Ren and Yang didn't believe him when he said Blake agreed to join them.

When Team RRSN showed up, and Blake hadn't he felt a little nervous. His partner did show up, at the exact time he told her.

"So Jaune." Yang gave him a look, that was almost pitiful. He hated it. He was the team leader. He hated being the one everyone looked down on. "Is Blake coming?" It was almost three.

Jaune was about to make an excuse, but he was interrupted "I'm here" Yang looked a little surprised as Blake walked up behind her. She, like everyone else, brought her weapon.

"So, what's everyone want to do today?" Ruby said, unintentionally bringing Yang out of her stupor. "I'm looking for some replacement parts for Crescent Rose!" Ruby spoke excitedly, petting her folded weapon.

"I'll join you." Pyrrha confirmed.

"Nora and Ren are coming with me to the arcade." Yang added.

Jaune quickly realized he had nothing to do with Blake. He had invited her after all, and he'd lose interest if he didn't have something to do. "Blake and I are going to uh-" he didn't know much about Blake, but he knew about one of her hobbies at least "To the bookstore!". Blake glanced at him, and gave him a nod.

"I'll go with Ruby." Weiss said.

"We'll meet up at the arcade after we're all done." Everyone agreed with Ruby's plan, and they boarded the airship.

Jaune discreetly searched for bookstores in Vale, and settled on Tukson's Book Trade. It looked quaint, and was out of the way. Hopefully Blake enjoyed it. As the flight kept on, he did his best to hold the contents of his stomach.

Thankfully he managed to do so, and the group split after landing. Blake stood next to him now, asked "What bookstore are we going to?" She seemed genuinely curious.

"Tucson's Book Trade. It's this way."

The two navigated the city through twisting roads, turns, and intersections until they reached their destinations. The store looked exactly like it did online. "Here it is!" Jauen exclaimed.

Blake seemed pleased by his decision, and they entered the building together.

"We're being followed." Emerald said

"I know." Mercury had noticed the clanking of metal and heavy set foot steps for the past 30 minutes. The trek from the forest to Beacon was about 3 hours. The Trees and Bushes were thick. Easy to hide in. A human or Grimm would have easily been able to take advantage of the cover, but they knew who was hunting them. Their hunters were neither.

"How long until they attack?"

Mercury thought for a second. "Right about-"

A figure jumped from the forests. It was tall, plated with red armor and blue accents. A glowing blue "M'' was on its chest. It swung down a large glaive. Emerald rolled away, and Mercury himself jumped back.

The glaive impacted where they just stood. Mercury's boots shot off, and he brought down his foot with an ax kick towards the robot's head. Merlot Industries had created these robots to fight off Grimm and semi experienced fighters. Against advanced fighters however, they lacked the capabilities against well trained opponents like himself.

His boot hit true, smashing the bot's head inwards. Emerald fired off her weapons as two more bots jumped from the forest. "Save one of the heads!" she yelled at him. The thief twisted and ducked between the glaives coming at her.

The bots were clearly top heavy, and Mercury took advantage of that. His boots fired off a pair of shots towards the robot's legs, which made it buckled and fall under its own weight as they flew off.

Mercury flanked the final tin can from behind, and sweeps its legs out from under it. Em struck down with her blades, cutting the bot into thirds.

The bot merc shot at was dragging itself along the ground. He stepped on its back. Em knelt in front of it, blade out. "Hey, weirdo, can you hear us?" The robot began to seize up. "I guess that's a yes. My boss has an offer for you, Merlot." It stopped and looked up at her.

"And what would that be?" a robotic voice came from it.

"We'll take this tin can's head along with us. You can speak to her there."

"And what is stopping me, from stopping you? Or tracking you back to your base?" it questioned

"We stopped three of your bots without a sweat. And unless you plan on attacking Vale by yourself, you can't stop us." Emerald smirked arrogantly

"Fine. I'll hear your benefactor out." Emerald

Em ripped the head off the body. "Cinder will appreciate this."

Merc rolled his eyes. Emerald really thought Cinder cared for her, but he knew they were both tools. Once they are useless they simply become loose ends.

"Come on babe, let's get back." Emerald began to rant at him about how annoying he was. Mercury didn't care about anyone, but letting Emerald die would be a waste. He'd have to make sure she didn't make any stupid mistakes, and jeopardize his own position. That was it, he was just looking out for himself.

Blake was impressed, and if she would admit to herself a little touched, by Jaune's choice. Blake didn't think Jaune was a bad guy or anything. He was certainly a weak fighter, and not academically gifted, but he had a good heart? She didn't really know him as well as she should.

Blake was currently in the fantasy section. She wouldn't look at her… other literature with Jaune around. He was currently in the comic book section, intently looking at super hero's do battle. Blake's eyes flicked towards the store owner. He was a Faunus, that much Blake could tell by his claws retracted into his nails.

He was watching her. Every time he looked her way, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck. She didn't want to make an assumption, because that's what people like Cardin and Weiss did, but could he be a spy?

This time, she caught his eyes. He flicked his eye towards Jaune, asking if they could speak privately. She needed Jaune out of the way, she couldn't have the White Fang knowing where her, or her team were. She calmly walked over to Jaune and laid a hand on his shoulder.

Blake could tell he was the sweet, earnest type from her interactions with him. The touch caught his attention, and he almost seemed to be happy because of it. "Would you mind going around the corner and grabbing me a tea? From that café?" he agreed quickly, and walked out the store.

Blake walked quickly towards the counter and brought out her sword. Tukson quickly put his hands up as the interior dimmed. "I just want to talk."

"Then talk." Blake pointed her sword towards him

"I know who you are, Blake. Adam is looking for you" Blake's blood ran cold. "Lucky for you, I'm trying to get out like you did."

She lowered her weapon "And why should I trust you?" she questioned. Defections like her were not unheard of, but they were uncommon. Just about everyone was a fanatic, especially those under Adam. Another person leaving the Vale branch was quite interesting to Blake.

"I'm willing to provide you with information until I'm able to leave." This piqued her interest, and she did her best not to show it.

"What would I do with this information?" Blake knew exactly what she'd do with it. Without a second thought she'd find them herself. The Fang was her responsibility. If she didn't stop them herself, no one would.

"You could pass it on to Beacon, to the police, whatever you want."

"And what do you want in return?" This deal was too sweet without a catch.

"Once I've prepared for my desertion I'll need protection, somewhere to go…"

"Deal." If that was all he wanted, Blake was game. "I can escort you to Beacon."

She scribbled her number on a notepad he slid towards her. "I'll reach out once I have more information."

"Is Adam really looking for me?"

Tukson nodded in approval. "He's lost his way. He's become increasingly violent. He put out a notice to look for you in Forever Fall."

Jaune walked through the door at this point, tea in hand. "Here you go Blake." she took it from him with a thank you. "Man' it's awfully dark in here now."

Tukson brought the shade back up. "Ah, don't worry about that. Why don't you take the latest issue of X-Ray and Vav? On the house."

Jaune gave his thanks as his eyes lit up. "Come on Jaune. Let's head out." Tukson gave her a nod as the door closed.

Jaune did his best to fill the silence while walking to the arcade. Blake appreciated the effort and did her best to engage in the conversation. It wasn't that she disliked Jaune or anything. He was nice, and certainly put in the effort to be a team leader.

Jaune clearly lacked experience. Her partner often told stories of chaotic sisters, a huntsman father, and an overprotective mother. Combine this with his lack of basic combat skills and aura, Jaune couldn't know about her past in the White Fang.

He'd want to help her, or even worse protect her. He wouldn't last a second against Adam, or even Ilia.

"Here we are." They entered the Arcade.

Ren was intensely playing a dancing game while Nora and Yang cheered on, holding mountains of tickets. At their entrance, Ren finished up his set and they met up.

"I didn't expect you to be a dancer." Blake said. She would be surprised that Ren liked anything at the arcade at all.

"It provides a good forum for agility training," he stated simply.

"Oh yeah! Renny is quite the dancer!" Nora exclaimed "You should see him on a real dance floor." she whispered. Nora and Yang went to redeem their tickets.

"I'm pretty good at dancing too." Jaune said as they walked away.

Ren raised an eyebrow "Is this so?"

"Don't tell me your competitive Ren." Blake teased.

"Let's go a round!" Jaune seemed excited at the prospect. Ren obliged and the two entered into an intense competition of dance. She watched from a short distance away.

Blake took this time to reflect on her partner some more. Blake was sure she could trust Jaune with her secret. He clearly didn't discriminate against Faunus, and wouldn't hold a grudge for her previous affiliation. The problem was that as her partner, Jaune could be a target of White Fang attacks from Adam.

He couldn't protect himself, and as she thought about it, why were his skills so lacking? Jaune had not even unlocked his aura until initiation. His father was a huntsman after all. Something doesn't add up.

An arm was slung around her shoulder. "You're deep in thought there, teamy." Yang had saddled up next to her. "What's on your mysterious mind?"

"Jaune" Blake looked at Yang as she wiggled her eyebrows. She gently pushed her arm from her shoulder. "Not like that." she chastised stoically, though there was a dusting of pink on her cheeks.

Blake got serious again. "He underperforms in class."

"We're just students, he'll learn."

"He has no skills or techniques"

"Pfft, someone can teach him that."

Blake leaned in a bit and said softly "He didn't have his aura at initiation. He didn't even know what it was."

Yang blinked in surprise. "Okay. That's weird." she admitted.

"I just don't want him to get hurt."

"You have a funny way of showing it." Yang said very aggressively.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she questioned incredulously.

"I mean you hardly spend time with us, let alone him." Their respective partners were still engrossed in their dancing competition. Nora was cheering them on, and the rest of their friends had found their way to them.

"That… is complicated." For her it was. Anyone close to her was in danger. If she could take down the White Fang before they found her team, she could prevent anything bad happening.

"Then uncomplicate it. We need you. Jaune needs you, as his partner." Yang had suddenly become very serious. Blake had yet to see her like this, but as she pointed out they hadn't spent much time together.

"I know, Yang. I'm working on it." That wasn't a lie. When Tukson gave her that information, she could sabotage the operations in Vale, and prevent Adam from finding her team. Tukson was a happy accident, but one she fully intended to take full advantage of.

"I hope so Blake. I don't know if Jaune could handle you rejecting him. He's like Ruby, simple and kind. It'd break his heart." Blake hummed her agreement as she watched him lose his game to Ren as their friends cheered on.

"I won't let anything happen to him." She'd make sure of that.

Cinder was pleased with Emerald and Mercury. They made contact with Merlot, planted Watt's bug, and established a line of communication with him. She unplugged her scroll from the Robot's head. The rogue scientist has not originally been a part of her plan, but his activity could cause increased huntsman precedes, along with his robotics causing Atlas to remove the Knight and Paladin units from Vale. In addition he would add some more advanced fighters compared to the volunteers of the White Fang or the criminals Roman recruited.

Cinder stepped out of the office into the scaffolding of her warehouse. Roman had many such places to move material, and she had taken this one as a safehouse for herself and her followers.

As she walked down the stairs two groups of figures stood with a large distance between them. Adam Taurus stood tall, proud, and with a very displeased look on his face. A group of recruits stood behind him along with his imposing lieutenant.

Completely opposite to him, Roman Torchwick stood casually. A cigar hung out of his mouth as he leaned on his cane. Neo stood behind him with that sadistic smile on her face, the one she always had.

"Gentlemen." She looked at Neo and said, "And lady." the psychopath nodded with a satisfied smile. "Thank you for meeting me."

"Make this quick Fall, I have much to attend to. I need to leave for the outskirts immediately." Adam was always like this. He was useful now, but he could become a liability later down the line.

"Take it easy red." Roman puffed his cigar "Our benefactor is just making sure we work well together." Adam looked displeased.

"I don't associate with people of your kind, Torchwick."

"Humans? Or criminals? I hate to break it to you, but both of us are in one of those boats."

"I meant scum" Adam growled.

"Gentlemen. Your cooperation is necessary for all of our benefits. You don't have to like each other, just work together." Cinder interjected. Their bickering wasn't nearly as entertaining as Emerald and Mercury could be.

"I've brought the men I can spare. Sienna Khan is not completely on board with this plan." Adam had a point with that. Khan had rebuffed their own attempts at communication, which is why she had reached out to Adam. He was willing to get his hand dirty.

"That is appreciated Adam. They will be participating in a variety of operations here."

"I'm leaving a trusted lieutenant of mine. He'll manage them, and ensure my intent is carried out."

"You may carry on now, Adam. I'm sure you're hard at work ensuring our plan is enacted well." Cinder could imagine the glare behind the mask, but he turned away and walked out.

When he left, Roman spoke. "He didn't bring me enough. The White Fang aren't good for robberies, and huntsmen will follow them."

Cinder had accounted for this. Roman was reluctant to work with anyone, let alone her or Adam. Roman was simple, his only incentive was survival. Give him the tools to survive, and he'll do as you ask. Cinder handed him a briefcase. It was filled with Lien.

"Return to Junior. Buy his loyalty." When he seemed a bit nervous at that, she added "If he refuses, I'll handle him myself."

Roman tugged on his collar and took the case. "Sure thing boss." he spun around and left casually, but an observant eye would catch the shaking of his hand. Neo followed close behind, glaring at her.

Cinder didn't care if Roman or his pet feared or hated her, only that he worked towards her plan. Both of them would be useful tools moving forward.

Her scroll vibrated and she pulled it out. The screen projected the white haired and robotic eye of Merlot. "Doctor Merlot. I'm happy to make your acquaintance. You may call me Cinder."

"Dispense with the pleasantries. What is it you want with me?" He was jittery and annoyed.

"I have an offer, you can't refuse."

Cinder would have the Fall Maiden power. No matter what.

AN: Sorry for the super late update. I added a bit extra to make up for it. Work and the military keep me pretty busy. Thank you all again for following, reviewing, and favorting. I plan on making a handful of shorter stories to release more frequently. These would be more one shot cannon adventures for the characters. I'll do my best to get back to weekly chapters. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.