All was quiet at Beacon as the last of the students retired for the night. It was a Sunday evening and everyone needed their sleep to be ready for classes the next day. It's hard enough to stay awake through Port's lectures even with a full eight hours.

Security was relatively weak compared to most other training facilities. When you have a school filled with some of the best combatants the world has to offer, human and Faunus, hired guards aren't really the biggest concern. Add the facts that Remnant has been spoiled by an extended time of peace and sense of security (Unless your name happens to be Schnee) and Beacon is a rather easy safe to crack.

Slade was counting on this. The guards that were posted were focused on the info centers, server rooms, and armories. Not the outer perimeter. They were ready for someone to try and break in to gain intel or hack the systems. Were that the mission that needed to be done, Cinder would have hired someone else. But he was hired for a much simpler contract: eliminate team RWBY.

Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke, was set up on the outskirts of the Beacon campus. He spied through the thermal scope of a sniper rifle, noting the guard routines, plotting the campus layout, and planning out the best method to kill four teenage girls in the middle of a dormitory filled with huntsmen armed to the teeth with the most overkill weapons in existence.

"Deathstroke," he heard in his helmet. "Deathstroke!"

"What do you want?" He spoke back into his headset, continuing to survey the area. He was really tired of Roman calling like this. He almost regretted breaking him out of prison. Almost. While it was a high risk job, the reward was even higher. But his payment for breaking Torchwick out paled in comparison to what he was being offered for this.

"Oh I was just checking up on how Cinder's new, favorite assassin is doing." He was trying to start things.

"Don't drag me into your personal problems with your boss, Torchwick. I'm not doing this to spite you or gain favor with Miss Fall. I couldn't care less about any of you. You want these little girls dead. I want the money you've promised me to do it. It's none of my concern if you're upset that your boss picked someone else to do the job other than you."

There was a beat of silence before Roman spoke up again. "Duly noted. Although I will remind you that Cinder wanted these little girls out of the way."

"I believe dead constitutes as 'out of the way.'"

"Yeah. But there's a big difference between dead and assassinated. Dead could be from anything. Assassinated leads to investigation. Investigations draw a lot more attention to people like us. If there's one thing our boss-"

"Your boss. My client," Slade interrupted.

"Same difference!" Roman was getting flustered. "She doesn't want too much attention drawn to this."

"So you want me to take these girls out, but make it look as subtle or accidental as possible? You just made this a lot more complicated. Killing huntresses is difficult enough."

"Too much for you to handle?"

"Of course not. Just adds an extra layer of thrill to the hunt."

"Well, I guess it's important to love what you do."

"I'm definitely not doing this on campus," Wilson decided as he lowered his rifle and rose to his feet, ready to pack up and go. "I have no interest in taking on every huntsman in Vale trying to infiltrate a dormitory to find one team. I've got to get them somewhere else. Somewhere outside the academy. Preferably all at once. Don't want them alerting anyone."

"Sounds like a plan," Torchwick responded. "Just remember: be as discreet as possible."

As if on cue, a Beacon guard spoke up from behind Deathstroke. "Hey, you! You're not supposed to be here." Damn. Caught like an amateur, Slade thought to himself. "What was that?" Roman was demanding over the headset.

The guard noticed the rifle in his hands and drew his gun. "Sir, I'm going to need you to drop the gun and turn around with your hands in the air." With few other options, Slade did what he was told. With his gun trained on the assassin, the guard spoke into his earpiece. "I've got a highly armed intruder on the Northern perimeter. Requesting backup."

"You really shouldn't have done that," Slade said to the guard. In one, quick motion, Deathstroke reached over his shoulder, pulled his ballistic staff from his back, aimed it at the guard, and fired. A small needle flew from the barrel in the tip and implanted itself in the guard's neck. Almost instantly, the guard dropped his gun, fell to the ground, and began jerking violently.

"What. The hell. Was that?!" Torchwick asked.

Slade's response was blunt. "Threat neutralized."

Roman paused for a moment. "Remember what I said about Cinder not wanting you to draw attention? Well, getting caught and killing a guard tends to draw a lot of attention!"

"Well maybe if I didn't have to stop to deal with you, I would've heard him sooner," Slade rebutted, gathering his rifle and starting to leave.

"Any more bystanders end up dead, and your payment's gonna rapidly start getting smaller! Got it?!" Torchwick scolded.

Distracted: it was an acceptable reason for a rookie, but not for a hardened veteran to the art. Slade got sloppy. His mind was somewhere else. He was thinking about his contract. Normally he would've turned it down. But the reward was too much to not accept it, regardless of who the target was or how personal it got.

Deathstroke turned his earpiece off and made his way into the woods.

Professor Ozpin stood in front of the window in his office, looking out on the campus. Beacon was in a difficult situation. A guard was killed last night. Not an accident. Not a surprise Grimm attack. It was murder. Someone was on campus. Someone hostile.

Ozpin gave strict orders to raise security as high as possible without alerting the students. An investigation would be run until more information was learned about the attack. Until drastic measures were deemed necessary, he didn't want to worry the students. They had enough to worry about with their studies.

"Did he have a family?" Professor Goodwitch asked as she entered the room.

"No," Ozpin answered, his eyes still gazing out the window. "Mister Kenneth was not married. He had no children. He is survived by a cousin in Mistral. According to his friends, he was the 'life of the party' but rarely let others into his personal life."

"It's a shame that he was lost. Especially in this way," Glynda added as she took a place beside the headmaster.

"Yes. It truly is." There was a moment of silence before Glynda spoke again.

"It was poison."

"Yes. I had assumed that."

"Taijitu venom to be precise. This was the tool used to get it in his system." She handed him a dart pulled from the guard.

"Someone put themselves in a lot of danger to get a lethal weapon," Ozpin said as he rolled the needle in his hand. "Anyone willing to extract venom from a two-headed snake and use it to fill a needle I can only assume is meant to be fired from a longer range isn't just a random criminal. This was a professional."

"According to the coroner, Mister Kenneth was dead within fifteen minutes of injection. It takes two hours for Taijitu venom to kill a human."

"It must have been altered," he inferred. "Modify the genes of the snake or add some chemicals to the venom and you can get it to meet your demands. This is how antidotes can be made."

"I know. But that can't be easy or cheap. Someone had to figure out that formula. I doubt they went through all of that trouble on one dose."

"It's likely an ace in the sleeve," he hypothesized. "Something that will kill quietly and efficiently. My guess is that this is someone who does this a lot. Someone who kills for a living. Someone who can afford to perfect the toxin and gets enough opportunities to test it on live subjects."

"But why Kenneth? Nothing else was done. No one else was hurt," Goodwitch asked.

"I don't think he was the target. He likely caught the killer before he could complete his mission. He killed him and ran before more guards could show up. Mister Kenneth was merely collateral damage."

"Then what was the killer's mission?"

Ozpin paused. "How I wish I knew." He turned and walked over to his desk. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small vial filled with liquid. "Give this to our medical team," he ordered as he handed the vial to Glynda.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's the result of a study I did long ago on Taijitu venom," Ozpin answered. "This assassin may return. If he does, I want us to be ready. This a counter agent that should slow the venom's progress. It won't cure it, but it should buy enough time to get real medical attention. I want a large supply synthesized and administered to everyone on campus: students, teachers, guards, staff, everyone."

"And what should we tell the students?"

"Nothing that they don't need to know. Tell them it's a routine vaccination. Don't mention this incident. Not yet. We should do everything we can to deal with this without alerting the students."

Goodwitch didn't fully understand his decision to keep everyone in the dark, but trusted his judgement enough to not argue. "As you wish, Professor." She turned and left the room, leaving the headmaster with his thoughts. He raised the killing weapon closer to look at it in more detail. Interesting, he thought as he noted the dart's black and orange color scheme.

Team RWBY had been waiting for this moment for days. They'd spent hours preparing; making sure they were ready. They had to be ready. This was it. There was no room for error.

There they sat, around a radio they borrowed from Team SSSN, with their Scrolls out and ready to dial. They already had the number entered. All that was left was to wait for the signal and press call. Their reactions had to be instantaneous or they would surely be beaten.

"Steady," Weiss said to her teammates. The song was coming to an end. The signal was to sound after that. "Steady," Weiss said again. The final line was given and the guitar riff closed it. "Easy, team. Hold your grou-"

"Would you cut that out?!" Yang yelled at her teammate. "Stop trying to be a badass! It's not working!" This brought a chuckle out of Ruby.

The radio host was listing the title and artist of the song that just ended and was about to- Wait! There it is! The signal! The unmistakable bird-like cry of the British celebrity they all dreamed of!

"Dial! Go Go Go!" Ruby ordered as her teammates all shrieked in panic as they mashed their call buttons and listened for a response.

Dial tone. Dial tone. Dial tone. Click. "We have a winner!" the radio host announced. Yang got a busy signal and looked to Blake. Blake got nothing and looked to Weiss. Weiss's expression was one of sadness, as if she'd flunked out of Beacon. They all three looked to their leader. Ruby's face was in pure shock.

"What's your name?" they heard over the radio. In a tiny, breathless voice, they heard, "Ruby Rose."

"Well congratulations Ruby! You just won free tickets to see the Achieve Men this Saturday night at the Oum Dome!"

And at that moment, all anyone listening to that channel could hear was the joyous screams of Team RWBY echoing through their leader's phone.

Weiss shrieked particularly loudly. If she had a guilty pleasure, it was the Achieve Men. Ever since Yang introduced their music into her life, she had become more of a die hard fan than any of them. Unfortunately, their music and behavior was not considered Schnee-level entertainment and she was forbidden by her father to "waste" his money on their ridiculous ticket prices. Finally getting to attend a concert was all she'd wanted for months.

RWBY's cheers died down when they heard the sound of Nora shouting angrily from Team JNPR's room from across the hall. This was followed by the sounds of a door being swung open, footsteps approaching RWBY's dorm, banging on the door, and Nora's voice pleading, "Take me with you!"

Ruby and Blake were fans of the Achieve Men and liked their music. Yang was attracted to the members. Weiss loved everything about them. But Nora took all this and, in her classic style, took it a couple steps farther and crazier. While some girls would swoon over the Lads of the Achieve Men, Nora had actually planned their abductions before to keep them all for herself.

The radio host began talking again. "Alrighty then. You sure sound excited. Well, I have two offers for you. I can give you four front row tickets with backstage passes, or I can give you double the tickets, but double the distance away and no passes."

Apparently, Nora heard this, too. "Get the eight! Get the eight!" she yelled from behind the door.

Weiss was not settling for that. "Ruby, please, for the love of all things holy, get the four."

Yang was on her side. "Yeah, go with the four. Plus, we can go backstage. We could actually meet the band! I don't wanna give that up for Nora!"

"Gee! Thanks, Yang!" Nora yelled from outside.

Blake argued against the other two with logic. "If we get eight tickets, twice as many people can enjoy the show. And farther seats won't make that much more of a difference. The contest is worth more that way."

"But Blake," Yang said. "The band!"

"Even if we meet them, it will only be for a minute of two. And what if they're jerks? Do you want to risk ruining your mental image of them at the expense of four more of our friends not being able to go and have fun?"

"Yes!" Yang replied.

"But if they're not jerks, which they won't be," Weiss interjected, "then it's absolutely worth their expense." She then turned to Ruby. "Ruby, if you listen to me about anything, do it now. Forget Nora. Get the four. Do what's right."

Ruby was stuck. On one hand, they could have closer seats and backstage passage. On the other hand, they could bring JNPR too. But on the other hand, they could meet the band. But on the other hand, Ruby didn't care about meeting them anyway. But on the other hand, Weiss and Yang really cared. But on the other hand, JNPR wanted to see them too. Ruby looked at the door, and could practically see Nora's face through it.

"Um, Ruby. Ruby, are you still there?"

Ruby was snapped out of her decision making by the host who was still waiting on the other side of the call. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"Well then, which package do you want?" he asked.

Ruby prepared herself for the backlash she would get and said, "We'll take the eight."

"NO!" Weiss and Yang yelled simultaneously. "What did- Why would you- Come on!"

Ruby didn't get a chance to explain herself before Nora was grabbing everyone and pulling them in for a group hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so muuuuch!"

"Nora," Blake asked. "How did you get in here?"

"I've been picking your lock this whole time, silly," she explained. Of course Nora knows how to pick a lock.

"Well congratulations Ruby! You just won free tickets to see the Achieve Men this Saturday night at the Oum Dome!" the radio scanner tuned in to hear. It was set to tune in to a set of keywords: Beacon, huntress, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, etc.

"Well then," Slade said to himself. "Isn't that convenient?"

A/N: And that is the first chapter of my first fiction. This story is done and chapters will be released weekly. I would appreciate any feedback given as I am fairly new to this whole writing business.