Disclaimer: RWBY does not belong to me. It belongs to Rooster Teeth, and any attempt to infer otherwise will result in Neo coming to your house to troll you like a hurricane.
Ozpin regarded his latest project with satisfaction. Neo had been a roaring success - why, he was so proud he might even start training her up to be his eventual successor in the Headmaster role.
For now, though, there was one, final loose end that needed cleaning up.
"Neo," he smiled from behind his coffee cup, "I'm sure you're wondering why I asked for you."
NOT REALLY
She replied with her whiteboard,
LESSER BEINGS ARE ALWAYS DESPERATE FOR MY ATTENTION
"I see," he chuckled, "First of all, I'd like to extend my thanks to you for uncovering such a heinous villain. We were all totally unaware that such an evil-doer was in our midst."
She grinned.
IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A HERO
"I'm sure," Ozpin nodded, then turned serious, "In fact, your integration into Beacon has been so impressive that I'd like to nominate you for a special mission, one that you are the most qualified to accomplish."
THAT DOESN'T EXACTLY NARROW IT DOWN
"No, I suppose it wouldn't," Ozpin agreed, "I will rephrase; this is a mission that only you are able to accomplish. You see, your brothers and sisters in the White Fang are on the path to destruction, and only one like you, who understands their pain, can turn them from it."
I SEE
She nodded solemnly.
IT SEEMS MY PEOPLE NEED ME
"Yes," Ozpin replied gravely, "Yes, they do. And we've found a way for you to save them. Our informants have alerted us to an upcoming meeting their current leader, Adam Taurus, is hosting," he set down his cup and fixed her with a stare, "Go, Neo, and be the Ice-Cream Faunus your people need you to be."
I SHALL LEAD THEM TO A BRIGHTER FUTURE
She silently declared as she held up her whiteboard,
AS IT WILL HAVE ME IN IT
Adam was pleased with the turnout. He had expected membership to be down, what with the disaster that was the Grimm attack, and their 'business partners' being outed and captured by the law, but there was still a big attendance. Perhaps the dead Faunus in the tunnels had become martyrs? It was something to look into.
He stepped out onto the stage, cleared his throat, then blinked as his rousing speech was interrupted by a huge, white screen activating behind him. Whirling around, he saw that simple black writing was appearing on it.
AHEM
There was a pause.
TESTING, ONE, TWO, THREE
Then, a slightly familiar face to many present walked onto the stage, dressed in colourful white and pink attire, holding an electronic whiteboard that was apparently connected up to the big screen.
MY PEOPLE
The words came up for everyone to see.
YOUR QUEEN HAS RETURNED
"You're that girl who was with that damn Torchwick!" Someone called out.
YES I WAS
Neo bowed in acknowledgement.
HE HIRED ME BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANT YOU GETTING TOO EXCITED ABOUT THAT CRAPPY BATTLESUIT THING
She shook her head in disbelief.
SERIOUSLY, ONE OF THOSE GOT ONE-SHOTTED BY A CORGI
She paused, then quickly scribbled out another note.
NO OFFENCE TO ANY CORGIS IN THE ROOM
"None taken!" came a voice from the back.
She then motioned to herself.
ANYWAY, SO, HE PUT SOMETHING FAR MORE AMAZING ON STAGE WITH IT TO DISTRACT YOU ALL
She then gave a determined look.
BUT NOW I AM BACK TO LEAD MY PEOPLE TO VICTORY
"Your people?" Adam growled, "You're a human."
HUMAN
Neo looked offended.
I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I AM A PROUD ICE-CREAM FAUNUS, ADAM
She motioned to her face.
MY EYES CHANGE COLOUR ADAM
She demonstrated with a blink, getting many appreciative 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the crowd.
HOW MANY HUMANS CAN DO THAT I HEAR YOU ASK, THAT'S RIGHT NONE
She looked thoughtful.
WELL, APART FROM YANG BUT I'M PRETTY SURE SHE'S A FAIL FAUNUS
Neo then pointed at her head.
AND I'VE GOT ICE CREAM HAIR
She gave a dramatic hair-flick.
NATURAL COLOURS ADAM
She gave him a superior smirk.
NO HUMAN COULD BE THIS FABULOUS
She then gave him a suspicious look.
WHAT ABOUT YOU ADAM
Neo made a show of looking him over.
YOU DON'T HAVE HORNS, OR ANTLERS, OR ANIMAL EARS, OR SHARP TEETH, OR A TAIL
She pointed at him dramatically.
ARE YOU EVEN A FAUNUS ADAM
"What?" he sputtered, "Of course I'm a Faunus, you fool."
JUST HAVING STUPID-LOOKING HAIR DOESN'T MAKE YOU A FAUNUS ADAM
"That discounts you, too," Adam pointed out.
NO IT DOESN'T ADAM
She shook her head.
BECAUSE MY HAIR ISN'T STUPID-LOOKING, IT'S FANTASTIC
There was a moment of silence.
"...She's got you there, boss," someone admitted from the front row.
SO THEN ADAM
Neo looked at him accusingly.
SHOW US YOUR IDENTIFYING FAUNUS PART
"...I can't," he admitted reluctantly.
YOU CANT, I THOUGHT YOU WERE A FAUNUS ADAM
She smirked smugly at him.
"Look," he said tersely, "I'm a Bull Faunus. I. Can't."
Her eyes narrowed, then widened.
OH
Her face turned slightly red.
OOOOOOOHHHHHHH
There was an awkward silence, marked by most of the female Faunus in the audience eyeing up their (apparently former) leader in a whole new light.
WELL, IN THE INTERESTS OF KEEPING THIS MEETING PG, I'LL JUST LET YOU STAY IN MY NEW ORDER ADAM
Neo nodded in satisfaction at another difficult situation being resolved.
YOU CAN BE THE BOUNCER OR SOMETHING
She then turned back to the crowd.
NOW THEN, OUR FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS IS A NAME CHANGE
She jotted out another line.
FROM HENCE FORTH, WE SHALL BE
She paused for a few moments for dramatic tension,
THE BROWN, WHITE AND PINK FANG
Neo pointed to herself in silent declaration.
IN HONOUR OF ME
She looked around.
EVERYONE OF IMPORTANCE, VOTE NOW
She scribbled out a quick word.
AYE
Without waiting for a response from anyone else, she wrote again.
VOTE PASSED, WOW THIS DEMOCRACY THING IS GREAT
Neo then regarded the crowd.
THE NEXT THING WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT ARE YOUR METHODS
She shook her head in disappointment.
THIS MINDLESS VIOLENCE THING IS REALLY GOING TO GET YOU NOWHERE
This raised a few hackles.
"And what would you have us do?" Adam re-entered the conversation with a snort. "Peacefully protest?"
HELL NO
She shook her head.
TAKE INSPIRATION FROM YOUR GLORIOUS LEADER
She puffed herself up importantly.
WITH MERE WORDS, I BROUGHT DOWN THE CRIMINAL ORGANISATION THAT WAS PULLING YOUR STRINGS IN A FEW HOURS
The screen suddenly split into two parts. The first part showed Neo's words as they appeared on the screen.
The second was the beginning of a Presentation.
SO, MY BRETHREN OF THE BROWN, WHITE AND PINK FANG, IT IS TIME TO START YOUR FIRST SEMINAR ON THE NOBLE ART
She grinned. It was not a nice grin.
OF PUSHING PEOPLE'S BUTTONS UNTIL THEY BREAK
"Hello, and welcome back to the Vale News Network, with me, Lisa Lavender. And of course, our top story is still the change in direction for the former terrorist organisation once known as the White Fang, now the Brown, White and Pink fang. With us today is Rudolf Renier, a spokesperson for the newly-changed group. Thank you for coming on the show, Rudolf."
"It's my pleasure, Lisa," the suit-clad faunus with distinctive antlers smiled.
"Now then," Lisa began, "Many are very curious about the reason for the former White Fang's dramatic shift in policy. Can you shed some light on what it was that caused the group to turn over this new leaf?"
"New leaf?" Rudolf gasped. "Is that a joke? Are you trying to make fun of me because I'm a Herbivore?"
Lisa paled. "What? No, of course not, it's just a saying-"
"I did not come on this show to be ridiculed and subjected to bigotry," he declared, "We change our ways, stop the violence, and this is how we are repaid? I suppose next you'll ask me to pull a sleigh, will you?"
"N-no, of course not, I'm sorry -"
"Your apologies won't bring back all those years of having my nose painted red by the other kids in the neighbourhood!" he pointed at her furiously, "This is an outrage! An outrage!"
"I'm sorry!" Lisa wailed, "I didn't mean it! I-"
Click.
The television turned off.
Lie Ren and Yang Xiao Long shared a haunted look, and then a horrified whisper.
"There's an army of them."
They then proceeded to curl up into little balls on the floor. They would not leave that position until Nora knocked down the door with her hammer and the rest of their respective teams forcibly dragged them out.
Ozpin nodded in satisfaction. Cinder Fall and her group were safely behind bars, the White Fang's violence had been neutered, Ironwood had lost basically all of his influence and credibility due to the Atlas Mech's complete inability to contain the Neo-instigated rampages by his students, and, most importantly, Glynda was pissed off beyond belief.
Everything had worked out, just as he had planned.
Now, to see what the future held - and maybe get started on training his replacement. She had a lot of potential, but there was still a fair bit of work to be done.
After all, there was always more to be learned from a master.
Fin
A/N: Well, that's it, folks. Sorry, but that's the end of what I had planned for this, for now. Short, but hopefully sweet. I'll almost definitely do a sequel to this once we hit Volume 3 of RWBY and hopefully have more antagonists for Ozpin and Neo to ruin the lives of, but for now, I'm out of content! I'll probably do some Omakes as I think them up (and in the unlikely event that anyone wants to write one themselves, feel free to contact me with submissions and I'll post up the good ones up on the omake page).
Again, thanks a load for the interest and positive reviews to my debut, and I promise I'll get right on planning some more nonsense for you to hopefully enjoy!