Nadia shuffled tiredly to the doors of Gymnasium C at eight-fifty, having consulted a campus map to ensure that she was heading to the right gym, for there were half a dozen. Half-awake after a night that she wouldn't exactly have called restful, she couldn't help having second thoughts about whether or not this whole thing was a good idea, but she was there now, so… Why not…? It's not like you've got anything better to do…

Her resolve had decidedly weakened since her conversation with the Schnee girl the previous day, her motivation ebbing with the chronological distance from the Heiress's pep talk. Still, she'd bestirred herself to get up, dress, and come this far to the door of the gym. An effort that she supposed she shouldn't waste. That was part of it anyway; the other, bigger part of the reason that motivated her to actually go into the gym was that, as intimidating as Colonel Stahlkreuz had been, Nadia was perhaps just the slightest bit terrified of what, should Nadia not show up to the training session, the Colonel would say – or perhaps more to the point, do – to her when next they happened by each other… Stahlkreuz did not look to be a woman who wasted her time. Even taking all of this into consideration, Nadia's expectations were rather dramatically upset when she actually entered the gym.

Beacon's Gym C was dominated by six separate sparring octagons, with a series of punching bags hanging along one wall and the entrances to the locker rooms on the other. But what caught Nadia's attention was the lone woman practicing kick-boxing forms at one of the bags. Nadia didn't even recognize her as Ironwood's aide-de-camp straight away – barefoot and stripped down to a dour gray undershirt and standard issue white Atlesian military fatigues, she almost looked like a different woman altogether. Her hair remained in the same short, manageable ponytail, keeping her trim auburn locks out of her steel grey eyes, every bit as stern as they had been when Nadia had seen her in full uniform. She moved with conditioned efficiency, striking the punching bag with the grace of an arrow hitting its mark, stringing together a rapid series of knee, elbow, and open-hand blows to finish her set before acknowledging Nadia's presence.

"Cadet Undine." She gave a perfunctory nod, and it was plain to Nadia right there that this was the most she could hope for by way of acknowledgment for her punctuality.

"Did you bring a weapon?" the Colonel queried, to Nadia's unsettled surprise.

It was not so much that she'd deliberately brought it as simply failed to take it out of the pocket of her windbreaker that she habitually put on each morning over her t-shirt, but Nadia had a feeling that particular distinction wasn't going to matter much. "Yes…"

"Good." Nadia was stunned, which was just as well, seeing as the Colonel wasn't finished. "Bring it back with you out of the locker room after you take off that jacket and your shoes."

More than a little surprised, Nadia just nodded, and headed to the locker room as instructed. This was one of the few places she hadn't been – not that there had been much to see. It was just a tiled room lined with lockers on all the walls – none of them actually had locks though, presumably because they didn't belong to specific students who would probably provide their own padlocks during use.

Choosing a locker at random, Nadia stripped off her windbreaker and kicked off her shoes as instructed, pausing only to nervously fish her knife from the pocket of her coat before haphazardly stowing them inside. "Time for boot camp…" she thought aloud as she turned for the door, "here's hoping she doesn't kill me…" It felt odd walking around barefoot, but then Nadia supposed that was better than getting her ass kicked with jackboots instead. That wasn't to say that she was exactly eager to go back out there and face the music.

When she emerged from the locker room again, Stahlkreuz had returned to her routine, and Nadia swallowed thickly as she watched the Atlesian officer beat the living hell out of her punching bag. Yep… totally screwed… Something about the way the Colonel laid into the bag with a storm of kickboxing moves just didn't square in Nadia's head with the rigid and cleanly pressed appearance that the Colonel had carried the previous day.

"Into the octagon," Stahlkreuz ordered, jarring Nadia from her intimidated stare as she finished her set again, "prepare yourself."

Her fingers trembling around her little switchblade, Nadia nodded, stepping into the nearest octagonal ring before turning to face her instructor. "So… no drills or strength training…?"

"In due time," Stahlkreuz responded dispassionately, "first I need to see what you can do." She resumed a fighting stance, feet widely separated and fists clenched, arms at the ready. "Now show me."

"What? Just… come at you? With a knife?"

"Do not concern yourself with my safety."

Yeah… probably shouldn't bother with that… Reticence in regards to whether or not her having a knife made the fight fair was little more than an excuse though; much as she carried the thing around, it had seldom done her much good, Mina had still beaten her within an inch of her life and beyond rationality at the shipyard a few months ago, and after that witch had shown her how – and convinced her to – use her Semblance, she hadn't much used the knife since. Still, it was the only weapon she had, and a weapon meant an advantage. I think…

"Right…"

Taking a deep breath, Nadia attempted to compose herself. She didn't succeed, but she was in this one way or another now, so without a further thought, she dashed forward across the ring to make a swipe with her knife. It was only when she got within arm's reach, and hence much too close to abort the 'maneuver,' that she realized precisely how poor a decision this had been. The Colonel's fists shot forward, striking her at once in the upper arm, sending a jarring shock through the limb and causing her to drop the knife rather helplessly, and in the solar-plexus, winding her and sending her sprawling.

"Get up."

Nadia groaned in pain as she tried to recover her breath, only to violently scramble aside as Stahlkreuz collected her knife and threw it her way, leaving it to embed itself in the floor of the ring. "W-what the Hell?"

"You're dead, Cadet."

Nadia's blood ran cold. "J-just like that?"

"Any foe you meet on a battlefield will not hesitate to cut you down if you give them the opportunity as you have given me," Stahlkreuz lectured, "now, on your feet. We are going to do this again as many times as necessary. One cannot simply swing a weapon and expect all else to fall into place."

Staggering to her feet, Nadia reclaimed her knife from the floor padding and looked her opponent over more carefully; the 'rush in and attack' strategy hadn't worked out, as the Colonel had so bluntly demonstrated, so Nadia needed to find a weakness, or else serve as a punching bag on legs. Upon dedicating more scrutiny to her opponent's posture though, Nadia felt herself hard-pressed to arrive at any conclusion save exasperated despair. She'd only dared to challenge Mina after making days of preparations and with enough explosives to level a city block; she didn't stand a chance against a professionally trained huntress – even an unarmed one – in a fair fight. Come on… think… Stahlkreuz was a head taller than Nadia, and while svelte at a glance, she was pretty much all lean muscle, which stood in rather disheartening contrast to Nadia herself, who was certainly fit – for a layperson – but she didn't want to think about how many weights she'd have to lift to fight Stahlkreuz seriously without getting snapped in half.

"Are you afraid, Undine?"

Nadia blinked. "Um… a little…"

"Good," Stahlkreuz responded coldly, stance not faltering, "a criminal such as you should not get comfortable."

"H-hey! What the hell!? I'm not…" Nadia slackened, But you are…

The Colonel's eyes narrowed by just the slightest perceptible fraction before she folded her arms in front of her in disapproval. "So I see that this was not only a poor decision, but also a waste of time. I hadn't thought it possible, but you've disappointed me, Faunus."

Nadia's teeth clenched and her grip around the knife in her hand tightened. "Shut up! Take that-"

"You are dismissed; I have more important things to do."

"No!" Nadia rushed at her. "Just… Shut up!"

Stahlkreuz resumed her fighting stance again as quickly as she had dropped it, pivoting smoothly out of the way of Nadia's knife. With a sweep of the foot, she took Nadia's footing from under her and Nadia fell hard, desperately trying to turn and throw her knife as she toppled, but the blade ultimately clattered harmlessly off of the ceiling and she hit the mat on her back, breath driven from her lungs. As Nadia gasped for breath, she felt her anger mounting at the sight of Stahlkreuz's cold, grey stare looking down on her, and summoning all the strength she could, Nadia fought back to her feet and then lunged, shouting incoherently. The Colonel's infuriatingly calm response was to drive a knee into Nadia's solar-plexus this time, and as she staggered, gasping, Stahlkreuz pivoted again – behind Nadia now – and knocked her to the ground again with a roundhouse kick. Before she could recover from her daze, Nadia felt her right arm being pinned behind her back as the Colonel held her down.

"Better," the Colonel muttered, leaving Nadia more than a little perplexed, "now tell me Cadet, why did you lose?"

"Maybe because you're a trained killing machine and I'm a punk with a cheap switchblade!" Nadia spat bitterly, struggling in vain to get up, before tears threatened to spill onto her cheeks, "but that doesn't mean you get to treat me like some stupid animal!"

"Indeed not." And like that, Nadia was free again, perhaps the greatest surprise of the morning, but before Nadia could stew in her perplexity, she continued. "And while it is true that your technique remains demonstrably abysmal, that much I can help you change. What then, was the other reason you lost?"

"You… you just… pissed me off so much. I… I got so angry…"

"Indecision in combat is as deadly as any weapon, and you hesitated," Stahlkreuz began, "anger is an excellent motivator, in its proper place." She grabbed a slightly startled Nadia by the hand and hauled her to her feet with little discernible effort. "But it must never govern your decision-making."

"Okay…" Nadia replied, still flustered, but realizing that the epithets had been a ploy, rather than genuine. Not that she was necessarily calm as such. "But did you have to beat the crap out of me to teach me that?"

"People learn best by doing," Stahlkreuz dismissed the question impatiently, "and whether or not you have learned the lesson remains to be seen."

And people call Schnee the Ice queen… Nadia thought, dusting herself off, At least she's- Nadia blushed profusely. What the hell are you thinking? She just beat the hell out of you!

"Cadet Undine."

"Y-yes Ma'am!"

There was a pause as Stahlkreuz looked her over. "You are not looking well. Has this been too much for you?"

"No Ma'am!" Nadia hastily answered, despite her protesting bruises, "I can keep going... If you want…"

"Excellent, we may make a soldier of you yet." Stahlkreuz gave just the slightest nod of approval. "Now then, twenty laps about the campus, then report to the weight room; you need to build a foundation of strength and endurance before you attempt anything more complicated."

Wait… Nadia gaped, horrified. Since when did I join her damned army?

When Mina finally returned to the RWBY dorm it was well past midnight and, judging by the volume of snores and the odd drowsy exclamation of 'pancakes,' the members of Team JNPR had been invited to stay the night. Blake and Weiss were the only ones who had actually gotten into bed – the rest having either fallen asleep in their chairs about the study table or curled up on the floor with a blanket – a fact which made navigating the room considerably more hazardous than it would normally have been. Under better circumstances, it might have made Mina smile, but Torchwick's news did not bode well.

Mina carefully stepped over Miss Valkyrie's sleeping form on her way over to Blake's bed. Hesitating for just a moment, if only to chuckle despite everything at the way Miss Xiao Long had ended up spooning Mr. Arc – and innocent gesture, surely – but still, she had a task to complete.

Kneeling beside Blake's bed, Mina gently prodded her Dearest's shoulder. "Blake…"

"Mmmm…" Blake shifted before mumbling, "Stop it Lucy… mum's tired…"

Mina's head tilted in momentary puzzlement, until she remembered their last 'conversation' over her scroll, then she cracked a little smile. "Dearest, it's me."

Blake's eyes flickered open. "Mina…? Why are you so late…?"

"I'm sorry Dearest…" Mina apologized, "but… Please, come out into the hall with me; we have something to discuss…"

Groggily, Blake sat up with a nod. "Alright…"

Mina helped Blake to her feet and the two tiptoed around the sleeping forms of their friends until they got to the door, at which point they let themselves out, gently shutting the door behind them.
"Mina… What's this about?"

"I met Mr. Torchwick on the way home-"

"You what?" Blake was instantly alert, "What did he say to you? Did he threaten you-?"

Mina shook her head. "No, no, it was nothing of the sort-"

"Then what did he want with you?" Blake pressed, worry plain in her voice, "what does a despicable person like that-"

"I offered him a deal…" Mina admitted, looking away, "Months ago… He found me at the café but… he did not want to take me prisoner, rather to talk-"

"And you listened?" Blake whispered back in disbelief, "Mina, you know he's-"

"Mr. Torchwick was not necessarily feeling entirely confident in his present cohorts, it would seem, and so I… I offered to vouch for him should he decide to… defect… as it were…"

"What? Mina! Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"I offered an incentive to a man who might shed some light on the broader quandary with the White Fang," Mina responded with calm self-assurance, "speaking on behalf of a thief to catch murderers seems a fair bargain to me."

Blake faltered. "Mina…"

"Tonight though…"

Blake tensed. "What did he say?"

"He called it a 'good faith' payment – to keep his options open," Mina said, taking Blake's hands and squeezing them tightly, "Dearest… They are going to make a move on the festival."

"On the Vytal Festival?" Blake gaped. "Wait – what does he gain by telling you this? If they're ready to make a move, and he's not switching sides…" Blake shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense…"

"I… do not know..." Mina admitted, "I thought to tell The Headmaster or perhaps General Ironwood, but I decided that I would tell you first."

Blake bit her lip. What to do with this knowledge? Or was it even reliable, given the source? For all she knew Torchwick had lied to Mina through his teeth because, if word of something like this got out, it would cause a panic and perhaps even popular resentment of Faunus because of the White Fang… She closed her eyes tightly. "We… You're right… We have to tell Ozpin, and the others, but… No one else."

"Dearest…?"

"Promise me something, okay?" Blake asked.

"Anything."

"If something is really about to happen, then… just… Please be careful, alright?" Blake pulled a surprised Mina into a hug. "Better yet, I don't want you to go into Vale alone anymore."

"Dearest, my job-"

"Then I'll go with you," Blake rashly asserted, "if it makes you happy I'll wear the stupid maid costume and work there with you, but I just don't want you to meet him by yourself again – God forbid he doesn't just want to scheme next time."

Mina blinked, then blinked again and cracked a smirk, squeezing Blake tightly in their embrace now. "But of course; tomorrow morning we can deliver this unfortunate news and then we can go down into Vale to have your dress properly sized~"

Blake sighed. "Right…"

Author's Note: Alright, for clarity's sake, I'm going to specify that both sections of this chapter take place on the same day as the previous – Nadia's section in the morning, and Mina's shortly after the end of the last chapter that evening. I did this because, as a matter of in-chapter flow, it wouldn't have fit as well to put Nadia's portion after Mina's, though I apologize if there's any confusion. At any rate, I do hope that you've enjoyed the chapter, and once again, many thanks to KillamriX88 for edits! Until next time, have a good one.