Chapter 11 – taKing advantage
"That wasn't a rhetorical question. Jaune Arc. How exactly did you get into Beacon?"
Jaune blinked. "Lucky, I guess."
"Not good enough." Adam gently laid his hand on a sheathed Wilt, taking care to make the action look unintentional. He didn't want to appear to be openly threatening Jaune, but he wanted to subtly suggest to the boy that this was not some friendly chitchat. "Answer me. How did you get into Beacon?"
"M-My parents are donors."
"You said your father was unsupportive of your hunting. Try again."
"I'm good at academics."
"Beacon is a hunter academy. You can be the second coming of Arthur Watts and they wouldn't let you in without at least some combat skills." Adam growled. "How. Did. You. Get. Into. Beacon."
"Diversity? Not enough…blond hair?"
"Yang Xiao-Long. Now answer my question."
"Okay, fine! I…I lied."
Bingo. "Go on."
"I faked my transcripts and lied about going to primary combat school. I'm only here because of the Arc family name. No one bothered to check since…" Jaune raised his fingers for air quotes. "…an Arc would never lie. I'm no true huntsman. I'm not even trained."
If Jaune truly were an assassin, he would have been a fool to not create some cover story to explain his weakness. To state it so openly…there was no way that he'd killed Marrow. Fake transcripts explained perfectly why he was so weak, why he didn't know how to use his own weapons.
"How'd you survive initiation?"
"Pyrrha carried me the whole time. Not literally carrying me in her arms, just…she did the work. We bumped into a giant Deathstalker, but she killed it. I just stood there and watched. Actually, I didn't stand there – I ran for cover like a baby and only came out when it was safe. And she did actually carry me in her arms at one point, but it was only for a few hou–"
"So, you don't have any training with that sword?"
"Not a pinch. I've mostly been doing the moves I'd seen in TV and movies and trying to imitate other students."
And that explained what Blake had thought she'd seen when they sparred. He wasn't secretly applying skills with a lance or spear – he was just flailing around like an idiot and impersonating everyone else.
"A-Are you gonna tell anyone?"
Adam sat down next to Jaune. He had no intention of outing the Arc boy, but that was because he didn't want to make any waves. Obviously, he couldn't state that (saying you didn't want attention was a surefire way to garner attention), so he needed to think of an excuse.
"Why shouldn't I?"
Arc paled. "I…I can do your homework."
"I don't want someone to do my homework."
"What do you want?"
Oh goodie. Perhaps we can use this to our advantage after all.
"There's someone I'd like to keep an eye on, but I don't want to be seen doing it. Watch them for me, and not only will I keep your secret. I'll train you to fight."
Jaune perked up at that. "You will?" he asked excitedly.
"I will."
Adam's intent was true, in this case. If Arc was to spy on Adam's behalf, they needed to make sure no one else realized he was a fraud. After all, it simply wouldn't do for him to be caught and expelled.
Jaune Arc presented a rare opportunity for Adam. He was completely deniable, most likely innocent, and absolutely under Adam's control. As long as Adam held the threat of expulsion over Jaune's head, Jaune would do anything he said. Quite useful, and certainly worth the minor investment of time it would take to train him.
"One thing, though," Jaune said, standing up. "I won't spy on Pyrrha or Weiss for you."
Adam hadn't been thinking about either of them when he'd asked, but both names were on the list. That alone was enough to pique his curiosity. "Why not them?"
"Pyrrha's my partner. She got me through initiation, and I won't betray her. Not for anything. I'd sooner be expelled."
"And the Schnee."
Jaune's face melted into a revolting lovesick smile, and Adam had all the answers he needed. Nonetheless, Arc responded. "She's just…she's so cool. Pretty, smart, talented, and an amazing huntress? Um, heck yeah! Sign me up! That's why I was trying to learn more about fencing. I thought that she looked really epic when she was doing it, and I want to be more like her."
"Not too much, I hope," Adam muttered under his breath.
"I'm planning to ask her out to dinner when I get the chance."
Uh oh. Adam detected danger to his brand new personal expendable. Messing with Schnee was the fastest way for Arc to get himself into trouble. Trouble meant expulsion, and expulsion meant no one to do Adam's dirty work for him.
"Hmm. Maybe you should wait until you're trained. That way you could impress her with how…cool…you are."
"Oh, yeah. Hey, that's a good idea. Thanks…Adam, was it?"
"Correct."
"Yeah, Yang's really proud of her sister, and she's constantly going on and on about how our teams are gonna be best friends. Though I don't think Sky's all that into it…"
"Not a fan of the Faunus?"
Jaune nodded. "Yeah. I hope he stops being a dick soon – him and Yang haven't gotten along very well so far." Jaune coughed. "Hey, who was it that you wanted me to spy on?"
Of the list of suspects, only four remained. K would be up close and personal with Ruby Rose for however long they were there, and Adam wasn't going to trust the surveillance of Weiss Schnee to anyone but himself and the girls. It might have been useful to have Arc spy on Pyrrha Nikos since they were partners, but Adam had his eyes on a much bigger fish. The one suspect who even Adam himself was wary of.
"Glynda Goodwitch."
Something had happened between Ilia and Ruby while Blake was out. That much was obvious from the fact that Ruby was angrily doing her homework at 2:45am in the morning. Blake hadn't even known one could angrily do homework, but the loud pencil tip scratching against the paper and the continuous glares she sent to Ilia's prone form in her bed disabused Blake of that notion.
"Good evening, Blake," Ruby seethed.
"It's technically early in the morning."
"Is that so?" Ruby scowled. "You know what else is early? Ilia's stupid face. 'Cause it's…it's dumb! And poisonous! And not at all buttery!"
"W-What?"
"Ilia's a jerk!"
"I can hear you," Ilia mumbled, her face down in her pillow. She didn't sound upset, but the loud noise Ruby was making had clearly been keeping her awake from the tired drawl present in her voice.
"Good. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two about how not to be a big old bully to Faunus from my perfectly civil conversation with Blake!"
The conversation felt anything but civil, though Blake had a feeling that the discord in their team had originated before she'd come back from her scouting. Blake looked at Ilia for an explanation, but the chameleon girl had already fallen asleep. Ruby scowled and furiously tore up the paper she was writing on, taking care do it slowly so as to maximize the noise. Ilia woke and groaned at the disruptive noise.
"Hmph. I decided that my essay on the Faunus Rights Revolution for Doctor Oobleck's class isn't good enough, and I'm going to rewrite it. I guess I'll be up writing for the rest of the night."
"Can you two continue this tomorrow?" asked Blake. "I want to go to bed."
The scowl disappeared, and a guilty frown replaced it on Ruby's face. "Um. I actually will need to redo the essay. That was my only copy that I just shredded, and it's due tomorrow."
"Can you do it outside?" suggested Ilia.
"Fine. But only for Blake." Ruby snatched up her pencil and paper and left the room. Blake waited until she was sure the door was closed before leaning up against Ilia.
"K," she whispered into Ilia's ear. "What happened?"
"She's upset because I'm all buddy-buddy with Weiss," explained Ilia. "She got mad, stormed out, then came back and loudly announced that the dorm was hers just as much as it was mine. She'd been trying to annoy me ever since." Ilia's head rose, revealing two bloodshot eyes. "It's working. I just want to sleep."
"I can have a talk with her, if you'd like. Explain it."
"Mmmphphmh," Ilia mumbled.
"Is that a yes or a no?"
"Mmmmmmmm. Mmhhmm. Just wanna sleep."
Blake knew that Faunus weren't the animals they took physical traits from, but Ilia must have inherited chameleons' lethargy. A nonfiction book on reptiles she'd read once said that those lizards slept for half the day. Right now, Blake believed it.
"I'll deal with Ruby, then." Blake grabbed the sheet on Ilia's bed and covered her with it. "Sleep tight, Ilia."
"Mmmmm. Love you, Blake."
Blake's eyebrows rose. "I…"
Ilia turned in her sleep, and Blake stepped back from the bed. It was a weird thing to say, no doubt, but Blake could understand it. After all, K was all they had, and they were a family. Blake had always seen Ilia as something of a sister, just like how Adam was her brother. In that way, she loved Ilia, too, she guessed.
She's just sleep deprived and babbling. Best to focus on resolving this situation with Ruby.
Ruby was outside frantically scribbling away. Blake wasn't entirely sure how she was fully awake at this time of night – perhaps the caffeine and sugar in the chocolate chip cookies she ate? Either way, she seemed unaffected by the late hour.
"Hey."
"Sorry about that, Blake. I was trying to mess with Ilia because she was saying she was okay with racism, but I guess it ended up messing with you. I'll try to be less of a pest in the future."
"That's okay. But what's this with Ilia being okay with racism? That sounds unlikely."
Ruby explained her perspective on what had happened while Blake had been out mapping the landscape of Beacon.
"And that's why I'm so mad at her!" fumed Ruby. "Their team is openly hostile with ours, not to mention super racist against the Faunus. I'm not trying to act like some human savior figure or something here – Weiss is going around literally calling for the Faunus' extermination, and Ilia's out there laughing alongside her! Am I crazy or something? Is that not wrong?"
"You're not crazy, Ruby, but you don't understand the full picture. Ilia has her reasons, and I can assure you that they're not because she's a closet racist. For now, I'm going to ask you to trust your teammates and let this go. It'll be okay."
"But it's not okay. Team Sword are–"
"–children who know no better. If they bully you, you should just go to a teacher."
"I'm not doing this because they bullied me. I just…I have a responsibility to step in and stop them from spreading their toxic beliefs. Dad and Uncle Qrow always say that hunters are the best of the best but only when they choose to act in the face of suffering and injustice."
"Then you're the best of us. But you can't shoulder the weight of the world all by yourself. You don't need to stop racism overnight."
"I'm the leader of Team Rabies, so I kinda do need to stop it when my own teammates are involved."
Blake noticed a few tears in the corners of Ruby's eyes and decided that a little white lie to smooth things over couldn't hurt, in this one case. "Ilia…is only trying to get close to Team Sword because of the Vytal Tournament. It's being held in Beacon this year, and she's trying to learn more about the other teams that might be competing by cozying up to them and tricking them into spilling their secrets. It's all a ruse."
Ruby blinked and wiped her nose. "Why didn't she tell me?"
"S-She's embarrassed by how competitive she can get. Trust me, I know her. We've been friends since we were young. Her and me and Adam…"
"So it's all a trick? She's not really their friend?"
"Exactly," said Blake, seizing her chance. "Whenever Ilia laughs at one of their jokes or nods or agrees with them, it's only because she's plotting their downfall. It's not because she likes them – it's the other way around, actually. I promise."
Blake wasn't lying in this case, apart from the reasons behind Ilia's duplicity. It felt somewhat wrong to deceive Ruby, but seeing the tears get wiped away eased Blake's guilty conscience quite a bit.
"Oh, I feel so much better. Thanks, Blake." Ruby wrapped her arms around the Faunus and tightly hugged her. "Thanks for trusting me with the truth. It really butters my bisc–"
"Ahem. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
The two girls looked up to see Adam glaring at them with his one eye. He was covered in sweat and breathing deeply, and his hair was quite mussed up. Blake remembered that he had been planning to hit the training centers of Beacon in hopes of finding a suspect and pressing them for information. Based on the state of his exhaustion, she would wager that he'd found someone.
"Adam. Where you been?" asked Ruby.
"Training. What are you ladies up to?"
"Just finishing up my homework," she answered.
"I see." Adam nodded, his eye barely even noticing Ruby as it bore down upon Blake. Without another word, he headed back inside.
Blake disentangled herself from Ruby and stood up.
"Well, I'll leave you to it. Let me know if you need any help with the essay. I pride myself on my comprehensive knowledge of all things historic, and I happen to have a vested interest in the Faunus Rights Revolution." Blake wiggled her ears as she departed.
Inside the dorm room, she met Adam's eye and cringed.
"K."
"Blake, what the fuck do you think you're doing? She killed Marrow!"
"Th-There's four other people it could have been."
"Make that three. Arc is clear."
"You're sure?"
"He admitted to faking his transcripts. No assassin would do that in place of having a cover story - too much attention. I'm fairly certain."
"Faking–?"
Adam's explanation of Jaune Arc's history actually did explain why he'd fought Blake the way he had.
"I…I guess I jumped the gun when I said I was sure it was him. But why are you training him?"
"I need him to stay in Beacon if he's going to be working for me. He's completely expendable, completely deniable, and thus completely useful. I won't let him slip through my fingers."
Blake snorted. "I wonder if that's how the general sees K."
"We aren't expendable."
"Yeah, but we are deniable. Actually, come to think of it, you've pretty much just made your own little black ops team of one. Maybe you should start referring to him as J."
"Maybe I should," Adam said tersely.
"I'm honestly amazed you're willing to spend time with a human."
"Well, you seemed to be quite happy spending time with your human."
"My human?" Blake cocked her head.
"You and Rose. You were in quite the compromising position when I found you."
"It was a hug! How is that compromising?"
"I will admit, she's rather attractive. Is that what you're into, Blake?"
"Into!? She's…I…no! How dare you!" Blake struggled not to raise her voice. Ilia was still sleeping, and Ruby was outside. "Don't even joke about that."
"If so, then you'll have no qualms with seducing her."
"E–Excuse me?"
"We agreed we'd use romantic relationships to give ourselves advantages on this mission. If you're not interested in Ruby, perhaps she's interested in you. She certainly seemed to be, when I walked in on the two of you. Who knows what secrets she might let slip to a lover?"
"She's not going to admit to being an assassin just because I'm dating her! I know you have no concept of–"
"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about how she's the headmaster's golden child. Hand selected as a Beacon student, made leader despite being on a team with three of the strongest hunters this school has ever seen – he clearly is partial to her. She even mentioned him being a friend of her parents. Perhaps she knows something about him that we can use."
"She might not."
"Then you can break up with her when she's of no use."
It was the same breed of deception they'd used on the White Fang, Faunus brothers and sisters. If K had a charter, it would specifically include the word 'amoral.' However, she felt like she owed it to Ruby to at least try and convince him that there was another way.
"Tricking her, using her like that, toying with her emotions – it feels wrong."
"Remember the mission, Blake. K was made to lie to people." Adam averted his eyes. "Unless you've grown too attached to her and can no longer fulfill your–"
"Don't. I'll do it. Just keep your human in line, and I'll do the same with mine."
When Ilia awoke the next day, she'd never felt groggier. Ruby somehow knew just how to make her tick. Every time she'd been close to falling asleep, the little girl had made just enough noise to wake her up. There had been times when she'd stayed awake for days on end with the White Fang, but in and out of sleep, waking up and falling back asleep, again and again? That was truly horrible.
In times like this, Ilia resorted to one of her baser vices in order to cope.
Blake had her books, Adam had his knife, and Ilia? Ilia was a prankster.
Now, on the last mission, she'd had to resort to some pretty outlandish stunts to get back at the White Fang mooks who irked her, but that had only been because she'd exhausted the simple stuff. With Ruby (and all of Beacon, actually), she had a fresh start. Every old but effective prank that she'd used up before was now back on the table.
The alarm went off, but Ilia ignored it and remained entirely still. After a moment, someone silenced it and brushed their hand against Ilia's shoulder, shaking her gently.
Blake's voice spoke, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "I smoothed things over with Ruby. I told her about how you're so competitive, and you're planning to spy on Team Sword because of the upcoming Vytal Tournament."
Ilia heard the implicit message in Blake's words, but she didn't respond.
"Ilia?" Her voice lowered. "Oh, you're doing a thing? Fine. Just don't take too long."
Blake footsteps walked away, leaving Ilia to her prank. She remained undisturbed for a few moments before Ruby came by and cleared her throat.
"Ilia, we've got Professor Port's class in an hour, and I want to go have breakfast as a team. Wake up. Hello? Ilia? I-Ilia, what's…?"
A moment passed as Ruby presumably tried to diagnose Ilia's lack of response, or so Ilia assumed. Her eyes were tightly shut, so she couldn't tell what Ruby was thinking.
"G-Guys? Her chest isn't rising! Oh Dust, she isn't breathing! She's…She's dead! Oh, Brother Gods, did I kill her?!"
"Yes," said Ilia. "You kept me awake for too long last night, and I died." A grin that was impossible to control spread across her face, but she kept her eyes closed.
"Ilia, you're – oh. I guess you're still mad about that."
"No, I'm not mad. I'm dead."
"C'mon. Don't joke about that. How did you even – you weren't–"
"Magic."
"Hardy har har. Look, about last night, I'm sorry. We're teammates, so I should've trusted you to have a reason. Just promise to be careful." Ruby rubbed her nose and looked away. "That Schnee bitch – I don't trust her one speck."
Ilia found herself magically brought back from the dead with just enough time to get ready before Team Rabies (and no, she still hadn't forgiven Ozpin for that little joke of his) left for breakfast. Team Yellowjacket-P – according to Blake, they'd collectively decided to pronounce the silent P – was already at the cafeteria when they arrived.
Their blonde leader stood up upon seeing her little sister and her team and ran towards them. "What's good, Rubik's Cube?!"
"Yang!"
The two collided in a giant bear hug that included a sickeningly sweet amount of hair tussling and cheek pulling.
"I hope these numbskulls haven't been giving you too much trouble," Yang joked, smiling at K.
"Not too much – just the right amount," responded Ruby. "And how is the lovely and exceedingly blonde Team Yellowjacket-P doing today?"
Yang's smiled faded for the briefest of seconds before reappearing instantly. "Peachy McGeachy!"
"More trouble in paradise?" asked Blake.
Yang looked back at her three teammates. "You could say that."
"What's the problem?" asked Ruby. "I happen to be something of a world-class team leader of great renown. Perhaps I could offer you some of my sage, highly-valued, extremely-sought-after counsel."
Yang wiggled her fingers as though she were setting the scene of a fairy tale. "Okay, so it's like this. Jaune says he wants to do some late night training last night, and The Pyre offers to go with him, but Jaune says he doesn't want to trouble her. Out he goes, training. Then, he comes back late at night – I'm talking real late, like 4am – exhausted and coated in sweat. I woulda thought he was out banging some broad if not for the fact that he has literally zero luck with the ladies. Pyrrha asks him if everything is okay, and he says he's fine. Get this: he was out training with someone else. Pyrrha gets all mopey because he went and sparred with someone else even though he'd shot down her offer, but she doesn't say anything. Jaune realizes his mistake and asks if Pyrrha wants to study together, but Pyrrha says it's fine. It isn't, but that's not the problem. We could've gone back to normal after that, but Sky…" The name was said with intense disapproval. "…decides to butt in.
"He outright states that Jaune shouldn't have 'cheated' on his partner with someone outside the team, especially after she'd gone and asked to join him. Things get super awkward for Pyrrha because she's usually so polite that she just avoids confrontations altogether. She hadn't been planning on actually talking things out, and she doesn't know what to do, so she freezes. Jaune misinterprets that as her giving him the cold shoulder, and Sky starts to argue on her behalf. The boys get into a big fight, but somewhere along the way, Jaune mixes up the fact that he's arguing with Sky about Pyrrha and starts to think that he's arguing with Pyrrha. She's still frozen, and now Jaune is yelling at her, and Sky is yelling at him, and Jaune thinks that they're on the same side and teaming up against him even though Pyrrha hasn't said a word, so he tries to pull me in onto his side for support…" Yang shook her head. "Long story short, we're a mess."
Ruby looked aghast. "Yang, I'm so sorry. Um, when I said I could give you advice, I didn't–"
"S'cool. I wasn't expecting you to fix all our problems or something. Right now, I just want to spend some time with my baby sister and her drama free team. You guys mind if I sit with you?"
"We'd love to have you," said Ruby.
"Sounds good to me," said Ilia.
"I'm the one Jaune Arc trained with last night," said Adam.
Ilia froze. Turning to gape at him, she saw that Adam's face was neither embarrassed nor guilty. If anything, he looked disinterested, if not faintly annoyed.
Why would you say that?! she thought furiously at him. Right then, after Yang had just finished her story!
Adam could be socially unaware at times, but there was no way he was so stupid that he genuinely believed that now was the right time to announce that fact.
"I-I-I…" Yang stammered blankly. "You…"
Ruby, with a mortified expression on her face, spoke up. "Adam, buddy, um…perhaps now isn't the time for–"
"And I intend to continue training with him, regardless of any reservations his partner may have."
Ilia's jaw hit the floor.
"Ah. I'll just…I'll just go, then." Yang, dumbfounded by the dumbness of the bullheaded bull Faunus, abruptly turned around and retreated to her dysfunctional team.
Team Rabies stood still for a second. Then, Ruby spoke.
"Why–"
"Because she needs to address her problems rather than hide from them. She was attempting to use you as a crutch, leader."
"She–"
"Cannot avoid her teammates during a time of crisis. Sympathy is all well and good, but her leadership would only be eroded the longer she chose to run in their time of need."
"Jaune–"
"Accepted my offer to be trained. If he wished to be trained by his partner, he would have accepted her offer. That is not my fault."
"Pyrrha–"
"Will need to learn to stand up for herself and fight her own battles. This entire debacle ensued because she was too timid and allowed the fourth human to speak on her behalf via her own inaction."
"But I–"
"May sit with your sister, whether she is with her team or apart from them. No one is stopping you."
"Team Sword–"
"Is the vilest assortment of…wait, why are you bringing them up?"
Ruby pointed, and K looked to see Weiss Schnee standing proudly at a distance as two of her teammates took turns shoving a quaking rabbit Faunus back and forth to each other.
"Do you think she's learned her lesson yet, Swords?"
In unison cam a "Ma'am, no, ma'am!"
"Neither did I."
Cardin threw her to the other member of Team Sword, Dove. Ilia looked around and tried to spot their fourth member, the mohawk kid, Russel, but he didn't seem to be with them.
"We should–" Ruby began.
"No, we shouldn't," Adam finished once more.
"But that poor girl–"
"If you refuse to accept the truth, then I shall spell it out to you. Do you know what happens when you shatter the shell of a baby bird's egg in nature?"
"Y-You get to scramble and eat it?"
"No." Adam's brow rose, and he begrudgingly nodded. "Though that isn't a strictly bad answer from a survivalist standpoint. No, if a bird cannot find the internal strength to emerge from its egg independently, it shall not survive in the wild."
Ilia reached up to place a hand on his tall shoulder. "Adam, she's a Faunus. We could–"
A calm glance silenced her.
"We eat our meal, and we head to class. I'll tolerate no more distractions on this team."
The worst part was that he was right. The more they interfered in other students' business, the tougher it would be to extricate themselves when the time came. As much as Ilia might have been enjoying her time playing the childish student and pulling pranks, it was impossible for her to forget that she was a soldier at her core, and this was all nothing more than a mission. When K found the missing machine, they would inevitably leave Beacon behind.
Team Sword, Team Yellowjacket-P, this rabbit Faunus, even Ruby, they were all temporary.
The only constant in her life was K.
Author's Notes
Finally, our main character has arrived. Jaune Arc, debonair master spy and huntsman supreme, has joined the battle - please, ladies and gentleman, hold your massive waves of applause. There'll be plenty of time for that.
Yes, Blake, go and tell Ruby a white lie about Ilia. I'm sure that'll never come back up again or anything.
