard was real.

"What the heck is going on!?"

~o~

"This is Grenadier calling in all units. Scout and I have successfully acquired the primary objective and are now preparing for exfil. Secondary target Scarlatina, Velvet and one bogey are in pursuit. What's your status, guys?"

"Heavy, reporting in. Primary targets Arc, Jaune and Nikos, Pyrrha have fallen off my radar. I'm falling back to the rendezvous point and am free to provide support."

"T-this is Engineer and Sniper! We need that back-up, ASAP! Targets Alistair, Fox and Daichi, Yatsuhashi are putting up heavy resistance! Plus, they just got backup in the forms of target Valkyrie, Nora and one bogey! They're cutting a path through my drones, Sniper's getting ready to engage in CQC!"

"Calm down, Engineer. Heavy, back them up."

"Copy that, Grenadier, moving to provide support."

"Wings, Bruiser, what's your status?"

"This is Wings, giving you the blow-by-blow! Currently in pursuit of tangos Adel, Coco and Ren, Lie, escorts are engaging as we speak. They're making a break towards your position, ace."

"I see... All units, this is Grenadier: Fall back to the rendezvous point, we'll engage them together. Do not engage unless strictly necessary, I repeat, remain in your transports until we reach the rendezvous. All units acknowledge."

"This is Wings, I read you loud and clear, squad leader!"

"This is Heavy, orders confirmed."

"Bruiser here, ready to crack some skulls!"

"Engineer, orders confirmed."

"Scout here, I'm ready."

"Sniper acknowledges. Let's make them bleed."

"You all know your jobs, men. Get to it. Ooh-rah!"

"OOH-RAH!"

~o~

Velvet's feet thudded on the ceramic tiles of the roof she was running on, the van with Tukson in it still at the same, maddening distance away. The only reason she wasn't screaming in frustration was the knowledge that the rest of her friends would be able to cut it off soon. Hopefully. That, and all the running left her no breath to spare.

When she heard the whine of distant jet engines she was sorely tempted to do so anyway.

"Sun, we've got incoming airpower!" she called out to him.

"Shit!" he swore, scanning the sky. "Where's it coming from?"

Velvet's ears adjusted, trying to position the sound. "Straight in front of us!"

Sun squinted into the distance, his hand up to shade his eyes from the setting sun. "I don't see it! I think it's hiding in the sun! Which is actually kind of ironic when you- shutting up now!" he yelped at the glare she was sending his way.

Any admonishment for the aborted joke died on her lips when she heard a new sound from the direction of the aircraft: rocket motors. Several of them.

"Sun, dodge!" she yelled out, hurling herself off the side of the building and onto one of the cars below, a medium-sized moving van. She saw Sun jump down the other side barely a second before the blurry shapes of four high-velocity rockets slammed into the rooftop where they had been standing and exploded into a ball of fire and shrapnel.

From her new vantage point, she had a front-row seat as a Bullhead - painted black with a red White Fang emblem on its side, and armed to the teeth - came to a hover over the black van, pneumatic grapnel guns pointing their noses out of the side of the passenger bay. The guns fired, their harpoons punching into the roof of the van, and due to the nose - and its nasty-looking autocannon and laden winglets - pointing straight at her, Velvet could only watch helplessly as the Bullhead lifted off, the van with her friend slung under it.

Not for the first time that day, she wished Coco were here, though for a radically different reason than before.

Wiping her eyes, Velvet shoved the wishes and regrets to the side. If she couldn't save Tukson, she could at least take out her frustrations on the ones who had kidnapped him. A hop brought her on top of a nearby lamppost, and a jump back onto the roof, Sun jumping up himself barely a second later. The chase resumed as the cheery commercial district gave way to gloomy industrial property.

~o~

"Yo, Ace, this is Wings! Tangoes just managed to nix the last of our escorts! Still, looks like they're keeping a steady course and going straight for the rendezvous, so things are warm fuzzy, over!"

"Want us to get out and wring their necks? I really want to wring their necks!"

"Negative, Bruiser. Maintain distance and keep on them. I want you to reach the rendezvous the same time they do. Still, Wings, if they try to engage, weapons are free. I repeat, weapons free."

"Roger that, Ace!"

"I'm still punching them through the truck if they land!"

"So long as you don't get out, I couldn't give a damn."

~o~

Today... was not a good day.

Now, granted, for the man known as Engineer, good days were few and far between. But even by his standards today had been especially sucky.

As he frantically worked on the innards of one of his repair drones, he winced as the feed from another one went black, preceded by a flash of pink. It was a distressingly familiar sight.

His dendrites soldering one last wire, Engineer let the repair drone fly away, and turned to the next drone in an increasingly large pile. Luckily, the old factory they were to rendezvous at was barely a mile away, so help was on the way. And, more importantly, his stock of reserve drones.

A reserve needed as another three drone feeds went dark, leaving only ten still operational. The three kids working their way through his drones worked surprisingly well together for what was by all indications a scratch group, either forcing drones up and away from the halberd to die to pink grenades or bringing them down close enough to suffer a very painful fate at the hands of a mass of metal that was moving way too fast for something of its weight.

"Engineer, status report," came the voice of Sniper over the comms.

"Uh..." Engineer winced as a half dozen wrecked drones were deposited before him, followed by a full dozen feeds going blank. "Bad. I'm going to say bad. And don't you know this already? You are on the roof after all, you have a front-row seat!"

"Little busy at the moment," came the terse answer. Engineer blinked. Sniper usually acted like he didn't have emotions; for him to actually sound frustrated?

"Define busy," Engineer replied as he continued to work on the drones.

"Busy as in the brat who's up here with me is really starting to annoy me."

Uh oh. And that meant- "Are you fighting hand-to-hand?" he asked in surprise. "How'd he get that close to you?"

"He saw all my shots coming and he can somehow see me. This tech is- SONNUVA-!- defective!" Sniper bit out, a clang of metal on metal resonating both above Engineer and through the connection.

Acting swiftly, Engineer brought up a holographic display, a few quick jerks of his hand serving to display a silhouette of a person that was glowing green. "Negative, you're green across the board. You should still be good."

"Then how the hell do you explain me and him going at it like some cheesy kung-fu flick!?" Sniper roared, all pretenses of his 'badass emotionless sniper' image discarded.

"Uh..." Engineer flicked through several images on his display before freezing as one came up. "... Sniper, does this kid have dark skin?"

"What kind of a fucking difference does that make!?"

Engineer shook his head with a groan. "Look at his eyes, moron."

"His eyes? What about his-! ... Bullshit Aura-semblance BULLSHITTERY!"

"Tell me about it," Engineer huffed, redoubling his efforts on his drones with one hand and dendrites, and directing his swarm with another. "I'm sending you backup, get him off the roof and concentrate on the rest."

"Got it, I- Hang on, I don't think that'll be necessary." The feeling of sheer smugness coming off of Sniper was almost palpable, even through the comms.

"Huh?" Engineer paused in confusion. "How come?"

"Easy..."

~o~

"Reinforcements have arrived."

Blocking another strike from the dark-skinned kid with his sword, Sniper kicked his opponent in the chest, sending him staggering away. That wouldn't be enough to get the other fighter off of him, but Engineer's drones arrived, spewing laser-based death. With some actual breathing room, Sniper looked back out over the battlefield - or rather, on the armored semi-truck barreling down the street towards the battlefield. And the little brats had no idea what was coming!

Finally, the orange-haired girl turned around and spotted the oncoming truck, immediately yelling a warning to her teammates. The three on the street turned to face the truck and tensed their legs to dodge. They were not expecting the semi to screech to a halt, sending the trailer skidding around to face broadside down the street before it started up again in reverse. And they were certainly not expecting the trailer door to suddenly be perforated by a barrage of bullets.

Tapping a button on his helmet, Sniper stored the sight of their faces in his memory banks.

And then he noticed that the stream of bullets was starting to trail upwards.

"Sonuva-!"

Sniper barely managed to roll backwards as a hail of incendiary ammunition that chewed up pavement, concrete, and sheet metal alike ripped through the space he'd occupied mere moments ago. While most of the bullets missed or headed towards the intended target, several clipped his limbs, leaving blackened streaks in their wake.

"Heavy, you bastard! You're supposed to shoot the enemy, not me!" he snapped into the comms.

"You're not hurt, are you?" came the rather bored response.

"Well, no, but-!"

"Then I don't see the problem."

"Listen, you-!"

"Shut up, Sniper," both Engineer and Heavy deadpanned over the radio.

Fuming, Sniper glanced around the rooftop, making sure that dark-skinned kid wasn't sneaking up on him. He wasn't, mostly because he wasn't on the rig's roof anymore. Sniper turned his attention to the other kids - and spotted a car sailing towards him.

"Really?" he deadpanned. Spinning his blade, he made sure that his comms were off before running up to the falling car. "SWISH!" he chirped, punctuating his point by slicing the car clean in half. Landing in a three-point stance, sword held out to his side, he stood up slowly, sheathing his weapon with a flourish as the halves of the car fell to either side of him.

"Yeah," he said to himself. "I'm so badass."

"No you're not."

"And learn how to work your damn radio. I've explained it to you three times already!"

"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP AND LET ME HAVE THE MOMENT!?"

"Comms discipline, people," Grenadier interrupted. "You're supposed to be professional mercenaries, not teenage girls. Act like it."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. ETA in five, be ready for company. Grenadier out."

~o~

Engineer sighed as he shut off his comms and went back to work fixing his last few repairable drones. Honestly, why the marksman tried to cultivate the 'badass' image of himself was beyond him. None of the team was fooled by it, and they were the only ones that mattered, really.

Still, with Heavy here, much of the pressure of running interference was off his shoulders and he actually had some time to prepare for the upcoming fight. Engineer cracked an uncharacteristic smirk under his helmet. No trickle-feeding his drones in this time.

Boosting his signal connection to its maximum strength, Engineer connected his systems to the drones stored within the factory. All of them.

Hundreds of red lights lit up the factory floor, and he found himself looking at the rather drab interior through hundreds of different eyes. Thank goodness for his control programs, otherwise this would be frustrating instead of empowering.

The fresh drones remained inside the factory, a few of his repaired ones sent floating out to reconnoiter the situation. Heavy and Sniper were doing a good job keeping their opponents off-balance with constant fire. Another drone spotted Grenadier and Wings' trucks converging on the factory, targets Scarlatina and Wukong following Grenadier and Scout, and targets Adel and Lie still one step ahead of Wings and Bruiser.

And, hello, that's where targets Nikos and Arc were. The two were bounding over the rooftops towards the factory, and would arrive about the same time as everyone else. Perfect.

Engineer felt the semi start to slow, and then turn so the back was properly facing out. They were there, a quick check on his drones in the factory confirmed it. The mercenary got up as the semi slowly rumbled to a halt, Heavy's pulling up alongside.

'Showtime.'

~o~

Coco glanced over her shoulder, growling at the semi still following them. It had been tailing them since the CCT tower, and while the escorting vans and their thrice-damned rockets had been thoroughly perforated, the truck itself had proved both distressingly and annoyingly resilient. Since it wasn't attacking them, the fashionista had reluctantly holstered her gun to save ammo. Ammo she had a feeling she'd need very soon. One last turn and then it was a straight shot to their rendezvous point.

Said rendezvous point, the old Schnee Dust Distillation Factory, was one of the oldest buildings in Vale. It had been a symbol of the SDC's power over its century of existence... until Weiss Schnee had shut it down in favor of bigger and better - i.e. less costly and less faunus-blood-stained - facilities, leaving it to fall into destitution.

Coco hoped that, with any luck, the advanced age meant that the Schnee 'queen' wouldn't mind the... 'renovations' that were about to go down.

Coco and Ren reached the corner just in time to have to jump back from the semi that suddenly barrelled down the street. Said semi was an exact duplicate of the one that had been following them, and was even now turning around the corner as well.

Velvet and Sun landing next to them was just the icing on the cake.

"Coco!" Velvet cried, wrapping up Coco in a tight hug. "Thank goodness you're here! I thought I was going to go crazy!" Surprisingly enough, she received no reaction. Puzzled, Velvet looked up at the curiously blank face of her leader. "Uh, Coco? Is something wrong?"

"What?" Coco glanced down at Velvet, not to mention her curious stare and tilted head. Feeling the blood rush to her face, she hastily started to explain herself. "Oh, uh, I was just wondering who was leading who here."

"Does it matter?" Ren cut in. "It saves us the trouble of trying to track them all down."

"That's a good point," Coco conceded as she gently pried Velvet off of her. "Still, we should be careful. That bad feeling I had still isn't going away."

"What bad feeling?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha walked up to the group.

"I'll explain after all this," Coco said, taking her handbag and shifting it into gun form. "For now, we have asses to kick."

The rest of the group nodded. That was a sentiment they could all get behind. Drawing their weapons, they proceeded around the corner and down the street, though the entrance to the factory was clearly blocked by the two semis, their rear hatches pointed outwards.

As they approached, nothing happened. Not a solitary twitch, not a gun poking out, nothing. Good, but just a tad unnerving.

About twenty feet from the trucks, Coco held her hand up, prompting the others to stop.

"It feels like they're waiting for something," Jaune muttered.

Coco nodded, then noticed Velvet's ears twitching.

"More trucks incoming," Velvet answered at the look her leader gave her. "Fox and the rest, too."

Sure enough, about thirty seconds later two more semis barreled into the intersection from a side street, both skidding to a halt in position next to the other two. Fox, Yatsuhashi, Neptune, and Nora were hot on their heels, panting and looking rather worse for the wear.

"So, Fox, who are these guys?" Coco asked conversationally.

"I'm not sure. But they've got some serious hardware," Fox said as he caught his breath. "Drones, armored trucks, high-calibre weaponry, and what Nora informs me is some form of freaking invisibility. And yes, it's technological. I could barely feel any Aura from them, certainly not enough to fuel that kind of Semblance for that long."

"T-that's good, right?" Jaune asked sheepishly. "This should be a cinch."

Fox sent Jaune a glare made all the more frightening by his sightless eyes. "Mr. Invisible Man matched me in close combat. Does that sound like a 'cinch'?"

"Withdrawn," Jaune hastily responded.

~o~

"Alright men, ready?"

Grenadier waited for a second as six sounds of assent rang out.

"Okay then, in that case, I'll just say this: we've been training for the last year for this moment. Time to show the fruits of our efforts. Open all transports and move out!"

~o~

Without warning, the trailer's doors slammed out and open, one after another, prompting the students to jump back with their weapons at the ready.

For what felt like an eternity, nothing moved, the darkness and shadows of the trailers looming menacingly.

Finally... they emerged in rush of whirring and clanking, rumbling out of the trucks and onto the pavement, one flipping up and onto the roof of the trailer, another soaring up to hover in the air, and a final one fading into sight on the roof of another trailer with a slight shimmer of air.

The first detail that leapt out at the students was the armor they were wearing: it was similar to the armor worn by the Atlas military's soldiers, save that it was larger and heavier, metal and what appeared to be machinery covering every inch of their bodies. Their heads were covered by blocky, angular helmets that betrayed absolutely no emotion whatsoever.

There were seven in all, each absolutely unique in design and each with a digit from one to seven emblazoned somewhere on their armor.

The one that bore the number 1 was a woman, if the slight bulge of her breastplate was anything to go by. She was the only female of the group, but if the way she held herself in front of her team and the way the number was displayed on her breast was anything to go by, then she was almost certainly the leader. Her armor was festooned with an array of discs and rods of varying sizes and designs, and a pair of thick gauntlets were latched around her forearms.

Number 2 was the one who was hovering in the air, held aloft by a pair of boosters strapped to his back. His number was emblazoned on the mechanical wings that jutted out from the shoulders. A visor and air hose were prominent in his helmet, and a pair of what appeared to be metal cases were latched to the underside of his wings. The armor on his forearms was also suspiciously thick.

The one who emerged from the truck that had almost ambushed Jaune and Pyrrha was the largest by far and had the number 3 labelled on his right pauldron. His armor was ludicrously thick, bulking him up to an enormous twelve feet tall, his limbs almost as wide around as oil drums. His helmet was particularly domelike, sitting squat on top of his bulky torso. Perhaps most distressing was the weapon he was carrying: a gargantuan rotary cannon that was held aloft by both his hands and was big enough to make Coco's look like a water pistol.

Where 3 was the largest, 4 was the stockiest. The majority of the machinery that could be seen was a combination of pneumatic and hydraulic systems that threaded throughout his armor, with the number 4 stamped on his breastplate. His limbs were the most reinforced parts of his body, the joints as heavily protected as mobility allowed and his hands and feet little more than blunt lumps of metal. The man appeared to be extremely eager for the fight to begin, if the way he was repeatedly stomping the ground and pounding his fists together was anything to go by.

Number 5 was the only one that hadn't fully exited his trailer. Not even the man's armor could hide how spindly he was, but it certainly made up for it. A quartet of mechanical pseudo-arachnid limbs protruded from a thick metal pack on the man's back, holding him aloft in the trailer's mouth. A number of drones were hovering in the trailer behind him, apparently coordinated by the holographic panel being projected from his belt that he was tapping at both swiftly and precisely. The light from the panel illuminated the number 5 labelled at his collar.

The sixth was the one who had flipped onto the trailer roof. He was one of the least armored, but that was on account of being obviously optimized for speed and agility, rather than raw strength. The person was also the only member who was distinctly inhuman, if the armored tail sticking out of his lower back and his digitigrade legs were anything to go by. Both his hands and feet were adorned with particularly vicious claws that dug into the metal of the trailers. His legs were augmented with powerful-looking servos. The ones on his thighs were labelled with 6s.

The final member of the team was the one who had faded into sight, his armor specialized for an even combination of speed and strength. While his armor was rather nondescript, his weapons were far more striking. In his left hand, the man clutched what appeared to be a three-foot long, technologically-upgraded ninjato with a pitch-black blade. In his right, the man was holding what appeared to be a massive sniper rifle that was as long as the man was tall. Despite the gun's size, the man had it effortlessly slung across his right shoulder. The man's helmet had a large, singular lens in the middle of its 'face', and the number 7 was prominently emblazoned just below.

"Oh fuck me sideways…" Coco breathed, taking a step back, her sunglasses slipping down enough to show eyes wide with shock. "Those... those are exosuits. Those are fucking exosuits! This-this is impossible!"

"Coco!" Jaune barked, drawing on his fear to bolster his will. "Explain! What are exosuits and why are they impossible?"

"They're theoretical suits of power armor, smaller than a mech , the idea being that they can allow regular soldiers to compete with huntsmen, without the usual size and cost restrictions of mechs." With a sudden shout of frustration, Coco whipped off her sunglasses and cast them aside in favor of redoubling her grip on her weapon. "Emphasis on fucking theoretical! They're supposed to be blueprints, at best! I read a goddamn scientific paper on them stating they might be possible ten years from now! Where the hell did they get their hands on them!?"

"Eh... how bad could they be?" Nora scoffed, although she couldn't hide a slight hint of nervousness in her grin.

~o~

"They doubt us," Sniper stated into his radio, shifting his weight ever so slightly. "Cute."

"For once, I agree with Sniper." Grenadier rolled her shoulders slowly as she watched the rookies. "Bruiser. Demonstrate just who the hell they're dealing with."

"HELL YEAH!" the stocky mercenary roared, punching the air victoriously.

Before the students could react, he turned around and ran into the gap between two of the trucks, stopping at the middle of one of the trailers and shoving his hands beneath the vehicle.

The next second, the truck appeared to simply jump a full ten feet in the air before falling... and landing squarely in Bruiser's waiting hands. The strongman didn't even shudder or flinch as he held the massive vehicle over his head, the concrete cracking beneath his feet.

The rookies tensed simultaneously, slowly stepping backwards as they stared at the effortless display of strength in horror.

"I withdraw the question," the orange-haired one squeaked.

"This... is gonna suck," the blond one with the shield gulped audibly.

Grenadier chuckled darkly as she grasped a pair of discs on her thighs and snapped them off, causing them to activate automatically. All around her, her men cocked and locked their weapons in savage anticipation.

"Come on, boys," she grinned, a bloodthirsty tone tinging her usual professionalism. "Let's show them just what the Exo-7 are made of."

"Ooh-rah," her boys growled eagerly.