Chapter 2 – beaKon

The airship was shoddy. Blake identified at least three points where a single well placed incendiary device would have brought the entire thing down in a flaming ball of flimsy metal, dead teenagers, and despair. Of course, Atlesian airships never had such weaknesses. All systems were redundant at least to two degrees, and especially critical elements like safety features were installed in triplicate.

Beacon was supposed to be his amazing, premiere academy where the best and brightest went to study, but Blake could not for the life of her see what all the hype was about. Rankings may have said that Atlas Academy was only second, but rankings were arbitrary.

Honestly, there was no way of saying that the reviewers weren't implicitly biased. Blake had seen it all the time, in all sorts of forms. People who disavowed racism and hatred would assume that a local crime had been committed by a Faunus because they looked 'shady.' They'd toss a lien chip here or there to various charities but would turn the other way when a homeless Faunus sat in squalor on the streets. It wasn't the same as blatant racism, and it was especially different in that those who were biased in such a way would virulently defend themselves and refuse to admit it.

While bias favoring a certain school was nowhere near as bad as favoring a certain species, it was definitely just as possible. Perhaps the reviewer was partial to Valean architecture or had a negative experience with Atlesian hunters before they graded the school. It could be something as simple as a cafeteria not having certain cuisines that turned them against Atlas Academy.

But Blake was more or less certain that whoever had ranked Beacon at the top spot was biased against Atlas. All in all? Underwhelming. The only redeeming feature was that one rather impressive spire, taller than the others, that stood out like a…

Oh. Oh, that was a riot. It was the CCT Tower, a gift from Atlas. Blake had to stifle a laugh.

As she, Adam, and Ilia departed from the bullhead and unloaded their bags, Blake took a second to survey the people around them. There was no sign of the new fourth member of K, but he wasn't supposed to make contact with them until the initiation process to avoid suspicion. While it wasn't unheard of for a complete group of four juvenile hunters to band together and choose to congregate into a team before it became official, it was uncommon and would draw unnecessary attention to them. For now, they were just Adam and Blake, a Faunus couple, and their best human friend Ilia.

Ilia had no misgivings about hiding her Faunus heritage on missions for the White Fang and, by proxy, for K. Blake understood; the assignment came first. Having a human on their team unfortunately would open some doors that Faunus could not enter. Interviewing a bigoted professor, mingling with human students – it was unpleasant to admit, but it was a fact of life that not everyone would equally respond to Faunus. In order to get to the aura transfer device, K would need to use every advantage they had. Blake had offered to bind her ears if Ilia felt uncomfortable with being the resident 'human,' but the chameleon girl had agreed to her role with the professionalism expected of her. Adam had also pointed out that at long as Ilia maintained her pigments, she would never risk exposure like Blake might, should her hypothetical ear covering fall off. Furthermore, if Ilia did slip up (though she never did), she could claim color changing as her semblance. There was no cat ear semblance.

It's going to be tough. She won't be able to use her real semblance for our entire time at Beacon, at least publicly.

Adam would also have to rein in Moonslice, lest he accidently break some poor sap's aura and tear their arm off. Accidents did happen in combat schools, but again, they were trying to be a normal team. If everything went well, nobody would even see the four of them come and go.

Their fourth member…

Blake had wanted to press the general for details, but there hadn't been enough time. Besides, she could tell that he'd already decided to compartmentalize and withhold that information for as long as possible. Unlike Adam, she wasn't blind to Ironwood's flaws. Few though they may be, paranoia was certainly among them.

I shouldn't be too critical. K is kept just as secret, and I for one am glad that the general isn't going around handing out my name like a party favor. Our new recruit may have asked for the same privacy, so I should respect that.

The people around them seemed unexceptional, but Blake knew better than to judge them preemptively. The smallest of packages could pack the largest of punches.

The most striking member of the crowd was the green mohawked boy, solely due to his unconventional hairstyle. Blake was entirely sure that mohawk boy was entirely sure that it wasn't just a phase.

A beefy blonde woman and a lanky blond man were the next pair that her eyes landed on. The two of them seemed to be arguing about…Blake leaned her ears forward…vomit? Whatever. Who knew what brothers and sisters argued about? Blake was an only o̵r̵p̵h̵a̵n̵ child.

The crowd. Right, the crowd.

The Invincible Girl, too, was among them. Blake made a mental note to avoid her at every possible turn. The attention a celebrity drew was the last thing K needed for a job based entirely around stealth.

The incredibly oversized red scythe seemed to be carrying a short girl as it walked through the crowd. Two tall boys exchanged pleasantries with one short one, all clad in matching armor. A white haired…

Oh no.

Blake was the only member of K who didn't have some incredibly violent, inherently personal grudge against the Schnee family. Make no mistake, she despised those racist industrialists, but Adam and Ilia had made it their lives' work to wipe that entire line out. They had decent reasons for their hatred, too – Blake only needed to look under Adam's eyepatch to sympathize – but such strong emotions tended to compromise even the best of soldiers. If either of them so much as caught wind of her, a confrontation would be inevitable.

Blake went straight into damage control mode. Surreptitiously she positioned herself on the opposite side of the two Faunus from the Schnee, then grabbed their attention with a quiet whisper.

"K."

Neither Adam nor Ilia flinched, but Blake, from years of experience serving alongside the duo, could detect the minute change in their movements. Both were now listening intently to her every word.

"Potential hostile, 6' o'clock. Remain calm. Do not react"

"Let us see it."

Blake circled around them, position herself between the two parties. Adam and Ilia lifted their eyes off of her for just a second to get a glance of the girl before looking again at Blake. It would have been impossible for even the most veteran of agents would be aware of Adam and Ilia's wandering eyes.

"Sch–"

"Not so loud."

"Schnee," Adam growled, somewhat softer. "What is she doing here?"

"Her father's company goes down the toilet, and she just so happens to be in the same place as K's second ever assignment?" Ilia shook her head. "Too much of a coincidence. She's here for us."

"Or…maybe she just wants to be a huntress," Blake suggested. "Like Winter?"

"I don't believe it. Winter…James got to her in time. She's not like the others. This one was born and bred of Jacques and whatever whore he got pregnant. Somehow, I doubt…she's coming our way."

"What?" asked Blake."

Ilia's voice became slightly more panicked. "Schnee. Heading towards us. Now. How should we–"

"Non-confrontational," Blake managed to eke out before Adam and Ilia looked up. If Weiss Schnee had gotten so close to them that it was now socially acceptable to stare directly at her, she was probably in earshot as well. Turning around, she forced a smile.

"Oh, hi there. My name is–"

Schnee's fist didn't seem to care.


Adam reacted on instinct, and that was probably for the best. After all, a normal non-spy huntsmen student would have no reason to hold back when some random bitch assaulted his teammate. It would be more suspicious if he didn't react.

He only employed the minimum force necessary to restrain her. When Blake fell to the floor with a bloodied, broken nose, Adam took under one second to assess the situation, then struck. Instantly, one hand was bending Schnee's arm behind her back, and the other was clasping her wrist to prevent her from turning the fencing blade she'd drawn on him.

She didn't even hesitate to take out a lethal weapon. Damn huma– damn Schnee.

"Get your damn hands off of me, you disgusting animal! I'll kill you both!"

Well, at least Ilia was spared from Schnee's vengeful wrath. The question remained, of course, was Schnee particularly targeting K because of their hand in her father's downfall, or was she just yet another asshole human?

"Stand down."

"You piece of garbage! They ought to send you to the slaughterhouse, not a school!"

"Hwhat di' I ebber do to hyou?" asked Blake, clutching her nose. Even injured as she was, the cat Faunus still had the wherewithal to ask the million lien question without revealing anything. Adam admired her discipline.

"It was you people that ruined my company! You stole my birthright from me!"

Adam froze for a moment…

"You filthy abominations! I bet you're all White Fang! Every Faunus is a disgusting terrorist! What's the matter, you dumb animals too stupid to–"

…then continued to twist her arm into her back like a snowflake pretzel. He had to force himself to not look relieved, as the knowledge that his cover had was safe made him far too happy for a Faunus who'd just had his entire species insulted.

Honestly, he could barely find it in himself to be offended. The insults weren't even that imaginative, and it was par the course for a human, particularly a Schnee, to be crudely prejudiced against his people. The lack of substance and unoriginal nature of her xenophobia made it more underwhelming than wounding.

"Oi!" said some nobody. "Paws off the lady."

"She sta–" began Ilia.

"She started it," finished Adam, cutting her off with a glare. For now, Weiss Schnee was only mad at the two brutish Faunus. If Ilia had any wits at all, she'd take the bitch's side and get them an in.

"All I can see is an animal getting handsy with a young woman," said the stupid man, now joined by several passersby. Three human males in particular seemed to flank him. "I don't know about everybody else, but I'm a going to be a huntsman, and I'm not the type to stand by and watch this kind of thing…" He gestured to Adam disdainfully. "…pass."

Four humans. I could easily take them.

but we need to keep a low profile.

Adam lifted up the Schnee and threw her forward. She stumbled into the arms of the obnoxious one.

"Revolting…" began the lead human.

"…filthy…" continued Schnee.

"…rapist…" said the human

"…animals," finished Schnee.

Two of a kind. What a precious love story.

By now, Blake had healed her nose up using aura. Keeping it lowered was rather sloppy of her, but Adam hadn't actually had his raised either by the time the abrupt assault was underway. Plus, visibly taking a hit would sell their story of not being Atlesian paramilitary elites.

"C'mon, Blake. It's clear that the two of us aren't wanted here," Adam said, ostensibly to Blake.

Ilia clearly picked up on the message. "Damn straight. Ugly bullheaded idiot…." While she often tended to have reservations regarding insulting her own people, criticizing Adam for his stubborn and temperamental personality rarely brought her too much shame.

Adam put his arm around Blake and tried to think of what a student would do now. Run away like a child? Take the high road and offer peace? Find a teacher? Earn the bullies respect by beating the shit out of them? That last one sounded nice…

Sighing, he began to walk the other way. Low profile meant no indulgences. He'd have to satisfy his thirst for Schnee misery with the knowledge that she was fundamentally indistinguishable from the average pauper in Mantle.

"Oh, I don't think so."

The tallest one, a brown haired human with a mace that looked like it was ripped right out of a fantasy cartoon, blocked Adam and Blake's path.

"You think we're going to just let you walk away? After abusing that young woman?"

"She's fine."

"You broke her arm! And who knows what else you would've done if I hadn't stepped in, you creep!"

"Cardin! That's not just any young woman!" A green mohawked boy put his hand on the tall one's shoulder (he really had to reach) and turned him around. "Dude, it's Weiss Schnee! The famous singer!"

"Wh– really?"

"Yeah, bro! She's the one who sang Mirror Mirror. Oh, Miss Schnee, my buddy and I are, like, your biggest fans!"

Cardin, his righteous indignation over the apparent near violation of a young woman completely forgotten, pushed past Adam and Blake to go fawn over the talentless Schnee. Unlike most of Adam's admittedly biased insults, calling her talentless was simply a fact. He'd listened to her music literally ad nauseum, just as he'd read every scrap of autobiographical drivel Jacques Schnee had the audacity to call literature. It ended up fruitless, but Adam dared not pass over any clue for fear that the critical key to understanding to their personality or state of mind (and therefore their weaknesses) might have been held within, and he would miss it.

"Holy shi– Weiss Schnee, in the flesh! This is so cool!"

"Oh my. Um…why, the pleasure is all mine. Dear me, it's been a while since anyone's appreciated my singing…"

"Oh, but you're the best!"

"Yeah! Wait, are you a huntress, too? You're so talented!"

"Can we be on your team?"


Schnee herself was apparently so keen on receiving bootlicking that the injury and offense was forgotten entirely. Adam led Blake away, and Ilia followed them after a respectable length of time later.

"Are you okay?" Ilia resisted the urge to touch Blake's nose as she fawned over the Faunus.

"I'm fine."

"Are you–"

"I'm fine!"

The bite in her voice was unexpectedly sharp. Blake was normally the most even tempered of their group, though between Adam's fury and Ilia's own passionate lack of self-control, that wasn't saying much.

"S-Sorry."

"Not you, Ilia. Just…I made the wrong call. I decided to give a Schnee a chance to be polite, and it blew up in my face."

Relief washed over her, and not an insignificant quantity of shame. As much as she tried to be 'over' Blake, her opinion mattered. A lot. Unfortunately, it seemed like closure was not in the cards. Perhaps if Ilia had ever screwed up the courage to admit her feeling…her former feelings, that is, things might have been different. Alas, that way lay heartbreak and guaranteed failure. Blake had never so much as shown a hair of interest in the fairer sex. Ilia's only recourse was to suck it up and hope that eventually that lingering longing and regret would fade.

Adam wasn't having it. "It didn't just endanger you. We haven't even passed the initiation test, and we've already made enemies. In the future, refrain from needlessly compromising the mission because of your bleeding heart."

"Not hating all humans isn't a weakness, Adam."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Says the woman with a broken nose."

"General Ironwood is a h–"

"Don't you dare use Ja–"

Ilia groaned exaggeratedly. "Please, you guys. Not this again – I'd rather deal with another Schnee."

"Great!" said Adam. "You've upset the kid! Look at what you've done! Now we're going to have to go to marriage counseling again. Do you know how much that cost, Blake? And we only have military veteran's healthcare to pay for it, which means it'll be entirely out of pocket!"

"I– snrk!"

It was a running joke between the three of them to pretend that Tauradonna was a real thing, and not just a part of the ruse. Blake and Adam often spent inordinate amount of time hidden away from other White Fang members for K-related activities – stealing documents, briefing the general on their findings, sometimes even minor sabotage. Thus, whenever a suspicious eyebrow was raised, the duo pretended that they had just come from some embarrassing sexual escapade. Such flimsy excuses tended to go a long way for a rowdy band of Faunus desperate for entertainment or distraction; terrorism tended to be a bleak business with a short life expectancy.

Ilia, when questioned, had gone the easier route. To men, she was just taking care of her feminine hygiene. To women, she was spying on the cute new girls who'd just joined the recruits. As with Blake and Adam's excuse, it had worked like a charm. Neither sex had wanted to stick around for the respective conversation that would have followed.

Adam's joke had diffused the tension, but it did bring up an important question.

"Hey," called Ilia, gathering their attention. "Are you guys going to do the whole 'boyfriend-and-girlfriend-caught-in-the-act' routine here?"

Adam looked at Ilia with confusion. "Why not? It worked well last time."

"Actually, maybe we should hold off for now," said Blake. "I think it might be better if we keep our options open."

"I'm hurt."

"And I'm serious. We're now in a school full of horny, undisciplined students who aren't going to be looking for traitors among their ranks. There's no classified documents or sensitive information here, so snooping around won't raise as many red flags."

"It wouldn't hurt to have a reason for why we're snooping. If anyone realizes who we are…"

"We can always fall back to it if someone walks in on us searching for the aura device, or just use a different excuse like…I dunno, what do kids do? Eavesdropping for gossip? Drugs and tattoos? Something like that. On the other hands, if we establish ourselves as a couple, we limit potential opportunities."

"Opportunities for what?" asked Ilia, now interested.

"For faking relationships with unsuspecting idiots and shaking them down for favors or intel."

"I see that reading all those semi-erotic novels has turned you into quite the hopeless romantic," Ilia said with a chuckle. "That said, the idea is sound. If we date around, we open up doors – literally. Training complexes limited to upper year students, other dorm buildings, classrooms we have no business being in – all places that a doting boyfriend or girlfriend might sneak over to hoping for illicit caresses. Wait, no, for moonlit kisses! 'Cause then we can look around at night, too."

Adam's smile told Ilia that he was already sold. A tactical advantage meant faster completion of their mission meant more praise from Daddy Ironwood. "Alright. We'll do it. I can start right away."

Suddenly, the idea because a lot less realistic. "A-Adam, maybe just–"

"You two are right. Perhaps we need to take it further – can we date multiple people at once? We'd cover ground much faster that way."

Ilia threw Blake a brief look that nonetheless conveyed the obvious message. The fake relationship only worked because Blake, the girlfriend, was in on it. Adam Taurus had no idea how an actual, working relationship with a real person operated.

Correction: Adam Taurus had no idea how a real person operated.

Blake looked back as if to say 'we can fix him,' but Ilia knew that such a things was functionally impossible, and Blake was just trying to cover her mistake of putting the idea in his head.

"I can woo the teachers, too. The headmaster probably knows everything going on within the walls of his school. He shall make a valuable lover."


Omake

Blake: Hmmm. The Cardins, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby and Yang, Weiss…it seems like everyone's here!

Ren and Nora's decaying corpses in the ruins of Kuroyuri: Rude.


Omake 1.5

Ilia: Kuro-what? My ears are burning.


Author's Note

So a lot of people (two, but that's a lot for me) have mentioned this, and I feel like I ought to establish some ground rules. In this canon, Ironwood is not part of Ozpin's inner circle. Neither are Leonardo nor Theodore. You can assume that Ozpin is less willing to trust (and apparently canon proves that instinct right). I won't give an explanation why; there's no deep dark secret or anything. I don't want to spoil stuff, I just don't want people reading this and thinking the big reveal is that Ironwood was in league with Oz along and then being disappointed when he isn't.

This is not Ironwood intentionally keeping Blake and co. in the dark or something. The aura machine really has been stolen under from Atlesian custody (where it was supposed to remain) mysterious circumstances, and Ironwood genuinely suspects it is held at Beacon.

This is set in Volumes 1-3. We won't go any further, but you can go ahead and assume that the extended RWBYverse – (maidens, relics, Salem, her inner circle, Brother Gods cursing Ozpin, etc.) still exists. As that stuff shows up in later seasons, much of it (but not all) will not appear here.

Next chapter, we meet K's new member. Stay tuned!