Hey guys! Short message this week: thanks again for all the views, follows, favs, etc. I'm glad you guys are liking this story! Bad and good news: my last year at university starts next week (shoot me now). Good news however is that I'm plowing through this story and will post Chapter 4 Friday! Hope everyone has a great week and I'll see ya Friday!

Chapter 3

"Who are you?" Ruby asked as she took out Crescent Rose, Aero's eyes going wide at the large scythe that barely fit in the room.

"Uh… better question: what the fuck is that?" Aero asked as Ruby swung with her large red and black scythe. Aero moved back as Ruby moved forward, applying pressure with her swings, her scythe leaving deep cuts on the walls. Aero kept moving, waiting until he saw his moment: Ruby swung and switched hands on her scythe, allowing Aero to move in with a straight jab to her stomach. Ruby stumbled back at the quick blow as Aero moved in, punching her stomach again and her shoulder to make sure she couldn't get a proper attack off. Ruby swung wildly, cutting shelving apart as Aero moved around and landed blows. Aero kicked her leg, bringing her down to her knees, giving the assassin the chance to bring his knee to her chest, knocking the wind out of her and to the ground. He breathed heavily as Ruby groaned until quickly shifting Crescent Rose to its sniper rifle form.

"The hell?!" Aero exclaimed, moving in time to avoid a shot to his leg and kicking her wrist to get the sniper rifle out of her hand, Ruby wincing at the shooting pain the kick caused. He turned back to Henrik, walked over to him and got on one knee. Right as he was about to drive a blade into his targets heart, the assassin was suddenly flung into the empty wall again, rubbing his forehead as someone grabbed his shoulders and violently turned him around. His vision cleared to a blonde woman with red eyes, her face showing anger as she growled at him, tightening her hold on his shoulders, causing Aero to start wincing from the crushing pain. Aero stared at her, taking her and Blake in, who was checking over Ruby.

"She's okay Yang, just bruised," she said. Yang turned to answer, the moment Aero waited for and immediately kicked Yang's shin, shaking loose of her grip and kicking her square in the chest. Yang backpedaled as Aero applied more hits to various parts of her body. Yang quickly countered, landing blows of her own, some almost knocking the wind out of Aero as he went back on the offensive with kicks, landing multiple blows until landing a roundhouse to her cheek.

Blake moved in with her sword and cleaver drawn, Aero prepared with his hidden blades and blocked multiple strikes with them, finally moving back and disengaging his blades, allowing him to pull out his baton. He moved back in, both easily moving their bodies around as they swung their weapons, predicting moves and trying to counter one another. Blake landed a hit to his chest then a kick to his cheek, spinning him around and into a vacuum, tripping him. Blake pounced on top of him, landing a punch before Aero smacked her arm with the baton, sending a stinging pain through it and giving him the chance to push her off. The two quickly got back up, Aero landing stinging blows to Blake until she pushed him back, trying to pin him to a wall but failing as he whipped around, landing a blow to her stomach with his baton. Aero whacked her on the back, her shoulder and wrist to knock her cleaver out of her hand then kicked off the empty wall and landed a punch to her cheek, stumbling her back and onto the floor.

"Alright, fuck this," Aero said as he collapsed his baton, the other three getting up slowly as he put his baton behind his thigh and drew his pistol. He cocked it and aimed at Henrik's head, who cowered in fear as Aero put his finger on the trigger. Just as he disengaged the safety, Aero felt a surge of coldness on his right foot that traveled up his shin and the right side of his body until it got around his hand, encasing it and the gun in ice. Aero looked in sheer amazement and shock, turning around to see Weiss holding Myrtenaster, a trail of ice from her foot to his.

"Oh come on!" he yelled as he banged his encased hand against the shelving, trying to shatter the ice. Weiss attacked at once, blasting him back into the wall, his right side still partially encased in ice. Aero tried to get up and managed to shatter the ice around his hand however his pistol was smacked away by Ruby and was punched square in the nose by Yang, breaking it and making his head whip into the wall. Aero vision blurred as he made out the shape of Blake kick him.

Aero came to a few moments later, laying on his stomach, his head facing the brown boots of Yang, who looked down at him. He slowly got up on all fours then moved himself against the wall, sitting on the floor and wiping the blood away from his nose. Aero looked up at Yang, Blake and Ruby staring at him while Weiss talked with Henrik, making him shake his head and sigh.

"What's wrong?" Yang asked.

"You guys should not have saved him," he said, pointing to Henrik.

"Oh, and why's that?" Ruby asked, looking down at the assassin.

"Because of what he's done to my… our," he said, changing when he looked at Blake and spotted her cat ears, "kind."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, looking over at Henrik as Weiss walked over to her friends.

"Well, are you guys gonna believe me and let me show you without trying to hurt me?"

"We already removed your weapons so you can't really try anything," Weiss said, motioning to his pistol and baton resting on a shelf.

"Still didn't answer my question."

"Try anything and you're getting a face full of shotgun," Yang responded, extending her gauntlets up her forearms to show Aero what she meant.

"Got it," he said, holding his hands up and slowly getting up, "Well, one of you can grab my Scroll in my front pocket."

"Ruby," Yang said, motioning to the leader of the four member team. She moved forward and grabbed the Scroll sticking out of his front pocket, opening it thanks to instructions from Aero. He directed her to the set of files on his Scroll on Henrik Maza that Sebastian had given him two days prior.

"Read it out loud for everyone."

"Henrik Maza… evidence shows he has judges and lawyers in his pocket. Known trader, large investments… captured and sold faunus'… sold arms which are linked to faunus homicides…" Ruby said, her voice trailing off as Blake looked at Henrik, who backed against the wall.

"Is that all true?" she said with anger, approaching the man with her fists curled while everyone watched.

"W-what?! N-no, not a-at a-all!" he said, holding his hands up as Yang turned to Aero.

"How can we trust you? How do we know all of this is real and not fabricated? How did you get your hands on this information?"

"In no order whatsoever, my handler got it for me and he confirmed all the information is real. What can I do to show you guys that you can trust me?"

"Who are you?" Weiss asked, stepping forward.

"I can't tell you guys that."

"What about who you work for?" Ruby asked.

"Can't say that either," Aero said, shaking his head as he kept his hands up.

"Then let Mr. Maza go, we have no reason to believe him," Yang said to Blake, who glared at the man. Aero sighed as Ruby turned to him.

"What do you want? You don't want to tell us anything."

"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't say anything or I'm a dead ma… well, actually…" Aero said, looking down and thinking then looking around the room and at the ceiling. Henrik tried to walk away but was stopped when Blake put a hand on his shoulder. Aero looked at the four of them and breathed slowly with his mouth as he wiped the blood away resting on his top lip.

"For the love of all that is good, please don't tell anyone what I'm gonna tell you four, okay?" Aero began. The four friends looked at one another then nodded their heads in agreement as Aero nodded his head.

"My name is Aero Kalo and I'm the top assassin in the Assassin's Guild. Mr. Maza is my target. As of right now I'm working with the White Fang, doing twelve missions for them, this being the twelfth, after which I'm done with the White Fang."

The four looked at Aero then turned to Henrik Maza, who looked at them nervously.

"Come on! Are you really going to believe him?!" he yelled as Yang turned back to Aero.

"Why couldn't you tell us all of this at first?"

"The Guild will literally and most likely kill me for telling you four all that. However, I don't see any audio devices or cameras, which is why I've decided it's worth the risk. And I fully apologize for fighting you four and injuring you guys; I appreciate what Hunters do even if my Guild doesn't."

"Appreciate it Mr. Kalo," Blake said, turning back to Henrik, landing a punch to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Henrik wheezed in pain as Aero looked at her.

"Anytime Ms… ?"

"Mrs. Wukong. I'm sure you already know these two because we called their names out," Blake said, motioning to Ruby and Yang, "and the last of our team is Ms. Schnee."

"Glad we are all courteous and know one another now. So, can I kill him?"

"No, he's going to prison," Weiss said to Henrik, who was curled into a ball.

"He'll get out in a couple of weeks," Aero responded, finally lowering his hands and putting them in his pockets, "Let me kill him and he won't hurt any more families."

"We can't let you do that Aero, we have a duty, which is to to protect people at all costs," Ruby said. Aero shook his head as Blake hauled Henrik Maza to his feet and shook her head at him.

"Alright, well, I'm not fighting you four, I would get my ass handed to me for sure. So, have fun taking him to jail," Aero said walking over to his gun and baton, hiding both on his person again and turning back to the four.

"You're lucky we don't take you in too," Blake said.

"Not a good idea because they'll probably come for me and will kill anyone in their way. Trust me, I'll get fully punished... they'll make sure I get punished."

"We're sorry Aero, but he has to face proper justice," Yang said as Aero nodded his head, quickly telling Ruby how to transfer the files he had over to her Scroll.

"I understand. Good luck out there with the Grimm," he responded.

"Thanks. Good luck with… well, not with killing but-"

"Staying alive?" Ruby asked, making Aero chuckle.

"I'll take it. Thanks for believing me, I'm shocked you guys actually did."

"Well, you were honest with us," Yang said with a shrug, "If someone is honest about themselves, why wouldn't you believe them?"

"Fair enough," he said as Weiss returned his Scroll. The four left with Maza, his arms behind his back. Aero closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, breathing slowly and then opening his eyes to a figure clad in a white trench coat with blue accents, a hood pulled over to hide his green eyes and black boots. The figure was leaning on the door jamb exiting out to the arena but Aero already knew who it was and knew he couldn't put up a fight.

"Eli," he said to the figure, who approached and pulled his hood down.

"Aero."

"How much did you hear?"

"Practically all of it. I was here enjoying myself until I heard of someone chasing another person down and knew it was you. You know how dead you are?"

"Very," Aero said quietly as Eli patted his shoulder and tugged on it, leading him out from the janitor's closet.

"What in the hell were you thinking Aero Kalo?!" Varis, the grandmaster of the Assassin's Guild, yelled at the young assassin who was in the middle of the arena on his knees and handcuffed, his broken nose bandaged. Varis was also the eldest member of the Guild and was in his late 50's, which was reflected in the wrinkles on his face and the white of his hair. He wore a golden robe with purple outlines that covered his entire body and represented his status of grandmaster. His hazel eyes stared down at Aero in pure anger, Aero staring up at him with the same emotion as fellow members looked on.

"I was trying to get my target anyway possible Varis."

"That's Grandmaster Varis to you Aero. Now we have four Huntress's that know about the Guild's existence."

"And?"

"And?! What do you mean and?!"

"What's so bad about this Varis? People were going to find out eventually!"

"How do you know Aero?!" Varis bellowed, jumping down from his elevated position and walking to Aero, standing mere inches from him, "Every other assassin has made sure not to be so idiotic in the field and our secret has remained for over 30 years. And yet, here we are because of you."

Varis held his hand out and a heavily armored guard came forward with a sword in a sheath, stopping next to the grandmaster. He took the sword out and held it firmly in his hands, swinging it around slowly as Aero watched.

"Do you know what this sword is for Aero?"

"Let me guess: to kill those against the Guild?" he replied, Varis chuckling at the response.

"Oh yes," Varis replied as he rested the edge of the sword against Aero's neck, "It is also my personal sword. I want you to understand something: if you step out of line one more time Aero Kalo, this will be cleaving into your neck. First the incident with Cardin and now this: you are on very thin ice," Varis said, sheathing the blade and handing it back to guard and turning around.

"You are hereby suspended from all missions for three months. You will help your handler Sebastian Damper by gathering information on targets for fellow assassins. When you are off your suspension, you are to hunt down and eliminate those Huntress's immediately. Understood?"

"Can't do that Varis."

"Oh?" he said, grabbing the hilt of his blade again, ready to take it out.

"Yeah because I'm extending my 'saves' to those four and all of their associates since I'm still number one," Aero said with a grin. Varis yelled in anger as the arena erupted in in chatter, assassins shocked at what he had just said.

"Damn it Kalo! You cannot do this!"

"Oh I can, considering the fact that there is nothing in the rules preventing it. What happened is my fault, they should not be punished or killed for it. And for you to say that I need to kill them shows all the faults in the Guild."

"How dare you!"

"How dare you tell me I need to go and kill Huntress's when they are the protectors of our world! What will happen if they die Varis, hm? What will happen when you order more dead later down the road? Are you going to go out in the field and take down Grimm?" Aero asked, Varis falling silent as he stared at him with rage blaring in his eyes. Varis breathed out slowly and shook his head, motioning for a guard to un-cuff Aero, who did so, allowing the assassin to get up and stand toe-to-toe with the grandmaster, having three inches on him.

"Keep this in mind Aero Kalo: I have the power of the entire Guild. I can make your life hell and I can do as I please," he said quietly so only Aero could hear him.

"Oh, so you're letting the power get to you? I guess that old saying is right: absolute power corrupts absolutely," Aero snapped back quietly. They stared at one another until Lila tugged on Aero's shoulder, pulling him away from the grandmaster and out of the arena.

"Aero what the hell were you thinking?" Lila said, leading him from the fifth floor to the third floor which is where the handlers worked in the Guild. The large central tower of the Guild, which was hidden in a mountain in Atlas, housed all the different areas of the Guild, from training and eating to the Board and where the assassins slept.

"They deserve the saves Lila. Come on, you, Seb and I know how Varis is letting power get to him. This was the slap he needed."

"I was hoping someone else would slap him so that we could all get off easy," Lila said as she and Aero approached Sebastian, who embraced his friend.

"I can't believe you did that. You're lucky you're still number one mate. Holy hell everyone is talking about it."

"Good," Aero said, moving his nose around and wincing at the pain. He took a seat next to Sebastian in front of a dual monitored computer and rubbed his forehead.

"Hey, these three months will fly by," Lila said, patting his shoulder.

"Yeah, but I need to watch my back," Aero said and elaborated on what Varis said to him before his friends could question it.

"I'm not shocked, but hey, you got me watching your back," Lila said with a smile that Aero returned.

"Something tells me we are not going to be here for much longer," Sebastian said, looking at Aero, who returned the gaze and nodded his head slowly and sighed.

"Well, I guess that means we have to prepare for the worst."

"Guess so. I gotta go meet up with Vincent, keep me updated, okay? And don't give me any bad intel," Lila said with a giggle that Aero copied before she walked away. Aero began to look over a screen full of information on a target and began to copy it until he noticed that Sebastian had written something on a sheet of paper.

Think they'll try something?

You know how Varis is.

You thinking what I'm thinking?

You know it Seb, time to prepare.

"From the Guild?" he asked, the figure nodding his head in response, "Well, you can try."

"Not just me Kalo," the figure said, pulling his hood down to reveal a tan human with dark blue eyes. Both looked up as sounds of shattering glass filled the second floor while similarly dressed figures jumped through the windows that flanked the door.

"Ah, a whole team of… what? Recruits?"

"First and second years. The one that kills you gets your equipment and can choose their missions for five years."

"Sounds nice. I take it you want to be the one to do it out of… what? I guess thirty?"

"Twenty-five and yeah, so shut-" was the last thing he said before Aero grabbed the rifle, thrusted up with it so the stock and scope hit the man in the face, dazing him and allowing Aero to wrench the rifle from his hands and shoot him once in the chest.