It's good to be back. Jury duty is over and done with, and I won't be called back for five years woooo.

I also could have sworn this chapter was a lot longer when I was writing it but, that's probably how it always feels.

Regardless, thanks for continuing to interact with this story and leaving reviews. Speaking of, one review mentioned wondering what the ship name for Crue and Neo was. And while they did give some great ones, I do have one for them. I don't know if the pun will come across unless you're Irish or know enough about Irish history but...

Crue x Neo = Bloody Sundae

And with that, on with the chapter!

Crue was going to kill the Ace-Ops. He decided it just now. A shame really. They were some good guys, doing good work. But, they had to die. Starting with Clover. Especially Clover, as he slammed his hand down and stared at Crue with a confident smirk.

"Full house."

"FUCKING MAC SOITH!" Crue gave a cry of anger as he slammed his own hand onto the tree stump, allowing his junk to be shown to those playing.

The Faunus gave a grumble as he fell back onto the soft grass, trying to cross his arms in annoyance. The action was foiled due to his wrists being bound together by another Gravity Bola. His gauntlets lay off to the side, the watchful eye of Vine, who was off to the side meditating, making sure they stayed there and off of Crue's hands.

"I think if we were playing for actual money you'd be broke by now." Clover chuckled, as Crue immediately shot back up with a snarl and made to strangle him across the makeshift table.

"What was it you said about 'not encouraging the prisoner'?" Tortuga asked, placing a hand on Crue's shoulder and preventing him from attacking her teammate. They had met up with the other half of the Ace-Ops the day before, and Crue managed to get Tortuga to knock him out before having to explain more.

While he was unconscious, Clover, Vine and Elm shared what Crue had told them. Crue was glad he wasn't awake for the resulting barrage of questions, only waking up long after everyone had calmed down and gone through the motions of freaking out over the information.

They were professionals, which meant they could easily set aside their doubts and fears in order to do their job. Granted they still were human enough to find ways to take their frustration out. Like completely decimating their prisoner at poker.

"How the fuck do you win every god damn game!?" Crue asked, sitting down with a grumble.

"Maybe I'm just that good." Clover responded, before frowning as Harriet gave a cough that sounded like 'bull' and 'shit'.

"I don't know why you're fuckin' smiling. You're losing too." Crue said to her.

"Yeah, but seeing you lose takes the sting right out of it." Harriet responded, thumbing her nose as she smirked.

"Wabbit."

"Oh you mother-" "Harriet!" Clover immediately grabbed her by the shoulder as she tried to throttle Crue. The Faunus grew a fanged smile as she was forced to sit back down with a scowl.

"How did you even know about that?" Her pink eyes glared into Crue, who rose an eyebrow in response.

"What? Wabbit? You've never seen Looney Tuuuuu-ah fuck." His head suddenly hung low as he tried to face palm, the action failing due to his conjoined wrists. The Ace-Ops looked to another in confusion.

"There was this old cartoon called 'Looney Tunes'." Crue began. "There was a guy in it who always hunted a rabbit. 'Cept, you know, cartoon. So he had to be 'vewy vewy quiet, cause he's hunting wabbits'."

"I've never heard of a show like that." Clover said, picking up the cards and shuffling them once more.

"Didn't show in Atlas, I'm guessing." Crue said. It definitely didn't show in Atlas, unless somehow tv shows found a way to span dimensions. He paused after he remembered where he was. "Well, guess the Looney Tune universe exists somewhere out there."

The cards were dealt again, and Crue shuffled around his cards before carefully observing his opponents. He knew why they were letting him play. A content captive is one who doesn't try to escape.

Unfortunately, content as he may be he still had places to be as well. He'd just have to see how content his captors felt after this round. He saw Harriet's nose twitch, and realised she had a bad hand. His eye roamed over Clover, who gave away nothing, and Tortuga.

She seemed a bit shorter than usual, and Crue realised it was because her neck had sunken into her shell a little. "Is it a pain in the ass for you to find clothes that fit?" He asked.

"Oh, you've got no idea." The Tortoise Faunus laughed, shaking her head. "Considering that I could probably go starkers and still have my bits covered thanks to the shell." She rapped her knuckles against her chest, and a surprisingly wooden noise sounded from it.

"Can't wear regular shirts, this is specially designed." She held out one arm, still keeping her cards close to her chest. A long white sleeve ran down the length of her arm, the cuff of it upturned with a red stripe.

The back of the shirt was gone, instead he could see a kind of rubber seal that stopped just before her shell. The front was a tight double-breasted vest with silver buttons, and now that Crue actually looked he could see the surprisingly sharp shapes below it.

"Huh, never noticed before. Does it hurt when you do the thing?" He brought his own shoulders up and scrunched his neck down as they played. Crue kept the attention on Tortuga, as both Clover and Harriet seemed interested in the answer as well.

"Kinda. You ever dislocated your arm?" She asked. Crue had to think about it, before nodding. "Yeah, imagine that with your neck." The words brought an immediate shudder to those present. "Messes with my hair too."

She brought a hand up to fix her dark green hair as she mentioned it, and Crue noticed Harriet staring intently as she did so. "You know, for all you guys know about me I know fuck all about you. Aside from the wabbit thing."

Harriet scowled as she turned her attention to Crue. "That's on purpose. Why would we let a captive know more about us?"

"No, I'm glad." Crue gave a smile that promised chaos would soon follow. "Means I get to make stuff up about you." He put down two cards to switch out, as Clover raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"What kind of stuff?" He asked, handing over the cards.

"You…" Crue took a moment to look at Clover and analyse him carefully. "…had a life of Reilly."

"A what?" The three Ace-Ops asked as one.

"Oh, right. Not there." Crue gave a sigh and shook his head. "Things came easy to you. Pretty carefree life. Don't know why you threw that away for the military though." He gave a shrug, before turning his attention to Harriet.

She looked at him cockily, as if daring him to try and unravel anything about her past. "You had a bully." Her pink eyes suddenly widened. "Had one, at least until you finally fought back and kicked his ass. Probably happened as soon as you got your Aura unlocked."

"Or, someone else beat him up for you." He turned to look at Tortuga with a questioning eyebrow.

"We went to different combat schools." She answered without looking up, staring at her cards carefully. Her orange eyes briefly flit to Crue. "Anything on me?"

"Uh, you were raised by a Rat Faunus and have three brothers?" He suggested. Tortuga lowered her hand to stare at Crue properly with a blank expression. "Damn, got that one wrong. I get the feeling Elm had a lot of siblings though."

He briefly looked around for the tall woman, before remembering she and Winter had gone to the nearest town for supplies, leaving four of them to keep an eye on Crue. He was annoyed at that; he still hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Winter properly. "Also, she and Vine have a thing for each other, but neither realise it yet."

"What?" "Don't worry about it Slendy." Crue called over his shoulder, Vine coming out of his meditation upon hearing his name. His blue eyes narrowed, before checking the expressions on his teammates.

They seemed to be smirking at some unknown joke. Vine frowned, realising Crue had probably insulted him in some fashion and decided to ignore it. "And speaking of…" Crue turned his attention back to those in front of him.

"You two…" He pointed two fingers to Tortuga and Clover. Both of them smiled confidentially, ready to dismiss whatever idea he might have had. "Beards."

"What's a-" "We don't have beards." Tortuga suddenly spoke up over Harriet, her orange eyes briefly meeting Clover's teal, before they turned to look at Crue in tandem.

"Don't tell me that stuff is frowned on in Atlas." He scowled.

"What stuff?" "Nothing is frowned upon." Harriet was once again ignored as Clover tried to regain his composure by checking his cards. "However, there is a lot of old money types in Atlas who, aren't very forward thinking."

A growl rose from Crue's throat in anger before he could stop it. "Out of curiosity, if a well known criminal and villain were to slip from your watch and threaten the old bastards, before you swooped in to save the day, do you think they'd change their minds."

"We're not setting you loose on the rich." Tortuga said, before throwing her hand down. "Two pairs."

"I feel like I'm missing something here." Harriet frowned, looking to Crue as if he was to blame. "Three of a kind."

"You're better off." Clover gave a smile as he put down his own hand. "Straight Flush. Sorry Crue, looks like I win again."

"Oh, you fuckin' wish." A feral grin made its way onto Crue's face, as he slammed down his cards. "ROYAL FLUSH!"

Clover's jaw dropped as Crue sprung to his feet and threw out his hands in glee. "Hahahaha!" He began performing some odd dance, while Harriet and Tortuga stared at the cards with wide eyes.

"How did you beat his good luck?"

"Cause good luck ain't no competition for dumb luck!" Crue seemed ecstatic, before freezing as a glowing yellow hand grabbed his arm. Vine stood up slowly and made his way over to Crue, before taking his other hand and reaching into Crue's shirt sleeve.

He removed a pair of playing cards, as Crue's face lost all colour. "YOU CHEATING BASTARD!" Clover, of all people, yelled as he shot to his feet.

"Huh. Sore loser. Wouldn't have pegged him for that." Crue murmured, before shrugging his shoulders and giving a peace sign. It was at that moment the Ace-Ops realised Crue's arms were no longer tied together.

"Hey, do you know what a 'chicken leg' is?" He asked Vine, as the three he had been playing poker with quickly scrambled to their feet and grabbed their weapons. The thin man looked to Crue in confusion, as Crue kicked the back of his knee.

His leg buckled unwillingly as Vine toppled, directly into Harriet who had sprinted towards Crue the moment she realised he was free. They crashed together in a tangle of limbs, as Crue freed himself from Vine's grip and bent over backwards to avoid Tortuga's weapon.

The nunchuck's chain had extended greatly, parts of it glowing bright blue as it flew over Crue. A blade spat out of one side, catching Crue's side and pulling him. "YOU ARE A FUCKIN' NINJA TURTLE!" He managed to exclaim, before being dragged along the ground.

His hands dug into the grass and dirt, twisting his body so that the blade skittered off, before Crue slammed his foot down onto the chain to keep it out of Tortuga's hands. He watched as Tortuga took in a deep breath, and quickly jumped skyward, grabbing onto a branch and swinging round to hide in the foliage.

Tortuga's Semblance still went off, catching Vine and Harriet as they extricated themselves from one another. Their movements became sluggish as they both yawned, Tortuga slamming a hand against her mouth to stop her Semblance.

"Get down here!" Clover called, sending his fishing line into the trees above. Seemed he was still sore about losing his first poker game. The line tugged on something, and he pulled strongly. Flying out of the leaves, came something bright purple and spinning.

Clover dodged the Gravity Bola, but the wire had become tangled within the fishing line. "Looks like your luck's run out." Crue hung upside down from the greenery, a fanged smile playing on his face as he looked to Clover.

He disappeared back into the green, before popping out above his gauntlets and grabbing them. "See ya next time you catch me." He gave a faux salute, disappearing into the trees as Tortuga's weapon nearly took his head off.

The clearing was left in disarray, with Clover trying to untangle his weapon and Tortuga patting Vine and Harriet awake. This was the scene Winter and Elm returned to, the latter holding a set of meals while the former pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"The next time, we're knocking him out before we go to get supplies."

…

"Headmaster, I really must speak with you."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Nikos, I'm terribly busy. Perhaps another time."

Pyrrha frowned as Headmaster Lionheart closed the door to his study, leaving the spartan on her own. She turned on her heel, which was now completely healed, and marched back down the hallway.

Every time she tried to talk to him, he had some excuse or other business to attend to. She didn't want to blame the man, as being the Headmaster of a Huntsman Academy was definitely something that required a lot of time and effort.

But if he could just spare one moment for her to ask about Maidens and Queens, she would be immensely grateful.

"No luck?" Came a voice almost immediately as she exited into the grand hall. She had to crane her neck upward to meet Sage's eyes. She shook her head in answer, as Sage sighed and pushed himself off the wall.

"It feels like he's avoiding me." Pyrrha spoke up as they walked down the open stairs. "I don't want to force the issue, but it's something I desperately wish to talk to him about." She glanced to the statue that held up a small podium.

According to Sage, the podium was where Headmaster Lionheart gave his start of year speeches. The statue was a beautifully carved marble bust of a woman with flowing robes holding up the podium. Yet, despite her beauty, heavy golden chains hung from her wrists, leading down to the floor.

Pyrrha felt an odd sense of comradery with the statue, being weighed down by something so valuable, the same way she was held back thanks to her fame. Her hand idly came up to play with one of her dangling emeralds, but her hand grasped air.

She had almost forgotten, her circlet was still in her dorm room. She brought it with her but found herself unable to wear it. It weighed her down too much. "Heavy is the head that wears the crown." Sage said, as Pyrrha looked up to him.

"Something I heard that Yatsuhashi guy say." He gave a reassuring smile. "Lionheart has a lot of responsibilities, but he's not the only one with pressure on him." He gave a quick look around, and stood a bit taller, puffing out his chest slightly.

A few people who had looked eager to approach backed away at the display. Pyrrha was grateful for Sage accompanying her, as it prevented any of her 'fans' from badgering her. Sage looked sufficiently intimidating enough with his massive size and tattoos that no one wanted to mess with him, even in a Huntsman setting.

His uniform looked ready to burst, and Pyrrha was eager to get back and out of the eye of the student body. She was just thankful that no reporters or journalists were able to get to the top of the mountain that Haven rested on.

Pyrrha and her impromptu bodyguard made their way to the dorms. Pyrrha, along with the remnants of Team SSSN were now in their second year, which meant they had been given second year dorms. They were luxurious, compared to what she had at Beacon.

Each team member had their own dorm room, with a communal area and kitchen that they could spend their time in. The building itself was a tall, tiered pagoda, with each team taking up a different floor.

Team SSNN was lucky enough to be given the top floor, which meant that they didn't have to worry about anyone moving around above them. Pleasantly cold air washed over them as they entered, Pyrrha briefly catching a glimpse of a woman with sharp green hair exiting the elevator.

She recognised her, thanks to the black markings under her eyes. "Oh, heya!" Reese Chloris gave a wave to them with a playful smile. "You more in love with Haven yet?" She asked, meeting Pyrrha's eyes.

"The dorms are certainly a plus." Pyrrha replied with a faint smile. She was somewhat worried that Reese might have been another rabid fan, but apparently the competitions she had been interested in had been of the 'extreme sports' variety.

"Well, I'm sure it'll grow on ya." She gave another smile and passed between them, throwing her weapon out before her and using it to skate away.

"Be grateful we're not under her this year." Sage said, making his way over the elevator and gesturing for Pyrrha to follow. "She used to blare punk rock at all hours. Kept me up all night." His yellow eye twitched slightly, before he sighed and let a satisfied smile fall across his face.

"But now we're top floor. Maybe I should play some of my tunes…" He brought a hand up to his chin in thought, grinning maniacally, as Pyrrha shook her head with a smile. A short while later, they had stepped out into SSNN's common room.

"Hey Twinsie." Scarlet said, looking up from a comic book as they entered. "How'd it go?"

"Not well. He is too busy to speak with me." She frowned, sitting down on one of the sofa's letting out a large sigh. "It feels like nothing I do will be enough to get a moment with him."

"What is it you need to talk him so badly about?" Sage asked, having removed his blazer and was in the process of unbuttoning his shirt. Pyrrha hesitated to explain, knowing that her answer might put them in danger.

And it wasn't as though she didn't trust them. She did, just not to the same level she did with JNPR. Though, in saying that, it wasn't as if she had told her old team about that information either. She frowned, remembering how confused and worried they had been when she followed Ozpin.

"Is it to do with the ones who attacked Beacon?" Sage spoke up once more, sitting down next to Scarlet and observing Pyrrha carefully. She flinched at the question, a phantom pain in her ankle making itself known.

"Oi." Scarlet elbowed Sage with a frown. "Don't force the girl."

"It's fine, Scarlet." Pyrrha held up a hand to prevent any more infighting. She sighed and turned her attention to Sage. "You were right. But it's to do with why the school was attacked in the first place." Cinder wanted the Fall Maiden's power and was willing to plunge the world into chaos just to get it.

And there was someone behind Cinder. She didn't know who, Lionheart certainly wouldn't tell her. The only thing she knew was what Crue referred to her as. Cinder's Queen. "Do you think they would try again?"

Pyrrha blinked and looked to Scarlet as he spoke. "I, I'm not sure." She answered honestly. "Cinder attacked Beacon because she wanted something. And she got it. I don't know if Haven has anything worth attacking over."

Scarlet and Sage glanced at one another, trying to think if anything fit the bill. "We're not sure." Scarlet finally said. "Maybe asking some of the older students, or Lionheart would help. But maybe he's worried about this too, and that's why he's so busy. He might be shoring up defences."

Pyrrha hadn't considered that. It made sense, she supposed. Headmaster Lionheart was a good man, a good Huntsman, and he would certainly not want a repeat of the Fall. She nodded in acceptance. "If he's busy with that, I fear trying to get anything out of him will be quite difficult."

"Well, if you tell us, you'd at least have a few extra hands to help out." Sage pointed out. The spartan gave a nod, before looking up.

"If I do tell you this, I'd rather tell you all as one. Where's Neptune?" She looked around the common room, as if expecting her cousin to come out of his bedroom. When no such luck befell her, Sage closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated.

"He's… actually on his way here now." He opened his eyes again, and Pyrrha gave a nod of thanks. Being on the same team, at least temporarily, meant she was privy to Sage's Semblance. Lost and Found.

It allowed him to know the location of things he'd lost. Not very useful in battle, but then not all Semblances were. The three waited patiently for Neptune to enter, who looked surprised as he entered.

"Is this an intervention?" He asked, glancing between the three.

"Is there something I should know about that requires an intervention?" Pyrrha asked with a concerned expression, fearing that her family member might be into something less than legal.

"No!" Neptune said quickly, waving his hands. "No, just, trying to ease the tension. Could probably cut it with Pilgrim." He gave a nod to Sage as he sat down next to his cousin. "What's up, anyway?"

Pyrrha took a breath and lay her hands on her lap. "I'm going to tell you something that I was told just before Beacon fell." She swallowed as Neptune's eyes widened. Pyrrha briefly considered reversing her decision, but she was too far gone now.

Telling them this would be good practice for when she got the chance to properly tell her friends. "It's a lot to take in, but first…" She trailed off, remembering how Ozpin broke the information to her.

"What's your favourite fairy tale?"

This feels like a good place to end this chapter. Pyrrha is making some allies and moves of her own, and for some reason still can't get a hold of Lionheart. I wonder why he doesn't want to talk to someone that nearly died in the fall of Beacon.

It's a reaaaaaaal humdinger.

More of Crue and the Ace-Ops too! Exploring a bit about their backstory and what things might be like in Atlas. I said it in the chapter, but the reason they're being nice to Crue is because a happy captive is one who doesn't want to escape.

Going for the ol' Stockholm syndrome. It still feels like a little bit of bullshit that Crue is able to beat the Ace-Ops, but the fact is Crue is only trying to escape, not actually beat them. Makes getting away a bit easier when all he wants to do is get to Mistral and find his friends.